This is an excellent early live recording from this group, done around the time of its second album, Embryo's Rache,
and with all tracks taken from that record.
Its a fascinating
juxtaposition between the psychedelic jazz-rock of early embryonic Embryo and the embrace of ethnic music from around the world that characterized subsequent Embryo
projects. It starts off with some tribal drumming, and moves onward
into complex rhythms and lots of sax and flute solos and even a violin
here and there.
Because of Embryo's ever-changing roster, the lineup includes only three of seven musicians from Embryo's Rache, recorded in the same year as Bremen 1971,
and with no keyboards, the dynamics of the live versions of the pieces
are quite different. The first three cuts, each about ten minutes in
length, segue seamlessly together without a pause, while the politically
charged "Spain Yes" is now expanded to nearly half an hour.
With some
odd vocal chanting on "Time" and lots of high-energy jazz-funk grooves
throughout, Embryo's performance is quite inspiring. (by Rolf Semprebon)
Personnel: Christian Burchard (drums) Hansi Fischer (flute) Ralph Fischer (bass) Edgar Hofmann (saxophone, violin) Al Jones (guitar)
Tracklist: 01. Try To Be (Burchard) 10.34 02. Time (Burchard) 10.09 03. Tausenfüssler (H.Fischer) 9.20 04. Spain Yes, Franco Finished (Burchard) 26.26
Delaney & Bonnie's
brand of soul-rock was firmly in place by the time of this 1969 album,
the only one they recorded for Stax. Their following albums would gain
greater exposure, but there's not much difference between this record
and those subsequent efforts, except perhaps that this is more
soul-oriented and less rock-oriented. That's not too surprising
considering that members of Booker T. & the MG's are playing on most of the cuts, though a few were done in Hollywood with Leon Russell on keyboards and Carl Radle on bass. The material was a mixture of original songs and compositions from top Stax writers such as Steve Cropper, Isaac Hayes, and David Porter,
though generally the songs weren't as grittily powerful or memorably
hook-laden at the best stuff to come out of Stax in the late '60s. The
cover of "Piece of My Heart" was bound to pass relatively unnoticed in
the wake of Janis Joplin's wrenching hit cover of the song (with Big Brother & the Holding Company),
and "Hard to Say Goodbye" seems like an attempt to push their sound in a
slightly poppier direction, though not at all a bad one. (The 2006 CD
reissue resequenced the tracks and added six bonus songs, as well as
historical liner notes. The reason for resequencing the order is
uncertain, but the six additional cuts are welcome, as their sound and
quality fit in fine with the rest of the record. If there's any
difference between the bonus material and the songs that found a place
on the initial release, it's that there's a greater emphasis on original
compositions. Of those, "Get Ourselves Together" and "All We Really
Want to Do" are both well up to the standards of the tracks that had
been included on the LP. They also pointed a little more in a rock
direction, and slightly away from the faithful adherence to the Stax
sound that characterized the sessions.) (by Ritchie Unterberger)
Personnel: Joe Arnold (saxophone) Bonnie Bramlett (vocals) Delaney Bramlett (guitar, vocals) Ben Cauley (trumpet) Steve Cropper (guitar) John Davis (trumpet) Donald Dunn (bass) Phil Forrest (background vocals) Isaac Hayes (keyboards) Al Jackson, Jr. (drums) Wayne Jackson (trumpet) Booker T. Jones (keyboards) Jim Karstein (percussion) Ed Logan (saxophone) Andrew Love (saxophone) Jay Pruitt (trumpet) Carl Radle (bass) Leon Russell (keyboards) Dick Steff (trumpet)
Tracklist: 01. It's Been a Long Time Coming (B.Bramlett/D.Bramlett) 2.22 02. A Right Now Love (Banks/B.Bramlett 2.23 03. We Can Love (Cropper/Floyd 2.25 04. My Baby Specializes (Hayes/Porter) 3.18 05. Everybody Loves A Winner (Jones) 4.49 06. Things Get Better (Cropper/Floyd) 2.27 07. Just Plain Beautiful (Cropper/Crutcher) 2.12 08. Hard To Say Goodbye (B.Bramlett/Radle) 2.33 09. Pour Your Love On Me (B.Bramlett/D.Bramlett/Radle) 2:45 10. Piece of My Heart (Berns/Ragovoy) 4.38 + 11. A Right Now Love (Banks/B.Bramlett) 2.21 12. I've Just Been Feeling Bad (Cropper/Floyd) 2.52 13. Dirty Old Man (D.Bramlett/Davis) 2.38 14. Get Ourselves Together (B.Bramlett/D.Bramlett/Radle) 2.28 15. Pour Your Love On Me (B.Bramlett/D.Bramlett/Radle) 2.46 16. Hard To Say Goodbye (B.Bramlett/Radle) 2.35
