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Before E.U. became one of Washington DC’s most popular go-go bands in the 80s, with a prime appearance in Spike Lee’s first movie, they were a 70s psychedelic funk-rock band called Experience Unlimited. This version of the band released one album in 1977 titled “Free Yourself“. With disco starting to emerge as a dominant trend in the late 70s, this album disappeared quickly and became a rare collector’s item. Flash forward many years, Plunky from Oneness of Juju bought the rights to this album, as well as many others on the old Black Fire label, and before you could say ‘surprise comeback’, this album was back again, only now housed in a deluxe package that includes an extensive booklet that goes into detail about Experience Unlimited and the Black Fire label and its relationship with the avant-garde jazz label, Strata-East.
For an album that came out in 77, this sounds more like something from the early 70s, and that is a compliment. About half of this album is funk-rock with a heavy Funkadelic influence, as well as some sounds and rhythms from WAR, Sly and the Family Stone, The Isley Brothers and early Ohio Players. Donald Fields supplies many screaming guitar solos that recall Eddie Hazel, and on one song, Carlos Santana. Besides the funk rock numbers, there are a couple of extended instrumentals in a funk-jazz fusion format, plus a couple of ballad type songs that bear a relationship to ‘spiritual jazz’, much like the work of Leon Thomas and the ‘Welcome” album by Santana. On one track, keyboardist Michael Hughes is given some space for a very creative and ‘outside’ solo on the electric piano. The rest of the ten piece band is rounded out with a variety of vocalists, percussionists and horn players.
Plunky is certainly doing God’s work in bringing rare music like this back in the public eye. In the future, count on more releases from the rejuvenated Black Fire label including more eclectic artists including some very rare avant-garde jazz and other unpredictable odds and ends.
