Tower of Power
Back to Oakland

THE REVIEW

I took a spin around music sites before I sat down to write this stuff, and I found that the third self-titled album by Tower of Power is widely regarded as the one where the group definitively defines their musical offering. The two that follow, also products of what can be considered the best formation of the group, are generally cited as works where the band reaffirms itself at excellent levels, but with no significant new developments. In the particular case of “Back to Oakland,” I'm not sure how appropriate it is to see it this way. It's probably true that in terms of substantial ideas, the group didn't go much further than where they'd already reached with tracks like "What Is Hip?", but differences in sound can be found compared to the previous album, and personally, I prefer this one, even if only slightly.

The main ingredients of the group's musical recipe are the same: funk in the vein of Sly & the Family Stone, soul in the Curtis Mayfield direction (thanks to Imasoul, I know who that is), a prominent baritone saxophone in the horn section, with additions of jazz and rock in varying quantities from time to time. Again, the two overflowing souls of the band, the rhythmic and the melodic, manage to find a balance, and my feeling is that it's tilted more in favor of the rhythmic soul. The two gears that form it, Rocco Prestia (bass) and David Garibaldi (drums), seem less willing than before to loosen the threads of their dense rhythmic fabric to allow Lenny Williams' beautiful voice or the horn line to venture into airy melodic modulations that tend to sweeten the mood. The mellow moments are there but are generally executed with a slightly more jazzy approach and include tasty parts like the great organ solo in “Just When We Start Makin' It.” In general, the sound seems a bit more angular compared to the previous album, the pace tighter, and the instrumental and jazz parts have more room (fantastic “Squib Cakes”).

The color palette is vast, and the work of blending and embellishing between the various souls of the band by Chester Thompson's organ (not to be confused with the Genesis drummer) and Bruce Conte's guitar deserves mention. But my passion for Tower of Power is primarily thanks to Rocco Prestia. Along with Bootsy Collins and Larry Graham, he forms the great group of innovators in the funk domain of electric bass. Listening to his work, you understand where many people (e.g., Jamiroquai) come from. His famous bed of sixteenths and ghost notes, executed with his distinctive way of muting the strings, leaves a lot of freedom for David Garibaldi to create textbook grooves for drummers. Together they form a powerful rhythmic machine ("Oakland Stroke...", "Squib Cakes") capable of making the group's music timeless. I first heard Oakland Stroke not very long ago; at that time, the track was already about thirty years old, yet it still hit me hard. Great album.