Norman Whitfield/Rose Royce – Sunrise / Water
The Master: Norman Whitfield
Listen/Download -Norman Whitfield and Rose Royce – Water
Listen/Download -Norman Whitfield and Rose Royce – Sunrise
Greetings all.
I hope you’re all well, and ready to dig into something interesting.
A few weeks back on Record Store Day, I headed in Asbury Park to see my man DJ Prestige lay down an in-store set at Hold Fast. I grabbed some cool looking LPs on the cheap, one of which was the soundtrack to ‘Car Wash’. It certainly seemed like it was worth it, if only for the title track by Rose Royce.
Well, I get home and hook up the turntable for a marathon digi-ma-tizing session, and soon discovered that the ‘Car Wash’ OST was a much deeper beat that I could have imagined.
The album credits the compositions, production and arrangement all to the mighty Norman Whitfield, and the playing to the band Rose Royce (who Whitfield found when they were backing Edwin Starr).
Anyway, while needle dropping my way through the two LPs, I discovered a couple of really cool instrumentals, both clearly the work of the man who created several psyched out/atmospheric epics when he was working at Motown.
What really struck me was how much of the sound of these two songs, though recorded in 1976, linked back to Whitfield’s 1970 era productions, blending them with a touch of blaxploitation soundtrack feel. I haven’t seen ‘Car Wash’ in years, but these tracks, ‘Water’ and ‘Sunrise’ make me want to check it out to see how they were used in the film.
The first of these ‘Water’ is really more of a short vamp/theme stretched out for three and a half minutes, which is kind of what you’d expect to hear as background in a motion picture. There are some vocals in the beginning, but they’re no more prominent that the repeated bass, piano and guitar lines that run almost constantly through the piece, interrupted only by a short string drop (which at times is reminiscent of ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone’) and the occasional harp flourish (same there). Things do pick up a little at about the two minute mark, with the addition of some funky bass, but settle right back into the groove before long.
The real treat here is the almost eleven minute epic ‘Sunrise’. The tune starts out with someone working a ride cymbal like a gong, and then the unusual (incongruous) sound of a trumpet running a scale, quickly breaking out into something that would have sounded perfect behind Shaft as he stalked an evildoer through the back alleys of some urban hellhole.
Whitfield builds the song, layer by layer, with the bass, strings, tight, snapping drums, guitar, and then electric piano and horns. There are in fact two different electric pianos, alternating between a lighter, tinkling riff, and a one playing a much more wide open, molasses thick chord. The use of hand drums as accents, as well as occasional bursts of wah-wah guitar drop in like carefully placed exclamation points.
It’s a very tasty jam, and the arrangement/production by Whitfield is next level. There’s no doubt in my mind that ‘Sunrise’ would have fit in perfectly (with lyrics added of course) on any of the early 70s Temptations LPs.
The sad thing is, that Whitfield – in my eyes nothing less than a soulful visionary – after the early 90s backed away from the console, not doing much of anything in his final years. It’s not like he didn’t have a remarkable body of work behind him already, especially his mid-60s to early 70s Motown sessions as songwriter, producer and arranger, but you can’t help but wonder what he might have done with some of the nu-soul crowd.
That said, I hope you dig the tracks, and I’ll be back later in the week with something cool.
Peace
Larry
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Themocracy
love the Car Wash soundtrack- especially for Sunrise. For me, Car Wash is a double album first, and movie second. I used to play it more frequently- thanks for posting and reminding me to bring it to the front of the stacks again!
Yo-Yo is my favorite song off this album. The full on horn bust with the minor key Rhodes vamp is super slick.
Norman Whitfiled = genius!
Thanks for posting these tracks.
Just digging ‘Sunrise’.
Stonkingly good sir!
Cheers for putting it in front of my ears!
Stu