When James Blood Ulmer brought out his album called "Free Lancing" in 1981, it was just about as widely accepted as "A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane in 1965.
It's easy to accept that musicians this talented can do whatever they want while breaking new ground at the same time, but it's not always as easy for the general public to accept it enough to go out and buy it.
These guys color outside the lines all the time and do anything and everything they can, to do something never done before.
Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.
With Amin Ali on Bass, and G. Calvin Weston on drums, and of course James Blood Ulmer on guitar and vocals, this is music from somewhere else.
I was listening to it and thinking how the backup singers Diane Wilson and Irene Datcher must have been thinking, "How in the Hell are we supposed to sing along with this?"
Yet, somehow they do it, even though this music moves like a cross between a hurricane and a top fuel dragster on rhythm and blues steroids.
Don't try and tap your foot along with this song, because you just might throw your back out!
Personally, I love it!!
And don't forget to turn it up!
That's pretty damn funky for a song you can't dance to!
ReplyDelete