843 Chambers Brothers - The Time has Come (1967)

Studio Album - Psychedelic Soul

About the Act:

The Chambers Brothers are an American Psychedelic Soul band from LA, who were formed in 1954 and are still going. They were at heart four brothers, but I think they have now all left the band. 

About the Album:

This was their debut album (12 years on from forming as a band), and it spawned their most successful single Time Has Come Today.

My History with this Album:

None. I had never heard of the Chambers Brothers before this list.

Review:

I am not an American, nor a Social Historian, but I think I can accurately claim that in 1960s America there was a certain separation between the Black community and other communities. As a result of this, and for marketing reasons, the idea of music that was created with a Black audience in mind was an actual thing. I'm not sure if today we would be quite so sure about what constitutes "Black Music", but then, I think, they were generally quite sure. I bring this up, because the Chambers Brothers seem to have managed to cross this divide, by starting playing "folk" and playing in folk clubs, and coffee houses, which were home to the Beat Generation in the 50s, turning electric, and being accepted as part of the Hippie movement in the 60s, possibly helped by the incorporation of Psychedelic music as part of their work. I suspect that all this kind of just happened, but if there was any group of people inclined to try and break down the walls between Black and White culture in the USA surely it was the Beat/Hippie types.

This is not the mass-produced sanitised soul of Diana Ross (see previous review), this is more like the raw sound of James Brown. I have known for a long time that The Rolling Stones incorporated American Black Music into their sound, but didn't know what the source of that was. It may have been things like this, I can certainly hear the connection. This is a real band with real instruments, probably not very much studio time, but a legacy of live performance, and a groove - well several grooves in fact. It is not Funk, but at times it is Funk-Adjacent. 

There are some covers on the album, some of which I recognise (People Get Ready, In The Midnight Hour, So Tired, What the World Needs Now Is Love). It's all pretty live and vibrant. One song is even quite jazzy. The rest are band-written, and are mostly in a similar vein. Apart from the last track, Time Has Come Today which is Psychedelic Rock. It is over 11 minutes long, and features fast echo effects, and is otherwise and open rolling rocky sound that I would describe as "Space Rock". It definitely has similarities to early Pink Floyd at times, but is maybe more restrained in the way it embraces spacey studio techniques.

This may seem like a weird juxtaposition, but it is not really, the soul is definitely leaning in the rock direction already, and is loose and rough. Sound-wise and attitude-wise the album holds together as a whole, there is just a shift in what is being produced. It's a bit like switching from doing watercolour landscapes to a watercolour still life - the tones and techniques are similar, but the subject matter is different.

Anyway, if that hasn't helped describe it, you can always just have a listen. Use the links below (which both have extra tracks not covered in this review). The final question, as always, was "did I like it?" and the answer is "yes". It's not a challenge for me to listen to and to find the enjoyment. It's a pretty good album I would say. I think the structure as an album is good, so that's another plus.

7.5/10

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1TMPxQxf7LH1y5Iu7wo4jL

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8A652E6E9CE85FC9

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Has_Come_(The_Chambers_Brothers_album)