With this comprehensive 2LP collection, Egon's long-talked about project for the Kashmere Stage Band has finally come to fruition. It's no secret that high school stage band records often contain funky, awkward and charming covers of popular music, but for the most part this stuff is only interesting to collectors and people looking for an alternate "Scorpio" break; not so with the Kashmere Stage Band. These kids were not only a talented group of youngsters with a penchant for funk and soul covers, they also had a great leader in Conrad Johnson, an anomaly for the day who let them go as deep into the funk thing as they wanted (most bands just brushed against it on the rhythm section), plus write and arrange their own tunes. Lucky for us, he recorded and produced a number of albums with his band over the years (at least 10, all of them score city for collectors), and this comp collects the best of em. Songs to check for include "Burning Spear," "Kash Register," "Kashmere," "Getting It Out Of My System," "Al's Tune," the requisite "Scorpio" cover, "Headwiggle" and more. Sabor!

• includes detailed insert
• music label: Now Again 2006 / 2019

reviewed by the mgmnt 08/2006