Edgar Winter's White Trash - s/t (1971) {1997 MFSL} **[RE-UP]**

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Edgar Winter's White Trash - s/t (1971) {1997 MFSL} **[RE-UP]**

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Edgar Winter's White Trash - s/t (1971) {1997 MFSL} **[RE-UP]**

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The first time I heard this album I wasn't sure whether Edgar Winter was a gospel singer gone mod or a fire eater escaped from Ringling Bros. & Co. The second time I was sure he is both. A master of both, no less.

White Trash is a pure delight, the more so for its unexpectedness. Winter sings, writes, plays piano and sax, and works with a seven piece R&B group. This is his second album – his first with his own group – and on it he conveys as great a sense of personal style as any white bluesman on the scene today.

The sound of the band is loose and rangy in the best tradition of white Southern R&B (a la the best of John Fred and His Playboy Band) and Winter's singing is fully equal of it: he never stops at mere competence. On a quick listen some of the music could have easily been mistaken for Stax soul. But the difference is in the white gospel roots that both Winter and co-vocalist Jerry laCroix exhibit throughout the record. Up-tempo songs like "Save the Planet" and "Keep Playin' that Rock and Roll" are fine rockers but the guts of the album is in slow, semi-religious "You Were My Light." The latter is the highlight of the album: Winter sings flawlessly, first in front of his superb rhythm section, and then with a beautifully arranged and blended horn section. On the choruses the three elements come together with tremendous impact – enough to blow me back listen after listen. The lyrics here, as throughout, are almost charming in their openness, directness, and simplicity. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the album is the emergence of Edgar Winter as an excellent songwriter.

At the peak of their frenzy, both Winter and laCroix cross over the gospel line and into pure shrieking and screaming. In the controlled doses they administer here, it is very powerful stuff. Such vocal techniques are easily misused, but like everything else on White Trash, Edgar keeps it under control and makes it work for him. The results are a revealing and exciting album – hopefully, only the first of many more to come. It's the kind of record that makes you want to see the group perform. What higher praise is there for a new album by a new group?

This is my pick for the greatest album of the year; it certainly is the most impressive surprise masterpiece to hit the rock scene in months. Forget Edgar's syrupy debut Entrance album of last year, and don't expect the Johnny Winter hard blues sound. White Trash is a superbly produced, fantastically performed, well written rock masterpiece in the tradition of Cream, Traffic, and Joe Cocker. It has all the powerful excitement and freshness of the great rock albums of 1967 and as much musical competence and authenticity as anything around today.

The band includes several horns but instead of playing orchestrated unemotional music the way Chicago or Blood, Sweat and Tears are wont to do, White Trash cooks with its brass and takes you far out. Edgar's voice is satisfying and hard to forget. He sings with uniquely controlled emotion which periodically bursts into a shriek. That shriek undoubtedly will come to be his trademark. The arrangements are unencumbered by formula or boundary. Producer Rick Derringer has a secure reputation after this one. The mood is always changing, but always connected. The album is unforgettable.

Edgar's version of the Ray Charles classic "I've Got News For You" is a high point, but a big part of the album's impact are the fantastic original tunes. Edgar wrote most of them, but was ably helped by Jerry laCroix who plays tenor sax and harp and helps with the singing. "Fly Away" would be a good choice for a single because of a lovely refrain and hauntingly beautiful rock sound. "Keep Playing that Rock and Roll" is a fast moving good time dance number, "Dying To Live" is a beautiful ballad destined to be a much-recorded classic, Edgar's voice in it moves with a profound sensitivity he previously has kept hidden. And "Save The Planet," sung by laCroix, is the first authentic ecology rock song, bursting its words of sanity through a memorable musical background.

It's a little embarrassing to write such an unqualified rave, particularly for an artist who has never had a popular record. But the album is so powerful, so well put together, and so exciting, that my real regret is my inability to do it justice. It does derive a lot of its sound from other contemporary musicians, most apparently Sly and the Family Stone; but it is put together so well that it takes you through several pleasant changes, always exceeding expectation until it builds into an experience. The songs and sound will grab you the first time you put it on. White Trash establishes a new superstar whose talent will bring his songs to millions of ears.

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Edgar Winter's White Trash - s/t (1971) {1997 MFSL} **[RE-UP]**

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