He is credited with the invention of the slapping technique on the electric bass guitar, which radically expanded the tonal palette of the bass, although he himself refers to the technique as "thumpin' and pluckin' ".
Maybe because it was his pioneering days with the Family Stone or what he did with GCS that Larry Graham's solo career during the 80's ended up being somewhat neglected.
This was his third realese from 1982. The type of organ and rhythm section based music Sly had pioneered in the 60's and early 70's had long given way to a more electronic sound. And now that computers and digital soul/funk/R&B age had officially arrived Larry was in an excellent possition to take part.
After all he had been highly creative and artistic with synthesizers and electronic rhythms on many of his GCS recordings. Considering the fact his first couple of solos had concentrated heavily on slickly produced soul ballads with some other grooves mixed into them it was more than a pleasant surprise for "jam fans" this Larry chose to mix it up on this release,focusing heavier on a mixture of deeper ballads and a modern variation of the hard funk he had been known for.
Whether it be on his own electric axe,a synthesizer or Larry's singing itself the overall production is all about bass in some way. The title track is the best uptempo funk song in his solo career up to this point.
The mix is extended a lot more to accomodate a series of overlapped vocorder effects and a repeated refrain.There are four slow songs here but all are actually excellent."Still Thinkin' Of You",co-written with George Duke who provides some of the music as well is in fact not disimilar to his breakout solo hit One In A Million You."You're My Girl","Let Me Come Into Your Life" and "Easy Love" all sound kind of similar but aren't bad nonetheless. Now anyone who gives this album a serious run through will quickly figure out it's strenghs lie in the jams. "Don't Stop When Your Hot" finds Larry breaking out his slap bass for this glorious funk jam that makes complete sense in Graham's musical progression thus far.
"I Feel Good" is sloooow and stomping and HEAVY;despite the heavy electro-funk dressing the rhythms are definately rooted in a 70's style groove that GCS and Sly explored now and again,even if their forte had been for the faster sort of funk. George Duke throws in his hand at an uptempo tune here too on "Walk Baby Walk",a faster number two with a lot of musically complex solos darting in and out of the horn arrangements and such. Again a fresh extension on the old GCS sound in many ways.
"Hold Up Your Hand" brings to mind one very interesting point just out of my own head. True the very unspoken influence Wonder had on Larry during both their salad days was present on GCS's music of the day,it's still very much in attendance here.
The closer is a (largely) instrumental version of the title song with more vocorder than the original verison. For someone who is highly skeptical,as I was that Larry Graham was spending most of the 80's trying to pass himself off as California's version of Lionel Ritchie and turning his back to making high quality funk this would be the perfect place to begin to change your mind on that front.
Side A
A1. Sooner Or Later - 3:28
A2. Still Thinkin’ Of You - 3:09
A3. Don’t Stop When You’re Hot - 4:34
A4. You’re My Girl - 3:22
A5. I Feel Good - 3:39
Side B
B1. Walk Baby Walk - 4:26
B2. Let Me Come Into Your Life - 3:23
B3. Hold Up Your Hand -4:09
B4. Easy Love - 3:24
B5. Sooner Or Later (Instrumental) - 4:59
Companies, etc.
- Phonographic Copyright (p) – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
- Copyright (c) – Warner Bros. Records Inc.
- Recorded At – The Music Machine
- Mixed At – The Music Machine
- Mixed At – Kendun Recorders
- Mastered At – A&M Studios
- Pressed By – Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Winchester
- Produced For – Historic Music Productions, Inc.
- Produced For – George Duke Enterprises
Credits
- Arranged By – George Duke (tracks: A2), George Duke (tracks: B1), Larry Graham (tracks: A1, A3 to B5)
- Backing Vocals – Darric Graham (tracks: A3), Tina Graham
- Composed By – Larry Graham (tracks: A1, A3 to B3, B5)
- Design – Simon Levy
- Drums – John Robinson (2) (tracks: A2), Noel Closson (tracks: B4)
- Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes], Synthesizer [Prophet V] – George Duke (tracks: A2)
- Engineer [Mixing, Second] [Kendun Recorders] – Les Cooper (2) (tracks: A2, B1)
- Engineer [Mixing] [Kendun Recorders] – Tommy Vicari (tracks: A2, B1)
- Engineer [Mixing] [The Music Machine] – Kevin Wright (tracks: A1, A3 to B3, B5)
- Executive-Producer – Ron Nadel
- Guitar – Larry Graham, Michael Sembello (tracks: A2, A4, B4)
- Lead Vocals, Bass, Clavinet, Drums, Keyboards, Harmonica, Vocoder – Larry Graham
- Management – Tentmakers
- Mastered By – Bernie Grundman
- Photography By – Todd Gray
- Producer – George Duke (tracks: A2, B1), Larry Graham (tracks: A1, A3 to A5, B2 to B5)
- Saxophone – Patt Rizzo (tracks: A3)
- Tenor Saxophone – Gary Herbig (tracks: B1)
- Trombone – Bill Reichenbach (2) (tracks: B1)
- Trumpet – Gary Grant (tracks: B1), Jerry Hey (tracks: B1)
Notes
Release: 1982
Format: LP
Genre: Soul
Label: Warner Bros. Records
Catalog# WB 56992
Prijs: €10,00
Vinyl: Good
Cover: Good
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