24-Carat Black – I’ll Never Let You Go
For the second time in as many years, a musical dream of mine has come true. In 2008, I learned that there were instrumental versions of the records that David Axelrod recorded with the Electric Prunes. I was nothing short of amazed. This collection of recordings from the legendary 24-Carat Black tops that find significantly.
Some 35 years after it was recorded, the Numero Group has dug up the long lost recordings for the second album by 24-Carat Black. The 6 songs on this collection aptly titled Gone: The Promises of Yesterday are very much in the spirit of the debut, sonically, but not thematically. While some of the members in the group had changed, the core returns, Dale Warren, Princess Hearn and a seriously funky drummer Tyrone Steels. Based on the songs on this collection, it appears that band-leader Dale Warren was interested in presenting another concept record, but instead of one focused on the urban condition, he was broadening his scope to focus on love. Whether this record was about a specific relationship (making it similar to another Stax concept record, David Porter’s Victim of the Joke) or a grand statement about the concept itself, is lost to time, but love is certainly the theme that weaves through each of the tracks.
Also, despite the utter commercial failure of the first record, Dale Warren was clearly not holding back or trying to soften his vision on this album. From the jive talkback, pleading and crying on “I Want To Make Up” to the wild exhortations of “Arriba!” on the title cut to the odd time signatures and almost avant-garde arrangements, this record would have been just as uncompromising as the debut.
There isn’t a single element that answers why so many revere the sound of this group, instead it’s how all the various elements are put together, the dark mood, the subtle flourishes of vibes and bells, the harmony vocals and the exceptional tension created between the rhythm & horn sections. Few groups build the way this group did and here that becomes especially evident on my favorite (and perhaps the best sounding) track on this collection “I’ll Never Let You Go.” I love how the rhythm just sputters and stutters along (slightly similar to the intro for “Foot Stamps” on the debut), matched by lyrics and phrasing that sound both innocent and dirty (maybe even a little dangerous?) at the same time. Then there’s the breakdown in the middle, with some blush worthy vocalizing, and the rhythm returns only to finally break loose in stunning fashion just before ending cold. I’m blown away by this track every time I hear it, especially when you compare it to the original girl group version from The Tiares.
A close second for my favorite on here is the closer, “I Began To Weep” a minimalist funk magnum opus at almost 12 minutes, with it’s pleading, insistent horn lines, super heavy drums, and some strange industrial sounding percussion in the background. It closes with 5+ minutes of dubbed out trumpet, crashing drums and ghostly guitar/organ far in the background, then pushed to the foreground and back to the background, anchored all the while with Robert Dunston’s bluesy, searching vocals. “Gone The Promises of Yesterday” and “Best of Good Love Gone” probably sound the most like the 24-Carat Black of the debut release and both are real solid groovers. Even the weakest track on here, (in terms of artistic and sound quality to my ears at least) “I Don’t Love You” contains some just wicked horns and drums. This whole set is a marvel, an awe-inspiring, incredible marvel.
However, this set is also an incredible tragedy, because 24-Carat Black recorded much more than the 6 sides contained here. The reel-to-reels sat decaying in someone’s muggy Chicago basement for years and years until finding their way to the Numero Group. Ear goggled listening reveals many imperfections with these 6 songs, but personally that only adds to the legendary nature of the recording.
My sincere hope (and something that I plan to advocate as much as possible) is that this is not the end of the story for this music but only a beginning. With so many fans and talented DJs/producers out there, I hope the music on this set and the unreleased material find a worthy champion to arrange, reassemble or remix the last recordings of a legendary group with some truly unique and exceptional sounds.