Customer Reviews

Back to Oakland

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I should have written this a long time ago. This album (CD) changed the way I looked at music, at groups, at the meaning of life . . . well, maybe not that drastically. But this album started a huge love affair between me and the Tower of Power. I'd never heard anything even approaching their level of musicianship, professionalism or tightness as a horn-based group. I'd heard a ton of groups up to this point in time: Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago and that group that made VEHICLE being the most prominent. Even Buddy Miles on his BUDDY MILES LIVE album (OOP) had a tremendous horn section But none of them highlighted the horn sections consistently. None of them could come close to this group of musical prodigies.

Every cut was a joy to listen to. Even the split-up version of OAKLAND STROKE was just a fun jam. My impressions of the group: Aside from Jimmy Smith, I hadn't heard a Hammond B3 sound so funky till I heard Chester Thompson. Aside from Jr. Walker, I hadn't experienced anyone who had such masterful control of their altissimo range till I heard Lenny Pickett. The supporting horns (Kupka, Castillo, Adams and Gillette) had their own vibe and despite a lack of solo time, managed to make a significant impact on every song. And for bass work, nobody was touching Rocco Prestia. In his true prime, Rocco's style was totally individual. David Garibaldi was what I considered a phenomenal drummer. All his rhythms were crisp and unique . . . playing off the sycopation of the bass, organ and guitar. He had a serious ear for rhythms. Bruce Conte was one of the most underrated of the crew, but his guitar work was ahead of its time. There were traces of jazz and some island influences that I hear very plainly.

Lenny Williams' vocals really set a definitive tone for this group. They were distinctive, fluid and heartfelt. His voice made the puzzle complete; put the icing on the cake; lit the cigarette after some mind-blowing sex.

My favorite selections: Without a doubt, JUST WHEN WE START MAKIN' IT ranks as one of my all-time favorite tunes. It exemplifies what the group is all about. It's jazzy, it's laid back, but it drives relentlessly, fills you with emotional fire and thrills your music sense to its fullest. Lenny's vocals are soaring and urging, Pickett's sax solos are powerful and sensual, the staccato background horns are poignant and dynamic, the organ break not only resets tempo, but turns into a thing of genius. CT creating a series of rippling, bubbling organ lines against the crescendo of the entire horn contingent and the incomparable Garibaldi drums - cymbals crashing, bass tom rolling, the incredible beat he lays down was too innovative. I was overwhelmed the first time I heard this. I must have worn out the vinyl from overplaying it. Actually, I have owned this album/CD around 12 times since 1973, from having to repurchase it after having it stolen or borrowed out indefinitely.

Other favorites: TIME WILL TELL, CAN'T YOU SEE, CITY LIGHTS. And no instrumental rocked my soul for a long time like SQUIB CAKES. Chester wrote a lot of songs in some other albums, but they all sounded like mutated versions of SQUIB CAKES . . . like distant cousins or wannabe next door neighbors.

In all, I really love this album. It's been part of my life for over 30 years. And it just sounds better everytime I put it on.

Back to Oakland represents Tower of Power at the top of their 1970's form. 'Don't Change Horses' peaked out in the Top 30 (only their 1973 'So Very Hard To Go' was more popular as a single), and there are several other cuts worth listening to over and over again. The classic 'Squib Cakes' is found on this CD, the defacto standard for a jammin' instrumental that the band--still going strong after 30 years--performs at virtually every show. Other strong cuts include 'Just When We Start Making It' and 'Man From The Past.' This CD will grow on you with each hearing. It is a collection of music that must be played loudly on your stereo--turn it up and listen to the horn section wail. If you listen critically to this CD, you will want to add their other CD's to your collection--some 17 of them over 30 years. The beauty of this band is in its mixture of soul, funk, jazz, rock, easy listening, disco, big band, social awareness, and even rap--all with that wonderful horn section underlying each production. There are some well-known horns bands like Chicago or Blood, Sweat & Tears, but once you've heard this CD, you will become aware of a noticeable difference. The horn section is *SO* tight and there is a great feeling of power in their music, definitely justifying the group's name. You can visit their Web site for more information. What a great group of talented musicians!

