Search - Thee Midniters :: Thee Complete Midniters: Songs of Love, Rhythm and Psychedilia

Flawed but still worth the $22.98 I paid

C. Williams | santa ana, california United States | 10/06/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've been collecting The Midniters Lp's and singles since the mid '70's. The first two lp's I found (On Whittier Blvd and Bring You Love Special Delivery) were sealed copies, the third (Unlimited) was used but still in very good condition and the last lp (Giants) was a sealed pressing from the early eighties. No master tapes exist for Thee Midiniters catalog and I understand that Micro Werks used the best vinyl copies they could find at the time and about 90% the songs turned out quite well but my biggest beef is the 10% that skip due to scratches in the source material (vinyl lp's). Should Micro Werks decide to run the box set a second time I'd gladly loan my collection to correct those flawed tracks.



I'm not going to review the music itself as I own most of it and love it all. This is a group that wasn't afraid to take chances. Know best for their "Brown Eyed Soul" ballads and the classic rocker, Whittier Blvd only scratches the surface. From garage to instrumentals tinged with a touch of jazz to straight up rockers and "psychedelia". Thee Midniters truly were "Unlimited" as stated on the album of the same name.



Is the collection still worth owning? Yes. They went through great lengths to make this a box set worth owning. Each of the cds comes in a paper tri-fold jacket with the front and back cover of the respective lp. Also on each jacket are song listings with writer and publisher credits along with photos of the singles included on that cd and the finishing touch, Each cd is designed to resemble the Whittier Records green, white and pink label with the hot rod on top. The well written liner notes by Richie Unterberger are printed on the backside of a fold out poster made up of rare photos of the band. The box is a simple black hinged box with unbleached paper labels. The front containing the well know group photo from the back cover of the Whittier Blvd album with some cool vintage concert poster style graphics and art. The back label wraps around the side spine with complete song listings on the back.



Proving that this is a legit release approved by The Midniters, Five of the six surviving members Willie G., Jimmy Espinoza, Larry Rendon, George Domominguez and Danny LaMont each write short, personal paragraphs of thanks. Romeo Prado passed a few years back and Roy Marquez is m.i.a.. My only beef is using red ink on the black background on some of the band credits making them almost impossible to read.



In closing, I say buy this set if your a completest or serious fan. If your a casual fan who only wants the tunes played on Art Laboe's Killer oldies show, I suggest purchasing the Thump label, single cd best of. None of those songs skip and sound great for also being mastered off old vinyl. I believe this set will be a single run so don't wait for a "new and improved" set to come out. We're lucky a label was willing to take on this project to begin with. The packaging gets five stars. The source material used only gets three stars so I rounded it off to four stars."

+1/2 -- 1960s East L.A. rock `n' soul giants get their due

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 11/17/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Thee Midniters were hands-down the cream of the rock `n' soul scene that sprouted in mid-60s East Los Angeles. Contemporaries like the Premiers and Cannibal & The Headhunters each made indelible marks, but the Midniters' talent filled four full albums, numerous non-LP singles and ranged across a unique mix of `50s doo-wop and R&B, `60s rock, soul and jazz. Their chart success was minor (a 1965 version of "Land of a Thousand Dances" that was covered by the Headhunters and then completely overshadowed by Wilson Pickett), but their originals and covers resound to this day with the unfettered release of a Saturday night rave-up and the slow heat of the night's last dance.



The band's guitar, organ and horns sat atop propulsive bass lines and potent back beats, and moved easily from the soulful croon of Jerry Butler's "Giving Up on Love" to a wicked, organ- and guitar-led cover Barrett Strong's "Money." The ballads are warm and comforting, and the up-tempo tunes are scorching. The band's debut album Whittier Blvd., originally released in 1965, is constructed from a dozen covers, the title track being a hotted-up reworking of the Stones "2120 South Michigan Avenue." The song list is drafted from then-popular regional and national hits by Marvin Gaye, Lenny Welch, Chris Kenner, and Roddie Joy, and spiked with a pair of rock `n' roll classics from Larry Williams ("Slow Down") and Chuck Berry ("Johnny B. Goode"). Bonus tracks included with the first album are highlighted by a playful cover of Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual" and a shriek-lined live version of "Land of a Thousand Dances."



