You know I couldn’t do one of these posts lately without including at least one Prestige album. Found this at a record show the other night, in the budget bin, of all places. The copy was a little scratchy, but bumped the furious grooves contained within from start to finish, not a skip to be heard. This is a big record for samplers and break fanatics, as almost every cut here has been chopped up and used by various artists in the hip-hop era. Yet the album as a whole deserves more recognition, and really, that’s my thing about these cats who are always searching for breaks—they don’t necessarily appreciate the concept of the LP as a whole, which is a mistake in my mind, as it closes the door on the ultimate possibilities of the art form. Regardless, this record delivers a non-stop jam session for those interested, from the infinitely sampled “Kool Is Back” to darker, more searching numbers like “Bowlegs” and a cover of the B.B. King standard “The Thrill Is Gone.” The musicianship is impeccable, the beats are hittin’ in all the right places, and the vibe is akin to what early Kool & The Gang might have sounded like had they been recording with Rudy Van Gelder. Prestige does it again!
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