Review Summary: The highlights deserve a place in the pantheon of the band's catalog, but this is a record that wasn't needed at all...
After the moderate critical and commercial success of their debut, the group didn’t know which direction to take; should they keep on crafting catchy funk numbers with jazzy arrangements, hoping for a big breakthrough or go all experimental on our ears and carve a niche market? Naturally, this album goes on both directions.
The arrangements are more or less in the same vein as the debut; the flashy brass section, the economic guitars, the thunderous drumming and the powerful, chanted harmonies that they displayed earlier that year are in full swing here, helping the group retain its early raw power that was mostly lost on later releases in exchange for more lush, polished arrangements.
As far as songwriting goes, however, the opening
Energy is a complete change of scenery and will confuse many listeners about the album’s content. The band eschews hooks and melodies for an experimental jazz-funk number that unfortunately goes absolutely nowhere. It isn’t esoteric and mysterious like a good jazz number should be, neither powerful and groovy as one would expect from a funk tune. Instead, it is filled with off-beat, disjointed drum patterns until it sets into an average groove for a while, while screams about “Mother Nature” drag it down to embarrassment levels. So much for experimentation, it seems.
On the other hand, you can always press the skip button and roll into the sweaty, steamy and hot
I Can Feel It In My Bones, a minor classic that’s certainly influenced by Sly & The Family Stone; major highlights include the fat, fuzzy riff in the background during the verses, as well as the terrific call-and-response sequences between the brass section and the harmonica. The closing
Everything Is Everything bears less Sly Stone similarities and isn’t any worse; featuring another captivating, simple riff it slowly builds into a very euphoric crescendo, finishing the album in an appropriate high note, as opposed to the plodding start…
The finest song, however, has to be the soothingly relaxing
I Think About Loving You. It is no wonder that this was the first top 40 hit for the band; mournful, delicate and uplifting at the same time, it serves as a bit of fresh air between the two other frenetic highlights and easily ranks among the finest ballads of the group.
And that’s about it, folks! There is also the pleasant, but throwaway
Beauty, but apart from the aforementioned three standout songs, the rest of the album is sorely lacking, making this release a bit redundant in retrospect. The songs would fare much better as singles, bonus tracks for the debut or as an EP without a doubt. As it is, the better songs grant it a respectable rating but this is one mighty pointless release, so tread lightly.
