Shuggie Otis - visionary
Posted by: jayd on 09 July 2004
Anyone who has an interest in seventies soul-funk (and the myriad modern offshoots thereof) and hasn't already heard "Inspiration Information" by Shuggie Otis, should really seek it out. It's a multi-tracked one-man opus from the early seventies, and everything about it (in my opinion) is way ahead of its time. Amazingly sophisticated production that compares well with anything I've heard since. Fantastic songwriting, including the original (superior) version of "Strawberry Letter 23", later made semi-famous by the Brothers Johnson. Seminal guitar work.
Posted on: 09 July 2004 by Kevin-W
I agree with you 100%. He's grrrrreat.
Another album you should seek out is 1971's Freedom Flight, which is just aas good.
His dad, Johnny Otis, is also fab. There's a wonderful 2-LP "Johnny Otos Show" compilation called Watts Funky which features an otherwise unavailable Shuggie track as well as many of his dad's R&B, slinky and soul mini-masterpieces (eg "Don't t Make You Feel Good").
Kevin (listening to Knowing Me Knowing Yule With Alan Partidge CD) (?)
Another album you should seek out is 1971's Freedom Flight, which is just aas good.
His dad, Johnny Otis, is also fab. There's a wonderful 2-LP "Johnny Otos Show" compilation called Watts Funky which features an otherwise unavailable Shuggie track as well as many of his dad's R&B, slinky and soul mini-masterpieces (eg "Don't t Make You Feel Good").
Kevin (listening to Knowing Me Knowing Yule With Alan Partidge CD) (?)
Posted on: 12 July 2004 by jayd
Thanks Kevin - I've been curious about that first Shuggie Otis release, and will seek it out. I haven't heard Johnny yet, so I'll keep an eye out for him as well.
I found this cool interview excerpt on the Luaka Bop (David Byrne's record label) site:
TIM: Tim Gane (Stereolab)
SEAN: Sean O'Hagan (High Llamas)
JOHN: John McEntire (Tortoise)
["Inspiration Information" plays on the hi-fi]
TIM: I really can't think of any other record that sounds like this...
JOHN: Would you say the production is atypical for the time? It has a lot of the elements that were common in the early 70's, but somehow this is far beyond what you would consider common.
SEAN: A lot people making R&B based music were afraid to be experimental in any way, especially with the idea of being completely belligerent with the arrangements.
TIM: He's highlighting every non-R&B element…
SEAN: It sounds like it could have recorded on 8-track, or 4-track even.
TIM: It does sound like a really early home recording
SEAN: Which is another really nice thing. It sounds like things are being bounced [submixed on tape] all over the place. It's got that nice woolly quality you get when you bounce. But when the strings happened, I started to think, how is he doing all this?
TIM: It sometimes sounds like a "solo" record, like one person doing a lot of the parts.
SEAN: Which again would be extraordinary for that time.
JOHN: Are there credits? [looks at record] Oddly enough, it is a studio record... Hawk Sound and Columbia Studios, Los Angeles. He [Shuggie] is credited with all the arrangements, which is pretty remarkable.
TIM: Yeah, if you listen to, for example, Jenny Lee or Strawberry Letter, he makes very simple chords sound like so much more is going on.
JOHN: In terms of the way it's arranged, or the way it's played?
TIM: The arrangements. It leads you believe a lot more is going on, but when you work it out, the chords might be quite simple. Just major and minor, nothing more than that.
SEAN: There's a kind of naiveté to a lot of this stuff I really like. And who else was making 50% vocal, 50% instrumental records at that time?
JOHN: It's funny, to a large extent what's great about this stuff is pretty intangible. For instance, when we were doing [High Llama's] "Snowbug," things would come up where we'd say, "Oh, that has a real Shuggie feel to it" but it would be hard to pinpoint why that was.
SEAN: It's total eclecticism. When you make music, you can get stuck in a rut of doing things you're familiar with. And a record comes along every now and then that shocks you out of that. This is definitely one of those records. This is an album that I play for people, and it always gets an extraordinary reaction. There really aren't many records like that.
["XL-30" plays on the hi-fi]
SEAN: This is great, this could be...
JOHN: ...Jimi Tenor...
SEAN: ...or ESG, or even Cabaret Voltaire. You have to wonder if people at the time thought this was a fantastic record. Or did they think, (incredulously) "Why are you doing this?" I'm always aware that the early 70's were one of the worst times for objectivity in music because everyone was so focused on technique. People were so obsessed with being good players. There was a preoccupation with this idea about finally creating high art out of Pop and R&B music. It's reflected in the fact that there were many people of great ability and accomplishment. You've got to remember that this record was made at that time.
JOHN: There are really no concessions to that, even though the playing is great in a totally different kind of way.
SEAN: We know it's great playing now, but in the context of the time it might have been perceived differently.
JOHN: Some of the things he was going for were really walking the plank. [last track plays] Just the Uncle Funk [drum machine], Wurlitzer [Electric Piano], then those great strings at the end. Fantastic. I get the feeling people at the time just wouldn't react to this.
SEAN: What I find interesting is that this record is 25 years old, but it does feel so fresh that its almost like a contemporary influence. There's also the feeling that there was an enjoyment in the process itself. You can definitely hear that in the quality of some of the sounds, like that really rough DI'd [direct injection, i.e. no amplifier] guitar there. It was probably a matter of "Oh, that sounds great right now" even though it wouldn't be considered technically perfect. That gets back to the whole naiveté thing we were talking about earlier. I think that's really good.
