Average White Band

Average White Band - Face To Face Live - 1999 - EMI-Capitol Special Markets

Alan Gorrie, and Onnie McIntyre are the only original members of the first AWB line-up playing on this album, but here, the band's blend of funk, soul, and R&B is as good as ever. Pete Abbott lays down some great drum rhythms. He also played on the band's 1997 "Soul Tattoo" album. Eliot Lewis is the perfect vocalist for the band's song's, and Fred Vigdor is a brilliant saxophonist who could have played with the band in their earlier years. Let's hope the great AWB goes on forever. This album, recorded in 1997 at San Francisco's Fillmore venue shows the strength and greatness of one of the world's greatest soul/ R&B/ /funk groups. Most of their classic tracks are not here, but that's no major gripe. It's a short album, and what is here is just wonderful. This collection is a must for all lovers of great soul/funk, and is HR by A.O.O.F.C. The Average White Band recorded some superb albums, and their "Atlantic Avenue", "Pick Up The Pieces", and "You Got It" are three of the best soul/funk songs ever written. Listen to their "Cut the Cake," and "Person to Person" albums, and check out the band's rare 1974 "AWB/The Clover Sessions" album, a 20-track remastered promotional 2 x CD-R acetate album set @ http://overdoseoffingalcocoa.blogspot.com/2007/08/average-white-band.html The band's debut album, "Show Your Hand " is @ AWB/SYH and showed the band's future potential, and the very good Average White Band & Ben E. King - "Benny And Us" album can be located @ AWB/BEKING/BUS The "Feel No Fret" album, containing the classic "Atlantic Avenue" track, is @ AWB/FNF and AWB's "Greatest And Latest" album is @ AWB/G&L

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

01 - Soul Mine (AWB/Gorrie/Lewis)
02 - Got the Love (AWB/Stuart)
03 - Love of Your Own (Doheny/Stuart )
04 - Oh, Maceo (AWB/Ball)
05 - Back to Basics ( Lewis)
06 - Work to Do (Isley Brothers)
07 - Every Beat of My Heart (Gorrie)
08 - Pick up the Pieces (Ball/Duncan/Gorrie/McIntyre/McIntosh/Stuart)
09 - Let's Go Round Again (Gorrie) Bonus Track

Recorded live at The Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, October 1997. N.B: Some issues of the CD contain the bonus track, "Let's Go Round Again", which is included here

BAND

Alan Gorrie- Bass, Guitar (1),Vocals,
Eliot Lewis - Bass (1), Keyboards, Vocals,
Onnie McIntyre - Guitar, Vocals
Fred Vigdor - Keyboards, Saxophones
Pete Abbott - Drums

AWB (SHORT BIO)

Their self-effacing name to the contrary, Average White Band was anything but -- one of the few white groups to cross the color line and achieve success and credibility playing funk, with their tight, fiery sound also belying their Scottish heritage, evoking American R&B hotbeds like Detroit, Memphis, and Philadelphia instead. Singer/bassist Alan Gorrie, guitarists Hamish Stuart and Onnie McIntyre, tenor saxophonist Malcolm Duncan, keyboardist/saxophonist Roger Ball, and drummer Robbie McIntosh comprised the original Average White Band lineup. Veterans of numerous Scottish soul and jazz groups, they made their debut in 1973 as the opening act at Eric Clapton's Rainbow Theatre comeback gig, soon issuing their debut LP, Show Your Hand, to little notice. After adopting the abbreviated moniker AWB, a year later the band issued their self-titled sophomore effort, topping the American pop charts with the Arif Mardin-produced instrumental "Pick Up the Pieces." The record's mammoth success was nevertheless tempered by the September 23, 1974 death of McIntosh, who died at a Hollywood party after overdosing on heroin. Ex-Bloodstone drummer Steve Ferrone replaced McIntosh for AWB's third album, 1975's Cut the Cake, which scored a Top Ten hit with its title track as well as two other chart entries, "If I Ever Lose This Heaven" and "School Boy Crush." (Put It Where You Want It, issued later that same year, was simply a retitled and repackaged Show Your Hand.) With 1976's Soul Searching, the group reclaimed the full Average White Band name, scoring their final Top 40 hit with "Queen of My Soul." Following the live Person to Person, they issued Benny & Us, a collaboration with soul legend Ben E. King. However, after subsequent outings, including 1978's Warmer Communications, 1979's Feel No Fret, and 1980's Shine, failed to recapture the energy of AWB's peak, the group dissolved in 1982, with Ferrone later joining Duran Duran and Stuart recording with Paul McCartney. Gorrie, Ball, and McIntyre reformed Average White Band in 1989, tapping vocalist Alex Ligertwood for their comeback effort Aftershock. Oft-sampled by hip-hop producers throughout the 1990s, the group continued touring prior to releasing Soul Tattoo in 1996. The live album, Face to Face, followed three years later. © Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

