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| For many years, I was haunted by a sound. I instinctively knew what it was, how it felt in my heart, but I had no idea what musician or band had created it and I never seemed to stumble across it, on oldies radio or otherwise. It was a melancholy, slightly kitschy yet soulful sound, rooted deep in the corners of my oldest memories from my Seventies childhood. It was the sound of Seventies street soul; big afros, good vibes, summer nights and making out on the first date. I never thought I'd hear that sweet, sentimental groove again, but it's all there on Tower of Power's self-titled 1973 release. One of the strongest albums by the sprawling, multi-ethnic jazz-funk band, Tower of Power features several butt-shaking, roof-raising boogie-funk workouts, but it's the slow-groove ballads that define the sound I'd long searched for. When I hear "Will I Ever Find A Love?," "Clever Girl," "Both Sorry Over Nothin'," and the exquisite "So Very Hard to Go," I float away into a Seventies soul bliss. There is something so completely charming and endearing about these songs, a vague wistfulness only heightened by their relative obscurity and lack of iconic status. Unlike the classic soul sounds of Aretha and the Jackson 5, these tunes haven't sold Pepsi or appeared on countless soundtracks. Instead, they rise from a hazy, lazy, dusty-vinyl ether, crackling from the car radio on the way to get a soft-serve cone on a July night, or from a clock-radio AM station as we reach first base on a bean bag chair. It's just that sound. And the super-tight funk jams -- "Soul Vaccination," "Get Yo' Feet Back On the Ground," and "What Is Hip?" -- round out what could only be considered a very tasty time capsule of unassuming Seventies soul. Track for track, confident and romantic, Tower of Power is timeless. --David Beckman (email)
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