A.W.B.

by Average White Band

Description by OLDIES.com:

The classic 1974 Atlantic debut effort from the '70s' leading purveyors of blue-eyed R&B. Includes "Person To Person" and "Pick Up The Pieces," with a rare live version of the latter as a bonus! Features newly remastered sound and new liner notes. "Five-Star Soul" release!

Product Description:

Average White Band: Hamish Stuart, Alan Gorrie (vocals, guitar, bass); Onnie McIntyre (guitar, background vocals); Roger Ball (alto & baritone saxophones, keyboards); Malcolm "Molly" Duncan (tenor saxophone); Robbie McIntosh, Steve Ferrone (drums, percussion).

Additional personnel: Jim Mullen (guitar); Herbie Mann (flute); Joe Farrell, Sonny Fortune, David Newman (alto saxophone); Michael Brecker, Dick Morrisey (tenor saxophone); Jaroslav Jakubovic (baritone saxophone); Randy Brecker, Mel Davis, Marvin Stamm, Don Ellis, Gilman Rathel, Lew Soloff (trumpet); Alan Kaplan, Barry Rodgers (trombone); Richard Tee (electric piano); Ken Bichel (Mellotron); Ralph MacDonald (congas, percussion); Raphael Cruz, Sammy Figueroa (percussion).

Engineers include: Gene Paul, Ron Albert, Howard Albert.

Recorded at Atlantic Recording Studios, New York, New York and Criteria Sound Studios, Miami, Florida. Originally released on Atlantic (7308). Includes liner notes by A. Scott Galloway.

In those benighted pre-Chili Peppers dark ages of the mid-'70s, the notion of a bunch of Caucasian Scotsmen laying down heavy funk seemed an odd one. Even a cursory listen to AWB puts any such reservations quickly to rest. Alan Gorrie's soulful vocals and percussive, syncopated basslines interact perfectly with Hamish Stuart's funky, rhythmic guitar work. On the band's signature tune, the mostly instrumental "Pick Up the Pieces," the theme is stated by a punchy-but-slinky horn section, with sinuous interpolations from Hamish. Here the band demonstrates its impressive rhythmic facility and its ability to stop on a dime (the death-defying groove rivals the JBs in their prime).

For a group capable of such intense polyrhythmic interaction, the Average White Band keeps things surprisingly song-based, and Gorrie's vocals are the central focus of everything but "Pick Up the Pieces." "Nothing You Can Do" and "Just Wanna Love You Tonight" dip into romantic R&B love balladry, while "Keepin' It To Myself" finds the boys mining the contemporaneous Al Green/Willie Mitchell arrangement style. Conversant in all the variants of mid-'70s funk and R&B, the Average White Band succesfully married pop smarts with dance-floor groove power.