Friday, February 25, 2022

The Rimshots - Down To Earth 7,6,5,4,3,2,1 - (1976) Philips - Rare Soul (FLAC) - Extended Album

This is not the regular release with 9 Tracks. This Philips version has a glorious 13 tracks no less from the Houseband of New Jersey All Platinum/Stang records. Legends on the Northern Soul & Jazz Funk circuits! The Rimshots were an American Soul,Funk, & disco band, popular in the late 1970s. The group started out as the house band for the labels All Platinum Records and in particular, Stang Records in the early 1970s. The (then nameless) rhythm section recorded for the artists signed to the company (including Hank Ballard, Donnie Elbert, Shirley & Company, Chuck Jackson, Brook Benton, Solomon Burke, Brother to Brother, Eleanor Mills, The Moments, and Etta James). Along with King Curtis, they recorded the original theme song for the 1971 hit television show, "Soul Train". From 1972 to 1976, this studio band recorded over fifty projects for Platinum-Chess Records. The group also had the ability to accurately replicate rhythm tracks previously recorded by other artists. Joe Robinson, the company's president, had the group reproduce an American hit, "7-6-5-4-3-2-1 (Blow Your Whistle)", and released the single in Europe under the artist name 'The Rimshots'; and that is when the rhythm section's new identity was launched. The group became a reluctant new artist and began touring internationally as The Rimshots, appearing twice on the UK's BBC Television, Top of the Pops, and other international venues. Despite their unwitting success as a Soul group, their studio discography is unparalleled by their limited recordings under this name.Their original music tended toward a hard funk sound, mainly influenced by three musicians who formed the core of the group. Guitarist Walter Morris, bassist Jonathan Williams, and drummer Clarence Oliver (all from the Richmond, Virginia area) were the original stage band for The Moments. Keyboardist, Bernadette Randle (St. Louis, Missouri), was brought to the studio by owner, Sylvia Robinson and the record producer, Michael Burton ("Pillow Talk" collaborators). Rhythm guitarist, Tommy Keith (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was under contract to the recording company as a writer and producer. Organist, Mozart Pierre Louis (Haiti) performed with the group on stage, but did not record with them in the studio. In this six-man configuration, they toured as The Moments' band throughout the 1970s. By the mid 1970s, however, the group became recognized as a disco band, due in large part to the European success of the "Blow Your Whistle" cover which was totally unfair considering their vast repotoire across the soul genre. They also scored a few chart hits of their original tunes. "Do What You Feel (Part 1)" (written by Walter Morris) reached #93 on the US Billboard charts, and "Super Disco" (written by Tommy Keith) reached #49 R&B, and #7 on the Disco Singles chart. When Randle left the company, she was replaced by Sammy Lowe Jr. during the year or so the group remained intact. His father, Sammy Lowe Sr., was the Platinum-Chess orchestrator for over ten years. The group only recorded 2 albums where this gem is the latter release. The group was eventually sampled extensively by hip-hop artists. 

AMM


                                                                          The Taster!

                                                                     Tracks Below (FLAC)

                                                                    

01 Who's Got The Monster (Instrumental)
02 Now Is The Time
03 Do What You Feel (Part 1)
04 I Wanna Be Myself
05 Super Disco
06 Revelation
07 Takin' It
08 Groove Bus
09 Walter's Inspiration
10 Being Down To Earth
11 Do What You Feel (Part 2)
12 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (Blow Your Whistle)
13 Harvey Wallbanger




22 comments:

Anghellic67$ said...

Awesome Tracklist AMM Thank you

Wicked Souldies (Gto Town) said...

Good material AMM thanks For this great Review

PhilN said...

AMM thanks for your review.

Bill said...

Looks interesting! Good review AMM!

RMstorm said...

Thanks AMM. FLAC and Extended - you spoil us too much.

USMAN47 said...

Just to have the Philips version of this excellent disc with the bonuses.

Yves

tennessee boy said...

it should be a nice discovery for me. Thanks for the extended version

Anton said...

Beautiful Choice Of Yours
Thanks A Lot !

richsoul said...

Interesting review as usual, I will enjoy discovering this group and it's sound. Thank AMM

CanoMan said...

Thanks for this great review

hakase said...

thanks a lot for this rare version by Flac

PeterH said...

Gonna need this extended version. Thanks for review, P.

reb.jukebox said...

Nice post of a rare album plus lots of info
Thanks Reb

Guitarradeplastico,scraping oddities said...

rare album,Many thanks for the Extended Album

renald said...

New to me AMM!!

raphaelmsx said...

Thanks very for this review, very good album.

Rush said...

Thanks for the review AMM great album

Arty said...

Yes please, AMM. This sounds perfect. Thanks.

Soulsville said...

Hello AMM, This looks interesting, thank you for the review.

ELtel said...

Thanks for the rare soul Rimshots MM.
cheers, ELtel

Smokey said...

A very nice review of the album and it's extras.

MusicFan59 said...

This is new to me. The funky horns in the taster remind me of Mandrill. Great review!!!