Larry Williams & Johnny 'Guitar' Watson With The Kaleidoscope - Nobody

ORIGINATION Gimme Shelter: Kaleidoscopic Funk Collision
LAST LISTENED TO a few weeks ago
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT average
RATING

An intriguing blend of people in this one.

Larry Williams is best known for his late '50s rhythm 'n' blues hits, such as Bonie Maronie. This run of hits was very short and was followed by several years of label wandering. Near the end of the '60s he recorded briefly with his friend Johnny 'Guitar' Watson before stopping recording altogether at the end of the decade. He was found dead of a gunshot to the head in 1980, that was ruled suicide but was rumoured to be crime related.

Johnny 'Guitar' Watson had several spins around the musical merry-go-round. He began playing blues piano, before changing to guitar. He then moved towards rhythm 'n' blues/soul, but also had a go as a jazz drummer. However, his best known work was during his run as a funkster in the '70s where he scored such hits as Gangster Of Love and Superman Lover. He recorded sporadically up until his death in '96 whilst on tour in Japan.

According to allmusic, The Kaleidoscope 'were arguably the most eclectic band of the psychedelic era, weaving together folk, blues, Middle Eastern, and acid more often and seamlessly than any other musicians'. Quite how they ended up recording with the previous two is a mystery.

Nobody, recorded in '67, is something of a clash between soul and psychedelia, the result of which is odd but funky. It features some catchy vocal hooks sung by Williams and Watson (who appear to be here purely on vocals). I'm at something of a loss to figure out all the instrumentation on it, although i am fairly sure that a sitar is one of the primary instruments. Possibly a guitar as well. It's a fairly unusual piece of music when you really look at it.