Track Listing

1. Pretty Brown Skin
2. Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
3. I Can't Help Myself
4. Love
5. Fuzz
6. Hummin'
7. Can You Dig It?
8. Painted Desert
9. He Gives Us All His Love [*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20234 in Music
• Brand: Verve
• Released on: 2009-01-27
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .13 pounds

Customer Reviews

The Beginnings Of Roy Ayers' Ubiquity
Respected vibist Roy Ayers takes a turn with this album towards the sound of jazz-funk.And without even knowing the mixture of funkiness and mellowness this album possessed eventually led to the creation of a whole genre called acid jazz.How this all happened is easy to explain.The year is 1971 and so much in R&B and jazz is brewing that it isn't even worth mentioning.The presense of funk in these musics really begins to take on a whole new meaning.And you can see that on Roy's own "Pretty Brown Skin",a chunky wah-wah driven "funk process" jam with some rather raw vocals from Roy."Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" tricks you;at first your fooled into thinking your going to hear a very rote cover until the percussion slips into the mix and it turns into a funky free-for-all of the highest degree before it's over;it's my favorite version of the tune frankly and it's one of only a few versions I've heard.On "I Can't Help Myself" we're back to more fuzzed out jazzy funk;Harry Whitaker and Bill Henderson's electric pianos and Roy's vibes are speaking a musical language where the two sounds meld together into this wonderfully communal/ensamble style of playing that was heavily jestating at that particular time.Also that Roy's voice is echoplexed at the finale to add to the excitment of the song .Not to mention that "Love" and "The Fuzz" keep that seem feel going while "Hummin" brings Nat Adderly's great compositional ability to the fore. On "Can You Dig It?" well.....the intention of this music really becomes more clear as the heavy Afro Cuban styled percussion accompany some of the finest vibe solos I ever heard come from Roy in any period.Again the electric pianos flying in and out of the arrangement are killer;this is a sound that was proving to be the nucleus of early entries for some of funks biggest stars such as Kool and the Gang,Earth Wind and Fire and War;by sheer coinsidence all of these albums were released around the same time as this so it really shows the viability of this style for both artistic and commercial success."Painted Desert" ends the original album on a mellower jazzy note,turning in yet another wonderful cover. A bonus cut is featured too;an easy going cover of Randy Newmans "He Gives Us All His Love" from the soundtrack to the movie Cold Turkey (1971);the production has one of the best uses of soulful funk orchestration on this whole album and is a welcomed feature here. There was a time not so long ago that this was an obscure album that was a nightmare to find on vinyl let alone CD.I strongly recommend that Roy Ayers,funk or acid fans aficianados in general pick this album up as soon as they can before it becomes hard to find,which (sadly) is what too many jazz-funk CD reissues tend to do.

It's about time.
Finally, somebody is taking the iniative to release these types of jazz classics to compact disc. Roy Ayers is one of the most innovative artist of this genre of music and his material deserves to be available to the fans for purchase. I must commend Verve records for their efforts in getting this self titled album to cd. This is one of Roy's finest early recordings. I just picked it up and I'm enjoying.