Eddie Harris ”Instant Death”

Eddie Harris

”Instant Death”
( LP Atlantic Records, 1972 )
Catalog # SD 1611

Tracklisting:
A1 Instant Death (5:45)
A2 A Little Wes (7:30)
A3 Zambezi Dance (4:09)
B1 Summer’s On Its Way (7:46)
B2 Nightcap (5:08)
B3 Superfluous (3:18)
B4 Tampion (2:47)

Personnel & Credits:
Bass, Electric Bass – Rufus Reid
Conga, Talking Drums – Henry Gibson
Drums, Kilimba – Billy James
Electric Guitar – Ronald Muldrow
Electric Piano, African Whistle – Richard Abrams
Electric Sax, Trumpet, Cowbell, Shaker, Horn Vocals – Eddie Harris

Notes:
Produced by Eddie Harris & Marvin Lagunoff
Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: US
Released: 1972

Review:
Eddie Harris makes a radical turn toward electronic R&B on this popping, enterprising LP of grooves, humorous one-off vignettes, and other eclectic pursuits. Driven by a standard drum kit and tacky-sounding electric bongos, some of Harris’ most irresistible grooves (”Funkaroma,” “Look Ahere”) can be found here. The title track, a Ronald Muldrow/Harris collaboration, is an ingenious self-contained little piece, a chugging machine-driven rhythm, a catchy guitar riff, and a great brief repeated chorus. Harris resurfaces as a competent piano player (with overdubbed electric sax) on the down-home “House Party Blues” and as usual, he plugs another electronic innovation into his sax on “Space Commercial,” an eerie pitch-tracking device designed by Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog synthesizer.
By Richard S. Ginell (AMG)

By Pier