Saturday Night Special

VINYL FORMAT. Although Detroit is best known for fostering the musical talents of countless Motown artists, the Motor City played host to a spectrum of scenes. As Stevie Wonder's 1969 hit "My Cherie Amour" was saturating American airwaves, the MC5 was touring to support their garage-rock opus Kick Out The Jams, released earlier that year. In 1971, the social consciousness of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" shared record store shelves with Dennis Coffey's psychedelic single, "Scorpio." And while the Jackson 5's "Dancing Machine" was incinerating dance floors nationwide, an accomplished organist name Lyman Woodard was putting the finishing touches on Saturday Night Special, a funky collection of working-class jazz that, to this day, stands as a testament to the amazing relics of artistic expression born from this industrious place and time in American music. Unfortunately, Woodard's label, the proletariat resource Strata Records, lacked the funds and distribution to match the record's musical propulsion. The rich layers of sound, befit for a double LP, were confined to one piece of vinyl, compressing the recording's sonic brilliance to fit the economical format. Since most albums released on this now-legendary label tended toward the avant-garde, this recording - equal parts jazz exploration, R&B sensibilities, and funk meanderings - was marginally out of place in the Strata catalog. For whatever reason, this recording never received its due, until this well-deserved reissue. Saturday Night Special is the fifth release by Wax Poetics Records, which, like its sister publication, is quickly becoming the authority on soul music's unsung heroes. Pressed on 180-gram vinyl, the Saturday Night Special double LP features original liner notes by John Sinclair, along with modern-day commentary on this fabled record. The iconic cover photograph, taken by Leni Sinclair, has been restored to show the rich details of the original composition. Numbered, limited edition of 1500 copies on 180 gram vinyl; includes poster.