Here you go. Sorry I don't know how to do the album covers.
Charles Wright & Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band- Puckey Puckey: Jams & Outtakes 1970-1971
$29.98 :: 2 Discs
An individually numbered limited edition of 5,000 copies
This month Rhino Handmade focuses on one of the pioneers of '70s funk, Charles Wright And The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, with a pair of 2-CD limited editions. Puckey Puckey: Jams & Outtakes offers revelatory unissued recordings from the group's Warner Bros. years, while Live At The Haunted House captures them in concert at the beginning of their tenure with the label.
Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band were at their creative peak during the sessions for Express Yourself (1970) and You're So Beautiful (1971) from which the new Puckey Puckey collection was drawn. Thriving on improvisation, Wright guided the band through marathon rehearsals and studio work in which songs evolved out of extended jams. The title track offers a perfect example of this -- the take opening Disc 1 clocks in at nearly a half-hour, while the version of Pucky Puckey closing Disc 2 has been distilled to what Wright might call four minutes of happiness. In-between are two more epic jams plus Watts Towers, which grew out of a riff that the band had played periodically in the studio for years.
Disc Two opens with the only non-Wright-penned song, an instrumental version of Otis Redding's Hard To Handle that's a shout-out to the band's early days as a cover act. Among the other highlights are previously unissued alternate versions, including one of their signature song Express Yourself and a stripped-down early take of the non-LP single Wine. In all, Puckey Puckey: Jams & Outtakes features more than 2-_ hours of previously unreleased music, plus rare photos and liner notes including new interviews with Charles Wright and bandmates.
Jams & Outtakes (1970-1971) is available for $29.98 as an individually numbered limited edition of 5,000 copies. Get it at:
http://www.RhinoHandmade.com Charles Wright & Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band- Live At The Haunted House - May 18, 1968
$29.98 :: 2 Discs
An individually numbered limited edition of 5,000 copies
When Charles Wright And The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band took the stage at the storied-and long-gone-Hollywood nightclub The Haunted House on a spring night in 1968 to record a live album, they were already regulars at the venue. Mixed from the original four-track tapes, Rhino Handmade's 2-CD Live At The Haunted House presents a well-oiled band in top form, pumping out funk and soul for the masses pounding the dancefloor and making the scene.
The line-up featured on Live At The Haunted House is the third iteration of The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band: singer/guitarist Charles Wright, bassist Melvin Dunlap, drummer James Gadson, guitarist Al McKay, saxophonists John Rayford and Bill Cannon, trumpeter Gabriel Flemings, and trombonist Ray Jackson. At the time of this concert, the group was evolving from a dance band into a creative force that would soon define a signature soul style known as the L.A. sound.
While a portion of this set appeared on Charles Wright And the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band's second album (1968's Together), it's heard in its entirety for the first time on Live At The Haunted House. As Wright recalls, I was influenced by James Brown's Live At The Apollo and thought it was something I could pull off with my band, and the 37 roof-raising tracks on this new Rhino Handmade collection certainly qualify Charles Wright for the title Godfather of West Coast Soul.
Live At The Haunted House (May 18, 1968) is available for $29.98 as an individually numbered limited edition of 5,000 copies. Get it at:
http://www.RhinoHandmade.com
