Rediscovering Cold Blood

Big Cold Blood fan here although I wouldn't compare Lydia Pense to Janis Joplin. I never thought Janis (bless her heart) had such a great voice whereas Lydia....

Rummaging thru a used CD store a few yrs ago I came across a NEW (2005) Cold Blood recording called 'Transfusion'. Amazingly enough, Lydia STILL sounds great! As does the band. If you dig the sound of LP & Cold Blood I strongly recommend:

Sons of Champlin - 'Hip Li'l Dreams' Found this at the same shop! Also recorded in 2005 by a band that I hadn't heard since the '70's. Featuring founder Bill Champlin, one of the last great (IMO)blue-eyed soul-brothers.

Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns - 'When The Curtain Goes Up'. Great music by one of the best kept secrets in music!!

If ya can't get your goove thang goin' with these records it's 'cause you ain't got a groove thang!!;)

Eleet, which Mother's Finest disc do you recommend? Thanks for the suggestions, Chazro.

eleet-
Mother's Finest is great. They were a big part of the soundtrack to my youth growing up in Atlanta. They still play around town from time to time. My favorites are the self titled Mother's Finest, Another Mother Further, and the live album. They have a greatest hits that is a decent collection. You are right as far as how the band suffered from radio and the labels having a hard time pigeon holing them into a genre.The bottom line is that Mother's Finest makes soulful rock and roll that is fun party music.

Thanks for sharing Maxnewid. I think you’re on the mark with your CD suggestions; although, I would throw “Mother Factor” in the mix as well. Also, the first CD “Mothers Finest” is only available as a double release paired with their “other” first-release album and the sound quality is pretty sub-par. For starters, I would recommend the best-of titled “Very Best Of: Not Yer Mother's Funk”. It has a good selection, as far as best-of’s are concerned, and has acceptable sound quality….of course, any MF on LP will sound MUCH better.

Chazro – Thanks also for your suggestions. I’m familiar with Bill Champlin from his early days in the SF area and, of course, his time with Chicago. Good to know he’s still going strong – a very talented singer and songwriter. However, the Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns are new to me. My ears have been stuck mainly in Jazz the last seven years or so. These cats are pretty good. I read TOP gave them a seal of approval so a definite thumbs-up from me. As far as Mother’s finest is concerned, the best way to find out what they’re about is to follow the youtube link below.

If it doesn’t work (or is not allowed), then enter the following in the youtube search: Mother's Finest - Give You All The Love - Live 77

Just to prep you, MF music doesn’t have the smoothness of groups like the Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns and the Sons of Champlin; they play “in your face hard-rock funk”. As such, they’re not everybody’s cup of tea. But, like them or not, I think you’ll be able to appreciate their uniqueness as well as the prodigious voice of Joyce Kennedy.

Mother’s Finest

Since Cold Blood was popular before my time, I was first introduced to them from the "Fillmore: Last Days" 2-disc cd about 20 years ago. I originally bought the cd for the Santana, Malo and Quicksilver Messenger Service tracks, but discovered many other gems including Cold Blood. I recommend this recording not for it's sound quality but for the great performers that many other gen-xers are unfamiliar with.