There are some instrumental tracks that cross-over into everyday listening but have specific genre roots. These are often the ones that tease people - they know the tune, they hum along but they can never think of the title. Chuck Mangione's smooth jazz 'Feels So Good' is one that comes to mind, the R&B 'Green Onions' and 'Time Is Tight' by Booker T. & The MG's and one from this album by AWB, the Funk/Soul earworm of 'Pick Up The Pieces'.
Average White Band - abbreviated to AWB for a while before reverting back to the full name - are perhaps the most unlikely funk group to appear in the 70's. Earth, Wind and Fire, Sly & The Family Stone, Parliament - Funkadelic etc. took black influenced R&B and soul and made a new style of predominately African-American music called Funk.
Exporting the music around the world it came to the attention of some Scottish guys in London. Some of them had played together in Scotland but had all made it to London separately. Reuniting in 1972 after bumping into each other at a 'Traffic' concert, the six main members, Alan Gorrie, Malcolm "Molly" Duncan, Owen "Onnie" McIntyre, Michael Rosen, Roger Ball and Robbie McIntosh formed AWB. Hamish Stuart replaced Michael Rosen and the line-up was ready to go.
I think it's funny that they met up at a 'Traffic' show, because as soon as the vocal kicks in on side 1 track 1, 'You've Got It' my mind immediately went to Steve Winwood. Apart from the "funky" intro, the voice could have been plucked directly off 'The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys' or any Winwood led track.
Going back to Sly Stone, one of my favourite Sly albums, 1971s 'There's a Riot Goin' On' (Vinyl Vault 22 July 2020) is due for a 50th Anniversary re-release in December 2021. There's quite a lot about this AWB album that reminds me of Sly et al .. it stays very true to the meaning of funk.
This was AWB's second album, the first "Show Your Hand' did nothing, but had a new lease of life after this album proved popular. It was re-issued in '75 with a fresh cover, different opening track and new title "Put It Where You Want It".
After 'Pick Up The Pieces' AWB received a nod from James Brown. One version is that he was a bit annoyed that AWB used a bass riff from his song 'Hot Pants Road' so he got his backing group, the JB's, to record 'Pick Up The Pieces One By One' under the pseudonym A.A.B.B. (Above Average Black Band). The other version is that it was done as a sincere tribute to their honest approach to funk, with a wordplay on the band's name.
The third album also contained another of their most well known single releases, the title track 'Cut The Cake'. Sadly, between the two recordings, their drummer Robbie McIntosh died of a heroin overdose. Members of the group were at a party in L.A. in 1974 when both McIntosh and Alan Gorrie OD'd, but amazingly none other than Cher kept Gorrie awake and aware until the medics arrived.
Average White Band is more than the sum of their parts. Go beyond the two well known tracks and dig into their albums. Far from being 'Average' they are a force to be reckoned with.
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