Blogarhythms

As you might have noticed, Records at Random was preempted by the 4th of July holiday last Friday. Prior to that I had kinda forgotten that we take holidays off here on OKP and I had been thinking about picking a record based on the patriotic theme of the holiday. In fact, I’ve had a certain MFSB album with American flags all over the cover sitting next to my desk for a good month which I was planning on using.

Since I ended up having no use for it last week I thought about running a feature on it this week instead. But when I was moving some records around the other day my gaze fell on Explosion, the 1976 LP release from Miami, Florida-bred R&B vocalist Betty Wright, and I quickly decided that it was even more apropos a candidate for the first post-4th Records at Random. Especially considering the lack of actual explosions that marked my holiday last Friday.

Right off the bat I’ll let you know Explosion does not feature Wright’s oft-sampled hit single “Clean Up Woman.” This came as a surprise to me when I put it on the turntable a few minutes ago since, during all the years I’ve owned it, I was positive it had “Clean Up Woman” on it. I’d actually brought it to countless gigs for that very reason. But I’ve apparently been confused for a long time and have been leaving my “Clean Up Woman” 7” at home to my possible detriment and embarrassment.

Though it may not be bolstered by that or any of Wright’s other major hits Explosion is still an outstanding example of Miami Soul. Released on Alston Records, one of the many labels affiliated with Henry Stone’s monstrous TK Records, Explosion was written and produced by Willie Clarke and Clarence “Blowfly” Reid, two of the label’s most prolific composing and producing talents. And under their aegis it was recorded with backing from the label’s legendary house band which boasted the talents of Willie “Little Beaver” Hale and Latimore among others.

Opening as it does with “Open the Door to Your Heart,” an uptempo jam that balances the Southern Soul of a Hi Records, with bluesy guitar licks and a churchy atmosphere, and the symphonic Disco/Soul of a Philadelphia International, with stomping beats, claps and horn blasts, the album crashes out the gate and lands smack-dab on the dancefloor. This discotheque-friendly sound is reprised on “Don’t Forget to Say I Love You,” which closes out the a-side.

The tracks “Do Right Girl,” which comes off like a slowed-down “Clean Up Woman,” and the string-laden anti-cheating tune “I Think I’d Better Think About It,” which highlights the a-side with its sweet vocal, delicate chorus, subtly etheric Rhodes and stellar songwriting, fill out the middle-part. And while the a-side is certainly worthy of its fair share of needle-drops, the b-side, in my estimation at least, delivers and even stronger set of tunes.

Setting things off is the carefree “Keep Feelin’,” where Wright’s vocals cavort across a sun-dappled soundscape of shiny horns, swaying strings, cushiony bass and playful electric piano twiddles before climbing skyward into her Minnie Riperton and Deniece Williams-esque upper register. She keeps things upbeat on the Caribbean-flavored “Rock On, Baby Rock On,” where she gives a Disco playboy a talking to over an off-kilter bass bounce, flutes and wood-block percussion.

Things slow down considerably on “If I Ever Do Wrong,” the only ballad on the album. And they get downright dark on “Bluesville,” a tune about escaping heartache delivered over a slithery Funk groove reminiscent of Isaac Hayes‘ “Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic,” or a Betty Davis jam, augmented by high-pitched wails. But it’s another upbeat feel-good tune, with twangy acoustic guitars and a woodwind figure akin to those sampled to more dramatic effect on Gang Starr’s “Code of the Streets” and GZA’s “I Got Your Back,” titled “Life,” which closes the album.

We all have a tendency to gravitate towards the familiar. And when it comes to popular music that means “hits.” So I understand the comfort found in hearing the familiar guitar that introduces “Clean Up Woman,” or the billowy groove of “Tonight Is the Night.” But I’m still bummed that I spent so long fronting on this collection of superlative, if lesser-known, Soul selections just because I was so concentrated on having one of those hits handy.