Customer Reviews

Soul Vaccination: Live

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The first time I got this CD on my car stereo and cranked it up, I ended up in the backseat. Words really do not describe the feelings I had hearing this CD for the first time. I was crying and laughing at the same time. This is a true gift from a group that has gotten better and better throughout the years. The quality of recording is unparalleled; the musicianship is first rate - I could go on and on. Its the best TOP CD of its kind. One of the other reviewers mentioned playing this CD on a good system. I found that to be true. The bass runs alone will shake the foundation of your house down. I have loved this band since their first album in 1971, and even more so now. God bless them, one and all, for giving us this music we can let ourselves go to!

If you could only use one word to describe the way that Tower of Power plays music, what would it be? Words like funk, soul, and horns may come to mind. But the word that I would use to describe their playing have to be groove. But Tower of Power doesn't just groove, they groove hard, and their groove is really tight. And what better way than to experience their great groove music than at a live performance.

One of the really great things about this album are the fact that a lot of the original musicians from the group are back in the band. Emilio Castillo is on tenor saxophone and vocals as usual. Holding down the bottom is "Doc" Kupka on bari sax. And in the rhythm section are Francis Rocco Prestia on bass and David Garibaldi on drums. Just this core is great musicians makes this a great album from start to finish.

One great thing that Tower of Power can do really well is play up tempo groove tunes extremely tightly. Among the tunes like this include "Soul with a Capital `S', "Soul Vaccination," "Souled Out," "Down to the Nightclub," "What is Hip," and "So I Got to Groove." The great horn section, consisting of Castillo, Kupka, Norbert Stachel on solo Tenor Saxophone, and Jesse McGuire and Bill "Churchy" Churchville on trumpets, along with the great vocals of Brent Carter help to fuel the fire to this incredibly hot album. Stachel's tenor solos on this album are great, and show his incredible control of the altissimo register. On their up tempo groove tunes, it is impossible not to want to bop your head while listening to this music.

Tower also plays a pretty good number of medium tempo tunes that groove just as hard as the more up tempo tunes. Some of these include "Diggin' on James Brown," "To Say the Least You're the Most," "You Strike My Main Nerve," and "Can't You See." Both Jeff Tamelier on Guitar and Nick Milo on Keyboards play great on this album help support Rocco and Garibaldi in the rhythm. What is incredible about this album is that it doesn't matter what tempo the band is playing, its just as on fire with a ballad as it with the fast tunes. One of their slower groove tunes, "You Got to Funkifize," grooves just as hard or harder than the other tunes on the album.

The band also does a couple of slower ballads that are really fun to hear. These tunes are "Willin' to Learn" and "You're Still a Young Man." Carter's vocals bring a great deal of emotion and energy into these tunes, and then the horns are like the knockout punch. McGuire plays a beautiful trumpet solo on "Willin' to Learn" that totally sets the band on fire, and it takes a while to cool them down.

This may be the best Tower of Power album that they have put up to date. The entire thing is burning. Everyone's playing is great. The horn section couldn't be tighter. The rhythm section grooves really hard on every single tune. What is really incredible is the way that this recording managed to capture the fire of the live performance of the band. I think that a lot of the credit goes to Clarke Rigsby for his great mixing job on this album. If this doesn't make you want to see Tower of Power live, then I don't know what will. Five Stars.

If, like me, TOP doesn't seem right to you without Lenny Pickett, Chester Thompson, David Garibaldi and Francis Rocco Prestia, take heart! Garibaldi and Prestia anchor this outstanding TOP incarnation with their best playing ever. Lead singer Brent Carter is, as another reviewer so accuately put it, a combination of Lenny Williams and Hubert Tubbs. Great voice. Guitarist Jeff Tamelier sounds like a somewhat sharper Willie James Fulton. A perfect reminder of TOP's earliest glory days. The horn section is, of course, amazingly tight, and trumpet players Jesse McGuire and Churchy Churchville are very reliably stratospheric. Flawless execution. Naturally, sax player Lenny Pickett is missed, but Norbert Stachel cuts a couple of decent solos. If only Hammond organ genius Chester Thompson weren't spending so much time on Santana. I can only hope that someday his unique talents will make a return to TOP. Nevertheless, even if your favorite TOP albums are 25 years old, you can be confident buying this one. It has that "genuine" Tower of Power sound.

Perhaps only God and Rick Mattingly know what the true 'meaning' of T.O.P.'s songs is, but I find "funk for the sake of funk" to be a perfectly sufficient raison d'etre. I would like to suggest that Mr. Mattingly put aside all of his over-educated B.S., funk the dumb stuff and do like Miles Davis said and "Get Up With It!"

TOP is the best live band. This CD is great. With songs like, "Diggin' on James Brown" and "(To Say the Least) You're the Most." Great songs. GET THIS CD

This is the best TOP recording I have heard in many years! Im am a trumpet player and the horn section on this CD is amazing! They are so tight and put a huge smile on you face. I have been a Tower fan for many years and have been dissapointed with some of their latest studio releases. This CD was worth the wait. Is simply the best is many many years!

This has to be one of the BEST live albums ever. From the introduction to the last note this disc does not disappoint. I am a new fan of TOP, the first time I saw them was in '97 but I've been hooked ever since. This disc makes you feel like you're in the front row with the sound system aimed right between your ears.

I am the worlds biggest critic and lover of soul, funk and r&b music, but I yield without question to this cd by the Tower Of Power. There is not one single flaw or bad lick on this recording. I am a 50 year old, field grade officer in the DC National Guard. My staff has never known me to play anything so much, so loud, and every cut sounds so damn good. In spite of their constant personnel changes, The Tower of Power is still "off the hook". I previewed "Live and in Living Color", some time ago with total exitement, but this new CD is just indescribable! WARNING: If you can't handle a reeaall tight soul/funk band, don't listen to this CD! Guranteed chills, shakes, and you will dance, you MOTHER!

1. Live and in Living Color- Great 10 min. sax solo in Knock Yourself Out by Lenny Pickett (the guy from Saturday Night Live)
2. Soul Vaccination:Live- Tower is one of the best live bands around.
3. Bump City- 2nd Album,You got to Funkifize,Down to the Nightclub.
4. Tower of Power- self titled 3rd album, What is Hip?
5. Back to Oakland- Squib Cakes, AWESOME INSTRUMENTAL!!!
6. Urban Renewal- Lenny Williams shows his soul with Willing to Learn
7. East Bay Grease- 1st Album, Knock Yourself Out is my favorite song
8. T.O.P.-Tower's comeback album, Soul with a Capitol S
9. In the Slot- Great instrumentals, Greg Adams shows his genius
10.Rhythm & Buisness- So I got to Groove, cool song
11.Souled Out- Listen to Diggin' on James Brown
12.Monster on a Leash
13.Oakland Zone
14.Direct
15.Power
16.Ain't nothin stoppin us now
17.We came to play
18.Back On the streets

Okay, it has been years since Live and In Living Color, but did we really need to hear new live versions of Nightclub, What is Hip? and You're Still a Young Man? I prefer the Live and In Living Color versions of all of those. That said, To Say the Least, Your the Most absolutely rocks, as does You Got to Funkifize.

As a (admittedly rusty) tenor sax player, I do take issue with the reveiwer who thinks Mr. Stachel is on par with Lenny Pickett. I really do not like his sound, and I was disappointed not to hear John Scarpulla live (in my opinion, one of the best players since Richard Elliot or Mark Russo.)

Still, its TOP, and that's the most important thing.