"...Trippin' In..."
Texas Saxophonist JOE
HOUSTON was 51 in 1978 when he recorded the long-forgotten and overlooked
“Kicking Back” LP for Big Town Records - a Los Angeles based label run by Jules
Bihari of Fifties Modern Records fame. In fact Houston’s younger talents formed
a band in the late Forties for none other than Atlantic Records legend Big Joe
Turner (Turner’s first recordings for Freedom). But those glory days were long
behind Houston when he came to record this mixture of old Rhythm ‘n’ Blues
married with Saxophone Funk and Blues Guitar.
In some ways Big Town
Records felt like the graveyard for old guys trying to get a new break in the
post Disco world – so their LPs got ignored at the time and deleted quickly.
Decades later DJs in the USA and UK began to plunder these late Seventies
recordings for anything that contained Deep Funk Grooves – and on certain cuts like
the two-part title track – they found what they were looking for. And that’s
where this CD reissue comes boppin’ in. Here are Tenor Trippin’ details...
UK released May 2015 (June
2015 in the USA) – Ace/Beat Goes Public CDBGPM 292 (Barcode 029667529228) is a
straightforward CD reissue (mid-price) of the 1978 LP “Kicking Back” by Joe
Houston on Big Town Records BT 1004 – produced by Jules Bihari and Joe Houston.
All songs are Houston/Bihari originals with Bihari credited under the pseudonym
Jules Taub. The 8-page liner notes are by noted writer and genre-expert DEAN RUDLAND - a name that's been on a huge number of quality CD reissues. The CD has been superbly remastered from first generation master tapes by
NICK ROBBINS at Sound Mastering in London and plays out as follows (34:36
minutes):
1. Hawaiian Disco
2. T-Bone Disco
3. Mr. Big “H”
4. Baby What You Want Me To
Do
5. Trippin’ In [Side 2]
6. Why Don’t You Rock Me
7. Kicking Back Part 1
8. Kicking Back Part 2
JOE HOUSTON – Tenor &
Soprano saxophone
LARRY JOHNSON – Guitar &
Bass
TED BUTLER – Guitar &
Bass
BO RHAMBO – Alto & Tenor
Saxophone
FREDDY CLARK – Baritone
& Tenor Saxophone
ROSS SOLOMINE – Drums
The Audio is amazing – full
of punch and vigour – very well done and DJs will love it. The album opens
badly with two very dated tunes sounding like cod Rock ’n’ Roll - both with the
word “Disco” in them (the pair are best left alone I’m afraid). Track 3 on Side
1 however is different. Had the album opened with “Mr. Big “H”” you might have
felt you’d stumbled on a forgotten monster that somehow slipped out of the
James Brown school of Funk without anyone noticing. A wicked driving bass and
flicky guitar rhythm section back up Houston as he gives it some JBs Saxophone
stabs and jabs – blasting away for five minutes duration with a superb BB King
type guitar solo half way through (a bit of a winner frankly – man would this
be cool on a 12” single). We go straight into old time Rhythm ‘n’ Blues with
the vocals of “Baby What You Want Me To Do” where Houston sounds like 1978
Chuck Berry.
Side 2 opens with another
potential discovery – the near six-minute instrumental “Trippin’ In” - a
chugging Bluesy piece peppered with funky Houston soloing. The three-minute
“Why Don’t You Rock Me” is more of the same – grooving R&B with tasty fills
and a classy George Benson-type guitar solo. The album finishes with the two
parts of the title track – and immediately it goes for the dancefloor jugular
by upping the tempo into a frantic pace. Both parts of “Kicking Back” feature a
funky wah-wah guitar against a driving drum backing that’s overlaid by wild
Houston soloing – Mr. H going at it like James Brown is going to fine him any
minute for missing a beat. Both parts are irresistible DJ bate and you can so hear why these tracks on the album
have been sought after...
So there you have it – it’s
not all Funky Nirvana by any means – but the good stuff is worth seeking out/owning.
And in this great Audio quality – Joe Houston’s “Kicking Back” is yet another
clever choice by those fingers-on-the-pulse bods down at Ace Records in Londinium’s
Steele Road. Way to go boys...
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