The Midniters' second album, Bring You Love Special Delivery, was released in 1966 and though it continued the rock `n' soul sounds of their debut, it added a psychedelic vibe and included four originals, including the rhythm-heavy rock `n' soul title track. Jimmy Espinosa's running bass lines and Danny LaMont's snare grab you by the lapels as the horn section slaps you in the face; if you ever wondered what influenced Jeff Conolly's (of The Lyres) organ style, check out Ronny Figueroa's playing. The covers are drawn once again from popular songs of the day by Martha & The Vandellas, the Righteous Brothers, the Young Rascals, Percy Sledge and Deon Jackson. Thee Midniters really proved themselves the epitome of a great covers band, able to evoke the essence of a hit single while stamping the performance with their own unique sound.



The breadth of the band's influences is readily heard in the contrast between their down-and-dirty cover of Them's British Invasion classic "Gloria" and a relatively straight take on Frank Sinatra's then-current easy listening hit "Strangers in the Night." The band's originals include the tough rocker "I Found a Peanut" and the soul ballad "Are You Angry." Bonus tracks expanding the second album include a smoldering cover of Baby Washington's "It'll Never Be Over For Me," a stomping take on Richard Lewis' "Hey Little Girl" and the searing garage rock instrumental original "Thee Midnight Feeling."



The group's third album, Unlimited, was released in 1967 and opens with a rough, Stones-y cover of Solomon Burke's "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love." The horns that start "Cheatin' Woman" suggest a moment of soothing soul, but vocalist Little Willie G is in no mood to forgive and forget as he croons his goodbye to an unfaithful mate. Originals finally dominate the song list with a variety of torchy ballads, garage rockers, easy swinging soul, and summery pop. The instrumental "Chile Con Soul" finds the band branching into jazz, and "Welcome Home Darling" is a fine upbeat blues-rocker. The set list winds down for a cover of the Beatles' "Yesterday" and heats back up for Mitch Ryder's medley of "Devil With a Blue Dress" and "Good Golly, Miss Molly." Eight bonus tracks include the wild mariachi-rock "The Big Ranch," a superb mid-tempo soul original, "You're Gonna Make Me Cry," plenty of heavy, psych-tinged blues, and both the English and Spanish sides of the honorific, "The Ballad of Cesar Chavez."



By 1969 vocalist Little Willie G had departed, and the group's fourth and final album, Giants, falls back on some familiar cuts ("Whittier Blvd," "Land of a Thousand Dances" and "Love Special Delivery") and sticks almost entirely to covers, many of which are themselves repeats. The album sounds more like the group's debut than the progression of Unlimited. Highlights include a jazzy, five-minute instrumental arrangement of "Walk on By," a moving take on Oscar Brown's "Brother Where Are You," and a stereo mix of "That's All." Three bonus tracks include the celebratory chant "Chicano Power," a thick concoction of Gamble & Huff's "Never Gonna Give You Up," and a Latinized arrangement of Hubert Laws' "Cinderella." By this point you could hear the Midniters laying into the same roots that Carlos Santana was exploring, and which would be more fully fleshed out by War, EW&F, AWB and others in the early 1970s. The band played with more restraint in 1969 than 1966, but also with more polish and sophistication.



These CDs were mastered from vinyl records, and there are a few sound problems, including small skips, transitory distortion, and varying fidelity. The audio artifacts aren't persistent and do not greatly diminish the pleasure of having these tracks available on CD; still, it's a shame Micro Werks didn't search more deeply for better vinyl sources. Each CD is screened with the green, white and pink label of Whittier Records and packaged in a three-panel cardboard slip-case that reproduces the front and back album cover. The four discs are housed in a box that includes a fold-out poster with liner notes by Richie Unterberger. Discs 1-3 are mono, disc 4 mixes mono and stereo. 4-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]"