The funky, dirty Lettuce (Deitch, Smirnoff, Kraz, Erick Coomes, Neal, Rashawn, Zoidis, and Sam) is at it again, after a 5 year hiatus from a new record release. The members of this band have been doin’ it in various other forms for awhile, but Lettuce’s albums are consistently strong, from Outta Here to Live in Tokyo, which I only just recently heard courtest of eMusic. Of course all eMusic did during my brief stay with them was prompt me to finally purchase Live in Tokyo, which I was able to do today while going to grab the new Lettuce joint, Rage!
From first listen, Rage! is an album that pays some serious tribute to the funky soul sounds of the seventies, with plenty of fresh originals from the talented composers of this group and some serious takes on Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up” and Charles Wright’s “Express Yourself.” This album couldn’t have come at a more perfect time in my musical odyssey, as I’ve recently filled in that era of education of 60s and 70s Black music from Stevie Wonder to Aretha Franklin to Gil Scott Heron and James Brown (to whom this album is so purposefully dedicated).
I definitely dig this album, but it’s not recommend for anyone who doesn’t wanna have a good time!
