A curious mix of funk, soul, and rock n\u2019 roll, Funkist <\/i>is an overlooked gem of the 1970s. The lone solo album of Procol Harem\u2019s founding drummer Bobby Harrison, it features a broad cast of characters that includes a pre-Whitesnake Micky Moody as the primary guitarist and Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice and Black Sabbath\u2019s Tony Iommi appearing as guests. Bobby Harrison himself leaves the drum kit behind and takes on vocals and turns in an impressive,\u00a0 soulful performance! Levon Helm aside, it\u2019s not often we hear a singing drummer (and no, Ringo Starr does not count), let alone one who takes on an eclectic mix of songs. <\/p>\n
The opening number is one of the strongest on the album. A cover of R&B songwriter Joe Simon\u2019s title track to Cleopatra Jones<\/i>, the bass is pumped and the vocals have gone from soul to white man\u2019s blues. And it works incredibly well! Wouldn\u2019t fit on the soundtrack to Superfly<\/i> but it\u2019s an immediately catchy cover that makes Procol Harem sound tame in comparison. The funked up beat and Harrison\u2019s great blues vocals segue into \u201cWhiskey Head,\u201d likely a tribute to Delta blues singer and guitarist Tommy McClennan\u2019s \u201cWhiskey Head Woman.\u201d Follow it up with some slide guitar in \u201cThinkin\u2019 Bout You\u201d and the centerpiece to the album is coming up\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2026Which, in this admittedly biased reviewer\u2019s opinion is \u201cKing Of The Night,\u201d a magnificent seven minute number featuring Tony Iommi on guitar. Iommi\u2019s sound and his riffs were arguably at their best at this time, with Black Sabbath\u2019s Sabotage <\/i>released in the same year. Acquainted with Harrison when his post-Procol band, Freedom, opened for Black Sabbath on their 1971 tour of Great Britain, Iommi contributes a slow and hypnotic riff that fits surprisingly well with a blues singer. The song even takes a twist at the midway interlude, guaranteed to throw off Sabbath fans on first listen \u2013 in a good way! <\/p>\n
Bobby Harrison has repeatedly named \u201cLong Gone,\u201d on which he also plays drums and wrote the lyrics, as his favorite track on the album. A song about embarking on tour and leaving people behind, it fits well with \u201cCleopatra Jones\u201d and \u201cWhiskey Head\u201d as the third fusion of Harrison\u2019s blues vocals with a funk. The song was re-recorded as a single for Harrison\u2019s next band, Snafu, but I\u2019d favour this one; his vocals are more front and center in the mix, the bass has more punch, and there\u2019s a real sense of groove.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Funkist <\/i>is a bit loose around the edges at times, as is any release with a broad range of musicians passing through. But Harrison\u2019s shift from drums to vocals and his interest in experimenting with different genres makes for an interesting and highly enjoyable 35 minutes. Persuaded by management to shelve the solo album and form a band with co-writer Micky Moody in what became Snafu, it was released after three years\u2019 delay with little promotion from Capitol Records and soon faded to obscurity. Re-released in 2000, the album is well worth discovering. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":34358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[10673],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-46194","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bobby-harrison","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46194"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}