Liner Notes: Patrick Adams Presents Phreek (1978, Atlantic / 2014, BBR/Cherry Red)

 I'm sure many of the disco heads reading this were aware of the great RBMA Larry Levan street party in New York that happened nearly a month ago now, right outside the former Paradise Garage (in conjunction with the Larry Levan Way initiative). Covered heavily not only by Red Bull Music Academy themselves, but by Rolling Stone, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, it promised to be a landmark event not just for that weekend, but for the legacy of Larry and the Garage itself. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be there, but watching the amazing livestream on their website (which unfortunately is not archived - though at least now the audio is), I have to say for those of us, like myself, who weren't around to experience it in its day, or for those who may not have completely understood the draw of the Garage, it was a chance to really witness the power of its legacy and what it meant to the people who were a part of it (and to those who weren't). To see not just the Garage veterans, but generations of people - gay, straight, black, white (and beyond) - dancing together in that kind of joy (under clear sunny skies, no less) it was a truly beautiful thing to witness. Even if it did have to end earlier than planned (on account of crowd concerns from the police - some 20 thousand people in attendance, a number of them stuck in the lineups to get in), from most accounts, RBMA managed to pull off a truly special event that everyone could be proud of..

With all that happening, I suppose it was kind of timely that my promo copies of this reissue (which had come out in February) arrived in the mail just a few days before. Perhaps best known for "Weekend," which by many accounts, had been one of the biggest Paradise Garage anthems (and which of course was played at the recent street party), Patrick Adams Presents Phreek had long been one of my favourite disco albums and when the opportunity presented itself, I pretty much jumped at the chance to write the liner notes for this release..

On a personal note, I remember this being one of the first albums I'd sought out when I first became aware of Patrick Adams' productions. I had already bought the Musique albums, as well as the first Disco Juice compilation (which included some of his Cloud One material). Not long after, in 2001 (some 13 years ago now - yikes!), at my local record haunt at the time - I had found a lone sealed, but unfortunately water damaged copy of this album. Checking it over carefully, debating with myself whether it was worth the dust and mould, I'd ultimately decide to leave it behind that time. I'd go back and repeat that exact scanario several more times before one day deciding that enough was enough - I had to have it, in whatever condition it came in. After all, it was the music that counted and since it was still sealed, any water damage could probably just be cleaned off anyway, right? Sure enough, the day I make a point of going there to buy it, I go to find that somebody had beat me to it! Couldn't believe it at the time, that someone else - in Calgary, Alberta no less (not exactly somewhere where you'd think you'd have been in competition for disco albums, certainly not back in 2001) would have been after this record and after it enough to buy one in that condition. Goes to show perhaps, as anecdotal as that impression may be, a sign of the cult following that this album probably already had at the time. Luckily, not too long after, a much nicer copy would find its way into their bins, which I quickly bought and which I still have and treasure today.



Phreek - May My Love Be With You (Vocals: Donna McGhee)
Uploaded by DJ Amine Bebito

Several years after, in 2007, I had written a Disco Delivery entry for this album and I pretty much jumped off some of what I had written then when I began the liner essay for this. One thing about this album that has always stood out for me is that I've always found it to be the bridge between Patrick Adams' experimental side on his productions on the P&P label, like Cloud One and the more slick, sophisticated arrangements that he was also known for, especially on his major label work. You've got a light string arrangement on "Weekend," you have the heavy moogy freakiness, the sweet, sublime and soulful sides ("May My Love Be With You") and of course, the lascvisious side as well ('I'm A Big Freak (R U 1 2)"). It's like a summary of the many angles of Patrick's musical approach at the time and in the credits, a gathering of many of his closest associates.

Disco Delivery #38: Patrick Adams Presents Phreek (1978, Atlantic)
It had actually taken a little while to do so, but last summer I was fortunate enough to get in contact with this two of the album's leading figures - Patrick Adams himself and Leroy Burgess (who co-wrote "Weekend" and "Much Too Much" with James Calloway and co-produced both tracks with Patrick) and interview them over the phone for this. Prior to doing so, I was expecting to rely a great deal on both of their RBMA lecture sessions, which both Patrick and Leroy had done some nearly 10 years apart. As informative as those conversations are, it was no replacement for speaking to them personally about the album, their working relationship and how certain songs on the record came to be. Still, both of their RBMA lectures are highly recommended viewing for anyone even halfway interested in their work..



Lecture: Patrick Adams (New York, 2013)
Uploaded by Red Bull Music Academy on Vimeo.



Lecture: Leroy Burgess (Rome, 2004)
Uploaded by Red Bull Music Academy on Vimeo.

