 The Undisputed Truth Certainly one of the freakiest bands to ever be released on Motown, the Undisputed Truth combined a heavy "psychedelic soul" sound with increasingly bizarre subject matter to produce some f'n weird but really good music. This best-of collects the highlights from their brief (1971-75) career, charting their path from street-smart preachers to space-rockers over the course of six albums. The band was essentially comprised of Motown backup band members and singers, and was producer Norman Whitfield's self-conscious attempt to make a "fresh, relevant" band for Motown, which was perceived as having fallen away from young America. Through a series of line-up changes, the Truth maintained its hard-edged multi-vocalist sound, more or less a slightly crazy Sly & the Family Stone with Funkadelic guitars thrown all around for "hipness." Whatever this music meant at the time, it's some of the better Motown stuff to listen to nowadays. Some of the songs are classics: "Smiling Faces Sometimes" (similar to, and as good as, the O'Jays "Back Stabbers"), "You Make Your Own Heaven and Hell Right Here on Earth," the original "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone," "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are." These songs typify the Undisputed Truth's approach in general, but not every song is a sanctimonious bit of soulful advice. "Help Yourself" dips into some shufflin' Georgia soul that isn't far off from the Allman Brothers, while a cover of Chicago's "Just You 'N' Me" demonstrates the band's ability to make cheesy ballads funky. My favorite track is "If I Die," an almost oppressively heavy song about Vietnam that escapes the impatient eye-rolling I usually reserve for Vietnam-themed "classics" from the same era. Truly chilling stuff, not at all what you'd expect from Motown. It seems like after awhile Motown wasn't even really listening to what these guys were doing, as the songs get more and more spaced out (there is, in fact, a song called "Spaced Out") and drug-oriented. Although the word "reefer" is bleeped out in the song "Big John is My Name," a few tracks later they're singing about being "Higher Than High." The most wacked-out tune is "UFO's," on which the singer is either making fun of Bootsy Collins, or utterly pot-addled as he keeps pondering life in outer space and whether we will be invaded. This one may be the best recorded example of pot paranoia, except possibly my own "Pot Paranoia" from the album DEF! Dope! This is throwaway funk that I'm glad wasn't thrown away. Kudos to Motown for realizing that the nooks and crannies of their catalog are as interesting as their classics. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go water my hemp.
Review by DEF |