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This is one damn good album. The opening motif on Nation Time kind of reminds me of something Sonny Rollins would have come up with but alas, this is not Sonny, this is frickn' Joe McPhee. The man with so much soul his shoes are 10 inches thick. This was my first exposure to this guy and I thought it was going to be some straight forward jazz-funk but I was wrong. It has everything. Harp Bop, funk, and avant-garde all mixed into one. Even some vocals tossed in for good measure. At any given time there can be a ton of sounds going on all at once yet you can clearly hear each one so it's not like it's a mess, it's orchestrated very well and I love it. The solo at 6 minutes on the title track is wicked too. It gives your ears a bit of break, well, sort of...then the mass ensemble hits again. Genius.
The other two tracks follow the same lines and Shakey Jake at the 7 minute point is so awesome I wish I could find more like it. The guitar is blazing and I the drums are groovy as hell! Another great track. I can't give this album a 5/5 simply because Scorpio's Dance isn't as good as the other two, but it's still a nice piece overall. This is one album I need to buy on vinyl the second I see it!
