Sunday 20 September 2009

Osiris ''Since Before Our Time''

Osiris

''Since Before Our Time''
( LP Warner Bros. Records, 1979 )
Catalog # BSK 3311

Tracklisting:
A1 Gamin' (6:12)
Written-By - M. Bond, O. Marsh, T. Brunson
A2 My Love (4:36)
Written-By - O. Marsh, R. McNair
A3 Almost (Never Gets There) (5:07)
Written-By - G. Graham, M. Bond, O. Marsh
B1 What's The Use? (3:54)
Written-By - M. Bond, O. Marsh
B2 Consistency (3:24)
Written-By - O. Marsh
B3 Damn (7:48)
Written-By - O. Marsh

Personnel & Credits:
Artwork By [Art Direction] - Peter Whorf
Artwork By [Design] - Frank Mulvey & David Fleming/Gribbitt!
Artwork By [Illustration] - Jeff Wack
Bass - Rusty Cunningham, Tony Jones, Tyrone Brunson
Drums - Bobby Manigault , Kelvin Nelson, Kenny Jones
Engineer - Frankie D'Augusta
Executive Producer - Tom Meyerhoff
Flute - Sherri Winston
Guitar - Brent Mingle, Elliott Randall, John Kimsey, LeBurn Maddox
Keyboards - Maceo Bond
Mastered By - Chris Bellman
Percussion - Jimmy "Sha-Sha" Stapelton, Norman Pride
Producer - Osiris Marsh
Saxophone - Ron Holloway
Vocals - Osiris Marsh

Notes:
Recorded at Mediasound Studios - September 1977 & January 1978 and Bias Recording - June 1978.
Remixed at the Hit Factory - June 1978.
Mastered at Alan Zentz
Year on Inner Sleeve & Record Cover: 1979
Year on Center label: 1978
Included a Lyrics Sheet.
Format:Vinyl, LP, Album
Country:US
Released:1979

Review:
Recorded in 1977 and 1978 and released in 1979, Osiris' debut album, Since Before Our Time, is a perfect example of a solid soul/funk release that fell through the cracks and did very little commercially. One can speculate on the reasons why this little known LP was ignored. Some might argue that Osiris' Sly Stone-influenced material wasn't disco enough for 1979, but then, Maze and Frankie Beverly had no problem going gold in the late 1970s without jumping on the disco bandwagon. From a commercial standpoint, the problem with Since Before Our Time isn't a lack of disco--it's the lack of a really strong single. Tunes like "Damn," "Almost (Never Gets There)" and "Consistency" work well on an album, but they're missing the sort of immediacy that a single would have needed to grab a program director's attention. It's quite possible that some programmers at R&B radio heard Since Before Our Time and said, "Interesting album, but where's the single?" Not surprisingly, Warner Bros. dropped Osiris--and it didn't take long for this LP to go out of print and end up in the cutout bins.
By Alex Henderson (AMG)

Biography:
Led by singer Osiris Marsh, Osiris was a fine but obscure soul/funk outfit that was active in Washington, D.C., in the late '70s. The band's influences included Sly & the Family Stone and Funkadelic, and like Earth, Wind & Fire, Osiris was interested in the culture of ancient Egypt. Osiris' debut album, Since Before Our Time, came out on Warner Bros. in 1979; unfortunately, the LP received very little attention, and Osiris (which Warner dropped), broke up without ever recording a second album. In addition to lead singer Marsh, Osiris' members included bassist Tony Jones, keyboardist Maceo Bond, saxman Ron Holloway, bassist Tyrone Brunson, guitarist Brent Mingle, drummer Kenny Jones, and percussionist Jimmy "Sha Sha" Stapleton. After Osiris' breakup, Holloway kept busy as a jazz musician and went on to record several hard bop albums for Milestone/Fantasy in the 1990s.
By Alex Henderson (AMG)

Courtesy of Funkysoul59

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

passw:

funkysoul59

ryanb said...

Jazzypier -

First off thanks for extending the invite to me, I really appreciate it. Second, in the slides on the right of the blog I noticed a picture of Sam Rivers "A New Conception" on Blue Note...any chance you have this LP and if so could you post it? I look forward to it if you do! Thanks again.

Ryan

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