Time Has Come (Exp) [Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

Chambers Brothers | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 5, 2000)
• Original Release Date: 1969
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00004XSVQ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #185,429 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. All Strung Out over You

2. People Get Ready

3. I Can't Stand It

4. Romeo and Juliet

5. In the Midnight Hour

6. So Tired

7. Uptown

8. Please Don't Leave Me

9. What the World Needs Now Is Love

10. Time Has Come Today

11. Dinah

12. Falling in Love

13. Love Me Like the Rain

14. Time Has Come Today

Editorial Reviews

2003 reissue of 1967 album packaged in a digipak. 14 tracks including four bonus tracks, 'Dinah', 'Falling In Love', 'Love Me Like The Rain', & 'Time Has Come Today' (Single Version One). Columbia. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cowbell boys, July 16, 2004

By 

Don Schmittdiel "running_man" (Clinton Twp., MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time Has Come (Exp) (Audio CD)

If there is one sound that characterizes the music of 'The Chambers Brothers - The Time Has Come', it is the cowbell. It is used to great effect on many of their songs, frequently propelling the music into a funk groove, or as on 'The Time Has Come', acting as a timepiece that morphs into a psychedelic metronome. While The Chambers Brothers first formed in the year I was born, 1954, commercial success eluded them until the release of this album in 1967, and even that success was short-lived. They are something more than a flash-in-the-pan or a one-trick pony, but not by a long-shot, and most of the quality music they did produce is available right here.

But what a great album this was, and still is. Somewhat swamped by the tide of psychedelia that characterized 1967, this album had to battle for recognition with the likes of The Beatles 'Sgt. Peppers' and Jimi Hendrix's 'Are You Experienced'. But The Chambers Brothers brought to the table a mix of so many genres, that any other artist would be hard pressed to match them at this crossroads in music.

Originally steeped in Southern Gospel music, the Brothers offer Curtis Mayfield's 'People Get Ready' on this disc, and it takes you back to a whitewashed wooden church on a hot Sunday morning. Influenced by the explosion of soul music in the 1960's, Wilson Pickett's 'In the Midnight Hour' is given an uptempo treatment that may be the very best version of the song available anywhere. It will take you back to a Motown recording studio in the mid-1960's, complete with "do it to it" and "sock it to me" utterances that actually sound sincere, not cheesy.

'Uptown' will take you back to a Harlem rent party, complete with "chitlins, black-eyed peas, barbeque ribs, and collared greens". 'Please Don't Leave Me' sits you down in a smokey blues club, or in the midst of a harmonizing quartet on a street corner. Even 'What the World Needs Now', a Hal David and Burt Bacharach number manages to generate a funk groove under the Brothers exquisite harmonies. 'I Can't Stand It' and Roy Clarks' 'All Strung Out Over You' rock hard, while 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'So Tired' temper the rampage through soulful respites.

Of course the key song that puts the album over-the-top is the mind-blowing 'Time Has Come Today', all 11 minutes of it. The lead vocal declares that "the soul has been psychedelicized", and that phrase is an apt description of the song. Bookended by verses, the central section of the song is an exercise in all that psychedelia was, complete with fuzzy guitars squelching, drums rolling, and a sinister laugh that could send shivers up Bela Lugosi's spine. Aside from Iron Butterfly's 'In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida' or The Byrds 'Eight Miles High', it may be the best acid-rock song ever produced.

This remastered disc also offers four mono recordings by the Brothers. 'Dinah' borrows directly from 'I've Been Working On the Railroad', but the brothers funk it up a bit and take the credit for composing it. 'Love Me Like the Rain' is a nice country-blues song. But the highlight among the bonus tracks is an early recording of 'Time Has Come Today', labeled '(single version one)', though this is different from the abridged album track that moved to number 11 on the national charts in 1968. The track was recorded almost a year to the day that the lengthy album version was recorded. The biggest difference is the sound of the lead guitar, which in some ways is even more psychedelic on the earlier version. The disc concludes with what sounds like a radio advertisement for 'The Time Has Come'. If I didn't know better, I would guess the narrator is Morgan Freeman.

The Chambers Brothers only charted two other songs in their career, 'I Can't Turn You Loose' (#37 in 1968) and 'Love, Peace, and Happiness' (#96 in 1970). Despite their great success in recording cover songs, the Brothers possessed composing talent. Some of their best songs, such as 'I Can't Stand It', and the title track were their own compositions. The two capabilities mixed with a bit of magic in 1967 to produce an album unlike any other from this era. 'The Time Has Come' is a unique gift of music. The CD is a gift itself, featuring informative liner notes, and a number of quality pictures of the band. Oddly enough the running times for the songs are not listed, though the track listings appear three seperate times.

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even better than the original, April 15, 2001

By 

David E. Levine (Peekskill , NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time Has Come (Exp) (Audio CD)

This was one of my favorite albums when I was in high school. I used to love their version of "In the Midnight Hour" and "People Get Ready." Both songs are standards .. one a Wilson Pickett hit which has been often rerecorded by other groups (and particularly well by the Chambers Brothers). The other, "People Get Ready" is a stirring spiritual which is done movingly on this cd. Best of all was a long version of the title song in which they added several funky minutes of an instrumental interlude. This cd is even better than the album of old because they added additional cuts including the standard single version of "Time Has Come Today." There are greatest hits cds but this original is well worth it because there are few, if any weaknesses and additionally, this cd has the great "long" version.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A (fresh) blast from the past, March 23, 2000

By 

Leonard Fleisig "Len" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time Has Come (Audio CD)

It has been a long time since I listened to the Chambers Brothers and I had almost forgotten how good they were. This is a good album. The close harmony on "People Get Ready" would do Curtis Mayfield proud In fact, listening to the harmonies on some of these tracks - and based upon the date of its record, I would be suprised if Crosby Stills & Nash were not influenced by these guys. Similarly, if the cover of Midnight Hour was any better - it would have been Wilson Pickett. In other words - the Chamber Brothers' covers are worthy. They are not the type of inspipid white-bread covers made famous by the likes of Pat Boone and Michael Bolton. The only track that I did not like was the cover of "What the World Needs Now is Love". Its not the Chambers Brothers - I just don't like the song, I don't like the lyrics, and it reminds me of the heights of vapidity which some 60s tunes aspired to. Yup, the world needs love. Great thought - NEXT song please. The Chambers Brothers mix of harmony, soul, blues, and funk was way ahead of its time. It is probably for that reason that it still sounds good today.