The Chambers Brothers - The Time Has Come LP (1967) Columbia - CD(2000) Columbia - (FLAC)+ Booklet - Rare Soul

One of my all time Fave groups,the Mighty Chambers Brothers,this was their 5th Studio Album,& rather than post the lp version i,ve opted for the Cd with 4 xtra Bonus Tracks and that booklet! Originally from Carthage, Mississippi,the products of an impoverished sharecropping family, the Chambers Brothers first honed their skills as members of the choir in their Baptist church. This arrangement ended in 1952 when the eldest brother, George, was drafted into the Army. George relocated to Los Angeles after his discharge, and his brothers soon joined him. Beginning in 1954, the foursome played gospel and folk music throughout the Southern California region, but remained little known until 1965 when they began performing in New York City.Consisting of George (1931 - 2019) on washtub bass (later on Dan electro bass guitar), Lester (born 1940) on harmonica, and Willie (born 1938) and Joe (born 1942) on guitar, the group started to venture outside the gospel circuit, playing at coffee houses that booked folk acts. They played at places like The Ash Grove, a very popular Los Angeles folk club. It became one of their favorite haunts and brought them into contact with Hoyt Axton, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Reverend Gary Davis, and Barbara Dane. Dane became a great supporter, performing and recording with the brothers. With the addition of Brian Keenan,a white musician (born 1943 –1985) on drums,this opened up a multi racial audience for the guys and doors opened for them! Dane took them on tour with her and introduced them to Pete Seeger, who helped put the Chambers Brothers on the bill of the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. One of the songs they performed, "I Got It", appeared on the Newport Folk Festival 1965 compilation LP, which was issued on the Vanguard label.They were becoming more accepted in the folk community, but, like many on the folk circuit, were looking to electrify their music and develop more of a rock and roll/Soul/R&B sound. Joe Chambers recalled in a May 1994 Goldmine article that people at the Newport Folk Festival were breaking down fences and rushing to the stage. "Newport had never seen or heard anything like that." After the group finished and the crowd finally settled down, the MC came up and said "Whether you know it or not, that was rock 'n' roll." That night they played at a post-concert party for festival performers and went to a recording session of the newly electrified Bob Dylan. Shortly after appearing at Newport, the group released its debut album, People Get Ready. Like their West Coast contemporaries Sly & the Family Stone, the Chambers Brothers shattered racial and musical divides to forge an incendiary fusion of funk, gospel, blues, and psychedelia which reached its apex with the perennial 1968 song "Time Has Come Today." The Chambers Brothers all of whom contributed vocals.  Time Has Come Today FEATURED HERE was Performed Live On the Ed Sullivan Show.As the Chambers Brothers toured rock clubs (including the famed Fillmore in San Francisco) and R&B venues (most notably the Apollo Theatre) alike, their music increasingly embraced elements of both; after recording 1968's Shout! for the Vault label, the group signed to Columbia to issue Time Has Come Today, scoring a major pop hit with the title track, an 11-minute psychedelic soul epic in its original album incarnation. The follow-up, A New Time - A New Day, yielded another Top 40 hit, a cover of the Otis Redding classic "I Can't Turn You Loose," but subsequent efforts, including 1969's Love, Peace and Happiness and 1970's Live at Fillmore East, failed to maintain the commercial momentum. Upon completing 1972's Oh My God!, the Chambers Brothers disbanded, only to reunite two years later for Unbonded. Right Move appeared in 1975, and although no new studio records were forthcoming, the group regularly performed live in the decades to follow, with the brothers also pursuing individual projects; the Chambers Family Choir, a gospel group including the siblings' children, remained a priority as well. The UK Northern Scene was quick to discover the dance floor magic of these guys as a few tracks from this superb album will testify!

AMM

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