BIO

This unique act, an R'n'B/ soul group from Scotland with only two black musicians became one of the best selling and sounding funk bands in the world. The horn section started out as "The Dundee Horns". They can be heard on Johnny Nash's reggae hit "I Can See Clearly Now". Eric Clapton and Bonnie Bramlett (of Delaney & Bonnie) helped them on their way to becoming a household name. But it wasn't until they reached the US and were signed to Atlantic Records that the Average White Band really took off (Jerry Wexler signed them on the spot, after they hit him at home on one of his parties, where they played him the basic tracks for what would become the White Album: "AWB"). Arif Marden became their producer and together they couldn't do wrong. All of their seventies albums reached gold or even platinum status and hits such as the timeless "Pick Up The Pieces" and "Cut The Cake" were number 1 hits on the U.S. Billboard Charts. Tragedy hit the young group in 1974 when their drummer, Robbie McIntosh died at a Hollywood party in a drug-related incident, but their act only became stronger. The Double album "Person To Person", recorded during their American 1975 Tour, is among the best selling live funk albums ever. They reached the white market with their unique sound without losing respect from the core Soul/ R'n'B lover in the black communities. © 2007 Discogs

MORE ABOUT THE AWB

The Average White Band had their name jokingly bestowed on them by Bonnie Bramlett of Delanie & Bonnie; during their prime, AWB's solid grooves and overall chemistry were anything but average. But the name did reflect their paradoxical position: they were an American-style soul band made up of native Scots. The group was formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in early 1972 by Alan Gorrie (b. Jul. 19, 1946, Perth, Scotland) on bass, vocals, Michael Rosen; (soon replaced by Hamish Stuart; [b. Oct. 8, 1949, Glasgow, Scotland] [guitar, vocals]), Onnie McIntyre, (b. Sep. 25, 1945, Lennox Town, Scotland) on vocals, guitar, Robbie McIntosh (b. 1950, Scotland - d. Sep. 23, 1974, Los Angeles), Roger Ball, (b. Jun. 4, 1944, Dundee, Scotland) on keyboards, saxophone, and Malcolm Duncan, (b. Aug. 24, 1945, Montrose, Scotland) on saxophone. After their 1973 debut album, Show Your Hand, went unnoticed, they hooked up with producer Arif Mardin to record Average White Band (frequently called AWB because of the initials on the cover). Released in August 1974, the album topped the charts and spawned the near-instrumental dance hit "Pick Up the Pieces," which also went to number one. Meanwhile, tragedy struck the band, when drummer Robbie McIntosh died of a drug overdose; he was replaced by Steve Ferrone (b. Apr. 25, 1950, Brighton, England). AWB nearly replicated its success with the third album, Cut the Cake, and its title single, both of which reached the Top Ten. But the sameness of the group's approach and such side projects as an album with Ben E. King broke its momentum. Also, the rise of disco left its funky soul style sounding dated. AWB managed a couple more gold albums in Person to Person (January 1977) and Warmer Communications (March 1978), and its popularity lasted longer in the UK than in the US, but by the start of the '80s the band was permanently out of fashion. The band members have worked as session sidemen for artists ranging from Chaka Khan to Paul McCartney and Badfinger. © Rick Clark & William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide