In the mid-1980s, a band known as Townhouse 3 was formed on Long Island and was composted by Tony "Son of Bazerk" Allen, Jeffrey "Almighty Jahwell" Height, Gary "Daddy Rawe" Stanton and Cassandra "Half Pint" Jackson. The group is inspired by James Brown, paying tribute to his debut album with this title.
I don't know how they have the attention of the hip hop producer Hank Shocklee, the Bomb Squad beatmaker who had produced Public Enemy, in any case, immediately after, they change their name to Son of Bazerk and debut as a hip hop album in 1991 credited to "Son of Bazerk featuring No Self Control and the Band". Wack title, wack-horrible R&B cover, wack artist, wack rapping, wack rhythms.
The cover reads "amazing, sensational, thrilling": it's none of these things, but not even from a distance and it never even comes close to it. The album is entirely produced by the Bomb Squad, and it's incredible, because it sucks so much: the music is a confused and decent funky sound saved by the samples. At first, I saw the The Bomb Squad among the accredited producers, but I didn't understand what cut they had produced here. The rest is just noise.
There are more accessible rhythms, others less, some energetic, powerful, heavy, others slow and minimal, often confused and crooked, above these sounds what should be the main rapper spits random nonsense bars, is your typical generic MC, but weariest and with a wacko style. In addition, the other members of the group do little or nothing here: Now I know about Half Pint, who's supposed to be some kind of female MC, but what did she do, where was she? Apart from a few shouts and chorus in the background, she does nothing here. Free of decent songs, it's easily one of the most avoidable albums of the decade.
Released under MCA by SOUL (Sound of Urban Listeners), label started by Hank Shocklee (of the Bomb Squad) and Bill Stephney after Shocklee deals with MCA, distributed by Uni, the disk is promoted by two singles, Change the Style and "What Could Be Better Bi**", that is included in the "Juice" soundtrack. The band promoted this LP by opening for Public Enemy on the Apocalypse '91 tour, despite all the sales numbers are very disappointing and the group's career comes to a halt.
The record is heavily praised by specialized critics because the band continues to traverse numerous different musical genres, from funk to dance, from metal to reggae, from hip-hop to soul, and appreciates the fact that there's something behind what appears to be ominous noise at first listen. It's a shame that it takes several spins before the casual listener can truly absorb anything, and the excessive density of the music offered prevents him from going beyond the first listen.
Rating: 3.5/10.
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