Webster Lewis
On The Town
I am VERY grateful to Ralph Tee at Expansion for making this, and Webster Lewis’ three other Epic gems available for release on CD here in the UK. If only he had done the same with Billy Griffin's albums I would have been a lot less grumpy than I was. But that's a tall order anyway, so I'm told! LOL. I digress. Up til now, only “8 For The 80s” was hitherto released as a paper sleeve issue in Japan so it is great to have them all released here, straight from the Master tapes (no stylus -worn and crackly vinyl purporting to be digitally remastered material here) with bonus cuts to boot. The releases Expansion have chosen are his 4 Epic albums which were released between 1976 and 1981. Incidentally, his live 1972 set and his superb 1981 Unlimited Gold effort were available on CD, so these are also worth hunting down – especially the latter! This album, his second release is very much of its day. “On The Town”, as you may gather from the artwork, is glammed up jazz-fusion with all the funky attributes that you would expect from that time frame. “On The Town” is rather discotech orientated, semi-instrumental jazz-funk with hints of Salsoul, Philly and other assorted flavours of the day thrown in for .
The first two tracks are firm flare-flappers and will have te gold medallion swinging and the come-fly-with-me collars stomping around the discothèque! Track two, “Saturday Night Stepping Out” is a cool number, full of strings and threatens to break into Archie Bell’s “Soul City Walking” if its not too careful! The moog bassline is definitely similar to Michael Henderson’s “I Can’t Help It” so on both counts it’s a definite winner for my particular ears. Track three, though, should be one to savour a little more. It’s a very close-to-home take on The Spinners’ classic “Since I’ve Been Gone”. The arrangement on here is almost a perfect match to Thom Bell’s original work, and one could be forgiven in thinking this WAS the original. “Love Is The Way” is very warm and sultry, and it's percussion and synth reminds me of the sort of cut Seawind would have provided on their self-titled 1976 CTI set – think “He Loves You” and you’re not far wrong.
Classy stuff, folks, and more can be discovered with the excellent track “Do It With Style”. In his comprehensive sleeve notes, Ralph states that this album is all about this track, and he goes on to say that this sums up the work of the late, great Webster Lewis. Never a truer word spoken as far as yours truly is concerned. A great track, and a phenomenal talent I think you will agree. The bonus cut, hitherto unreleased is a mega near-11 minute version of Curtis Mayfield’s evergreen classic “Let’s Do It Again”. OK, not the strongest releases in Webster's catalogue BUT is essential for “Do It With Style” and the excellent bonus track.
Barry Towler
