Dad's Album of the Week is back.  This is the series where I briefly review my late father's vinyl.

Return to Forever featuring Chick Corea - No Mystery

Another fusion album from my father's collection.  There is funk here.  There is rock here.  There is jazz here.  Why did my dad like this so much?  Well, he was a drummer.  The drums on the opening track, "Dayride", are insane... there are brief periods of frenetic fills and explosivity... it's much more than just keeping time.  Oh, and look, that first track was written by bass legend Stanley Clarke. 

It's an interesting approach to collaboration here.  On the first side of the album, each member of the band gets a song, and the last song is credited to all four of them.  On the second side of the album, well Chick Corea wrote all of those, but that's ok, as he put this band together.

The bass lines are awesome, and mostly so advanced that I don't know if I'll ever have the chops to play them.  There are blistering guitar solos.  There are all sorts of interesting keyboard licks from both normal acoustic pianos and all kinds of electric pianos and synth.  Even congas and a marimba show up on this album.   

Summary:  I very much dig.  If you are a musician, go listen to this.  The musicianship on display here is outstanding.  If you're the sort that is swayed by critical acclaim, this won a Grammy.

Dad's Album of the Week is back.  This is the series where I briefly review my late father's vinyl.  

Mandrill - Mandrill Is

If this were released today, we'd call it fusion.  I don't think that term was used for music back in 1972, which is when Mandrill Is was released.

Mandrill was founded by Panamanians who grew up in Brooklyn.  That explains the Latin influences heard on this album, as well as the prevalence of the horns.  (The founding brothers play trombone, saxophone, and trumpet.)  There is also funk and soul here, as well as a track or two that sound like they have been lifted right out of a blaxploitation film... the album is certainly a product of the time, and of the experiences of the musicians.

I think I might adopt the song "I Refuse To Smile" as a personal credo, but my favorite song on this album is "Here Today Gone Tomorrow", which just plain rocks.  Go listen to that one.

Welcome to the first installment of a new series over here on my blog.  It's called Dad's Album of the Week, to be commonly abbreviated as DAOTW.  My dad died a couple of years ago, and I am now in possession of a bunch of his vinyl.  I haven't listened to most of it.  Telling myself to write about the music will be an incentive to listen to all of it.  (Well, I won't listen to any of the Chicago albums.  See, that was his favorite band, and I heard them all way too many times growing up.)  This series will run on Thursdays, and will generally be brief.

Parliament - Mothership Connection

Even those who have never heard this album have absolutely heard this album, if they have listened to rap or hip hop over the last 30 years.  The music here is often sampled, and the vocabulary here is often imitated.  (Might "gangster lean" and "the bomb" have originated from this album?)

What we have here is legendary music from a legendary crew (including fellow Ohioan Bootsy Collins), and music that will make you move, all the way from 1975.

Sing it with me now: we need the funk, we gotta have that funk