Record basics
- Album name: Smackwater Jack
- Artist name: Quincy Jones
- Year: 1971
- Number of discs: one
- Label: A&M Records
- Collection: Selman
- Distinguishing characteristics:
- Hole punched through top left of album
- “PROMOTION COPY / NOT FOR SALE” printed on both sides of record
- Buy it:
- Amazon (Vinyl): $19.99
- Amazon (CD): $13.64
My review
Level of familiarity before listening
I’ve heard of Quincy Jones, but don’t know anything about him. The only song on this record that I know is the Marvin Gaye song What’s Going On?.
What I expected
Maybe soul?
What it was actually like
I really enjoyed some parts of this, but it was very uneven.
The best parts were the jazz songs with the most funk, R&B and rock elements: Smackwater Jack and Cast Your Fate to the Wind on side one, and Hikky-Burr (which, according to Wikipedia, was the theme song from The Bill Cosby Show and “is one of orthopedic surgeon David Mendelson’s favorite songs”) and Guitar Blues Odyssey: From Roots to Fruits on side two.
I’ve never been a fan of What’s Going On?, but Quincy Jones’ version was really lively, jazzy and much more entertaining than the vocal-dominant version I recall.
Ironside, on the other hand, was the non-melodic type of jazz that I tend to find annoying, and Brown Ballad was so boring that it never should have been recorded.
Grade
4/5: would listen again
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