Ramsey Lewis - Funky Serenity/Golden Hits (1973)/Solar Wind/Sun Goddess (1974)

UK Import

2018 compilation of four albums by Ramsey Lewis. I bought the set because, at the time, it was the cheapest way to get Sun Goddess on CD. Plus bonus Ramsey can't be a bad thing, right? Well...the other three albums turn out to be hit-or-miss, but, overall, not a terrible way to spend $20.

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FUNKY SERENITY (1973)
9 tracks, 46 minutes

Not all the Top 40 covers are winners, but that's balanced by some funky originals. The trio (Cleveland Eaton - bass, Morris Jennings - drums) is joined by violinist Ed Green on a couple of tracks.

Reviews/ratings:

• Downbeat (★★★★★): "enough to commercially and artistically satisfy everyone."
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #117
• Billboard Jazz LPs: #4
• Record World Jazz: #6

Tracks: The best covers are Betcha By Golly Wow! and Where Is The Love. The aforementioned funky originals are Kufanya Mapenzi (Making Love), What it Is!, and the laid-back Serene Funk. For a little variety, there's a tasty mid-tempo original from Green titled My Love For You. I avoid track 7, Dreams, and the cover of Nights In White Satin.

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GOLDEN HITS (1973)
9 tracks, 35 minutes

Full title: Ramsey Lewis' Newly Recorded All-Time Non-Stop Golden Hits

After he moved to Columbia Records in 1972, Ramsey and the rest of his trio made this album of 'modernized' remakes of Lewis' earlier, successful recordings on the Argo and Cadet labels. It's good, not great, but probably should have sold better than it did. However, the cover with small print of the full title make the release look like a greatest hits package instead of a new album re-imagined versions. Heck, even Allmusic mistakenly called it a "budget sampler of pop cuts."

Reviews/ratings:

• Downbeat (★★★★): "It isn't as 'non-stop' as proclaimed, nor all that 'golden' - but the verve is the same, rocking on."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #198
• Billboard Jazz LPs: #32
• Billboard R&B: #50
• Record World Jazz: #25

Tracks:

Song	Original Lewis version appeared on
Hang On Sloopy	Hang On Ramsey! (1965)
Blues For The Night Owl	More Music From The Soil (1961)
Hi-Heel Sneakers	1966 single
Carmen	Ramsey Lewis And His Gentle-men Of Swing (1956)
(Song Of) Delilah	Ramsey Lewis And His Gentle-men Of Jazz (1958)
Wade In The Water	Wade In The Water (1966)
Slipping Into Darkness	Upendo Ni Pamoja (1972)
Something You Got	The Ramsey Lewis Trio At The Bohemian Caverns (1964)
The "In" Crowd	The In Crowd (1965)

The better cuts are the clavinet-heavy remake of Hang On Sloopy (winner of the Grammy award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance) as well as (Song Of) Delilah, Slipping Into Darkness, and The "In" Crowd. 

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SOLAR WIND (1974)
9 tracks, 44 minutes

Lewis expands the instrumentation a bit, even bringing in legendary STAX guitarist Steve Cropper to write and produce three of the nine tracks. Other cuts come from Elton John, Seals & Crofts, Paul Simon, and Sonny Rollins.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "Lewis' distinctive blend of melodic jazz ideas with insistent rhythmic funk has survived the transition to electric piano beautifully"
• Downbeat (★★★½): "continues to tread lightly on those delicate lines separating pop, r&b and jazz."

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Jazz LPs: #29
• Record World Jazz: #20

Tracks: My picks for original cuts are Sweet And Tender and Jamaican Marketplace, while my picks for covers are The Everywhere Calypso and Summer Breeze. 

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SUN GODDESS (1974)
7 tracks, 37 minutes

You wouldn't know it based on the critics' ratings below, but they saved the best for last. One of Ramsey's biggest albums and one that would change the trajectory of his career for least the next decade. Lewis reunited with his former drummer Maurice White, who contacted Lewis about a song he had written. White brought the song to Chicago along with half of his new band, Earth Wind & Fire, and they cut Hot Dawgit (track 14 on this CD) in three days then wrote the title track, Sun Goddess. Add in a Stevie Wonder cover and four Lewis originals plus production from Teo Macero and the result is irresistible.

Reviews/ratings:

• Billboard: "one very listenable record"
• Downbeat (★★½): "This is best judged as slick background music, a kind of hip Muzak."
• The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard Top 200: #12
• Billboard Jazz LPs: #1
• Billboard R&B: #1
• CashBox: #13
• Record World Jazz: #1

Tracks: It's easy to call Sun Goddess (#44 pop, #20 R&B, #5 dance) and Hot Dawgit (#50 pop, #61 R&B) the stand-out cuts, but then you'd be missing out on the driving cover of Living In The City, and some fantastic original works from Lewis: Love Song and the funky Tambura.

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Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Fantasy (1985)
Tequila Mockingbird (1977)
Hang On Ramsey! (1965)/Wade In The Water (1966)