FATBACK So Delicious
UK Bluebird 2007
Reissue of the original 1985 album on Cotillion, remastered and 1 bonus cut
1) Girls on My Mind 2) Go out with a Bang 3) Lover Undercover 4) Sequence 96 5) Let's Play Tonight 6) She's a Go-Getter 7) So Delicious 8) Start It up 9) Evil
Bonus track:
10) Lover Undercover (Extended Dance Remix)
After the Phoenix album Fatback's mellow and soulful lead singer
Michael Walker and Johnny Flippin departed the group
(forming their own group Point 3 FM), and Fatback had no other choice but
to return to their funk roots. They couldn't have done it better!
"Glorious real mean, low down dirty 102 bpm snorting solid funk groove with irresistible
fluid bass and honking sax. Over which they gloat `yes yes yes' while imagining the
delights of all those young lay-dees! Certain murder in black clubs."
That was James Hamilton's review of the opening cut (and the single release)
of the album in Record Mirror, and I can only agree. The man behind the
"honking sax" that makes the track so delicious (like the album title suggests)
is, of course, David Sanborn, who blows a meaty unceasing solo that lasts about
six minutes. Marvellous stuff!
There were three other killer cuts on the album. Probably the catchiest was
Lover Undercover with its groovy rhythm pattern and hooky guitar riff.
The group's new vocalist John DeBerry didn't impress me, though.
Sequence 96 is a magnificent lesson in building the `fatback' groove piece by piece.
My favourite of these three is, however, the seductive Let's Play Tonight, which
has a splendid, funky groove.
A more melodic mover She's a Go-Getter fails mainly because of the weak vocals.
However, on 2 tracks, the mid-paced title track and the hurried ticker Evil,
Ben E. King is featured on lead vocals. Still, the most worthwhile part of these
is David Sanborn's strong sax soloing on So Delicious.
As a whole, one of the strongest funk albums of the 80s, now reissued on the UK label Bluebird
remastered and with one bonus cut (the excellent extended dance remix of Lover Undercover).
- Ismo Tenkanen
Soul Express
Editor
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