This album is so funky it should be
used to help the elderly rehabilitate broken hips. Haha I know, ok joking
aside, this is a seriously funky album draped in the smoothest of grooves with
rhythms and bass licks that dive deeper than Marianas trench. Brothers Louis
“Thunder Thumbs” on bass and George “Lightnin’ Licks” on guitar were first
‘discovered’ by Quincy Jones in February of 1975.
Edward Eckstine (former president of Mercury records) recalls Quincy saying, “These are the two baddest cats I have
ever heard” In the liner notes he writes, “When they walked into the studio and
started to play I could not believe my ears. Louis, the younger of the two is
20. He picked up the bass and started playing in a matter of ten seconds the
entire studio was silent, with all eyes on him.”
This album captures the virtuosity of
the two brothers at the very beginning of their professional career. It is raw
with badass bass lines, sultry guitar licks and of course it has that special
‘Q’ treatment (crunchy synths, potent hand percussion et al).
Quincy was recording Mellow Madness at the time (1975) on
which the Brothers ended up writing four of the songs. Interestingly enough, prior
to joining ‘Q’, the Brothers cut their teeth while touring the States as a sideman with Billy Preston.
Songs to look out for include the hard
driving Get The Funk Out Ma Face and
the Hendrix-esqe Land of Ladies. Not surprisingly
Look out for #1 reached #1 on the US
R&B charts and #9 on the US Pop charts. It is a fantastic debut album that
is a must have for anyone trying to groove or just rehabilitate their hips. As
the Brothers themselves say, “Thunder Thumbs and Lightnin’ Licks gonna get to
your soul in ’76!”
Thank you so much, I've been looking for this for ages.
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