Far be it for me to be a Scrooge - more likely I am the ghost of Christmas yet to come... Yesterday I had mentioned this album, and in the spirit of giving I am here to share what has to be the worlds only Psychedelic Soul Christmas LP.
The Rotary Connection was the brain child of Marshal Chess - to be a sort of hip 5th Dimension. Like most studio bands the personal is interchangeable, the only two mainstays in their 6 album out put were Mini Ripperton and Cadet arranger Charles Stepeny. For what ever reason the band never really excelled nationally, remaining a mid west region secret.
If Spector is regarded as the Richard Wagner of rock, then Stepney was the poor relation from the Chicago south side. While never straying too far from R & B, the arraignments of Peace fit comfortably with Hendrix influenced guitar heroics and and classical music. Floating above what could have been a horrible stew of ideas is Mini Ripperton's stunning voice. I played this album for some friends last year and they had thought her wailing on Silent Night was that of a theremin.
After one's ears get over the amazing production and playing you hear the lyrics, and that's where the one two punch connects. These are socially concerned topics, not your standard banal Merry Christmas tomes. Peace from war, poverty, consumer greed, and getting high to add extra color to the holidays is what the lyrics ask for. As much as I love Peace, I will concede that the production was probably too slick for the kids and the words too shocking for the squares. Both camps missed out, showing how alike they were after all...
Friends, I will let the illustration above left by Osmond Pittmann from 1899 say it for me.
Please click on the review title for selected track: Silent Night (instrumental).
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