- unknown

- none known

Genre: pop

Rating: 1 star *

Title:  South Tampa Horn Band

Company: Guinness

Catalog: GNS 36009
Year: 1977

Country/State: US

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: --

Available: 1

Catalog ID: 6173

Price: $85.00

I hope someone out there appreciates the time, effort, and disposable income I'm saving folks my going through the Guinness catalog and highlighting the good, the bad, and the ugly.  

 Executive summary - this one qualifies as one of the bad ....  

A quick look at the track listing should make it clear that 1977's "South Tampa Horn Band" wasn't the Guinness label's most impressive release.  What you got on this album was an anonymous collection of ten MOR instrumental covers of popular pop, soul, and disco hits.  There wasn't much rhyme or reason to the song selections which ranged from Marty Robbins ('White Sport Coat') to Van McCoy ('The Hustle'), though the one thing all ten performances shared was the absence of a single note of originality or enthusiasm.  Why would you want to listen to these folks plow their way through MFSB's 'TSOP" when you could listen to the original?  The entire set left the impression it had been recorded as incidental music intended for a throwaway television soundtrack ...  Music as product and about as close to a waste of vinyl as you can get.  Was anything here worthwhile?   Nope.

"South Tampa Horn Band" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Morning Girl (instrumental)   (Tupper Saussey) - 

2.) Machine Gun (instrumental)   (M. Williams) - 

3.) Shef's Salad (instrumental)    (Tommy Smith) - 

4.) TSOP (instrumental)    (Kenny Gamble - Leon Huff) - 

5.) The Hustle (instrumental)    (Van McCoy) - 

(side 2)
1.) White Sport Coat (instrumental)    (Marty Ribbins) - 

2.) Sexy (instrumental)   (Kenny Gamble) - 

3.) The Entertainer (instrumental)    (Scott Joplin) - 

4.) Break My Mind (instrumental)    (John D. Loudermilk) -

5.) Space Race (instrumental)    (Billy Preston) -