"Buddy Miles Live/A Message To The People" by BUDDY MILES - 2LP Live Set from October 1971 USA (February 1972 UK) Combined With An April 1971 USA Single Studio LP (June 1971 UK) both on Mercury Records - Buddy Miles, Stemsey Hunter and Herbie Rich all ex The Electric Flag, Buddy Miles also ex Jimi Hendrix's Band Of Gypsies. Also featuring Hank Redd, David Hull, Charlie Karp (Karp later with White Chocolate and Dirty Angels), Donnie Beck (later with B & G Rhythm) and more (April 2023 UK Beat Goes On Records (BGO) Compilation - 3LPs onto 2CDs - Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Feelin' Alright This Evening..."

 

After decades in the digital wilderness, we of a Rhythm 'n' Blues meets Brassy Rock meets Soul and Funk persuasion finally get the last two pieces of the Buddy Miles Discography put out onto a quality CD reissue - and it's a twofer doozy. The ex Electric Flag and Hendrix's Band Of Gypsies Drummer and Singer has never sounded so good.

 

I have already reviewed the compilation "Expressway To Your Skull/Electric Church/Them Changes/We Got To Live Together" that England's Beat Goes On Records reissued onto 2CDs in January 2022 (Beat Goes On Records BGOCD1468 - Barcode 5017261214683). That Andrew Thompson remastered release contained four studio albums originally issued November 1968, June 1969, July and November 1970 in the USA on Mercury Records featuring Production by Jimi Hendrix on LP No. 2 ("Electric Church"). The first two were credited to Buddy Miles Express and everything after that to plain old Buddy Miles. 

 

Extra info: his 1968 American debut solo album "Expressway To The Skull" (1969 in the UK) is also on a rare mail-order only CD reissue out of the USA. Released December 2006 - "Expressway To The Skull" on Hip-O Select B0002976-2 came in an Oversized Mini LP Repro Artwork Hard Card Gatefold Sleeve and was limited to only 5000 copies worldwide (no Barcode, numbered on the rear - Hip-O Select was the mail-order wing of Universal). That gorgeous sounding version has been deleted years now but costs far more than its worth. I mention this by way of info, because you are frankly going to get far better value for money out of the superb BGO 2CD set highlighted above. Buy that first - then come to door number two...

 

Which brings us in 2023 to this - another 2CD compilation from BGO that rounds up the remainder of his six-album discography for Mercury Records. Lots to yak on about ye pirates of the groove; so once more my Right On Funkadelics to the groin-gyrating details...

 

UK released Friday, 7 April 2023 - "Buddy Miles Live/A Message To The People" by BUDDY MILES on Beat Goes on Records BGOCD1493 (Barcode 5017261214935) offers 3LPs Remastered onto 2CDs. The first is a live double-album spread across two CDs (Sides 1 and 2 on CD1 etc), the second a single studio LP entirely on the end of CD2. It plays out as follows:

 

CD1 (43:03 minutes):

1. Introduction (0:42 minutes) [Side 1]

2. Joe Tex  (4:32 minutes)

3. Take It Off Him And Put It On Me (4:54 minutes)

4. Down By The River (12:55 minutes)

5. Wrap It Up (19:03 minutes) [Side 2]

Tracks 1 to 5 are the first LP (Sides 1 and 2) of the double-album "Buddy Miles Live" - released October 1971 in the USA on Mercury Records SRM-2-7500 and February 1972 in the UK on Mercury Records 6641 033. It peaked at No. 10 on the American R&B LP charts in the USA (No. 50 on Pop & Rock) - didn't chart UK.

 

CD2 (77:18 minutes)

1. Place Over There (5:03 minutes) [Side 3]

2. The Segment (12:18 minutes)

3. Them Changes (12:44 minutes) [Side 4]

4. Applause (1:00 minutes)

5. We Got To Live Together (12:18 minutes)

Tracks 1 to 5 are the second LP (Sides 3 and 4) of the double-album "Buddy Miles Live" - released October 1971 in the USA on Mercury Records SRM-2-7500 and February 1972 in the UK on Mercury Records 6641 033. It peaked at No. 10 on the American R&B LP charts in the USA (No. 50 on Pop & Rock) - didn't chart UK. 

 

The BUDDY MILES Live Band was:

BUDDY MILES – Drums and Lead Vocals

CHARLIE KARP – Lead Guitar and Vocals

DAVID HULL – Bass and Vocals

DONNIE BECK – Organ

HANK REDD – Tenor Saxophone

STEMSY HUNTER – Alto Saxophone

TOM HALL – Trumpet

BOB HOGINS – Trombone & Organ

 

6. Joe Tex [Side 1]

7. The Way I Feel Tonight

8. Place Over There

9. The Segment

10. Don't Keep Wondering [Side 2]

11. Midnight Rider

12. Sudden Stop

13. Wholesale Love

14. That's The Way Life Is

Tracks 6 to 13 are his fifth studio album "A Message To The People" – released April 1971 in the USA on Mercury SRM-1 608 and June 1971 in the UK on Mercury 6338 028. It peaked at No. 12 on the American R&B LP charts (No. 60 in the Pop & Rock LP charts) - didn't chart UK.

