psychedelic soul Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

The Limboos “Off the Loop”

sfilzen — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 18:51:50 +0000

The Limboos “Off the Loop” 2024. Penniman Records. Madrid, Spain-based garage-soul, exotic r&b, psychedelic pop. Basically the kitchen sink of genres. Off the Loop is the 5-piece group’s fourth LP. I’m completely unfamiliar with this band – the album was a gift from some Spanish travels – so I can’t say anything about how it compares to their previous material. According to their Bandcamp page, on Off the Loop “they inaugurate a new cycle that confirms the restlessness and nonconformity of the band in the search for their own sound. How to define ‘Off the Loop’? The nine songs and 35 minutes of music included here reflect this broad perspective: lysergic passages, baroque pop, and beautifully crafted psychedelia intertwine with cinematic atmospheres, fuzz guitars, galactic keyboards and unique arrangements. In short, The Limboos’ sound has reached a place you never suspected.” My top pick is the almost-title track “In the Loop” which has a funky psych-garage vibe, followed by the hard, blues rocker “Stranded (I’m Moving On)” which also has more than a nod to psychedelia to it (love that 60’s organ sound). “Hangin’ Up” has a really laid-back soul-meets-psych groove and “Red Line” is a pretty decent ass-shaker.

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Sly and the Family Stone “Stand!”

sfilzen — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 16:20:30 +0000

Sly and the Family Stone “Stand!” 1969. Today, March 15th, is Family Stone frontman Sly Stone’s birthday (b. Sylvester Stewart, 1943). Stand! was their fourth album and the group’s most successful, hitting #13 on the Billboard pop chart and #3 on the R&B chart; the Library of Congress selected it for inclusion into the National Recording Registry in 2015. It also had significant impact on future R&B, soul and hip-hop artists, pretty much setting the standard for uplifting, socially critical, hook-laden funk and psychedelic soul. My favorite tracks are the ones I’m most familiar with – the hit singles “Everyday People” (which hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts and is also notable for the lyric “different strokes for different folks”) and its b-side “Sing a Simple Song” (#89 on the pop chart, #28 R&B) which ended up becoming one of the band’s signature songs (and was covered by, like, a million other artists including Prince, Diana Ross and The Jackson 5 and sampled by a million more: Public Enemy, De La Soul, Arrested Development…the freakin’ Spice Girls). Also released as a single was the hit title track “Stand!” which hit #13 on the Hot 100 chart and #14 on the Hot Soul chart in ‘69. Its b-side “I Want to Take You Higher” also became a top 40 hit in 1970 (#34, #24 on the R&B chart), likely propelled by the Family Stone’s inclusion of the song onto its Woodstock setlist in the summer of ‘69. (Ike & Tina Turner’s cover was even bigger hit, going to #25, also in 1970.) From Allmusic: “Stand! winds up infectious and informative, invigorating and thought-provoking – stimulating in every sense of the word.”

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Janis Joplin “Janis Joplin’s Greatest Hits”

sfilzen — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 15:12:31 +0000

Janis Joplin “Janis Joplin’s Greatest Hits” 1973. Today is my mom’s 70th birthday so today’s pull goes out to her in celebration. This album was on heavy heavy rotation at our house in the 70′s, especially on cleaning days. Bluesy, deeply soulful and psychedelic, Janis Joplin’s Greatest Hits was released two years after Joplin’s death. It contains songs she recorded between 1966 and 1970 with Big Brother and the Holding Company (“Piece of My Heart,” “Summertime,” “Down on Me,” and “Bye, By Baby”), the Kozmic Blues Band (“Try”) and the Full Tilt Boogie Band (“Cry Baby,” “Get It While You Can,” “Move Over” and “Ball and Chain”). It also has the studio recording of “Me and Bobby McGee,” written by Kris Kristofferson.

Here is an old photo of me and my mom circa ‘73. Happy birthday!

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Funkadelic “Maggot Brain”

sfilzen — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 20:35:40 +0000

Funkadelic “Maggot Brain” released 45 years ago on this date, July 12th 1971. I was born just 10 days later so it wasn’t exactly on my radar at the time of its release, but once I finally heard it in college (thanks to a Funkadelic/Parliament obsessed roommate) my mind was blown. Crazy, outofthisworld beats, guitar, insanity. The opening track “Maggot Brain” starts off with this spoken-word lead in by George Clinton:

Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time
For y’all have knocked her up
I have tasted the maggots in the mind of the universe
I was not offended
For I knew I had to rise above it all
Or drown in my own shit

Then Eddie Hazel goes on to play the most mournful guitar solo ever. Allmusic states “George Clinton famously told Hazel to play ‘like your momma had just died,’ and the resulting evocation of melancholy and sorrow doesn’t merely rival Jimi Hendrix’s work, but arguably bests a lot of it.”

“Hit It and Quit It” is a weird, funky, amazing celebration of everything, groovy guitar and that late 60′s/early 70′s keyboard sound jamming along. “Super Stupid” is awash in psychedelic hard rock guitar, hitting heavy for the boogie. The album wraps up with “Wars of Armageddon,” an epic freak out jam with samples of everything possible, including freedom chants, trolley bells and cuckoo clocks.

“Can You Get To That” is one of my favorite songs of all time, its slow-n-sexy beat, clever and quotable lyrics and gospel harmonies paired with canyon-deep bass vocals (“I wanna know”) never fail to give me shivers.

I once had a life or rather
Life had me I was one among many
Or at least I seemed to be
then I read an old quotation in a book just yesterday said you gonna reap just what you sow the debts you make you have to pay
Can you get to that?
Can you get to that?
I want to know if you can get to that
Can you get to that?
I want to know if you can get to that
I recollect with mixed emotions all
The good time we use to have we use to have
But you were making preparations for the coming separation and you blew everything we had
Well you placed your life on credit and your lovin’ days are done
The checks you signed with love and kisses later come back signed insufficient funds
Can you get
I want to know if you can get to that
Well you placed your life on credit and your lovin’ days are done
The checks you signed with love and kisses later come back signed insufficient funds
Can you get
I want to know if you can get to that

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