If you're just getting into TOP, this probably would be the one album I'd recommend...
The year is 1974 and it's the follow up to their gold selling self titled album - - the one that gave the world WHAT IS HIP.

Aside from featuring the "classic" Warner Brother's era TOP line-up that most fans go ga ga over, high points of the album include its immaculately blistering opening and closer - - the ultra-sticky Oakland Stroke (What? Only a minute and a half???) - - also included, the tight and hooky yet extended jam that would become an instrumental soul anthem "Squib Cakes", and the TOP fan fave DON'T CHANGE HORSES (also featuring great organ work from Chester Thompson.)... Other tunes on the album are great, and even though don't think the tunes are as catchy as the ones on some of their other albums, they still represented the TOP rhythm section at its stickiest... with Garibaldi's drums recorded and mixed in a way that's really crisp, clear and upfront. - - His ability to take the simplest soul backbeat and turn it into something no other drummer could possibly have ever imagined and delivered with such imaginative drive and percision as him are amply demonstrated through the album - - his drumming on CAN'T YOU SEE being very high up on my list - - Tower of Power's ability to take moderately mellow song tunes and turn them into over the top bump fests also is apparent on Man From The Past. - - As for the horns... at times the horns arrangements seem a bit more laid back even "better orchestrated" than on some of their other albums (i.e. slick but at times a little less raw) - - within the overall concept of the album which is really a great vehicle for the band overall, it works... and on tunes like I GOT THE CHOP they still get to lay out their trademark vamps and grooves.

Overall, if you like this album URBAN RENEWAL and IN THE SLOT should probably be next on your MUST GET list...
Though if you want to hear a rawer even more blistery TOP, their early pre-Lenny Williams/Chester Thompson albums such as EAST BAY GREASE and BUMP CITY might also be on your list...

In 2008, WEA Japan released the entire WB Tower Of Power catalog in remastered form. All of the albums benefit from new mastering, and are worthwhile acquisitions for fans.

I found all of the remastered material to be superior to the Rhino 2CD "What Is Hip?" 1999 compilation set, except, surprisingly, for the material from the 3rd album, which sounds better on the Rhino.

Amazon does a haphazard job of stocking these remasters, so you may have to seek them from Japan-based retailers. Also, Amazon's prices are at least a third higher than buying direct from Japan, although shipping costs will cut into that percentage.

Here are the links for the `08 remasters:

East Bay Grease
Bump City
Tower Of Power
Back To Oakland
Urban Renewal
In The Slot
Live And In Living Color

Again, it's sad that American consumers have to obtain better sounding CD's from another country. WEA, and now WMG, have long maintained a corporate policy of not upgrading their catalog under the "they're-gonna-buy-it-anyway-so-why-waste-profits" philosophy, no matter that rival Sony has made a lucative business model out of remastering nearly the entire Columbia records catalog. Although this internal policy was mandated by the WEA regimes of the past, Edgar Bronfman, the current WMG chief, has maintained the status quo.

So, Tower Of Power now joins fellow WEA artists Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder, The Doobie Brothers, Tower Of Power, Neil Young, Van Dyke Parks, Little Feat, Van Morrison, America, Annie Haslam, Everything But The Girl, Roberta Flack, Todd Rundgren, Cold Blood and Paul Butterfield, just to name a few, whose catalogs either partially or wholly exist in better audio in Japan than here in the U.S.

It's a pathetic and frustrating situation.

I still have my vinyl copy of this one which I picked up when it first came out. I had met a guy from Oakland when I was in the service and he told me that if you own a good stereo, it was nothin if you didn't have the tower playing on it. I had never heard of TOP prior to that conversation, so I went out and bought this one. Man, what a ton of bricks this album/CD is! Unique for it's time and timeless to this day. Hard punching big sound and what a voice Lenny Williams had back then especially on this one and Urban Renewal. I think they had the tightest, machine-like horn section on the planet with arrangements that took them to the moon. I went through a complete phase of TOP fanatisism, and special ordered Bump City, East Bay Grease and all their albums which were hard to find at the time. I saw them live back in the seventies while Williams was still with them and will never forget the experience. If you like funky jazz with fast, tight, searing horns - this is for you.