From there, I dug a little deeper and also managed to contact Issy Sanchez, who was Atlantic Records' Director of Disco Promotion and A&R at the time and who had also done the highly sought-after 12" remix of "Weekend." Issy was not only able to give insight into that 12" mix and some of workings within the label, but given that he was fairly tight with Larry Levan and the Paradise Garage organization, was able to give some insight into how well "Weekend" had been received there and just how much of a classic it had become for Larry and the Garage crowd.



Phreek - Weekend (12" Disco Mix by Issy Sanchez, Vocal: Christie Shire)
Uploaded by tmontyb10011

Another key player I contacted for this was Christine Wiltshire, the lead vocalist on "Weekend," on both this and the Class Action cover version that came later. Credited as both Christine Wiltshire and Christie Shire on the album credits, Christine was not only one of Patrick's main backing vocalists and his vocal contractor but also his girlfriend at the time (they have a daughter and were together - personally and professionally for over a decade). I'd have to say that finding Christine was one of the greatest revelations in this process. The now Oscar winning documentary 20 Feet From Stardom had just come out at the time, and hearing her story, she could have very easily been one of the film's subjects. Given how prolific she was as a background vocalist (and not just on Patrick's material), I was surprised to hear that she hadn't really been interviewed in depth about her work before our conversation. Her beginnings in the music business go back well before her disco work, when she sang in a trio called Something Different, with two childhood friends - Angel Coakley along with a certain Jocelyn Brown, who'd become a prominent and prolific vocalist in her own right (and who also appears here on Phreek and on quite a few of Patrick's major productions).. As a trio, Something Different had sang with Zulema, Bill Withers and even John and Yoko (getting a featured billing on Yoko Ono and The Plastic Ono Band's "Feeling The Space" album, no less). Apart from the trio, Christine herself would sing with Lou Reed and with Luther Vandross' group on his very first album, as well. While I was only able to use a small part of our interview for the liner notes, it was without a doubt one of the most valuable conversations I'd have in this whole process..

A Correction:

At one point I quote Leroy Burgess talking about "Much Too Much" being the "first suggestion of the boogie sound" which it definitely is, especially if you listen to his later work as Convertion and Logg (he is widely crowned the king of boogie, after all). However he also goes on to say in doing it he wanted something with "a dance feel, but not as fast as what traditional disco is." Well, checking the BPM, it's not exactly slower than the rest of the record or even standard disco, but given that its got a funkier, more spacious arrangement than some of the others on the album, I think most people can see what he was getting at anyway. Still, something I should have caught earlier on.

Earlier Japanese reissue:

Although Phreek had been out of print physically for some time, it had been legitimately available on iTunes for a few years before. Just as I came into this project however, Warner had evidently released this in Japan as a basic, low-priced CD reissue some months before this UK reissue could came out. Given that it was released as part of a budget-priced series (which also included another release BBR had licensed - Gwen McCrae's 1982 album), it was also a lot cheaper than your usual Japanese reissue (selling in some places for just over $10 US - and that's as an import). Whether that was intentional or not,(in pricing it in order to appeal to international buyers), it certainly ended up stealing some thunder from this release. That being said, (aside from the liner notes, of course) the UK BBR reissue includes two bonus tracks - Issy Sanchez's original 12" mix of "Weekend" and its B-side - a longer version of "Have A Good Day" which aren't included on the Japanese reissue.

A note about "Weekend" and chart positions:

Patrick once posted on his Facebook about how some of his records have only become more and more popular as time has gone on. I believe he'd been referring to one of his P&P productions at the time, but I think this applies just as well to Phreek and "Weekend" too.. Right on the heels of "In The Bush," and right around the same time as a couple of other albums he'd produced on Atlantic - for Narada Michael Walden and Herbie Mann, even though this didn't chart quite as well as either of them, it seems out of his work for Atlantic,"Weekend" and the Phreek album have been the ones that discophiles today consistenly cite as one of his essential records. While I'm sure subsequent covers, remixes and samples along with its attachment to the Larry Levan/Paradise Garage legacy have played a significant part in that, it should also be noted that at the time of its release, despite positive reviews from Vince Aletti in Record World (see the December 9, 1978 entry - pg. 448 in the The Disco Files) and Stereo Review, this didn't chart anywhere on Billboard, including their disco chart. That said, I should also note that at the time of this album's release, Billboard's National Disco Action chart only went up to #40. It was only several months later in April 1979, that it would expand to 60 positions, (then 80 and eventually 100), so whether "Weekend" would have actually charted had that expansion come several months earlier is perhaps anyone's guess, but also goes to show whether or not a record is remembered years later, sometimes has little or nothing to do with its initial chart positions.

