Charles Wright / The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band - C/D/S/D/etc?

I've been crazily in love with a Warner Bros. comp I bought in 1994, and I've never settled on which LPs to buy. I love how clunky everything sounds--kind of like dirt-poor, expertly played reggae, only it's gen-yoo-wine 'merican funk/soul.

"Express Yourself" is one of my most "dancing mandatory" songs of all time. I only have that Warner's comp too, need more.

Well, basically, if you don't mind obvious-covers-of-the-time, get the albums if you like the comp. Some albums are less consistent than others, but all of them are at least GOOD. Can't pick a favorite right now, although the Hot Heat/self titled is the one I play the most.

Rhino Handmade is releasing an outtakes and B-sides comp and a Live album later this year.

PRAISE RHINO! Maybe I can buck the UK reissues then. yay! Thank you lolpez.

Great stuff I should know better. Oliver Wang's presentation on them at RedCat last week was a goddamn treat.

ok, basically whatever album I'm playing right now is the best one.

NP: Together

Together is the new best. There.

i got a copy of You're So Beautiful a while back. they do a great version of Express Yourself. real loose. lots of call and response.

http://www.robotsinheat.com/trax/ExpressYourselfII.mp3

Basically, I see Charles Wright and Sly Stone as peers on the same planet, both capable of doing extremely colorful and fun soul music that can't be described easily at all, but very likeable in the end.

Whereas Sly is more about build and euphoria (concentrating on the earlier stuff here), Wright is more about comfort and ease. I think Sly Stone is ultimately more "important" (if you want me to elaborate, I can), but I know that if I just want to chill the fuck out without having to resort to lulling beat-less music, Charles Wright will always do the job, no matter which album (which I guess makes him a precursor to Steely Dan in that specific sense.) Not all Sly Stone can do this.

Do any of those albums contain the remarkably omgwtf "90-Day Cycle People"?

Nope. That was a post-RhythmBand track.

Rhino Handmade is releasing an outtakes and B-sides comp and a Live album later this year.

And they're officially out for purchase:

Charles Wright & Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band- Puckey Puckey: Jams & Outtakes 1970-1971
$29.98 :: 2 Discs
An individually numbered limited edition of 5,000 copies

This month Rhino Handmade focuses on one of the pioneers of '70s funk, Charles Wright And The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, with a pair of 2-CD limited editions. Puckey Puckey: Jams & Outtakes offers revelatory unissued recordings from the group's Warner Bros. years, while Live At The Haunted House captures them in concert at the beginning of their tenure with the label.

Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band were at their creative peak during the sessions for Express Yourself (1970) and You're So Beautiful (1971) from which the new Puckey Puckey collection was drawn. Thriving on improvisation, Wright guided the band through marathon rehearsals and studio work in which songs evolved out of extended jams. The title track offers a perfect example of this -- the take opening Disc 1 clocks in at nearly a half-hour, while the version of “Pucky Puckey” closing Disc 2 has been distilled to what Wright might call “four minutes of happiness.” In-between are two more epic jams plus “Watts Towers,” which grew out of a riff that the band had played periodically in the studio for years.

Disc Two opens with the only non-Wright-penned song, an instrumental version of Otis Redding's “Hard To Handle” that's a shout-out to the band's early days as a cover act. Among the other highlights are previously unissued alternate versions, including one of their signature song “Express Yourself” and a stripped-down early take of the non-LP single “Wine.” In all, Puckey Puckey: Jams & Outtakes features more than 2-_ hours of previously unreleased music, plus rare photos and liner notes including new interviews with Charles Wright and bandmates.

Jams & Outtakes (1970-1971) is available for $29.98 as an individually numbered limited edition of 5,000 copies. Get it at: www.RhinoHandmade.com

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Charles Wright & Watts 103rd St. Rhythm Band- Live At The Haunted House - May 18, 1968

$29.98 :: 2 Discs
An individually numbered limited edition of 5,000 copies

When Charles Wright And The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band took the stage at the storied-and long-gone-Hollywood nightclub The Haunted House on a spring night in 1968 to record a live album, they were already regulars at the venue. Mixed from the original four-track tapes, Rhino Handmade's 2-CD Live At The Haunted House presents a well-oiled band in top form, pumping out funk and soul for the masses pounding the dancefloor and making the scene.

The line-up featured on Live At The Haunted House is the third iteration of The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band: singer/guitarist Charles Wright, bassist Melvin Dunlap, drummer James Gadson, guitarist Al McKay, saxophonists John Rayford and Bill Cannon, trumpeter Gabriel Flemings, and trombonist Ray Jackson. At the time of this concert, the group was evolving from a dance band into a creative force that would soon define a signature soul style known as the “L.A. sound.”

While a portion of this set appeared on Charles Wright And the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band's second album (1968's Together), it's heard in its entirety for the first time on Live At The Haunted House. As Wright recalls, “I was influenced by James Brown's Live At The Apollo and thought it was something I could pull off with my band,” and the 37 roof-raising tracks on this new Rhino Handmade collection certainly qualify Charles Wright for the title “Godfather of West Coast Soul.”

Live At The Haunted House (May 18, 1968) is available for $29.98 as an individually numbered limited edition of 5,000 copies. Get it at: www.RhinoHandmade.com

the storied-and long-gone-Hollywood nightclub The Haunted House

MST3K/cult sixties movie freaks should note this was the club in the movie The Girl in Gold Boots -- though the band featured was definitely NOT Charles Wright's, more's the pity.

This really needs to be bumped a bit.

just ordered both. Bless you ned.

fire

Just bought one of those Original Album Series 5CD boxes by these guys on eBay last night.

this is a band I always only had comps of and assumed it was enough -- best album to start with?