Harlem Underground Band – Smokin’ Cheeba Cheeba
Harlem Underground Band – Fed Up
Harlem Underground Band – Ain’t No Sunshine
I’ve now owned this record three times. I know that the first copy was a bootleg. I think the second copy was a legit original. Ran into this copy at Amoeba for something like $4 and the sleeve made me think it was a reissue. The thing about reissue vinyl is that it has a certain look, perhaps because newer records are pressed differently than OGs, and the tell-tale signs are normally on the label. When I took a look at the label of this record, it didn’t look like a reissue, it looked like the real deal. For whatever reason it seems like this record got bootlegged more than just about any record I know. It’s a strange record in some ways. The record is a real anomaly in the career of George Benson, “Baby” Cortez and Willis Jackson, (though I’ve never been sure if Benson is the singer on “Cheeba Cheeba,”) because this is a real down and dirty album, not just in terms of it being “funky,” this is literally a pretty dirty record. In some ways it’s a funk concept record, or something that could have easily have been a blaxploitation soundtrack. From the “highs” of Smokin’ Cheeba Cheeba, things get low down as Ann Winley sings “Fed Up” and tells her man in no uncertain terms that she ain’t putting up with his s**t any more. How are we to view the lascivious nature of “Finger In It?” Is this the no-good man of the prior song, up to his old ways, or has the woman decided to go and get hers? I lean towards the latter since the next song is “Ain’t No Sunshine” and even as an instrumental with a reggae feel and big ole drum break, we all know how that goes. “Fed Up” shows up again as an instrumental to close the album and close the interesting little story that is going here. You very rarely heard so many profanities in songs from this period unless the album was explicitly a comedy record, so that makes it notable all on its own, regardless who was playing on it.
Cheers,
Michael