JOHN: You have to wonder how this sensibility could exist 25 years ago. It obviously wasn't formulated or anything.
TIM: It's outside of "normal" procedure. Its just people making the music they want to make. I think what's very bad about modern music is that it's so competitive. Because of that competitiveness, you wipe away the small things that make the best music great. Phil Spector used almost all major chords, it's the arrangements and details that makes that music really work. How many people have tried to use that formula but totally failed? So often people will listen only to the shallow style of something and completely miss the point about what makes something good.
SEAN: Most people tend to get bored at a very early stage. Obviously, these [Shuggie's] records are never going to appeal to the masses, although to me that's a good thing.
JOHN: You know, I think if just a few things had been different this stuff could have had that sort of appeal. There's something about it which is just a little too original that somehow prevented that from happening.
TIM: It's almost like a new style of music that could've developed but never did. And that's the problem. It never developed past this record.
I found this cool interview excerpt on the Luaka Bop (David Byrne's record label) site:
TIM: Tim Gane (Stereolab)
SEAN: Sean O'Hagan (High Llamas)
JOHN: John McEntire (Tortoise)
["Inspiration Information" plays on the hi-fi]
TIM: I really can't think of any other record that sounds like this...
JOHN: Would you say the production is atypical for the time? It has a lot of the elements that were common in the early 70's, but somehow this is far beyond what you would consider common.
SEAN: A lot people making R&B based music were afraid to be experimental in any way, especially with the idea of being completely belligerent with the arrangements.
TIM: He's highlighting every non-R&B element…
SEAN: It sounds like it could have recorded on 8-track, or 4-track even.
TIM: It does sound like a really early home recording
SEAN: Which is another really nice thing. It sounds like things are being bounced [submixed on tape] all over the place. It's got that nice woolly quality you get when you bounce. But when the strings happened, I started to think, how is he doing all this?
TIM: It sometimes sounds like a "solo" record, like one person doing a lot of the parts.
SEAN: Which again would be extraordinary for that time.
JOHN: Are there credits? [looks at record] Oddly enough, it is a studio record... Hawk Sound and Columbia Studios, Los Angeles. He [Shuggie] is credited with all the arrangements, which is pretty remarkable.
TIM: Yeah, if you listen to, for example, Jenny Lee or Strawberry Letter, he makes very simple chords sound like so much more is going on.
JOHN: In terms of the way it's arranged, or the way it's played?
TIM: The arrangements. It leads you believe a lot more is going on, but when you work it out, the chords might be quite simple. Just major and minor, nothing more than that.
SEAN: There's a kind of naiveté to a lot of this stuff I really like. And who else was making 50% vocal, 50% instrumental records at that time?
JOHN: It's funny, to a large extent what's great about this stuff is pretty intangible. For instance, when we were doing [High Llama's] "Snowbug," things would come up where we'd say, "Oh, that has a real Shuggie feel to it" but it would be hard to pinpoint why that was.
SEAN: It's total eclecticism. When you make music, you can get stuck in a rut of doing things you're familiar with. And a record comes along every now and then that shocks you out of that. This is definitely one of those records. This is an album that I play for people, and it always gets an extraordinary reaction. There really aren't many records like that.
["XL-30" plays on the hi-fi]
SEAN: This is great, this could be...
JOHN: ...Jimi Tenor...
SEAN: ...or ESG, or even Cabaret Voltaire. You have to wonder if people at the time thought this was a fantastic record. Or did they think, (incredulously) "Why are you doing this?" I'm always aware that the early 70's were one of the worst times for objectivity in music because everyone was so focused on technique. People were so obsessed with being good players. There was a preoccupation with this idea about finally creating high art out of Pop and R&B music. It's reflected in the fact that there were many people of great ability and accomplishment. You've got to remember that this record was made at that time.
JOHN: There are really no concessions to that, even though the playing is great in a totally different kind of way.
SEAN: We know it's great playing now, but in the context of the time it might have been perceived differently.
JOHN: Some of the things he was going for were really walking the plank. [last track plays] Just the Uncle Funk [drum machine], Wurlitzer [Electric Piano], then those great strings at the end. Fantastic. I get the feeling people at the time just wouldn't react to this.
SEAN: What I find interesting is that this record is 25 years old, but it does feel so fresh that its almost like a contemporary influence. There's also the feeling that there was an enjoyment in the process itself. You can definitely hear that in the quality of some of the sounds, like that really rough DI'd [direct injection, i.e. no amplifier] guitar there. It was probably a matter of "Oh, that sounds great right now" even though it wouldn't be considered technically perfect. That gets back to the whole naiveté thing we were talking about earlier. I think that's really good.
JOHN: You have to wonder how this sensibility could exist 25 years ago. It obviously wasn't formulated or anything.
TIM: It's outside of "normal" procedure. Its just people making the music they want to make. I think what's very bad about modern music is that it's so competitive. Because of that competitiveness, you wipe away the small things that make the best music great. Phil Spector used almost all major chords, it's the arrangements and details that makes that music really work. How many people have tried to use that formula but totally failed? So often people will listen only to the shallow style of something and completely miss the point about what makes something good.
SEAN: Most people tend to get bored at a very early stage. Obviously, these [Shuggie's] records are never going to appeal to the masses, although to me that's a good thing.
JOHN: You know, I think if just a few things had been different this stuff could have had that sort of appeal. There's something about it which is just a little too original that somehow prevented that from happening.
TIM: It's almost like a new style of music that could've developed but never did. And that's the problem. It never developed past this record.