Laurel Aitken – The Fantastic Laurel Aitken
welcome back to the Skaject folks! today we’re looking at our last record from the early 70’s, Laurel Aitken’s The Fantastic Laurel Aitken, released in 1972 –
Baby Please Don’t Go is the intro track here – got an extremely nice, low key mood here. the simplicity of the plea offsets what ends up being a little repetitive of a vocal line, and the end result is a sweet track about a bitter moment. neat. aight Sex Machine is p funny. this is a p good track, and i love the lil horn hooks throughout. Heile Heile (The Lion) aint my jam lyrically but its a v enjoyable track. Chop Chop Rock has that keyboard part so high in the mix that its surprising that it works out, haha. Can’t Turn Your Back On Me is a lil too slow for me, and its a lil strange how the “backing” vocals are louder in the mix than Aitken himself. Since You Left is aight. Do the Boogaloo is so close to being a track i would really like. i do enjoy what its trying to do but its just shy for me. Souls of Africa’s p good. a real pleasant track, and probably top of the record for me. Dancing With My Baby is a really, really nice follow up. real smooth track. Dallas Texas is fine. Rock Steady is an extremely nice instrumental track. closing things out here is Reggae Mood, which is also fine, but not really my cup of tea.
faves –
dislikes –
this was an incredibly nice listen, and i really wish i coulda given it more credit, but the tracks here kept sliding right off me. Aitken’s voice here is really nice, and theres some great keys, some solid rhythm, some excellent horn work, but on the whole the package is just… nice.
The Fantastic Laurel Aitken – 4/10
next up we’re gonna be making a bit of a time jump to 1979 to listen to the debut record of Madness, One Step Beyond…
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