LP Review: In The Purest Form
Released: 1979
LP Charts: #10 R&B, #43 pop
With In The Purest Form, Mass Production finally got a hit single thanks to the lead off track, “Firecracker”. It’s a good piece of novelty funk with firecrackers popping off to introduce the track as well as a weird, fluid, and bouncy guitar/bass hook. The song reached #4 R&B and #43 pop. Not the band’s best song, but definitely their best radio song.
Annoyingly, the song is sequenced as a medley with “Love You” on the album. So, if you stream this LP, you won’t be able to have “Love You” as a separate track. Now that annoyance is with track sequencing. Against all odds “Love You” is actually the first ballad from Mass Production that was legitimately good. Took until their fourth album, but they finally did it. I credit the phat bass and festive horns for juicing that ballad up right.
“With Pleasure” returns the band to its more mundane slow song performances. Side 1 concludes with “Our Thought (Purity)” a harmless, short instrumental.
Side 2 opens with “Can’t You See I’m Fired Up”, a pleasant, if unremarkable song… until a lengthy keyboard solo enters the groove and kicks the song up a notch. It’s a fine album track, but easy to see why it flopped (#43 R&B) when released as a single.
“Eyeballin’” is stupid slap-bass funk. “Next Year” is a boring ballad more in Mass Production’s tradition, sadly. Mercifully, the mellow instrumental “Strollin’” ends the album with solos galore: keyboard, trumpet, and vibraphone. Nice way to end things.
ALBUM GRADE: C+
This album confirms to me that Mass Production is at their best when they dispense with any attempt at highfalutin lyrics and just chant and/or play their instruments.
Song Scores
Firecracker: 7/10
Love You: 7/10
With Pleasure: 6/10
Our Thought (Purity): 6.5/10
Can’t You See I’m Fired Up: 6.5/10
Eyeballin’: 5/10
Next Year: 4/10
Strollin’: 7/10