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Rating: "World Psychedelic Classics 2: California Soul" is written on the cover of this album.
However, listening to the remastered version of the third work by the then twenty-two-year-old Shuggie Otis, it's not difficult to understand why Sean O'Hagan of the High Llamas wanted - or was asked - to write some of the notes inside the accompanying booklet. I wouldn't call it a misleading label, but to be fair, there's very little psychedelia here, except for the final thirteen minutes of "Freedom Flight" (a title and a program), which directly hark back to the great Californian season of the acid tests with Jerry Garcia in the spotlight.
But here we are in 1974. Musically, we can rightly talk about a hybrid period: with the prolific progressive era at dusk and the nascent punk still intangible on the horizon, the black musicians, almost always indifferent to the colorful and ephemeral currents, were nestled in their crucible made of soulful music and a certain mysticism that fades into the mists of time.
Of the thirteen tracks present here, only the first nine, lasting just thirty-two minutes, composed the original album, while the last four are taken from Shuggie Otis's debut album, including "Strawberry Letter 23", undoubtedly the song with the greatest commercial impact later made famous by the Brothers Johnson. The muted and ethereal flow of the instrumental tracks (about half), can be linked to a certain taste for elusive melody, typical of Steely Dan later emulated, coincidentally, by the High Llamas.
A son of art (his father Johnny was a renowned R&B man) and a guitarist of considerable merit, Shuggie Otis invoked quite challenging comparisons, read Sly Stone or Jimi Hendrix, without however possessing their charisma, and if we want to say it, without even treading the same musical paths. Among the followers who, in the years to come, deserved to take up the legacy of such a seed, it seems spontaneous to mention Prince, an extreme synthesizer, centrifuge, and condenser of decades of authorial black music.
After this album, the curtain would practically fall, but at least for a short period, it was legitimate and appropriate to place more than one hope in him for the future of a certain level of pop-soul. A rediscovery is in order.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
10 Strawberry Letter 23 (03:58)
Strawberry Letter 23
(words and music by Shuggie Otis)
Hello, my love, I heard a
Kiss from you,
Red magic satin
Playing near too.
All through the morning rain I gaze
The sun doesn’t shine,
Rainsbows and waterfalls run
Through my mind.
In the garden I see
West purple shower bells and tea,
Orange birds and river cousins
Dressed in green.
Pretty music I hear
So happy and loud,
Blue flower echo from
A cherry cloud.
Feel sunshine sparkle pink and blue,
Playgrounds will laugh if you
Try to ask "Is it cool?"
If you arrive and don’t see me,
I’m going to be.
With my baby
I am free
Flying in her arms
Over the sea.
Stained window yellow candy screen
See speakers of kite
With velvet roses diggin’
Freedom flight.
A present from you,
Strawberry letter twenty-two,
The music plays; I sit in
For a few.
12 Ice Cold Daydream (02:28)
I looked at you, girl,
I saw a smile.
For my love you said
you'd walk a mile.
Today I see your face,
you wear a frown.
Now you're tellin' me
that I'm a clown.
What's the reason for this sudden change?
I never thought that you would act so strange.
You say that I'm a bore
and we should part
so you can go and
make a brand new start.
You laughed and me and then
I almost cried.
You hurt my heart so bad
I had to hide.
What's the reason for this sudden change?
I never thought that you would act so strange.
I'm gettin' tired of listenin'
to you talk.
I think I'll go outside
and take a walk.
Took my guitar and
got up off the floor.
I must have dozed off while
while you were next door.
My mind's at ease that I know you're on my side.
That ice cold daydream took me for an ugly ride.
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