Cash McCall: "Omega Man"

By the time this album was released, McCall had spent years toiling away in the Chicago blues and soul scenes, appearing here and there on various projects done during the Windy City’s golden age of soul.  The music here was recorded on the hallowed ground that was Ter-Mar studios, where some of the most influential blues, soul, jazz and funk of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s was laid down, as well as being home to master arranger-composers like Charles Stepney and Richard Evans.  While this LP has a distinct tendency towards hard, electric Chicago blues, it incorporates that form into other, more unpredictable avenues.  There is an apocalyptic vibe at play, with numbers like the title track, “Junkie For Your Love” and “Hard Attack” displaying a hard-won urban nihilism that is as aggressive as it is potent.  One of the few moments of hope—albeit doubtful hope—comes in McCall’s cover of the Timmy Thomas classic “Why Can’t We Live Together.”  I don’t personally think it bests the original, but I like it better than Sade’s later, too-smooth version from the ‘80’s.  What makes this album work is the thumping, reverb-heavy production and McCall’s commanding boom of a voice, which is part Muddy Waters, part Jerry Butler and all Chicago.  These components add up to create an eerie sort of layering that rewards more with every subsequent listen.  This one is raw blues on the surface, yet something much more complex and sinister underneath.