Taken By Love: Numero Rediscovers Universal Togetherness Band's Funky Sounds

Taken By Love: Numero Rediscovers Universal Togetherness Band’s Funky Sounds

January 16, 2015 By Joe Marchese — No Comments

Numero Group – the top purveyors of obscure yet irresistible pop, rock, soul and beyond – kicks off 2015 with a January 20 release from Chicago’s Universal Togetherness Band. The self-titled release (Numero No. 057) will arrive on CD and vinyl, and as a digital download.

The label has explained the story behind frontman Andre Gibson’s Universal Togetherness Band. Between 1979 and 1982 – a time of sweeping change for R&B, with lush disco ceding to lithe, electronic sounds – the group “tracked unearthly portions of their sprawling songbook for bewildered students in Columbia College’s audio engineering program. Storming the gates of Chicago’s premier recording studios, the erudite party band explored permutations of soul, jazz-fusion, new wave, and disco with little regard for studio rates or the availability of magnetic tape.”

Universal Togetherness Band features eight tracks from the five semesters of recording undertaken by the group and the student engineers, all newly remixed from the original multi-tracks. Gibson and the Band had their finger on the pulse of R&B, touching on new wave and disco styles as they offered uptempo slices of funk like “Ain’t Gonna Cry” and “Real Thrill,” the lithe rhythms of “Taken by Love” and the driving “My Sentiment,” and the sleek fusion of “Try, Try, Try.” These eight loose, spirited tracks are bold, bright and infectious; “Once in a Lifetime” oozes positivity while “Call for Love” (enhanced by prominent jazz flute) and the mid-tempo pop groover “I Want You” are two of the romantic and lusty tracks here.

The gatefold LP edition of Universal Togetherness Band includes reproductions of never-before-seen images from the archives of Chicago photographer Steven E. Gross. The CD edition features several candid snapshots from the group members’ own archives.

This isn’t the last you’ll hear of the Universal Togetherness Band on Numero. Another track from the Band, 1981’s “Pull Up,” will be available on Numero’s forthcoming Ultra-High Frequencies: The Chicago Party CD/DVD or 2LP/DVD compilation. Watch this space for more details on that set; a release date hasn’t been confirmed, but some sites are currently accepting pre-orders for a March 3 arrival.

In the meantime, you can order the smooth, funky and criminally unknown sounds of the Universal Togetherness Band at the links below!

Universal Togetherness Band (Numero 057, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Ain’t Gonna Cry
Real Thrill
Try, Try, Try
My Sentiment
Once in a Lifetime
Taken by Love
Call for Love
I Want You

All tracks previously unreleased.

Categories:

News

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Vinyl

Genres:

R&B/Soul

Tags:

Universal Togetherness Band

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song and beyond, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with labels including Real Gone Music and Cherry Red Records, has released newly-curated collections produced and annotated by Joe from iconic artists such as Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Meat Loaf, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Liza Minnelli, Darlene Love, Al Stewart, Michael Nesmith, and many others.

Joe has written liner notes, produced, or contributed to over 200 reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them America, JD Souther, Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Petula Clark, Robert Goulet, and Andy Williams.

Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.

Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.