Search - Various :: Mellow Mellow

Fantastic

douwannafly | 10/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I discovered this album at a bar in Amsterdam after hearing "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" and and asking the DJ what I was listening to. I'm new to soul music and after scouring the internet to find the RAMP album with this song on it I quickly learned how important MELLOW MELLOW is. RAMP (Stands for Roy Ayers Music Production) is not yet available on CD and it's my understanding that the record, now a collectors item, sells for hundreds of dollars. There are two RAMP songs on MELLOW MELLOW "Everbody loves the Sunshine" and "Daylight" both hauntingly simple and perfect. I don't know where else you would find these versions of the songs on CD (The original version of "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" is on the Roy Ayers album of the same name). But then there are many other great songs by Allen Green, Barry White, Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield (the list goes on). All designed to chill you out, and the mixed arrangedment is brilliant.If your new to soul like me, this is a must have as it will turn you on to many of the important artists of that era. I just wish Lonnie Liston Smith was also represented.Enjoy!"

Original 1970s Smooth Grooves & Chilled Breaks, Volume 1

Joe Kenney | Dallas, TX USA | 02/15/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've always been a fan of Massive Attack, but if anything, this Harmless release has made me lose a little respect for them. Why? Because this CD features songs that were sampled by MA and other trip-hoppers. And the thing is, every original version on here is better than the songs Massive Attack et al made out of them! Mellow Mellow proves that trip-hop in reality wasn't such a radically new form of music. All of the tracks on here were made in the mid-to-late `70s, and each of them sound just as original and timeless as any trip-hop track you could name.Every track is a stand-out, but if I could only name a few: there's Lowrell's "Mellow Mellow, Right On," which grooves along with an icy beat (Massive Attack sampled this one for their song "Lately"); the Fatback Band funk it up with "Feed Me Your Love;" Al Green gets soulful over a funky drummer beat (which MA sampled on their Blue Lines lp) on "I'm Glad You're Mine;" Curtis Mayfield combines his silky vocals with a post-disco groove on "Tripping Out;" and Kool and the Gang get amazingly mellow on the jazzy "Summer Madness," which, incredibly enough, was recorded live, and features an awesome synthesizer solo. Two of the top tracks, "Daylight" and "Everybody Loves the Sunshine," are by RAMP, a forgotten, Roy Ayers-produced soul group who released their sole lp, "Come Into Knowledge," in 1977 (it still hasn't been issued on CD, but was re-issed on vinyl a few years ago). Forgotten in their day, RAMP are now much admired by soul-jazz connoisseurs. Very advanced for their time, RAMP sounds like a modern trip-hop group, with icy drums, fat basslines, hypnotic grooves, and trance-inducing vocals. Mellow Mellow is worthy of purchase for these two tracks alone.This CD is just one of the many jewels in Harmless's crown. It's right up there with As We Travel and Gimme Shelter as one the best of the best from the label."