 Candido This one is worth having mainly for the cover, a delicious slice of pure 1969, with Candido's name sprawled across the top in a font that probably existed only on this album cover, and a great color shot of a shirtless Candido in action over his congas. It's one of the most attractive covers in the Blue Note catalog, not "classic" in the sense of the great Francis Wolff covers of the late 50s/early 60s, but rather in the sense of the wayward late 60s Blue Note soul jazz era – as black as it gets, which is of course, my highest compliment. So why am I spending so much time talking about the cover? To make it clear that you will see this CD in a store and you'll be powerless to resist it, but you should know in advance that the music is not at all what you'd think. Candido applies his thousand fingers to a very cheesy selection of soul jazz that wouldn't be out of place on one of those Talkin' Verve CD's or a Roots of Acid Jazz compilation. His congas and bongos mainly take a back seat to blaring trumpets, fuzzy guitar and organ – in fact, the whole thing sounds sort of like a Blood, Sweat and Tears record without the vocals. Which is, I'd say, preferable to a Blood, Sweat and Tears record with the vocals, but not quite what is promised by the pure coolness of the cover. That said, it's really enjoyable overall, but keep in mind, there's essentially no Afro-Cuban music to be found – most of the songs are in the same key and take the same tempo, giving the general impression that this is a CD single with slightly different mixes of the same song. It's almost like someone had a session reel of background music from a go-go dancing TV special, and decided to bring Candido in to play congas over the top of it. There are a couple of comical moments where the trumpets play a break, and Candido plays the same break on the congas, which, of course, are non-melodic. So the whole thing comes off as tongue-in-cheek. The choice cut is probably "Hallelujah! I'm Comin' Home," which has some actually noticeable interplay between the musicians. Elsewhere, there's some sampleable moments for aspiring DJ's, I suppose, but that whole thing must be getting tired by now, right? Like I would know, I sit here all day reviewing albums. Thousand Finger Man is not a huge disappointment, but after five or six plays I'm pretty much content to just appreciate the cover.
Review by Johnson Pulnik |