Covers and remixes:

Although "Weekend" has been covered and remixed, most famously covered by Class Action and later Todd Terry(which was a #1 Billboard dance record, nearly ten years after the original's release), remixed by Tommy Musto in the late 1990s and also covered recently by the current edition of Odyssey, have to give a shout out to Joey Negro's recent remix of "May My Love Be With You." Although not a part of this reissue, it was included on his Remixed With Love compilation and is undoubtedly one of my favourite songs from this album. True to its claim, done lovingly and faithfully in that old school style (ie. no added bells and whistles here, aside from what was already on the master), it only makes me love it even more.


PURCHASE:
patrick adams presents phreek (remastered cd) (1978, atlantic / 2014, big break records)
dusty groove | juno.co.uk | amazon.co.uk | big break records

PREVIOUS RELATED ENTRIES:
come put out the fire.. (tuesday july 24, 2007)
disco delivery #38: patrick adams presents phreek (1978, atlantic) (thursday march 29, 2007)

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discomusic.com: phreek - weekend/have a good day (12" single)
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red bull music academy - new york 2013: patrick adams lecture
red bull music academy - rome 2004: leroy burgess lecture
the second disc: big break's round up: label "phreeks" out with patti labelle, isaac hayes, gwen mccrae, more (by joe marchese) (april 11, 2014)

CATEGORIES: LINER NOTES

Liner Notes: Candido - Dancin' & Prancin' (1979, Salsoul / 2012, BBR/Cherry Red)

Although this is my first post on one of my liner note projects, this actually wasn't my first liner note assignment, those would be a couple of France Joli reissues on the Gold Legion label in 2011 (more on that in a future post). My latest, for the "Patrick Adams Presents Phreek" (1978, Atlantic) album reissued on BBR was released just this week, however, I'm starting here because this is the first one that I've actually been compensated for (thank you, good people at BBR/Cherry Red!) and one that overall, despite some twists and turns along the way, that I was fairly happy with..

When this album was offered to me, I was more than willing to take the assignment, as this was one record that had been a favourite of mine, ever since hearing it some eleven years earlier. Unlike quite a few disco albums that I love, this wasn't one that I had discovered through a record store, but from an early online purchase as a teenager, and still a few years before I was able to obtain a credit card (money orders were still cheap then, as I recall). I had little idea what to expect when I bought this, aside from the fact that it was described as a CD reissue of a genuine Salsoul album (released on the Charly label in the UK), which was more than enough for me.

After listening to it, even without having a great deal of context on this album, it had struck me as one of the more intriguing disco records I had heard up until that point. I had no idea how significant Candido Camero was as a percussionist, often mentioned alongside Afro-Cuban legends like Chano Pozo and Mongo Santamaria, and how upon coming to America, he would play with just about anybody that was anybody in the jazz world. Nor did I realize how much of a staple "Jingo" had become and how often it had been covered and remixed thoughout the years. At the time, this was the first album I'd bought where it wasn't a singer, or a producer, but a percussionist that was getting top billing. As unorthodox as it may have seemed to me, this album sounded nothing like a commercial shotgun marriage that the times or the situation may have suggested, but one that actually came with a deep, even elemental disco sound that not only recalled the genre's roots, but at times ended up sounding oddly contemporary in ways that I hadn't quite expected, twenty some years after its release.


Candido - Thousand Finger Man
Uploaded by tkind1

Fast-forward eleven years later, as soon as I started researching for this essay, a few roadblocks. First, the licensors stipulated that any interviews with the artist or any persons involved with the recording had to be approved by them first; second, none was forthcoming; third: even if I did get approval, as it turned out, quite a few of the key personnel were no longer around to be interviewed anyway. These days, whether because of the squeeze on the CD market, or in spite of it, the standards for reissues are generally a fair bit higher today than they had ever been, and that's more often than not reflected in the liner essays on many of the BBR reissues in particular, where input from the principals has become if not essential, often expected. That said, time was ticking and I'd have to do without any outside quotes if I were to ever finish this. As it turned out, that was okay, since that had me trying to compensate in other ways, which, in part, had me delving into the Latin side of the Salsoul enterprise a lot more than I had expected to.

Starting with The Cayre Brothers' Caytronics label (essentially, Salsoul's parent company) where they began licensing Latin music from major labels in Latin America and Europe for release in the US, to what they did with Salsoul, one can't help but admire the Cayre Brothers and their entrepreneurial skill. At a time when major labels in the US paid little attention to the Latin market, to today, when such a thing as the Latin Grammys exist; one could say that the Cayres were one of the pioneers in seeing the potential of Latin music in America and from there in seeing the potential of Disco with Salsoul, which I'm sure, still pays handsome dividends today.

