<\/b>Not since Graham Bond\u2019s own Organisation had the Mellotron\u2019s icy strings entered into such delicious battle with the rich tones of a baying Hammond as on this cult fusion classic plucked from the vaults of Detroit\u2019s Strata Records, precursor to New York\u2019s Strata East. Long a priceless collectable, 1975\u2019s Saturday Night Special caught Motor City organ wild card Lyman Woodard at the peak of a career that started in the 60s and continued at Detroit\u2019s most perilous nitespots nearly up to his 2009 death.<\/p>\n
Joined by mellifluous guitar-bassist Ron English, drummer Leonard King, percussionist Lorenzo Brown and \u2013 on the sonorous reflection of Joy Road \u2013 cool saxophonist Norma Jean Bell, Woodard cuts grooves hot enough to fry a henhouse, translating auto factory clang on the title track, delving into smouldering Latin on Cheeba and conscious vocals on Creative Musicians. Inevitably his day-job backing Motown stars The Undisputed Truth or Martha & The Vandellas informs his playing, but the gritty jazz vamps bottled here are more reflective of the ruined city night-crawling scene that spawned them.<\/p>\n
Working with DJ Amir\u2019s 180 Proof, BBE excel themselves on the lavish double album package, including bonus tracks and sleeve design\/notes from Woodard\u2019s 60s roommate John Sinclair. Impossibly cool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Not since Graham Bond\u2019s own Organisation had the Mellotron\u2019s icy strings entered into such delicious battle with the rich tones of a baying Hammond as on this cult fusion classic plucked from the vaults of Detroit\u2019s Strata Records, precursor to New York\u2019s Strata East. Long a priceless collectable, 1975\u2019s Saturday Night Special caught Moto\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8023,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[],"issue":[10093],"class_list":["post-193471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album","category-reviews","issue-january-2018"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n