Herman Hitson - Let The Gods Sing (2022) Big Legal Mess - Hard Soul/Funk/Blues/Prog (FLAC)

Herman is well know to soul fans for his sixties output,but his real passion is the blues with a funky edge. This really is an incredible album full of hard edged funky Progressive blues which is mind blowing!..In the music business, there are certain sidemen/players who back the stars,who play with such prowess that they gain fame of their own. By all rights, Herman Hitson should be one of those people. In 2022, not many artists can claim to have collaborated and played with Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Joe Tex, Bobby Womack, Wilson Pickett, Garnet Mimms, Major Lance, Jackie Wilson, the Drifters, the Shirelles, Hank Ballard & the Midnighters and many others,to countless to mention. let alone release a new album more than 50 years after their debut.“I played behind Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke on the same doggone show,” he said, recalling one night at the Royal Peacock in the 1960,s. Along the way, he picked up every style of music that was popular in the early years of his career. Arguably, the original seeds of psychedelic rock were planted after Hitson and Hendrix became running buddies in the early 1960s. Both were playing the Chitlin’ Circuit, tours that would load somewhere between ten and two dozen African American musicians on a bus and tour the South, playing Black nightclubs. In the mid-1960s, he moved to New York City, where he once again hooked up with Hendrix. Early in 1966, Herman began work on his own psychedelic rock album under the title “Free Spirit.” Hermon sang and played lead guitar, and Hendrix played bass on a few tracks that went unreleased by ATCO at the time. Those recordings wound up being the source of a controversy in the 1980s that brought Hermon’s name into the limelight in a different way. The title song of the album, “Free Spirit,” was released on two albums of music allegedly recorded by Hendrix and then “lost” to history. “That’s my song,” Herman says today. "He (Hendrix) didn’t never play no lead on nothing of mine. And he didn’t sing on nothing of mine. In fact, back then he thought he couldn’t sing. We had to keep pushing him". Jimi would say, ‘I can’t sing.’ I’d say, ‘Man, you don’t have to be Wilson Pickett. All you got to do is sing like you sing.”   But Guitar player and singer Herman Hitson aka Hermon Hitson has survived a wild life, his biography calls him a recovering heroin addict, one time inmate and snake clearer armed with a flamethrower!!!... In two days he recorded the nine songs of "Let The Gods Sing", unstoppable as if he were at the beginning of his career, although his unique dark voice betrays longevity. The experienced pioneer plays here alongside The Sacred Soul Sound Section who are Will Sexton (guitar), Mark Stuart (bass), Will McCarley (drums/percussion), Al Gamble (organ) and Art Edmaiston (horns)  forcing everybody to get loose and then tight. The Album captures the adventurous musical spirit of Hitson, with a wicked groove and a mix of funk, rhythm & blues, soul, hard blues, all layered with psychedelia, all raw and authentic. You’ll hear new performances of some of Hitson’s best-known R&B tunes, like Suspicious (an original Hitson song attributed to Jimi Hendrix at the time), and he also re-covers Bad Girl (featuring garage rock legend Jack Oblivian on guitar and Marcella Simien on vocals), written by his longtime bandmate Lee Moses another soul legend. The record colours wildly outside the lines, takes you on an exciting trip, and leaves you in awe! It certainly blew me away,a real 60,s feel to it...fantastic!

AMM

                                                               Review Courtsey Of Hakase

                                                                       The Tasters!