Search - Tower of Power :: Soul Vaccination: Live

This cd has kick!

stonewall | nh | 09/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's a shame we don't have a DVD to go along with this live recording, done back in '98 at the Fillmore. The audio is superb; somebody did a fine job mixing everything. Anybody who wants a lesson in syncopation should listen to this, especially 'What is Hip'. There is a tremendous rendition of an old TOP standard, 'Willing to Learn'. If the singing & horn playing don't move with this song nothing will. The way the bass drum punches with the horns is just great. Enjoy!"

Best Tower of Power Live CD

John Palmer | Scarsdale, NY United States | 07/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of two live Tower of Power (TOP) CD's. The other is "Live and in Living Color."



Live and in Living Color



In my opinion, "Soul Vaccination: Live" is the one to buy for two reasons:



Shorter/more tunes



Better tunes



With regard to the shorter/more tunes point, TOP is about fantastic funk arrangements and band teamwork, especially the TOP horns ensemble playing and the best funk battery in the business, David Garibaldi (drums) and Francis Rocco Prestia (bass).



More/shorter tunes gives you more great arrangements and more phenomenal execution per CD. Longer tunes with extended solos take away what I think is TOP's ultimate weapon. The other TOP live album is much more about longer tunes and extended solos.



With regard to the better tunes point, the other Tower LIve album has three of the many "best of " Tower tunes (Down to the Nightclub, What is Hip and You're Still a Young Man). This album has all of those plus Soul Vacination, Souled Out, You've Got to Funkafize, Willing to Learn and more.



The remaining two tunes on the other Live Album -- Sparkling in the Sand and Knock Yourself Out -- are not the greatest Tower tunes to begin with. But they take up close to 2/3rd's of the runtime of the album! Knock Yourself Out alone is 24 minutes long! It's full of extended solos by band members.



I'll admit it's interesting to hear TOPers really stretch out. However, lots of players can play extended jazz funk solos. Folks like Herbie Hancock, Bennie Maupin, Michael Brecker, Grant Green et al can really knock your socks off.



But when it comes to tight, creative, funk arrangements, DONE LIVE, I think Tower stands alone.



So, for me, of the two this is the live album you want to get."