Customer Reviews

Skin I'm in

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The fourth and largely unknown Chairmen of the Board LP ... 1974's "Skin I'm In" is one of those album's that was obscure when released and today is all but unknown. This is nothing more than speculation on my part, but a couple of factors seem to have conspired to relegate it to obscurity. By 1974 the Invictus label was all but dead which meant the album was released with minimal label support. Adding to the problem, unhappy with the results, lead singer General Johnson essentially walked away from the album, refusing to support it in any shape or form.

Produced by Jeffrey Bowen, "Skin I'm In" was a radical departure from the group's first three studio sets. Musically the collection found the trio all but abandoning the patented commercial blend of soul and pop moves which had made them early-1970s radio staples. Under Bowen's hand, this time around the trio were framed with a much tougher funk attack that sounded like it had borrowed significant inspiration from the Normal Whitfield school of psychedelic soul, with more than a touch of George Clinton and the Funkadelic/Parliament nation thrown in for good measure. The funny thing about the album is that while he was pictured on the back cover and was credited with writing, or co-writing most of the material, lead singer General Johnson was all but invisible on the collection. That left Harrison Kennedy and Danny Wood to handle most of the lead vocals. Both were capable singers, but up to this point Johnson had been the heart and soul of the group, so his absence was quite apparent.

- 'Everybody Party All Night' was a hard-edged funk number with a great pounding beat and some nifty lead guitar. Yeah, the lyrics were pretty lame, but this was easily the toughest hitting single the Chairmen of the Board ever released. Always loved the cheesy synthesizer solo ... rating: **** stars
- Kicked along by a cool wah-wah guitar figure, 'Skin I'm In' found the group pulling a page out of the Norman Whitfield psychedelic-soul catalog. Another taunt rock-tinged number with a great synthesizer solo, this was one of my favorite performances. rating: **** stars
- Opening up with one of my all-time favorite fuzz guitar figures, 'Morning Glory' was a fantastic instrumental made even better by a breezy melody and the cool mellotron segment. Completely unlike anything else released by The Chairmen of the Board, or the Invictus label. rating: **** stars
- Written by Sly Stone, 'Life & Death Pt 1' opened up with some pounding Latin-flavored percussion and a jittery mini-Moog rhythm. I think Danny Wood handled lead vocals on this one, giving the song a searing edge. rating: **** stars
- 'Freedom Flower' offered up a beguiling mixture of mellotron, synthesizers, fuzz guitar (Eddie Hazel?) and African kalimba. That may not sound like a promising combination, but the results were stunning. rating: **** stars
- If anything 'Life & Death Pt II' managed to rock even harder ! Amazing song. rating: ***** stars
- One of the few Johnson lead vocals, 'Let's Have Some Fun' sported a breezy, slightly tropical feel. While the track had a nice melody, the most interesting feature was the weird scratchy lead guitar. Always wondered how they got the strange effect ... rating: *** stars
- The album's first disappointment, 'Love At First Sight' was a big, old-school ballad. The song was okay, but just seemed out of place on the collection. rating: ** stars
- Ditto the above comments with respect to their heavily orchestrated and blues-tinged remake of Bacharach-David's 'Only Love Can Break a Heart'. The sensitive spoken word segment was about as romantic as a tire commercial. Hideous ... rating: * star
Surrounded by a lush, psychedelic-tinged arrangement, - 'Live with Me, Love with Me' was the weirdest ballad these guys ever did. It literally sounded like the whole group was tripping out on some illicit substance.
- Kicked along by a wonderful mini-Moog synthesizer pattern (shades of Stevie Wonder), 'Finder's Keepers' had one of those melodies that you simply could not shake out of your head. Surrounded by a blazing horn arrangement (the wild trombone solo simply had to be heard), Harrrison (?) turned in his gruffest and most appealing vocal performance. This was easily one of the best singles to ever come out of Invictus. Try sitting still through this one ... Always wondered about the strange, abrupt ending ... rating: ***** star

Invictus tapped the album for a series of three singles:

- 1973's 'Finder's Keepers' b/w Finder's Keepers' (instrumental) (Invictus catalog number ZS7 1251) # 7 pop; # 21 R&B
- 1974's 'Life & Death' b/w 'Live with Me, Love with Me' (Invictus catalog number ZS7-1263)
- 1974's 'Everybody Party All Night' b/w 'Morning Glory' (instrumental) (Invictus catalog number ZS7-1268) # 80 R&B

All hyperbole aside, this is a great lost soul LP. Well worth looking for.

"Skin I'm In" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Everybody Party All Night (General Johnson - Jeffrey Bowen) - 4:00
2.) Skin I'm In (General Johnson - Jeffrey Bowen) - 4:15
3.) Morning Glory (instrumental) (D. Baldwin- W. Nelson) - 2:20
4.) Life & Death Pt 1 (Sylvester Stewart) - 1:36
5.) White Rose (Freedom Flower) (instrumental) (D. Baldwin- W. Nelson) - 1:41
6.) Life & Death Pt II (Sylvester Stewart) - 2:33

(side 2)
1.) Let's Have Some Fun (General Johnson) - 3:43
2.) Love At First Sight (General Johnson) - 3:50
3.) Only Love Can Break a Heart (Burt Bacharach - Hal David) - 5:30
4.) Live with Me, Love with Me (General Johnson - D. Baldwin - Jeffrey Bowen) - 3:56
5.) Finder's Keepers (General Johnson - Jeffrey Bowen) - 4:00

good funky effort back in the 70's everybody was trying to free their minds and since invictus was trying to push envelopes why not have cotb do something edgier but not only that they get the original funkadelic on here to give it that raw rockier edge that everybody from the isley's and sly stone was doing anyhow you like old 70's soul from motown, anmd invictus buy this you hear bernie worrell, and eddie hazel, billy basds nelson and tiki fulwood from the original funkadelic.