Bob Shad, for those unaware, was a big shot producer/ record label owner in the 1960s, working with such artists as Patti Page, Dizzy Gillespie, Lightnin' Hopkins, The Platters, Janis Joplin and Ted Nugent. Odd list. Odd album.
Basically what we have here is a full on orchestra, not a classical orchestra, but the kind you expect to hear in a 70's movie providing the theme music to the actions of the baddest cat keepin' the crime off the streets. Add to that The Amboy Dukes (Nugent's former band) and some of rock's most classic songs and you have, well, this. It's hard to tell if the intent behind this record was to expose rock and roll to a larger more mainstream audience, or to try and open the eyes of rockers by exposing them to something different in a way they could understand it. No matter, neither goal was accomplished. What did happen is a unique, oddly enjoyable LP that shouldn't work at all but somehow does.
As mentioned above, this sounds like the soundtrack to the greatest 70's spectacle never made. Acid rock meets "Shaft" in an NBC movie of the week starring the Jackson 5. We get groovy, almost jazzy/soulful versions of "Whole Lotta Love", "Pinball Wizard", "No Time", "Up On Cripple Creek" (that's what I said...What?), "Instant Karma" and "I Want You Back". Okay that last one sounds mostly the same but you get the idea. Oh, and did I mention that the songs are all instrumentals as well? Kinda like super groovy elevator music.
The whole thing is amazingly silly, and yet still kinda awesome. Go into it as a grizzled rock purist and you will hate it. But keep an open ear and a smile on your face and you just might be surprised. You see, for all the ridiculousness of this project, the musicianship and arrangements are quite good. Bobby Shad and his Bad Men really were some baaaaad cats, they just got wrapped up in a whole lotta cheese.
This one is out there folks. Worth finding.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Daves.
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