Alvin Cash "Windy City Workout" The Essential Dance Craze Hits & Rarities 1965-1973

Whoa! If you're looking for some stomping soul / r&b / funk-check out Alvin Cash. Together with (for the most part) his band, The Crawlers, (sometimes heard here under different names), this is some great uptempo music from an artist who couldn't (and didn't) really sing......This gets 3 to 4 "stars" for it's good time, up beat sound, and Cash's way with a phrase (usually with a "woo-ee!" at the end), all while the music (accent on the horns/bass/drums) pumps out of your speakers. Some will no doubt hear repetition, which is true, and not rate it as highly-which I understand. The sound isn't pristine, it's got that period, warm, small label, monophonic sounding feel of the era. But that seems to bring this music back to life for those of us who can remember hearing this music way back when. I can still remember hearing Cash come on the radio back in those days. Nothing serious in his music, just some fairly silly lyrics played with great electricity.

Cash would talk (usually using the title over and over again) over some hard-edged yet slippery, thumping arrangements, sometimes with a chorus of background singers echoing his "vocals". He also sometimes used a honking sax and some incendiary blues guitar to up the excitement. Cash is most known for "Twine Time", a dance that was popular for a short time. But he also had songs like "The Bump", "The Barracuda", "The Penguin", "Boston Monkey", "The Philly Freeze", "Alvin's Boo-Ga-Loo", "The Charge", and a few others-all were dances that may or may not have actually been popular.

But there's no denying that this is, as the title states-a "Windy City Workout". This is a good example of some prime, move-to-the-groove, funky soul music from the era when this kind of music was king. Cash and The Crawlers had this sound down! Soul fans miss this at your own peril. But Cash never really became a huge star simply because his music, and his lyrics, were repetitious, and he didn't have a true soul voice along the lines of other singers of the era.

The discs snap in, inside the front and back covers of the thick wallet-style holder. The attached booklet goes into some detail concerning Cash's life in and out of music. Also included are some great period photographs and other memorabilia. And for some reason, I never thought I would see a time when the Snapper label (among others) would have this set (and others) manufactured (along with seemingly everything else) in China. I guess I'm stuck in "the old days" when European company's discs were manufactured in Europe. The end of an era and the beginning of another. (The Soul Detective)

trax disc 1:

01 Shake a Tail Feather 02 Twine Awhile 03 Hawk Eye 04 The Bump 05 Twine Time 06 Fool That I Am 07 The Barracuda 08 You Shot Me Through the Grease 09 In Need of Love 10 Burn Just a Hair 11 Shake 12 Do It One More Time 13 Un-Wind the Twine 14 The Penguin (Tuxedo Bird) 15 Boston Monkey 16 The Philly Freeze 17 No Deposit - No Return 18 Alvin's Boo-Ga-Loo 19 Let's Do Some Good Timing

trax disc 2:

01 Feel So Good 02 Doin' the Ali Shuffle 03 Diff'rent Strokes for Diff'rent Folks 04 The Charge 05 Whip It On Me 06 Alvin's Bag (Aka Funky Bag) 07 Keep On Dancing, Pt. 1 08 Keep On Dancing, Pt. 2 (Instrumental) 09 Funky '69 10 Moaning and Groaning 11 Poppin' Popcorn, Pt. 1 12 Poppin' Popcorn, Pt. 2 13 People Sure Act Funny 14 Funky Street 15 Funky Broadway 16 Alvin's Doin' His Thing 17 It's Party (Party Time) 18 Doin' the Creep 19 I Don't Want It (If It Don't Look Good) 20 Funky Washing Machine

…served by Gyro1966...