Πέμπτη 1 Μαρτίου 2012

Boscoe - Boscoe [1973]


Their 1973 self-titled album sank without a trace as the band toiled in the shadows of Chicago's South Side scene. They fit right in with the other challenging acts in the scene, including the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Ra, Phil Cohran, the Pharaohs and Earth, Wind & Fire (in their pre-disco days), but in the end they just couldn't get themselves heard over their neighbors.
Their album is a swirling near-masterpiece that pulls together smoking funk rhythms, strands of free jazz and deep soul, conscious lyrics, amazingly complex and harmonically sophisticated horn arrangements, and assorted other ingredients to make music that fell outside the lines of any particular genre. "If I Had My Way" is a stone-cold classic of socially aware funk that never got its chance to reach a wide audience, "I'm What You Need" is a surprisingly tender, harmony-drenched ballad that proves they could write a pop tune when they wanted to, and "Writin' On the Wall" is a tortured, lurching plea for people to wake the hell up and look at the problems of the world around them with an eye to solving them. 


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