Sweet, sweet soul on the tiny Ebony Sound
label. Soul Generation were a New
Jersey-based group that traded in the same kind of heartbroken falsettos and
love-struck pleas as more well-known peers like Black Ivory and The
Moments. This LP is interesting because
it was recorded on both the East Coast and the West Coast, and so it has a
unique combination of styles that is generally not found on regional soul
releases. The backing musicians from
each respective coast are of an extremely high caliber as well; from the West
there’s Joe Sample, Paul Humphrey and Bobbye Hall, and from the East there’s Hugh
McCracken and Chuck Rainey. These are
major session names not usually associated with indie efforts, adding once
again to the singularity of this project.
The music heard here is, as might be expected, quite outstanding, with
Soul Generation excelling in their harmonies and vocal arrangements, helped by
the fact that the songs themselves are among the best I’ve ever heard in the
sweet soul idiom. My favorite tracks are
the funky “Super Fine,” the political “Black Man,” the dreamy “Sailing” and the
tripped-out, yearning jazz-soul of “Sweet Thing,” led by a falsetto that has to
be heard to be believed. Anyone looking
for a detour from the more famous sweet soul acts of the era should investigate
this album.
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