Magnum “Fully Loaded”

Magnum

“Fully Loaded”
( LP The Phoenix/Jamie Records, 1974 )
Catalog # LP 6001

Tracklisting:
A1 Evolution (5:39)
A2 Your Mind (3:48)
A3 Natural Juices (6:36)
A4 It’s The Music That Makes Us Do It (3:49)
B1 Witch Doctor’s Brew (7:25)
B2 Funky Junky (5:02)
B3 Composition Seven (9:32)

Credits:
Bass, Backing Vocals – Harold Greene
Congas, Bongos, Backing Vocals – George Chaney (The Chain)
Drums, Backing Vocals – David (Bra, Ping) Sutton
Engineer [Assistant] – Eddie Jaffe
Engineer [Chief] – John Greek
Engineer [Director] – Al Furth
Engineer [Remix] – Cal Wade, John Greek , Wallace Mitchell
Executive Producer – Calvin Wade
Executive Producer [Assistant] – Twinkles Smith
Executive Producer [Associate] – Wallace Mitchell
Guitar [Lead, Rhythm], Vocals – Kevin ‘Cornbread’ Thornton
Piano, Organ, Percussion, Vocals – Michael Greene
Saxophone [Tenor, Alto], Percussion [Electrified], Backing Vocals – Thurron ‘Thorn’ Mallory
Trombone, Organ, Piano, Percussion, Vocals – Vince “Worm” Wormley
Trumpet, Percussion, Backing Vocals – Lamont Payne

Notes:
(P) 1974 Jamie Record Co.
Phila., Pa.
Nat’l. Dist. by Jamie/Guyden Dist. Corp.
Recorded and Mixed: Artist Recording Studios, Hollywood, California.
Mastering: Artisan Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California.
This repress has got a chloride-bleached cartboard-cover (the original album-cover consists of dirty recycled cartboard)
Cat# on spine: LP 6001

Review:
The songwriting and innovation barometer may not be as high on this LP as it is on early-’70s discs by Sly & the Family Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic, Miles Davis, and Santana all of whom Magnum bear slight to strong resemblance to, at one point or another. Yet it’s a pretty solid effort, and a reminder of a brief time when black music effectively synthesized R&B with numerous progressive trends while remaining both optimistic and street-smart. The collision of influences makes itself known right from the opening “Evolution,” with its celebratory/revolutionary lyrics, solid funk groove, James Brown-like horns, bongos, distorted hard rock guitar riffs, and intricate sailing background harmonies. The dragging beats and druggy ambience of “Your Mind” should recall Sly Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On period to many listeners. The wacky hallucinogenic sex sentiments of “Natural Juices” wouldn’t sound too out of place in George Clinton’s world, with its spaced-out narration: “some people get off on a needle…then there is a thumb and blanket. But the ultimate pacifier is a warm, wet nipple.” “Witch Doctor’s Brew” and the more impressive, ten-minute “Composition Seven,” by contrast, make much use of Miles Davis-ish jazz-rock fusion keyboards in their groove-oriented, jammy passages, the latter tune boosted by an irresistible Latin beat. The album was entirely overlooked in comparison to the more famous artists mining the same grooves, both when it was made and when such sounds have come back into fashion. And it absolutely demands a hearing by anyone who digs these sorts of combinations, even if the group were not as original as the giants of the genre.
By Richie Unterberger (AMG)

Covers here.

By Celo