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The Bar-Kays - Black Rock
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Review from allmusic.om
by Donald A. Guarisco
After cutting several fine instrumental singles in a Booker T and the MG's vein,
the Bar-Kays began developing a more ambitious style as the 1960s gave way
to the 1970s. Their new sound mixed in traditional soul grooves with all sorts
of psychedelic and rock-styled production touches and a new emphasis on
heavy, guitar-oriented funk. The first fruits of this new direction were
presented in 1971 on Black Rock. The good news is the group does everything
in their power to push the boundaries of their sound, the bad news is that
their experiments are hit and miss. The tone is set by the opening track, a
cover of the Aretha Franklin tune "Baby I Love You"; it elongates the original
song into an dirge-like, Vanilla Fudge-style arrangement that piles on
Chicago-style horns, long stretches of funky instrumental jamming, and all
sorts of psychedelic sonic effects, like phased vocals and electric sitar. It's
ambitious, but it's not particularly exciting, and it has not dated well. The
remainder of the tracks consist of similarly rearranged covers plus a handful of
originals. The standouts are "How Sweet It Would Be," a soulful heartbreak
ballad that has a lighter touch than the rest of the material, and "Montego
Bay," a cover of the Bobby Bloom hit that transforms the tune into a tight,
horn-driven instrumental groove. However, to get to solid tracks like these,
the listener has to wade through several misfires, like the group's dreadful
cover of "Dance to the Music," which drags on too long and swamps the
melody in goofy sound effects designed to re-create a college protest
atmosphere. All in all, Black Rock spends so much time aping the sound of
other groups that it never allows the group to transform these influences into
a sound all their own and, as a result, it can only be recommended to R&B
completists.
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Artist...............: The Bar-Kays
Album................: Black Rock
Genre................: Funk / Soul
Source...............: CD
Year.................: 1971
Ripper...............: EAC (Secure mode) / LAME 3.92 & Asus CD-S520
Codec................: LAME 3.82
Version..............: MPEG 1 Layer III
Quality..............: Insane, (avg. bitrate: 320kbps)
Channels.............: Stereo / 44100 hz
Tags.................: ID3 v1.1, ID3 v2.3
Information..........: http://www.allmusic.com/album/black-rock-mw0000459765
Ripped by............: Grad58 on 6/20/2013
Posted by............: Grad58 on 6/20/2013
Included.............: NFO, SFV, PLS, M3U, CUE
Covers...............: Front Back
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Tracklisting
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1. The Bar-Kays - A Piece Of Your Peace [04:06]
2. The Bar-Kays - Baby I Love You [08:45]
3. The Bar-Kays - Dance To The Music [05:26]
4. The Bar-Kays - How Sweet It Would Be [03:50]
5. The Bar-Kays - I've Been Trying [04:18]
6. The Bar-Kays - Montego Bay [02:44]
7. The Bar-Kays - Six O'Clock News Report [04:09]
8. The Bar-Kays - You Don't Know Like I Know [06:34]
Playing Time.........: 39:55
Total Size...........: 91.49 MB
NFO generated on.....: 6/20/2013 8:06:31 AM
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