Search - Hamilton Bohannon :: Summertime Groove

I'VE BEEN WATCHING YOU ALL NIGHT. DON'T YOU WANNA DANCE?

Patrick Frierson | 03/12/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In the past few months, I made quite a few strong purchases in dance music. Amongst my discoveries, Hamilton Bohannon's "Summertime Groove" is one of the most interesting. For those who have or hasn't heard a Bohannon dance record, one thing that's immediately noticeable are the bass driven, highly percussive beats where the arrangements are busy yet intricately produced. The Tambourine is instrumental in giving Bohannon's music this distinctive feel and the guitars are more blues driven than your average chicken scratch guitar licks in funk. The guitars also create this scratch effect that gives the impression that a DJ and two turntables is somewhere in the mix.



Many fans and critics regard this album as being one of his most thought out. Bohannon was much like James Brown, in a sense that he was never an album artist. Much like JB dominated the 45 rpm, Bohannon, like many disco artists, ruled the 12" single format and rarely brought that same level of consistency to a full length album. Summertime Groove is one of the few albums he made where he's able to sustain the momentum most of the way, especially on side one as" Let's Start to Dance" kicks things off. Besides being one of the biggest dance hits that year, it's probably his most iconic hit of that era. Keeping the party atmosphere afloat, "Listen to the Children Play", paints a picture of children playing innocent street games and reaping the happiness that comes with a carefree youth- rather it be hide and seek, hopscotch, jump rope, etc. You don't hear songs like this these days. With Caroline Crawford handling the vocals, the arrangements are as simple as the lives the children were enjoying. It has a simple bass line with soft synths and flutes on top with handclaps added in to give it a festive touch. The up tempo vibe picks back up on "Me and the Gang" and business never had this much pleasure as Bohannon and his band gets silly on a full out Jam session. The arrangement opens with a hypnotizing piano riff with the band members dropping manes and Caroline singing some silly lyrics such as "Let's groove in the name of uhh (followed by unanimous harmonizing of uhh!). You got to listen to the record to see the humor in it. The title track on side 2 is a lazy, slowed down groove that makes you wanna take off your shirt, crack open a six pack, and chill at the beach under the shade. That's strictly a groove for 80 degree weather and beyond.



The only gripes about the album are the less than stellar offerings in "I Wonder Why" and "The Street Dance". The former has a smoothed out rhythm arrangement that's marred by its rather generic lyrics. The latter is OK, but it doesn't match the potency of the other uptempo tracks. A one minute reprise of "Let's start the Dance" wasn't necessary either. In spite of its flaws, this album is one of the truest representations of the Bohannon sound in the late 70's. When you throw your next pool party, you may wanna take a dip in these grooves.

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