Wood Brass and Steel were the last and the most famous house band of the All Platinum and Sugarhill Records groups of labels run by Sylvia and husband Joe Robinson. Although they recorded many tracks for themselves and on even more for other artists at the Englewood New Jersey studios in the 70’s and early 80’s, the band was formed in Hartford Connecticut and their roots go back to Cincinnati and Dayton Ohio in the late 60’s.
Drummer Harold Sargent had formed his first band in 1969 called The Pacemakers. The line up consisted of Bootsy Collins on bass, his brother Phelps ‘Catfish’ Guitar, Robert ‘Chopper’ McCullough on sax who all went on to play with both James Brown’s JB’s and Funkadelic and Philippe Wynne later of Detroit Spinners (and even later as a solo artist with George Clinton on Uncle Jam and later still on Sugarhill) on vocals.
What until now has been thought of as the band’s debut album was released on the All Platinum subsidiary Turbo label in 1976. This album is a great example of Disco- Funk with a slight Jazz -Funk influence. ‘Funkanova’ has been a massive track on the UK Jazz-Funk scene ever since and of course it has been sampled many times in both Hip-Hop and House tracks, and revived by contemporary 80’s DJ’s like Chicago’s Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles, and maintained its popularity over five decades. The album also includes one of the best versions of Ronnie Laws ‘Always There’ another perennial favorite that also still sounds very fresh today. ‘My Lady’ is another strong track with a relentless groove, and there are some nice mid tempo floaters like ‘’My Darling Baby’ and ‘Without You’. Although the album has been in demand for many decades now, it didn’t sell particularly well when released.
In 1980 a now very rare and sought after Wood, Brass & Steel album entitled “Hard ‘N’ Heavy” was released on the Sugarhill label. We don’t have the complete line up for this LP but it certainly features Wimbish, McDonald. LeBlanc and probably Hubert Powell. There are more vocal harmony tracks than on the 1976 album. The album failed to sell significant quantities but has again acquired cult status because of the musicians involved and its rarity. The album contains a great funky dancer ‘Long Live Music’ and a couple of nice 2 step mid tempo ballads like ‘Open up Your Heart’ and ‘Superstar’. ‘Be yourself’ is also a good multi paced track. ‘Welcome’ is actually the 12” remix of ‘Welcome to The Party’ which was issued on a 12” single in 1978 although with a different from the groove of the 1976 original, and we include a previously unissued further extended version here.
Wood Brass and Steel also recorded an album scheduled for release on Astroscope LP5002 in 1973, which was never released. The remaining five tracks included another Ineffie Woods song ‘Trespassing’ and a cover of the Whitfield/Strong song ‘I Wish it would Rain’. The album would remain in the can until now, however five of the seven tracks would appear a year later on Brother To Brother’s debut album ‘in The Bottle’ on Turbo, no doubt put together in a hurry to capitalize on their hit version of the Gil Scott Heron song. To my ears the backing tracks and background vocals sound identical to those on this album, maybe mixed slightly differently but fronted by vocalist Michael Burton. The Brother to Brother version of ‘Hey what you say’ was sampled by Jay –Z. The initial album has some great tracks including the ballad ‘A Love of our own’ (different track to the much covered AWB song from the same period), the funky ‘Hey What you say’ and ‘If he Can Do it She Can Do it’ (which has some wonderfully tight arrangements), and a nice long Soulful instrumental ‘Jermilah’ apparently written by Sylvia Robinson.
Reissued Exclusively by Soul Brother Records, both Wood Brass & Steel and Hard N’ Heavy pressed up on 180g vinyl, the CD featuring their unreleased first album, these albums are certainly worth paying attention to.
Buy the CD HERE
Buy Wood Brass & Steel (180g) HERE
Buy Hard N’ Heavy HERE
Listen to the tracklisting below;
Wood, Brass & Steel – Hey What’s That You Say
Wood, Brass & Steel – A Love Of My Own
Wood, Brass & Steel – Let’s Take A Stroll
Wood, Brass & Steel – Trespassing
Wood, Brass & Steel – I Wish It Would Rain
Wood, Brass & Steel – If He Can Do It, She Can Do It
Wood, Brass & Steel – Jeremiah
Wood, Brass & Steel – Funkanova
Wood, Brass & Steel – My Darling Baby
Wood, Brass & Steel – Theme Song
Wood, Brass & Steel – Working On A Dream
Wood, Brass & Steel – Say What You Want To Say
Wood, Brass & Steel – Same Ol’Me
Wood, Brass & Steel – My Lady
Wood, Brass & Steel – Without You
Wood, Brass & Steel – Welcome To The Party
Wood, Brass & Steel – Always There
Wood, Brass & Steel – Re-Entry
Wood, Brass & Steel – Open Up Your Heart
Wood, Brass & Steel – Long Live Music
Wood, Brass & Steel – Love Incognito
Wood, Brass & Steel – Be Yourself
Wood, Brass & Steel – Are You Busy
Wood, Brass & Steel – Superstar
Wood, Brass & Steel – Welcome
Wood, Brass & Steel – Space walk
Wood, Brass & Steel – Fly With The Music
Wood, Brass & Steel – Welcome To The Party
