The Average White Band
Cut The Cake

When funk is a cake to be sliced

The cutting of the cake. A ritual that, in our Western societies, is invariably associated with celebrations, smiles, handshakes, kisses, hugs, and joyously emphatic phrases, spoken and heard with pleasure. A completely different atmosphere accompanies the release of the third studio album by the Scottish soul funk group The Average White Band, even though the title of the record is precisely "Cut The Cake". For them, the atmosphere is that of mourning. Misfortune strikes the six musicians in 1974 when their new long-playing record was due to release. A heroin overdose suddenly takes one of the pillars of the lineup, the drummer Robbie McIntosh. The band is gathered at the Troubadour club in Los Angeles. Now they can relax; they can celebrate, of course: the sales of their second album, eponymously titled "AWB", are going so well that the six Scottish boys have already earned a platinum record within just a few months on the charts.

They say it was a fatality. It shouldn't have happened. Perhaps someone wanted to joke with Robbie during the non-stop party at the club, amidst the rivers of alcohol and the band's gigs, playing live hits from the latest LP for the pleasure of the happy few in attendance. But instead, he was gone. To this tragedy, the group members react with the most total psychological disarray. The follow-up to the successful second album was actually practically ready. Even the title was ready. It had to be vaguely celebratory, related to an idea of festivity. And they certainly had reason to celebrate. Who, in fact, could have imagined that a white band from Scotland, playing funk with glances at soul and R&B, would manage, with just two records, to establish themselves on the international black music scene, standing equal and without inferiority complexes with legendary chart and disco dominators like Earth Wind & Fire, Tower of Power, Kool & The Gang? At the time of their debut album "Show Your Hand", and it was 1973, almost everyone looked at the six Scots with smirks of disdain, and they themselves probably didn't quite believe that such a success would be possible.

And now, when it seemed the dream had become reality, McIntosh's death came to say that reality was different, and the dream had shattered like a sphere of fragile crystal against the moment the syringe entered the vein of the drummer, barely in his twenties. The group's founder, as well as vocalist, bassist, and guitarist, Alan Gorrie, was already considering disbanding, certain that it wouldn't be possible to find a drummer with not just equal, but even comparable characteristics to McIntosh. But here comes the unexpected, resolving event. McIntosh had a friend, also a drummer, an African American living in Brixton. His name was Steve Ferrone. Upon learning of his friend's death, Ferrone goes to offer his condolences to Edith, Robbie's wife. Within days, he encounters the AWB boys sitting at a table in a bar, completely exhausted and silent. He approaches them and lowers his voice: "It would be foolish to quit now (another single from "AWB", "Pick Up The Pieces", had meanwhile reached the top of the US charts, note). I'm sure Robbie wouldn't have wanted that. If there's anything I can do for you, I will help you."

Despite these strong words, meant to inspire courage and determination to carry on, the five sink deeper into their collective despair. It takes the intervention of none other than Ahmet Ertegun, the legendary founder and president of Atlantic Records, to shake the band members out of their depressive torpor. Ertegun practically insists on Ferrone's entry, despite his contractual ties to another record label at the time, into the lineup of The Average White Band. Not only that, but he even offers his lavish summer residence in Southampton, which becomes the splendid retreat where the band, having finally found a new drummer, can refine the tracks for the new album.

The six members of AWB enter Ertegan's house in December 1974 with the specific goal of working on the final version of the songs for the new album. They work hard, using live performances given in the meantime to draw ideas to turn into songs, but, as some band members would later say, the mood accompanying them during those months was certainly not the most suitable for artistic creation. However, the total material and psychological support provided by the staff and record label, aimed at preventing the group's dissolution, proves decisive and the final result meets the most ambitious expectations.

The album "Cut The Cake" is released in 1975, produced by Arif Mardin for Atlantic Records. It contains ten tracks. Thirty-two years later, the freshness of the sound is surprising. The Swiss-watch precision of synchronization in the rhythm section block (drums, percussion: Stephen Ferrone, as mentioned; bass: Hamish Stuart) - electric guitar patterns (Hamish Stuart, Onnie McIntyre, Alan Gorrie); the formal cleanliness of the brass section (alto and baritone sax: Roger Ball; tenor sax and flute: Malcolm "Molly" Duncan), the precision of Hamish Stuart's falsettos and the warmth of gospel choirs. Listening to these ten tracks, we understand that we are in the presence of a classic. Sounds and rhythms that have established a canon that will never change: the funk genre.

In this album, the band members introduce a fundamental technical innovation compared to previous works, specifically in the conception of guitar parts. Inspired by some live performances by James Brown he attended at that time, Onnie McIntyre decides to divide the work among himself and his colleagues: one guitar plays the rhythm parts, while the other two are used for "picking." This technique is very distinguishable in the intro of the first track, the title track "Cut The Cake" (listen to the sample). Guitar solos are practically eliminated in favor of an intriguing interplay of rhythm and "picking"; this harmonic texture gives the first track a decisive Rhythm & Blues connotation. Other group members contribute to particular arrangement solutions: we note the touch of sophistication given by Ferrone's bells in "School Boy Crush", the first hit taken from the album, or McIntyre's sitar in the ballad "Why".

The listening to this album remains pleasant even today, particularly some tracks are so well-crafted stylistically that they don't show their age at all: beyond the eponymous opening track, our auditory apparatus's attention is certainly deserved by the cover of a track by Leon Ware and Pam Sawyer, "If I Ever Lose This Heaven", the poignant ballad "Cloudy", and an enticing disco track like "Groovin' The Night Away".

After this album, The Average White Band will never be able to express themselves at the levels of their previous works. Hard rock and punk at first, then New Romantic and electro-pop groups, will put a strain on this group that produced, after all, commercial music, although of excellent quality, and was therefore very sensitive to changes in the tastes of the public that dictates success or oblivion of singers and musical groups. The final chapter of the true Average White Band is written in 1982, with the album "Cupid's In Fashion". After that, each of the six musicians goes their own way. Gorrie records a solo LP, "Sleepless Nights" (1985). Stuart becomes Paul McCartney's full-time guitarist, Ferrone becomes the drummer for Duran Duran. In reality, there has never been a definitive breakup, and the group, even with different lineups, continues to exist and perform concerts, one of which is documented in the recent CD "Soul & The City" (2006).

"Cut the Cake" will nonetheless remain in memory as a classic and masterpiece of the funk genre.

 

The Average White Band, "Cut The Cake", 1975 & 1993 Atlantic Recording Corp.