The Recoup

SINCE 2013: Books and books and books and books and occasionally other things

Big Break Records

  • Heatwave: Too Hot To Handle/Central Heating (Big Break Records/Cherry Red)

    The first two albums by international funksters Heatwave highlight a band who established themselves with an early smash single and debut album, and then redefined themselves with its followup. Read more

  • Edwin Starr: Involved (Big Break Records)

    Involved was Edwin Starr’s fifth album, a collection of socially aware songs that easily stands next to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On as an innovative concept album with a message. Read more

  • High Inergy: Turnin’ On (Big Break Records)

    Touted by Berry Gordy as a band that would outperform The Supremes, High Inergy’s debut album proved that Gordy’s assessment wasn’t unrealistic. Read more

  • The Hues Corporation: Freedom For The Stallion (BBR)

      The Hues Corporation, a Las Vegas-based R&B group, first came to prominence as the band in the film Blacula, which provided the band with the break they had been seeking, and which resulted in a record deal. Though success was long in coming, when it did come, it was well-deserved. Freedom For The Stallion, Read more

  • Charo & The Salsoul Orchestra: Cuchi-Cuchi (Big Break Records)

    It’s easy to dismiss Charo as hokum, a camp act with little talent. Sure, she did a great job of cultivating that image of a ditsy blonde who barely knows the language, often delivering funny comments in her broken English, all while making sure to shake her body and yelling her catch-phrase “Cuchi-cuchi!” But behind Read more

  • John Barry/Donna Summer: The Deep Original Soundtrack Recording (Big Break Records)

    The Deep was a 1977 Jacqueline Bisset/Nick Nolte thriller, written by Jaws author Peter Benchley. Like Jaws, the film’s backdrop is the depths of the ocean. The promotional poster for the film featured a poster design that was very similar to the iconic Jaws artwork. It’s a great film; I highly recommend it. The soundtrack, Read more

  • Billy Paul: Feelin’ Good At The Cadillac Club (Big Break Records)

    Though he would become synonymous with grand,  bombastic soul ballads, singer Billy Paul‘s career did not start out that way. His 1968 debut–an album long out of print–was a live-in-the-studio recording of Paul with his jazz trio. It is stunning, then, when one first hears introductory number “Billy Boy,” for his style is much more Read more

  • Monk Montgomery: Reality (Big Break Records)

    Bassist Monk Montgomery came from a family of four talented brothers; the four would make up a hot jazz combo called, rightly, The Montgomery Brothers. The most famous of the four was brother Wes; a successful guitarist, he helped to redefine the role of guitar as a featured instrument. His career was short-lived, as he Read more

  • Kleeer: Winners (Big Break Records)

    The four members New York’s Kleeer had spent the 1970s working in the funk and disco scene before finally coming together in 1978, signing to Atlantic, where they would release seven albums of funk/dance groove. Winners, their sophomore album, is an album resting firmly at the crossroads of black music: disco was on its way Read more

  • Silvetti: Spring Rain (Big Break Records)

    Bebu Silvetti was an Argentinean-born pianist who caught the ear of American label Salsoul, who signed the budding musician and arranger. His second album for the label, Spring Rain, is a record of incomparable style and flavor, that blends disco, jazz, and easy listening music into an interesting, unique amalgam. The title track was a Read more