Saturday, November 24, 2007

Kid Dynamite - Kid Dynamite (1976)

Kid Dynamite is another one of those ultra mysterious bands whose story is murky at best. It is known that the band emerged in 1975 when two former members (bassist Dicky Thompson and drumer John King) of the Steve Miller Band decided it was time to strike out on their own. Vocalist Val Garcia and guitarist Michael Mallen were later added and Kid Dynamite was born. Opting for a label who would allow the band total control over their direction, the band signed with Alvin Bennett's Cream Records in late 1975 and began working on their self-titled debut with producer Hal Winn at the helm. "Kid Dynamite" was released in January of 1976, but flagging sales and little label support abruptly killed the band at the conclusion of the year. Very little is known about the members post-split activities, though Michael Mallen is rumoured to be teaching guitar in California.

This elusive gem is one that is often discussed in collector circles, but rarely ever recognized as a musically viable effort. I beg to differ. "Kid Dynamite" is a dynamic exercise in genre splicing which works effectively from start to finish. Blending blues, hard rock, soul and funk, the band shows off their musical chops throughout, with a notably scorching effort from Dicky Thompson in particular. Sounding quite similar to Joey Newman's hard soul act, Bandit, the band merges the groove and conviction of classic funk with the forcefulness of 70's hard rock. The outcome is pretty spectacular and it's a real travesty that Kid Dynamite were merely a blip on the radar. Though this band is undoubtedly anonymous in all respects, some listeners may recognize the track "Uphill Peace of Mind", which was sampled and used by Dr. Dre (Nuttin But a G Thang) and Ultramagnetic MC's (Feelin' It) almost twenty years ago.

This one comes highly recommended for fans of soulful hard rock. This tweaked and cleaned vinyl transfer should satisfy ardent lovers of obscure 70's rock. Dig it...

5 comments:

We're Late For Class said...

Hi Ronnie,

We are WE’RE LATE FOR CLASS, an independent improv band that gives away our music. We’ve just released our 20th post, A Collection, and it features our best work from the last year.

We’re writing you in hopes that you might post our new album on your fine blog. It would mean a lot to us to reach your wider audience... and to just be acknowledged by other bloggers like yourself would be a treat. Here’s a link to get all of the codes for the cool animated cover and full album MP3 player, should you like to post them for your readers...

http://werelateforclass.blogspot.com/2007/06/codes.html

And you can see how all this looks on our own blog...
http://werelateforclass.blogspot.com/

Of course... there’s nothing in this for you, except a “thanks.” We will, of course, be thrilled to include you in our blog’s link list, “Bloggers Kind Enough To Promote Us Even Though There's Zilch In It For Them.” And, we’ll even love you for it, too. Heck... maybe even some of your readers might appreciate something out of the ordinary. So you’re fully aware, however, we are also contacting a few other friends and blogs to get as much exposure as we can. Since we’re not profiting from this venture, we can only hope the blogging community will help out one of their own with much needed promotion. And... the cool animated gif (which works perfectly in Blogger) will look great on your page and draw plenty of attention. Even if you don’t want to make the space, a link would be most welcomed (and drop us a comment so we can reciprocate). Should you need anything else, just let us know.

We’re Late For Class is all improv and pro-herb, so an altered state of mind is highly recommend for optimum listening pleasure. You never know... you might even like us. We can be reached at werelateforclass@hotmail.com. Please feel free to tell us what you think. We’ve got thick skins and would love the feedback. Above all, thanks for taking the time to read and consider us. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DELETE ALL THIS CRAP FROM YOUR COMMENTS!
All the best...
WLFC

Jannell Says said...

I just had the pleasure of coming across your blog when BAM - someone deleted your awesome ups. Shame on whomever is responsible. I hope you can re-up some things. You can check out my blog for some mixtape mixes. I really enjoy the eclectic and rare grab-bag here. Cheers.

bcelic said...

Please reup.

msh group said...

thanks

Anonymous said...

Great album, thanks for the little nugget of info. Here's a reup: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I77VXDSR