This record has been the subject of multiple late nite conversations here at the Lab. Firstly, some of the baddest grooves ever pressed on wax. Complex movements with the hard drumming of Alphonse Mouzon. Sampled to fame by Tribe for their Low End Theory interludes, Beastie Boys'"Get It Together", Pete Rock's first album and Babu's Comprehension, this album presents buckets of sample-able moments. The vocals is where it gets sticky. McDaniels' religious vocals are not what you'd call traditional good singing. He sounds like a drunk cocktail lounge singer /chump choir singer/armageddon folk singer. But somehow over the funky arrangements his vocals are bizarrely engaging. On some tracks it gels perfectly like the RAMP-like "Jagger the Dagger," but on others it creates a strange clash like the catchy "See What's Happening..." during "Headless Heroes." This is where you go left or right. Whatever you think, this album is definitely intriguing and it tests the foundations and legitimacy of this whole diggin scene (quality vs. rare quality). 

• music label: Atlantic 1971

reviewed by the mgmnt 05/2009