Originally released in 1986, Brother Resistance's 'Rapso Takeover'
blends calypso, reggae, disco, funk and poetry to create the artist’s
signature Rapso sound* "A progressive form of poetry from Trinidad and
Tobago, Rapso emerged as a means by which to articulate the daily
suffering symptomatic of the social unrest afflicting the nation
throughout the 1970s and 80s. Brother Resistance played a significant
role in the Rapso movement, deploying his music to spread messages of
hope and liberation. The authorities took Brother Resistance’s rising
status seriously, destroying what they could of his studios and in the
process leaving only a small amount of his music in circulation. Now for
the first time we can hear Brother Resistance’s finest work remastered.
The music and the message live on through Rapso Take Over’s stripped
back rhythms infused with steel and strings, all carried by the voice of
resistance.
Thesda is a homegrown gem of late-70s funk. Musical ideas collided in a
small studio, then were packaged in a record graced with generic cover
art; The result, "Spaced Out," was pressed in minute numbers. The only
distribution it got was as a Christmas present one year. So producer
Eugene Hagburg was surprised when he realized that a small group of
collectors not only found out about the album, but thought highly of it.
In April 2007, a record collector in Washington, DC, found the album at
a thrift store, and contacted Hagburg. After the word got out and a
copy sold for top dollar on ebay, he quickly received calls from fans as
far-flung as Italy and Vermont.
The story of Thesda begins
in the mid-70s, with Eugene Hagburg. Professionally, he was Director of
the Management Academy for the United States Postal Service then located
in Bethesda, MD. He later became Assistant Postmaster General in charge
of Delivery Operations in the US. One of his passions was moonlighting
as a music writer and producer. Hagburg and Thomas Crawford led the
group in creating two albums released on their private press label IPSI:
The Peak Experiences Crawford and Thesdas Spaced Out. Crawford was
recorded in 1976 in the same studio Linda Ronstad recorded Heart Like A
Wheel. The traditional folk rock sound of Crawford belies its complex
inspirations; Oceanic Feeling was, according to Hagburg, an early
Freudian concept stressing the need to be different and to avoid the
lulling motions in society which try to mold you.
Hagburg
accumulated enough equipment to record in his home by the time Thesda
was recorded in 1979. The group is even named after the town Hagburg
lived in: Bethesda. The combination of a controlled location and
recording tools offered, as Hagburg says, more time to experiment with
sounds and mixing. They werent rushed by expensive studio time, but
could also record and capture first takes.
Everybody arrived past
midnight for the sessions, which ran until 7AM. Music arrived
spontaneously from Hagburgs lyrics, with Tom Crawfords guidance. The
goal was to capture a freshness of interpretation through a group that
simply wanted to express themselves with creative sounds. It was a
carefully controlled chaos, with no written notes, but plenty of
enthusiasm. The resulting album is sounds at home in the late 70s, and
even gracefully embraces disco. Its especially noteworthy due to the
talented musicians, who 30 years later gave the music an edge that still
sounds contemporary.
Co-producer Tom Crawford, a graduate of
Hoagy Carmichael School of Music at University of Indiana, was
responsible for assembling the musicians and helping them realize the
true sound of the music. A few names carry over from the previous
Crawford album, such as guitarist Jeff Flemming, but Spaced Out is the
only album recorded with this talented group as a whole. One voice
stands out from the rest, that of Lateefah. Her vocals soar on songs
like Holding Back, belying a young woman with little formal training.
Hagburg remembers how she, would sit huddled in a corner listening
waiting and then sing her heart out.
Hagburg says, to sum up the
experience, the trip ended as each participant went down lifes many
paths, never to create as one again. But the sounds of this clustering
are still with us and add to the library of special sounds.
Musicians
Thomas
Crawford - Alto, Soprano, and tenora saxes, all pianos and string
ensemble, back-ground vocals, and fife Thomas Crosson - Guitars,
background vocals Raymond Hainsworth - Drums Lateefah - Lead and
background vocals Charles Morritt - Tenor sax Anthony Moxley - Funky
bass Keith Waddy - Lead and background vocals
Guest Musicians
Jeffrey Fleming - Guitar Solos (all), all acoustic guitar Randy Stewart - Synthesizer solos Jerome Carroll - Background vocals
Notes
Produced by Eugene C. Hagburg and Tom M. Crawford All lyrics by Eugene C. Hagburg Engineered and mastered by Tom Crawford.
