Grits & Gravy: The Best of the Fame Gang

by Fame Gang

Overview

What the Funk Brothers were to Motown, the Fame Gang were to the famed Fame studio down in Muscle Shoals, Alabama: the band behind the scenes that brought all those great records to life. Like the Funk Brothers, the Fame Gang was known by that name largely to insiders, and there were several iterations of the lineup over the years. The one captured on Ace's 2015 compilation Grits & Gravy: The Best of the Fame Gang is its third incarnation, one that existed when the '60s turned into the '70s, one that featured guitarist Junior Lowe, guitarist Travis Wammack, keyboardist Clayton Ivey, bassist Jesse Boyce, drummer Freeman Brown, percussionist Mickey Buckins, trumpeter/trombonist Harrison Calloway, and saxophonists Ronnie Eades, Harvey Thompson, and Aaron Varnell. It was also the only group to actually release singles under its own name, and they're all here on this 25-track collection, along with a host of unheard material, all as good as what saw release. Every one of these cuts is an instrumental, so the Fame Gang often seems like a greasier, funkier variation of Booker T & the MG's: the bandmembers share a foundation of tight Southern groove, but the Fame Gang will open their rhythms up, sliding into funky breaks and also textures so smooth they seem nearly spacy. Overall, though, Grits & Gravy captures a band that is all about riding the rhythms and their interplay -- natural, infectious, kinetic -- which is what makes this collection of little-heard sides so enduring: it's all about how this world-class band played together. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	04/07/2015
Label:	Bgp
UPC:	0029667528825
Rank:	103754

Tracks

1. Grits and Gravy [Extended Version]
2. Twangin' My Thang
3. Cannonball
4. Stand
5. Shortnin' Bread
6. Groove Killer
7. Crime Don't Pay
8. Your Good Thing
9. Soul Feud
10. Shoalin'
11. Turn My Chicken Loose
12. It's Your Thing
13. Choice of Colors
14. Hey Joe
15. Soul Stutterin'
16. Sunrise
17. Walk Tall
18. Twenty Five Miles
19. Rang's Thang
20. Smokestack Lightning
21. Sax Appeal
22. Shufflin'
23. Canteloupe Island
24. Muscle Soul
25. Twangin' My Thang [Alternate Version]

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Fame Gang   Primary Artist
Clayton Ivey   Organ,Piano
Jesse Boyce   Bass
Mickey Buckins   Percussion
Ronnie Eades   Sax (Tenor),Sax (Baritone)
Harvey Thompson   Flute,Sax (Tenor)
Aaron Varnell   Sax (Alto),Sax (Tenor)
Harrison Calloway, Jr.   Trumpet,Trombone
Junior Lowe   Guitar
Freeman Brown   Drums
Travis Wammack   Guitar

Technical Credits

Edwin Hatcher   Composer
Bert Russell   Composer
Isaac Hayes   Composer
Curtis Mayfield   Composer
Clayton Ivey   Composer
Joe Zawinul   Composer
Ronald Isley   Composer
Jesse Boyce   Composer
Rudolph Isley   Composer
Rick Hall   Original Session Producer
Queen Esther Marrow   Composer
Mickey Buckins   Composer,Original Session Producer
Nick Robbins   Mastering
O'Kelly Isley   Composer
Alec Palao   Liner Notes,Pre-Production,Archive Research
Harvey Fuqua   Composer
Sylvester Stewart   Composer
Billy Roberts   Composer
Ronnie Eades   Composer
Harvey Thompson   Composer
David Porter   Composer
Johnny Bristol   Composer
Aaron Varnell   Composer
Albert Lowe   Composer
Herbie Hancock   Composer
Harrison Calloway, Jr.   Composer
John Sellards   Package Design
Freeman Brown   Composer
Jim Rein   Composer
Travis Wammack   Composer