Customer Reviews

Ultimate Collection

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

 

 

i first hoid awb's "cut the cake" in 1975 and i was s-o-l-d on the soul brothers .... this album has CTC's best trax and much more - earlier tracks - like pick up the pieces/person to person +++. If you're a soul brother - pick up this album BLINDFOLDED coz man (who cares that theyre actually scotsmen) AWB really GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE !!!!

In 1973 on the way to a track meet with two of my friends, Marcus Daniels, and World Class Sprinter Joel Andrews, I was introduced to the music of Average White Band, by way of the "Green T-Shirt" tape, later renamed the Jugglers, and again Show Your Hand. The Album is still one of my favorites and almost non existent.

This CD however, is a great, almost perfect collection from the masters of Northern Soul. If this CD had the elusive lost song, "Twilight Zone", from the first AWB album, and the title cut from "Warmer Communications" there would be nothing left to say but... "It's Perfect"

I bought this album as one of the great unwashed who know AWB only for their biggest two singles, 'Pick up the Pieces' and 'Let's Go Round Again', the latter of which I regard as a fantastically uplifting song, despite it reminding me of revising for my Maths finals in 1980.

I so wanted to enjoy the rest of the album, but I just don't feel the tunes are strong enough. There are strong reminders here of much of the American sounds of the 70s: Hall and Oates, Earth Wind and Fire, Steely Dan from 'The Royal Scam' onwards, Boz Scaggs, and even David Bowie during his 'Fame' period.

But to my ears, most of it sounds like the work of ardent copyists -- desperate to be mistaken for decent black funk musicians, or the next Muscle Shoals, but most of the time producing music that doesn't really go anywhere. Even the (usually unheard) guitar solo on 'Let's Go Round Again' seems uninspired, though it's nice to hear any guitar solo these days.

The best performance I've witnessed from the AWB was actually in the tiny Old Grey Whistle Test studio, when they recreated the wonderful 'Put it Where You Want It'.

The problem is that, most of the time, Hall & Oates wrote better tunes, Earth Wind & Fire created a better groove, and Steely Dan wrote far better lyrics and employed the finest musicians.

So in the end, AWB will remain known for their two great singles: the ground-breaking 'Pick Up the Pieces', which is still good for getting people onto the dance floor, and 'Let's Go Round Again', which remains the most uplifting song this side of Pat Metheny's 'Slip Away'.