Track Listing

1. All Strung Out over You
2. People Get Ready
3. I Can't Stand It
4. Romeo and Juliet
5. In the Midnight Hour
6. So Tired
7. Uptown
8. Please Don't Leave Me
9. What the World Needs Now Is Love
10. Time Has Come Today
11. Dinah
12. Falling in Love
13. Love Me Like the Rain
14. Time Has Come Today

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #117543 in Music
• Released on: 2000-09-05
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered

Customer Reviews

Cowbell boys
If there is one sound that characterizes the music of 'The Chambers Brothers - The Time Has Come', it is the cowbell. It is used to great effect on many of their songs, frequently propelling the music into a funk groove, or as on 'The Time Has Come', acting as a timepiece that morphs into a psychedelic metronome. While The Chambers Brothers first formed in the year I was born, 1954, commercial success eluded them until the release of this album in 1967, and even that success was short-lived. They are something more than a flash-in-the-pan or a one-trick pony, but not by a long-shot, and most of the quality music they did produce is available right here.

But what a great album this was, and still is. Somewhat swamped by the tide of psychedelia that characterized 1967, this album had to battle for recognition with the likes of The Beatles 'Sgt. Peppers' and Jimi Hendrix's 'Are You Experienced'. But The Chambers Brothers brought to the table a mix of so many genres, that any other artist would be hard pressed to match them at this crossroads in music.

Originally steeped in Southern Gospel music, the Brothers offer Curtis Mayfield's 'People Get Ready' on this disc, and it takes you back to a whitewashed wooden church on a hot Sunday morning. Influenced by the explosion of soul music in the 1960's, Wilson Pickett's 'In the Midnight Hour' is given an uptempo treatment that may be the very best version of the song available anywhere. It will take you back to a Motown recording studio in the mid-1960's, complete with "do it to it" and "sock it to me" utterances that actually sound sincere, not cheesy.

'Uptown' will take you back to a Harlem rent party, complete with "chitlins, black-eyed peas, barbeque ribs, and collared greens". 'Please Don't Leave Me' sits you down in a smokey blues club, or in the midst of a harmonizing quartet on a street corner. Even 'What the World Needs Now', a Hal David and Burt Bacharach number manages to generate a funk groove under the Brothers exquisite harmonies. 'I Can't Stand It' and Roy Clarks' 'All Strung Out Over You' rock hard, while 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'So Tired' temper the rampage through soulful respites.

Of course the key song that puts the album over-the-top is the mind-blowing 'Time Has Come Today', all 11 minutes of it. The lead vocal declares that "the soul has been psychedelicized", and that phrase is an apt description of the song. Bookended by verses, the central section of the song is an exercise in all that psychedelia was, complete with fuzzy guitars squelching, drums rolling, and a sinister laugh that could send shivers up Bela Lugosi's spine. Aside from Iron Butterfly's 'In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida' or The Byrds 'Eight Miles High', it may be the best acid-rock song ever produced.

This remastered disc also offers four mono recordings by the Brothers. 'Dinah' borrows directly from 'I've Been Working On the Railroad', but the brothers funk it up a bit and take the credit for composing it. 'Love Me Like the Rain' is a nice country-blues song. But the highlight among the bonus tracks is an early recording of 'Time Has Come Today', labeled '(single version one)', though this is different from the abridged album track that moved to number 11 on the national charts in 1968. The track was recorded almost a year to the day that the lengthy album version was recorded. The biggest difference is the sound of the lead guitar, which in some ways is even more psychedelic on the earlier version. The disc concludes with what sounds like a radio advertisement for 'The Time Has Come'. If I didn't know better, I would guess the narrator is Morgan Freeman.

The Chambers Brothers only charted two other songs in their career, 'I Can't Turn You Loose' (#37 in 1968) and 'Love, Peace, and Happiness' (#96 in 1970). Despite their great success in recording cover songs, the Brothers possessed composing talent. Some of their best songs, such as 'I Can't Stand It', and the title track were their own compositions. The two capabilities mixed with a bit of magic in 1967 to produce an album unlike any other from this era. 'The Time Has Come' is a unique gift of music. The CD is a gift itself, featuring informative liner notes, and a number of quality pictures of the band. Oddly enough the running times for the songs are not listed, though the track listings appear three seperate times.

Even better than the original
This was one of my favorite albums when I was in high school. I used to love their version of "In the Midnight Hour" and "People Get Ready." Both songs are standards .. one a Wilson Pickett hit which has been often rerecorded by other groups (and particularly well by the Chambers Brothers). The other, "People Get Ready" is a stirring spiritual which is done movingly on this cd. Best of all was a long version of the title song in which they added several funky minutes of an instrumental interlude. This cd is even better than the album of old because they added additional cuts including the standard single version of "Time Has Come Today." There are greatest hits cds but this original is well worth it because there are few, if any weaknesses and additionally, this cd has the great "long" version.

Soul Meets Psychedelia
Man, I can still remember the first time I heard Time Has Come Today. It was 1967 and WNEW was to first FM station in New York to go with an all rock format. Underground radio, as it was called then, and the playlist included the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Doors, Jefferson Airplane and the Velvet Underground. Yet, even with the likes of these legendary performers, no one was prepared for the sensory assault of the Chambers Brothers debut album.

Combing a rock steady rhythem section, soulful harmonies and the psychedelic guitar of Lester Chambers, the brothers ripped though a set of soul staples like Midnight Hour and Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready, along with smoking orginals like All Strung Out, Uptown and the blistering title track, Time Has Come Today. With the unprecedented success of the hit single and the album, the Chamber Brothers sent shock waves through the soul community, that were felt from Motown to Stax/Volt.

Soon the Temptations were recording Cloud Nine, Psychedelic Shack and Ball of Confusion. Later Sly and The Family Stone were to follow the brothers lead and assemble an integrated unit that further blurred the boundries of soul and psychedelia. Their first hit single, Dance To The Music owed a huge debt to the sound the Chambers Brothers had originated and perfected. This is truly a groundbreaking recording. The influence of their unique sound would influence countless artists for years to come.