Hambone: "Big Fat Juicy Fun"

Big fat juicy fun indeed.  This was a “blind find” for me, as I had no idea what to expect when I picked it up.  It met my usual criteria for such purchases:  I’d never seen it for sale before, the release date and label (1981 and Salsoul, respectively) were on point, and it had an awesome cover (a woman stretched luxuriously across a bed, scantily clad, and sucking a lollipop, with stuffed animals all around her…umm…?).  I’m guessing Hambone must be a nickname for the session’s harmonica player (Fred Bluestone, an alias perhaps?), ‘cause there’s harmonica all over this record.  It doesn’t always work with the music, but for the most part it makes for an interesting and very different sort of listening experience, sometimes sounding like bluesy funk, other times sounding like Stevie Wonder’s discarded ‘70’s instrumentals.  The tracks are slamming, a mix of heavy boogie (“Hey Music Man,” “Hambone”) and laid-back, clavinet-laden modern soul (“Feelings,” “Win Or Lose,” “This Masquerade”).  In addition to all its other rather attractive era pedigrees, this LP has the bonus of having been produced by Tommy Stewart, who also manned the boards for the Spirit Of Atlanta album (see earlier post).  “Big Fat Juicy Fun” shows his same musical trademarks present but evolved to match the early ‘80’s milieu, deeply focused on that clubby, bubbling Atlanta disco-funk sound that he did so well.  On the whole, this is a goofy and entertaining funk session that I would recommend without reservation.