rock, soul, funk
Stav desky: NM
- jako nová, téměř nehraná
Stav obalu: M-
- bezchybný, nový nebo jako nový
Pozn.: znaménko + nebo - upřesňuje stav desky, obalu
obal a deska vyborny stav
A1 Do You See What I See?
A2 God Is Watching
A3 Be Yourself
A4 You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me
A5 You're Still My Brother
B1 I Was Made To Love Her
B2 Your Good Thing Is About To Come To An End
B3 It Ain't Easy
B4 Love Pollution
B5 People, Unite To Save Humanity
This is a sadly forgotten masterpiece of hard funkin' testafyin'. Come 1972, the Bar-Kays had evolved into one of the fiercest black rockbands in the country, and they were ready to bust loose on a message trip that gave us 'Do You See What I See', a slept-on DIAMOND in the Stax catalogue.
Yes, there are a few ballads here, but even those are layered in a thick, groovy stew of righteous indignation. "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happend to Me", for example, starts out mellow enough, but it's coda is reminiscent of the final all-out groove vamp of Sly & the Family Stone's "Stand".
Furthermore, when the track has faded out, a collage of chattering ensues, and one particularly disgruntled Bar-Kay can be heard saying 'four more years of this...', refering to Nixon's landslide presidential victory earlier that year.
Stevie Wonder's peerless "I Was Made to Love Her" gets the sleaze-funk treatment here, and is preceded by an uncanningly (and spookily) Wonder-esque recitation of those first legendary lines.
But it's the protest songs that make this LP: The rock-hard title-track, which blasts through the speakers, deals with everything from Vietnam, bussing, political corruption, inner city decay and poverty to inflation and greed.
"God Is Watching" is a brooding, haunting tale dipped in a mellow-sounding groove, while "Be Yourself" is another highly infectious Sly Stone-like stomper, exuding pride and power.
The countryfried funk workout "You're Still My Brother" sports more fabulous breaks, as well as very appealing lyrics in the 'turn the other cheek'-vein.
The funk goes even deeper with the rousing "Love Pollution" and climaxes in the sweaty "People, Unite to Save Humanity", a title derived from Jesse Jackson's P.U.S.H. organization.
A super album... and wow that cover art.