The Magnificent, the hottest soul revue on the West Coast, features two legendary front-men, six distinguished musicians from Southern California's modern-day garage/punk/rock and roll scene, and two go-go dancers. But even if California is a little outside of your do-able range of travel, you can still experience The Magnificent's transcendent rhythm & blues dance party through the magic of compact disc. Out now on Rum Bar Records, the band's debut album Monolithic is jam-packed with prime cuts of late '60s/early '70s R & B which have been re-worked with full-on garage rock gusto. The lineup will knock your socks off. You've got Mighty Manfred (The Woggles) and Nathan "The Deacon" Long (MI6) joining forces on lead vocals. Kent Holmes (The Brutalists) is on guitar. Bruce Duff (The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs) is on bass. Erik Szabo (Park Bench Prophets) is on keys. Todd Westover (The BellRays) is on drums. Joe Jennings (JJ & the Real Jerks/The Legendary Swagger) and Geoff Yeaton (The Legendary Swagger/Streetwalkin' Cheetahs) are on sax. With that set of players, you know you're not just getting vanilla renditions of old favorites. This is no run-of-the-mill cruise ship soul revue, son. This is a world-class rock and roll band putting its exciting twist on some stone-cold classics (and playing some originals as well). Highlights for me include crackling versions of Johnny Daye's 1967 Stax side "Wat'll I Do For Satisfaction," the Etta James/Sugar Pie DeSanto party-starter "In the Basement," The Vel-Vets' northern soul standard "I Gotta Find Me Somebody," Chuck Bridges' 1966 hip-shaker "Don't You Make Me Cry," and the Eddie Floyd/Janis Joplin classic "Raise Your Hand." Any super-fan of '60s/'70s soul will have to admit that the song selection is indeed magnificent. And when it comes to executing a timeless rhythm & blues style with real deal rock and roll energy, you simply won't find a more capable band. These guys themselves are super-fans of classic soul, and that love comes fully through on this blockbuster of an album.
Monolithic was tracked by Paul Roessler at Kitten Robot studio and mastered by the legendary Rodney Mills at his Masterhouse lab in Atlanta. No doubt, The Magnificent's live show is a true audio-visual spectacle that needs to be witnessed in person. But the band proves to be pretty great on record as well. Of course you will want to seek out the original versions of these songs (no doubt the band intended that). But as an album onto itself, Monolithic is tremendous fun and a first-rate work of garage soul. The party starts the instant you push play!
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