Marlena Shaw: "The Spice Of Life"

So, if you’ve been following my posts, you’re already aware of my fascination/obsession with the Cadet label, and here, dear reader, is one of the absolute rarest slabs of vinyl they ever put out.  Unlike a lot of the other rare vinyl I dig up, this one was rare when it first came out in the late ‘60’s, so much so that it was released in a second pressing with a different cover in the early ’70’s.  I think the copy I found may be a bastard child of the two pressings; the cover is definitely a ‘60’s original, but the vinyl is the ‘70’s-vintage orange label.  Whatever its origins, this is an incredible record, certainly in keeping with the singular flavor of other Cadet releases from this period.  Sample-heads love “Woman Of The Ghetto” and “California Soul”; I’m particularly enamored with the former, with its nodding bass-line, its reverbed kalimba, and Shaw’s testifying vocals.  The other nice cuts are the psych version of “Stormy Monday” with fuzz guitar solos (probably by Phil Upchurch, Cash McCall or Pete Cosey, though the band is uncredited in the liner notes), the moody, pensive plea of “Where Can I Go?,” and the righteous “Liberation Conversation,” which is kind of a continuation of the sound and message of “Woman Of The Ghetto.”  Marlena Shaw’s vocals are quite versatile; she can go from small-club jazz singer to full-blown soul belter in a matter of seconds, and it doesn’t hurt that the arrangements and production are handled by, as was usually the case with Cadet at this time, Charles Stepney and Richard Evans.  You already know how I feel about these two visionaries, they take an already superb band and singer and combine it with their own sonic signature, which elevates the whole undertaking to some distant and dreamy place beyond the stars.  Cadet triumphs again.