One of the major thrusts of my liner essay was that this album was ultimately one of the last to fulfill the original promise of the Salsoul label, that marriage of Salsa and Soul, of Latin music and Black music that had informed a lot of its early successes with Joe Bataan and The Salsoul Orchestra, one that was foundational to disco in America.. As it turns out, this wasn't lost on Salsoul themselves, as a June 1979 article in Billboard (basically a promo for this record) entitled "Salsoul Back to Mix of Hispanic and Black Musics" had indicated.

Going back to my third roadblock, if I had done this just over a year or two prior, I would have probably been able to talk to Woody Cunningham and Norman Durham both of Kleeer, who had both since passed away (in 2010 and 2011, respectively), and who practically, along with Candido himself, made up the core of this album's rhythm section.

Another person I'd hoped to make contact with was the album's producer Joe Cain. Writer David Carp had published a profile on Joe Cain for Descarga.com in 1999, which is easily the most comprehensive article on the man's work that I've read anywhere. And while it was over a decade old, providing that the email address still worked, I hoped he'd be able to provide a lead in case I did get permission. While I was able to contact David Carp, sadly he would inform me that Joe Cain had passed away some 8-9 years earlier, so unfortunately that too was also out of the question. As it was, Carp's article on Joe Cain provided plenty of background information that I was able to use for this.




Candido - Hands of Fire (Manos de fuego) (Documentary)
Uploaded by MVDmusicvideo 
While Candido Camero himself is still alive and if one can believe it, still performing occasionally at the age of 92; whether or not he would have been willing to talk to me for this, I would have loved to have had the opportunity. Again, I didn't have permission, so unfortunately I'd have to go without his words also. In the absence of quotes from the man himself, I ended up turning to Ivan Acosta's 2005 documentary - "Hands of Fire" (see above) which is fully viewable online, and easily the definitive exploration of Candido's life and work out there today. Needless to say, this too proved absolutely invaluable to me.

Candido with Salsoul's Ken Cayre
(photo: Doug Young, courtesy: Brian Chin)

Although people involved with the record were off limits, one person that I did end up going to was music writer/historian Brian Chin, who had written for Record World and Billboard in the past and who has also authored quite a number of liner note essays over the years. He ended up providing some key insight into the Afro-Cuban influence in disco and the brief history of remixer/DJ David Rodriguez, Jr. who did the mix for "Jingo". As well, a few months after submitting my essay, Brian took out his copy of the album, a test pressing in which he had found an accompanying press photo - a little-seen shot of Candido with Ken Cayre, taken when he signed his Salsoul contract. Brian generously sent me a scan for it to be included in the reissue. I wasn't sure whether it would make it under the wire, but thankfully it did and has been reprinted on the first page of the booklet, so massive thanks to Brian for his help and generosity here..


Corrections/Clarifications:

There were other percussionists who dabbled in Disco at the time, like Willie Bobo and Candido's old friend Mongo Santamaria, to name a couple of peers that I mentioned in the liner notes. I was perhaps stretching things when I mentioned that "no one had really placed a percussionist like Candido into a full length disco setting before," in which I meant to say that neither of those two recorded full disco albums centered around their percussion quite like this one that Candido did. Unfortunately, I had neglected to mention two other big ones who did. Although not necessarily of the same Afro-Cuban tradition, there was King Errisson and his 1977 "L.A. Bound" album with Mike Theodore and Dennis Coffey, and Ralph MacDonald, whose "Calypso Breakdown" was on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. I suppose one could split hairs and say that perhaps Errisson's album was centred more around him as a singer, rather than a percussionist, and that MacDonald's 1979 album "Counterpoint" wasn't entirely disco focused, but in my case, it was an omission that I should have addressed.

Also, at one point I talk about the arranger on the bulk of this album, Louis Small, who had also worked on Kleeer's records and albums by Sylvester and Inner Life. I had mentioned at one point, that he was "bringing his broad experience across both Latin and Disco fields to the proceedings." Unfortunately, I got this one somewhat backwards. This album pre-dated his work with Inner Life and Sylvester and possibly also Kleeer. Whether this album is what lead to him working on those disco projects, I wasn't able to figure out either, but this was one other thing I should have caught earlier..

Liner notes aside, as far as the music is concerned, a couple of super rare acetate versions of "Thousand Finger Man" and "Dancin and Prancin'" had surfaced just late last year. While these had been re-pressed (unofficially, of course) on vinyl, I only wish these had come out earlier, so maybe someone would have been able to find the tapes and possibly include them on this reissue. Finding tapes would have probably been a long-shot in itself, but perhaps something to flag in case of any future reissues (to add to all the others, see Competing Reissues, below).

