BGO
's 2007 two-fer combines
Kokomo
's first two albums -- their eponymous 1975 debut and its sequel,
Rise and Shine!
-- on a single disc, adding new liner notes from
John Tobler
.
were renowned as Britain's finest funk band of the mid-'70s, a genuine live experience, which makes their 1975 eponymous debut a bit of a shock: there's no live feel here, only slick studio gloss that brings the album closer to the sunbleached sounds of the American West Coast than the R&B-vamping working bands that populated the pub rock circuit
frequented.
yo-yos between percolating funk that flirts with disco -- a la the
Average White Band
-- and the smoothest of soft rock, everything sounding mellow and relaxed even when the tempo revs up, as it does on the opener
"Kitty Sitting Pretty."
Here, the group's female backing singers take center stage, but they're prominent throughout, even when they're fading into the background to support the band's other singers, who can evoke
Joe Cocker
,
Rod Stewart
, or
Frankie Miller
depending on the tune. Although
is bursting at the seams with nine members, it sounds impressively sleek here -- too much so, really, as the sleekness tends to flatten out any sense of funk on this LP. That's why the softer blue-eyed soul moments work better than the dance tracks -- the shimmering
"Feeling This Way"
and the cover of
Bobby Womack
's
"I Can Understand It"
suit the sound of the production better than the bright, laid-back funk of
"I'm Sorry Babe"
-- but all in all,
fails to live up to the band's reputation as a killer live act, the kind that was so good the band inspired
Graham Parker
and had
Bob Dylan
hire them as support for the initial
Desire
sessions. That group resurfaced on the band's better second album,
.
Bluntly,
stands as the finest British funk album of the 1970s, a set which counts only
Roogalator
among its rivals, but squeaks past by virtue of that group's failure to truly get it on in the studio. The opening
"Use Your Imagination"
has enough funkadelia around its edges to satiate the most demanding palate, while
"Little Girl"
might borrow its vocal arrangements from something slick by
Hall & Oates
, but nobody told the instruments that. Occasionally, the sublime groove does fade --
"That's Enough"
is a ponderous dirge, again looking towards
for its impetus, and the strangely staccato ballad
"Without Me"
might have slipped off
Bowie
Young Americans
. But the title track is insistently nasty, while
"Do It Right"
and
"Feelin' Good"
are primal growlers in solid
Sly Stone
mold. With only
"Rise and Shine"
breaking the five-minute barrier, the album does err on the side of concise caution -- live,
were capable of some truly gargantuan grooves, and it would have been rewarding to catch a couple on vinyl. But still it is a pulse-pounding package, plus it packs one of the most appropriate sleeves of the era.
hit everyone with the force of an express train. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Dave Thompson