Longtime session and touring bassist Paris Ford’s Overlord Entertainment label has been unleashing a number of previously unheard boogie and funk gems over the past several years. The latest release in this line of vinyl and digital goodies comes in the form of “Take Me Back,” a mesmerizingly serene and groove-licious tune featuring the vocals of the venerable James “Crab” Robinson, who became the frontman of Change in 1982.
The late Errol “Pumpkin” Bedward produced “Take Me Back,” which boasts his intrinsically funky bass lines and snazzy work on the DMX drums—in addition to shiny keyboard flourishes from Unlimited Touch’s Lenny Underwood. The resulting arrangement is warmly homemade and gritty, providing a deftly atmospheric setting for Robinson’s yearning tenor timbre and gutsy phrasing. It’s one of the strongest vault tracks from the independent New York scene of the eighties to emerge in recent memory. As icing on the cake, the B-side of the vinyl (also available in the digital package) is another Pumpkin-produced track, “U Drive Me Crazy”—spotlighting the unmistakably alluring falsetto vox of Ford himself.
“Take Me Back” (and “U Drive Me Crazy”) can be purchased on vinyl or digitally here..
by Justin Kantor