Candi's Funk, the follow-up album:

Listening to Candido's follow-up Salsoul record, "Candi's Funk," I couldn't help but feel like that record was a major drop in quality from this album, which had me wondering if maybe that was just an album comprised of this record's throwaways. One other thing that made me wonder about that, was that on this album, three of the four tracks were arranged by Louis Small, with only one track, the last one - "Rock and Shuffle (A-Ha)" arranged by Carlos Franzetti. On "Candi's Funk," Franzetti was the arranger on all the tracks. I thought perhaps Candido and Joe Cain maybe did a series of sessions with both arrangers, with the best cuts selected for this record and the leftovers cobbled together later for "Candi's Funk." Given that I wasn't able to talk to any personnel to confirm my suspicions, I didn't bother mentioning this in the liner essay, but it remains a hunch, so am putting it out there anyway..

Competing Reissues:

I should also say that this isn't the first time this album has been reissued on CD. Aside from the Charly reissue from the mid 90s that I mentioned earlier, there was the Candido Salsoul Anthology released in 2005 back when Suss'd Records in the UK did their own Salsoul relaunch which included all the tracks from this album. Unidisc here in Canada reissued this album a few years later when they were putting out a number of Salsoul albums. Also, more recently, the Octave Lab label in Japan put out their own reissue, as part of their own Salsoul reissue program which they've been doing seemingly right alongside BBRs reissue program. I don't have the recent Japanese Octave Lab reissues, so I can't speak to its quality, but going back to what I mentioned at the beginning of the post though, it's a pretty accurate reflection of the state of disco reissues today, where there are not only a large number of albums surfacing or re-surfacing on CD, but are even given competing reissues in different territories (hence, why they aren't officially 'competing,' but with a great deal of reissue/catalogue album purchases done online, who is anyone kidding?)

Looking at and listening to this BBR reissue though, the attention to detail that they've consistently put into the presentation of their releases sets the bar pretty high among reissue labels and to my ears, this is probably the best that this album has ever sounded. So take that for what it's worth.. Either way, I'm glad to have played a small part in helping keep this record out there for everyone to enjoy.

PURCHASE:

candido - dancin' & prancin (remastered cd) (1979, salsoul / 2012, big break/cherry red)
amazon.co.uk | amazon.com | dusty groove | big break records

latin jazz u.s.a. presents: candido - hands of fire (manos de fuego) (documentary dvd)
amazon.com | descarga.com | mvd entertainment group

LINKS:
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google books: billboard - salsoul back to mix of hispanic and black musics (june 16, 1979)
drum! - drumming for fanatics: candido: the father of modern conga drumming (by bobby sanabria)
descarga.com - meet joe cain (by david carp) (april 29, 1999)
discogs: joe cain
discogs: louis small
discogs: carlos franzetti
soultracks: kleeer's woody cunningham dies (january 10, 2010)
discogs: woody cunningham
soultracks: kleeer bassist norman durham dies (november 4, 2011)
discogs: norman durham

CATEGORIES: LINER NOTES

Disco Delivery Liner Notes

In the last two/three years or so, one of the little spin-offs that has come about, largely through this blog, has been in writing liner note essays for disco CD reissues. Despite what has been said about the demise of the CD; the market, or at least the activity around disco reissues seems like it has never been more fruitful than in these last several years. Those of you who've been following the Disco Discharge/Recharge series on Harmless and labels like Funkytown Grooves, Big Break Records/Cherry Red or Gold Legion can probably attest to that.

I have to thank writer and PopMatters contributing editor Christian John Wikane firstly, for approaching me and giving me the opportunity to add my words to these reissues and help document the stories around these records. While I haven't worked on a large quantity of releases so far, it has provided some wonderful opportunities not just in giving context to these records, but also in getting to speak to some of the people - the artists, producers and singers behind the material in a way that I wouldn't have imagined just several years ago.

That being said, I figured the blog would be the ideal place to document some of that work, and without reprinting the essays in full (at least not while the releases are in print), at least give some background to them and a perhaps little bit of promotion at the same time. There is, compared to what I do here on the blog, certain limitations that come with the space in a CD booklet of course, some material that while compelling to me, won't necessarily fit on the essay and some corrections/clarifications after the fact, so that's at least part of what I hope to document here..

I'll soon be adding a little link on the sidebar to all posts about my liner notes, as well as a post on one of the releases I was involved with last year, and hopefully go from there as they surface..

CATEGORIES: LINER NOTES