 

The BUDDY MILES Band for the Studio LP was:

BUDDY MILES – Lead and background Vocals, Guitar, Organ and Drums

ANDRE LEWIS – Organ, Clavinet, Piano and Background Vocals

CHARLIE KARP – Lead Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar and Backing Vocals

MARLO HENDERSON – Lead & Rhythm Guitars, Uni-Vibe, Backing Vocals

DAVID HULL – Bass and Backing Vocals

FRED ALLEN – Drums and Percussion

MICHAEL FUGATE – Lead Trumpet and Flugelhorn

TOM HALL – Second Trumpet and Flugelhorn

HANK REDD – Tenor and Baritone Saxophones

STEMSY HUNTER – Alto Saxophone and Backing Vocals

 

The card slipcase is classy (as always), the original artwork for both LPs reproduced in the 16-page booklet with new liner notes from noted Music Historian and Regular Mojo Magazine contributor CHARLES WARING – whilst the Remasters are by BGO's resident Audio Engineer – ANDREW THOMPSON. You will probably have noticed that the order of the albums is reversed for this CD – the studio set should be first and the live double second. But probably because of timing issues, they are the other way around.

 

Audio-wise, they are a tale of two cities. The live set is good, at times great, but at other times showing its age and crudity of recording. The studio album just leaps out of your speakers and sounds frankly Funkily amazing. Live is 3 to 4-stars – Studio is five-alive. Waring does his usual thorough exploratory when it comes to the history of the songs and notes, that although forgotten now – back in the Seventies day, Buddy Miles was a voice and a chart presence to be reckoned with. After the funky one-two sucker-punch of the "Them Changes" and "A Message To My People" studio sets – it was time to give the public the incendiary live performances he had become rather well known for. In late 1971 his double "Buddy Miles Live" went up to No. 10 on the US R&B LP charts and had a 22-week run – impressive for such a release. The audio on the studio LP is HUGE (all that instrumentation going on) but in a good way. There are tracks on this album (those two Allmans covers especially) that I've been after for Funky-Funky Cover Version CD compilations for years. Good job done - to the big guns...

 

Side 1 offers a devastating live trio that must have pretty much knocked the crowd for six. He urges the gang to boogie in their seats, then the band launches into a sort of Manic Blues Brothers Brass-Band assault that segues from Track 2 into Track 3. "Take It Off Him And Put It On Me" had been a January 1970 US 45-single for American Soul Singer Clarence Carter on Atlantic 2702 (A-side). For his live-and-in-yer-face take, Buddy Miles takes the tune's inherent funkiness and throws in loads more brass and hip-shakin' mama-ness to a point where you can feel the audience getting lewd with the row of seats in front of them.

 

Quieting down the pace and mellowing out the mood comes with "Down By The River" - the Neil Young classic from his debut solo album "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" after leaving Buffalo Springfield. Miles smartly hooks into its deeply adaptable nature by turning what was a Guitar-Rock workout on the Young Reprise LP into a Soulful church organ and brass soloing showcase. Slow at first, the band cleverly melts its harmony vocals and begins building to a place where varying horn instruments do battle with a Church Organ (Donnie Beck) like a cool Miles Davis workout. Charles Warring quite rightly praises its astonishing transformation from Rock murder creep into a Soul Aria. Tom Hall on Trumpet and Bob Hogins on Trombone blow the thing out of the water while Donnie Beck gets all testifying Georgie Fame on the organ. Overall it is a fantastic near-thirteen minute crowd-winner and is the first tune on Live to cement the double's greatness in your mind.

 

Miles seriously funks things it with a cover of the Isaac Hayes and David Porter penned "Wrap It Up". About 7:40 minutes in after what seems like the Guitarist going all Hendrix on the night – the band stops – only to have a incessant beat return only this allowing Donnie Beck to go nuts on the organ – soon joined by Brass. Then of course you have to get through the obligatory drum solo. This is the whole Brass-Soul-Rock genre in a live nutshell and even if it does overstay its endless boogie stay at nineteen minutes – hard not to be impressed with the virtuosity of a band this hot whipping the crowd up into frenzy with their sheer showmanship.

 

The studio LP "A Message To The People" was an R&B album smash on release in April 1971 - certainly in the USA where it hit No. 12 before the live double came on the back of that tour in October 1971 and went two chart places further to No. 10 (neither album barely made any headway in the UK - in fact the live 2LP set wasn't released in Blighty until February of 1972 where it promptly died). As Buddy Miles did with the 1970 "Them Changes" LP and The Allman Brothers Band song "Dreams" from their "Idlewild South" album of 1969 - Miles tapped two more from the same platter for his "A Message To The People" set - the fabulous "Midnight Rider" and "Don't Keep Me Wondering". I don't quite know why such a marriage works - but Buddy Miles rearranging and doing Allman Brothers Southern Rock songs with a Soul-Funk twist worked - like say Leon Russell doing a Tony Joe White tune. 

 

The 'Message' album also worked that other Funky-Funky seam - Stax stalwart Otis Redding for his "Wholesale Love" - all those Brass and guitars. The instrumental (which turned up on the live set) "The Segment" is a co-write between Miles and his Saxophone player Hank Redd. Even the Bobby Russell-penned "Sudden Stop" which had been a hit for Percy Sledge on Atlantic Records in July 1968 gets a good old working over. All in all - a very cool album with huge audio from the Remaster.

 

It seems unfair in 2023 that Buddy Miles is such a footnote in Soul and Funk Music History. Because this crossover dude with his great hair, his soulful voice, his hammer-down sticks and even his knack for penning a tune or picking the greats of others - should be remembered with more genuine respect for bringing crossover music to his peeps. 

 

Fans will absolutely have to have to it and newcomers are eagerly advised to give the rather cool double-header (Beat Goes On BGOCD1493) a whirl - immerse yourself in the heady 1971 of it all - all over again. "Feelin' alright this evening..." Indeed I am...