Customer Reviews

Chicken Fat (Dig)

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

 

 

I'm glad to see this classic album reissued. Mel Brown is a Great! guitar player, and I hope more of his albums are reissued. These instrumentals are some fine funky licks of jazz and blues infused soul. The last person I turned on to the music of Mel Brown became obsessed to hear everything by him he could get his hands on. If you haven't heard this guitar master, do yourself a favor and pick this up. You won't be disappointed!

Here is one with the black and orange spine that no one should miss.

Chicken Fat is basically a blues record, but Mel Brown's guitar playing lifts the album far above the ordanary. He is the polar opposite of, say, Wes Montgomery or Joe Pass. He is more akin to Zappa's axe work. His solos start out fast and hard and never relent. There are lots of loose, janglely runs and compressed little 16th notes Mel uses to get from point A to B. Everything is very detailed, and layered, but it is the type of detail that emerges in those little spontainous sounds between the music. Lots of rich texture in the guitar playing you'll slowly discover.

On one track, Mel uses a wha-wha peddle to great effect. This was 1967, and while a lot of more adventurous jazz people-say, Charles Lloyd- were putting rock inflections into their work, soul jazz was still a purist game. But Brown took a plunge that really pays off.

A good buy for jazz fans, blues buffs, and music fans.

If you're into Booker T. & The MGs, Grant Greens funkiest stuff("Alive!"), John Lee Hooker,
Lou Donaldson or just like tight and smokin' grooves, then this has more than enough fat
chicken and guitar chops on it, to keep you satisfied for weeks.

I didn't even know who Mel Brown was before I stumbled over this album, and after listening
to it a couple of times I couldn't believe that I never even heard of the man, because this
is one of those rare albums where the quality NEVER drops and the groove just keep on building.
WHY ISN'T THIS ALBUM TALKED ABOUT?!!
I just don't get it.

This could be almost anybodys bag. It's rooted in the blues, but brings R&B, funk and soul,
rock n roll, cool organ work and some incredible guitar exchanges.

Tight! Mellow! Cookin'! Raw!

I really hope that some of his other stuff from this period gets reissued, because if it brings the
same amount of juice, it needs to be squeezed.

I don't know why but i never had heard of this guy until a local music store owner turned me onto this album. His guitar playing is out of this world. He has a fluidity and overwhelming technique like Ernest Ranglin but with more of a soul tinge (at least on this album). It sort of reminds me of why I like the song Green Onions by Booker T, a great grove with soulful playing over the top of it only this artist sustains that over the whole album and even takes it up a notch. If you like great guitar playing you will dig this one or if you like good funky downhome music you will also love this one. Why they haven't put out more of these early albums of his I don't know. A friend found a copy of an old lp of another one and it is equally as fun. Enjoy this one and hope along with the rest of us that the record industry will see the light and re-release more of this sorrowfully overlooked artist.

Wow, this is a great CD! I should have bought this years ago. Mel is the best!