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Elementary

 
Album Review: Elementary

  • Artist: Wah Wah Watson
  • Rating: StarStarStar
  • Release Date: 1977 02
  • Type: Lyrics are included with the album
  • Genre: Rhythm & Blues

Review

After years of infusing his wah-wah guitar licks on countless sessions, Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin cut a deal with Columbia Records for this unsuccessful solo album that did so poorly Watson didn't have another solo release for 24 years. Columbia pushed this as fusion-jazz; well, some of it is, but it's really just good "head music." "Cry Baby" sounds like a track left off Sly & the Family Stone's There's a Riot Going On album; not a sad tune as its title suggests, but a jaunty stepper more related to funk than jazz. "Bubbles" is soft and understated with a clandestine groove, with Watson easing up on the wah-wah's. You'd think Norman Whitfield was in the studio on "Goo Goo Wah Wah" going by the countless gadgets and studio tricks employed on this likeable sprinter that's pushed by threatening tomtom drums: great chase music. Some of L.A.'s finest studio musicians are with Watson on this one. ~ Andrew Hamilton, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Goo Goo Wah Wah [Instrumental] Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin Wah Wah Watson (5:42)
Love My Blues Away Ray Parker, Jr., Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin Wah Wah Watson (5:29)
Cry Baby Quincy Jones, Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin Wah Wah Watson (4:06)
My Love for You Comes and Goes Al Ciner, Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin Wah Wah Watson (4:40)
Together (Whatever) Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin Wah Wah Watson (4:58)
Sunset Boulevard Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin Wah Wah Watson (4:14)
Love Ain't Somethin' (That You Get for Free) Ray Parker, Jr., Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin Wah Wah Watson (4:21)
I'll Get by Without You Bonnie Pointer, Dave Grusin, Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin, Patricia Pointer Wah Wah Watson (6:03)
Bubbles [Instrumental] Herbie Hancock, Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin Wah Wah Watson (3:19)
Good Friends Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin Wah Wah Watson (6:14)

Credits

Mark Davis (Piano), Herbie Hancock (Oberheim), Herbie Hancock (Synthesizer), Wah Wah Watson (Conductor), Wah Wah Watson (Sampling), George Horn (Mastering Engineer), Wah Wah Watson (Guitar), Ollie E. Brown (Drums), Wah Wah Watson (Arp Echoplex), Julia Waters (Vocals), Jack Leahy (Engineer), Herbie Hancock (Fender Rhodes), Ollie Brown (Drums), Henry Davis (Bass), Aaron Smith (Drums), Wah Wah Watson (Synthesizer), John Barnes (Keyboards), Sonny Burke (Piano (Electric)), Yoshihiro Kumagai (Supervisor), Ernie Watts (Sax (Tenor)), Bennie Maupin (Sax (Soprano)), Bennie Maupin (Wah Wah Pedal), Wah Wah Watson (Vocals), David Rubinson (Engineer), Joe Sample (Piano), Sonny Burke (Arp 2600), George Horn (Mastering), Willie Weeks (Bass), Ernie Watts (Soloist), David L. Robinson (Producer), Mark Davis (Piano), John Barnes (Clavinet), Wilton Felder (Bass), Dave Grusin (Piano (Electric)), Louis Johnson (Bass), Ernie Watts (Saxophone), Wah Wah Watson (Wah Wah Guitar), Oren Waters (Vocals), Susie Foot (Assistant Engineer), Maxine Willard Waters (Vocals), Sonny Burke (Keyboards), David T. Walker (Guitar), Sonny Burke (Piano), Masayuki Baba (Supervisor), Wah Wah Watson (Voice Bag), Henry E. Davis (Bass), David L. Robinson (Engineer), James Jamerson (Bass), Herbert Greene (Photography), Bennie Maupin (Arp Echoplex), Fred Catero (Engineer), Wah Wah Watson (Producer), Clarence McDonald (Piano), Dave Grusin (Keyboards), Ray Parker, Jr. (Guitar), Julia Tillman Waters (Vocals), James Jameson (Bass), Luther Waters (Vocals), Tim Kramer (Assistant Engineer), Herbie Hancock (Keyboards), Sonny Burke (Fender Rhodes), Wah Wah Watson (Wah Wah Pedal), Bennie Maupin (Saxophone), Hiroyuki Shiotsuki (Mastering), Yoshio Matsushita (Supervisor), Dave Grusin (Fender Rhodes), Herbie Hancock (Piano (Electric))
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Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more