Sunday 1 September 2019

The Black Man's Burdon - ERIC BURDON***

Black In Black On Black/Paint It Black I/Laurel & Hardy/Pintelo Negro II/PC3/Black Bird/Paint It Black III/ Spirit/Beautiful New Born Child/Nights In White Satin/The Bird & The Squirrel/Nuts Seeds & Life/Out Of Nowhere/Nights In White Satin/Sun-Moon/Pretty Colours/Gun/Jimbo/Bare Black Ride/Home Cookin'/They Can't Take Away Our Music

Second collaboration between the former Animals vocalist Eric Burdon and the black R & B group War. A sprawling double album with extended jams which might usefully have been shortened to just a single LP. (US:82 UK:25)

“The album had its moments, though they were scattered across the collection's twenty tracks and four sides. In spite of his apparent megalomania, Burdon's voice was still in fair shape and while the quality of material bounced all over the map, there were certainly a couple of interesting moments. Burdon's non-too-subtle social commentary, the extended musical jams, and the general vibe, musically it didn't get much more '70s than this.”

The Black-Man's Burdon is a wonderful album – as a concept. It contains lengthy musical epics built around some 1960s classics. It contains a lot of jamming, like a jazz-rock definition of their own: rock that is handled like jazz. It also features a few more conventional but still valid styles like soul and blues rock. Considering this, Eric Burdon was really creating something new here.”

“I know that some people find this album inconsistent and over-rambling but that's one of the reasons why I love it. The more I listen to it, the more I like it because the performances are so fantastic. Burdon's singing is probably at its strongest here, particularly on Paint It Black which is one of the greatest covers ever.”

“The passion of Burdon's vocal delivery is as believable as he was during his first few albums with The Animals. Nothing since those days found him this inspired or interested in what he was attempting to do.”

“There is some excellent jamming, but too much self indulgence. A single LP would have had less filler.”

“This is not the War from the later 1970s, but is an absolutely kicking feast of Latin grooves. Burdon had the voice and the improvisation skills to work wonders over these long jams, and this band is both tight and loose enough to sail along with him.”

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