Customer Reviews

White Trash

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Watch out! That's what they were saying when this record first appeared. It was unlike anything before it, and nothing after it compared... From the blistering opening chords of "Give It Everything You Got", to the rave-up gospel of "Save the Planet", to the uplifting "Good Morning Music", this album never disappoints, and will whet the appetite for more... A must-have for any serious fan (but then, just about everything that Edgar has done fits this category).

Edgar Winter brings Texas grit and funk, mixes it with gospel choirs and straight-ahead rock and roll. This is a band that could and did play anywhere from the Apollo to the Fillmore West. Rough, yet polished, sweet and mean, the White Trash were a serious experiment in American Music. From the gospel-esque "Fly Away" to Ray Charles' "I've Got News For You" to the rocking "Let's Get It On", this band kicks it into a soulful groove. There's a beautiful poem/intro in the liner notes by Patti Smith as well.

I first heard Edgar Winter's White Trash as the opening act for Alice Cooper (it was my girlfriend's idea) in a packed arena in the spring of 1972. I was amazed; they stole the show, and I went right out the next day and bought this album.

A better live act than a studio one ("Roadwork", their only other release before Edgar turned pop-disco, is an incredible album), the debut album is nevertheless well-done, and a number of the songs reflect the energy of the group's live performances, especially the gospel numbers "Fly Away" and "Save the Planet", and the Ray Charles cover "I've Got News for You."

You can almost feel the sweat, sawdust, and smoke eminating from the pores of your speakers, and Jerry LaCroix's gravelly voice both blends with and counterpoints Edgar's high-pitched wails as the horns drive the engine.

They reunited for an album years later called "Edgar Winter's White Trash Revisited." A studio effort, it didn't have the quality of tunes or the drive of the original, but it still had those great voices. I'd love to see it on disc one day, as well as the live album Edgar did with his brother Johnny that featured one of the best rock and roll fifties-sixties medleys I've ever heard.

Edgar's debut album, "The Edgar Winter Experience", was a great 'small' album featuring Edgar singing a dozen of his own original jazz tunes, a totally different style. Love to hear that one again, too.

Till then, I'll groove on "White Trash" and "Roadwork."

WHITE TRASH is an excellent R&B-rock record by Edgar Winter. This album feature a mix of Sly & The Family Stone with the Texas blues-rock of brother Johnny. A couple of songs haven't dated well, but once again, Winter, who is legally blind, proves here that handicaps can be overcome.

The late 60s / early 70s was a time of remarkable innovation in pop music. (The Beatles were at their zenith; Woodstock had just happened; artists were experimenting.) One of the directions was "rock music with a horn section." (Think "Blood, Sweat and Tears," "Traffic," and "Chicago Transit Authority" ... before they shortened their name and started pumping out the smarmy FM-radio ballads.)

Edgar Winter's "White Trash" band emerged from that era, and this debut recording stands up very nicely, 35 years later. Some of it is rockin' soul music, some of it is soulful rock music; all of it features a fat horn section and the vocal stylings of Jerry LaCroix and the ultra-white Edgar Winter. (He and his previously-famous brother, blues guitar-slinger Johnny, are both albino dudes, with white skin and pink eyes. But you'd never guess it by listening to 'em... if I can say so without offending anybody, their music is quite a few shades darker!)

Edgar tells the story of his rise to fame in the autobiographical song "Keep Playin' that Rock 'n' Roll." (a line of which is the title to this review.) It's a good 'un. Other personal favorites: "Save the Planet" (Edgar was WAY before Algore's time, and is more convincing to boot), the blues-soaked "I've Got News for You," and "Good Morning Music."

This CD is just as great as the original vinyl LP album I bought 20+ years ago after seeing Edgar Winter in person. Lost this album in flood from Hurrican Ike. Reliving those years so long ago & am enjoying the music just as much as I did back in those "good old days of southern rock 'n' roll !!!!!!!!!!!!

I was only 5 when this record came out, but it is hands down my number one desert island disk. Uplifting gospel vocals make you sing out loud. Syncopated rhythms, funky breaks, tasty horns, slapping bass, and groovy tight mixes. Deep emotive bluesy ballads interspersed with jump up rock and roll. Can't live without this album!

On this brass-heavy hard rock album, there is not one track that is not wonderful. From the foot-stomping "Give It Everything You Got" to the burlesque beat of "I've Got News for You", this is a fine, fine album. Standout tracks include "Dying to Live", "Fly Away" and "You Were My Life", although ALL tracks resonate.

If you like Chicago, Blood, Sweat and Tears or Springsteen and the E-Street band, you gotta get this CD.

This record deserves alot more credit than it gets, I listened to it after hering an eminem sample of dying to live, and I love it!!

An under-rated, understated album which was WAY ahead of it's time. Edgar Winter has been on the cutting edge of hard driving R&R for the last 30+ years, and remains so currently.

If you're looking for a no-nonsense hard driving rock album-look no further. The mix of brass and keyboards is best described as eclectic, and different for sure. Don't pass on this album!!!