Released: 1972
You can tell this is a break from reality when a pink, rainbow-winged Pegasus graces the cover. FUN FACT: designed by drummer Dino Danelli.
Anyhoo, for their final album the Rascals finally got a regular bass player: Robert Popwell. Buzz Feiten returned on guitar. Molly Holt and Annie Sutton, to no great effect, reprise their roles as backing vocalists.
The Soulful
The album opens with the Caribbean sunshine of “Lucky Day”. It’s a happy enough ditty.
Whoa boy, look at this title: “Brother Tree”. As sanctimonious as you might imagine it to be. It segues directly into “Island of Real”, which is sunny and pleasant minus a minute-long portion that echoes “People Get Ready” by the Impressions.
The sunshine rays continue on “Hummin’ Song”. And I know David Sanborn’s smooth squawking saxophone anywhere. He’s all over “Hummin’ Song”.
Thus far the songs have all been at least decent.
Well, we finally get a bad song in “Echoes”. In fact, it’s terrible. Worst song of the Rascals’ career (except maybe “Boom”).
The music is perfunctory, but the terribleness derives from Molly Holt’s poor vocal performance. Her voice is truly awful on this. Like, high school talent show bad. Why Felix gave up the mic on this song I’ll never know. Well, maybe he figured this song was indeed bad and wanted nothing to do with it.
Felix thankfully resumes lead vocal duties on “Buttercup”. Not a great song, but a decent mood piece incorporating some gently funky bass.
The Funky
“Saga of New York” rides on a fast-paced booty-shaking groove that woulda been at home in New York’s burgeoning discotheques. Nice to see the Rascals do a song you can dance to for the first time in a couple albums. I do wish they had committed to a full horn section on this song instead of a lone saxophone. Woulda kicked things up a notch.
“Be on the Real Side” was written by Popwell and is something Sly Stone would be proud of: funk that grooves so slowly it might as well be molasses. “Jungle Walk” ditches the molasses for a frenetic pace set by a twitchy electric guitar. That one was written by Feiten, so it was nice to see him contribute a good song after the two from Peaceful World were purely average.
“Time Will Tell” is fine jazz-funk as Felix and Annie Sutton sing the song in unison. Song definitely reminds me of Natalie Cole’s “Annie Mae” released a few years later.
The album concludes on the jazzy and bluesy “Lament”. Best song on the LP and the final piece of music released by the Rascals.
ALBUM GRADE: B-
Barely a B-, but a B- as the group dug deeper into an esoteric brew of jazz and soul sprinkled with funk and rock. Not the ending one would have expected from the Rascals when they released their first album back in 1966 filled with garage rock, but life takes unexpected turns.
Song Scores
Lucky Day: 6.5/10
Saga Of New York: 7.5/10
Be on the Real Side: 8/10
Jungle Walk: 7.5/10
Brother Tree: 4/10
Island of Real: 7.5/10
Hummin’ Song: 7.5/10
Echoes: 3/10
Buttercup: 7/10
Time Will Tell: 8/10
Lament: 8.5/10