It was back in the late 80's that I found this album on vinyl at a thrift store. I was about 18, and played sax in the stage band in H.S. Anyway, being an Oakland A's fan, the cover featuring the Bay Bridge interested me, and so I bought it!I was completely blown away by this album, and I think it still might be my favorite Tower album. My favorite tracks are: "Don't Change Horses", "Just when we start makin' it, "Man from the Past", and "Below us, all the city lights". Not as gritty as some of the other albums, but a great one in my opinion!

Being of the same era as TOP, or at least the original members,
and having heard them live several times in the last few years,
I cannot understand why most anyone wouldn't agree, when they
listen to the tunes on this CD, that Tower of Power was (and is)
a one-of-a-kind group that has a high degree of staying power. The tracks are still fresh almost 30 years later. Funky horn licks are the mainstay backed by a solid rhythm section. TOP is the best there is at their genre.

What can I tell you about some of my homeboys... from the Bay. You gotta be ready for variety when you listen to ToP, because normal and ordinary is not them. They mix rock with soul with jazz with anything and everything else that sounds good. One of my favorites.

Lenny Williams - lead vocals, Greg Adams - trumpet, flugelhorn; Mic Gillette - trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone; Lenny Pickett - alto, tenor, soprano saxes, flute, clarinet, oboe; Steve "The Doctor" Kupka - baritone sax; Emilio Castillo - tenor sax, Chester Thompson - keyboards; Dave Garibaldi - drums, Francis Rocco Prestia - bass; Bruce Conte - guitar.

I remember Greg Adams when we was already writing charts for his high school jazz band (Westmoor) and our jazz band (Jefferson) was very envious of his talent for writing horn arrangements. To watch Lenny Pickett shuffling around all over the stage during live performances was something to behold.

This is one of my favorite albums from TOP, for the horn arrangements and strong vocals by Lenny Williams (who later led his own group performing in the Bay Area). "Just When We Start Makin' It" & "Love's Been Gone So Long" are very soulful ballads with marvelous horn and string arrangements.

"Squib Cakes" & "Can't You See (You Doin' Me Wrong) are fantastic examples of the tight horn playing TOP is famous for. SQUIB CAKES is a fine instrumental vehicle for the soloists - Conte, Adams, Pickett and Thompson (Listen to Kupka's always-strong bottom-end sound). Lenny Pickett's solo was just a preview of what was to come when he eventually joined the "Saturday Night Live" band - great phrasing, attack and flow.

Definitely a must-buy for any TOP fan.

Lenny Williams - lead vocals, Greg Adams - trumpet, flugelhorn; Mic Gillette - trumpet, trombone; Lenny Pickett - alto, tenor, soprano saxes, flute, clarinet; Steve "The Doctor" Kupka - baritone sax, english horn; Emilio Castillo - tenor sax, Chester Thompson - keyboards; Dave Garibaldi - drums, Francis Rocco Prestia - bass; Bruce Conte - guitar.

I remember Greg Adams when we was already writing charts for his high school jazz band (Westmoor) and our jazz band (Jefferson) was very envious of his talent for writing horn arrangements. To watch Lenny Pickett shuffling around all over the stage during live performances was something to behold.

This is one of my favorite albums from TOP, for the horn arrangements and strong vocals by Lenny Williams (who later led his own group performing in the Bay Area). "Just When We Start Makin' It" & "Love's Been Gone So Long" are very soulful ballads with marvelous horn and string arrangements.

"Squib Cakes" & "Can't You See (You Doin' Me Wrong) are fantastic examples of the tight horn playing TOP is famous for. SQUIB CAKES is a fine instrumental vehicle for the soloists - Conte, Adams, Pickett and Thompson (Listen to Kupka's always-strong bottom-end sound). Lenny Pickett's solo was just a preview of what was to come when he eventually joined the "Saturday Night Live" band - great phrasing, attack and flow.

Definitely a must-buy for any TOP fan.