Axelrod
's reputation underwent an extraordinary reassessment in the late '90s, with his instrumental albums and work as an arranger coming to be considered innovative and au courant by some tastemakers. Even taking into account that this is just one of many records bearing the
imprint, one has to wonder if the rehabilitation is in fact unwarranted inflation. This is run-of-the-mill, largely instrumental soul-jazz-funk, split between
originals and covers of tunes by
Stevie Wonder
,
Carly Simon
Vince Guaraldi
, and
Cannonball Adderley
. It would be eminently suitable for background soundtrack music for 1970s films and made for TV movies, and while some such efforts can be good, in this context, that is not meant as praise. Do you really want to hear a watery fusion cover of
"You're So Vain,"
with
Stephanie Spruill
's straining soul vocals? You're welcome to it. Although about a couple dozen musicians (including
Adderley
and
Gene Ammons
) take part in the string- and horn-drenched arrangements, really these aren't that creative. They sound more like quickly assembled, made-to-order filler music for video productions, the horns sometimes sounding rather like those of school marching bands, with touches of early-'70s-style electric keyboards and wah-wahing funk-rock guitars. There's an orgiastic wordless female vocal on
"Mucho Chupar,"
if that's what you like. The entire album is contained on the
Fantasy
CD reissue
The Axelrod Chronicles
, which adds eight tracks from 1973-1974 that
produced and/or arranged on albums by
Nat Adderley
Hampton Hawes
Funk, Inc
. ~ Richie Unterberger