EC #6 - Get Happy!!

1980's Get Happy!! is one of EC's stylistic departures. Basically, this is his Motown/soul album. Even the cover looks like an old record complete with the wearing around the hole in the center.

He was smarting from a racial incident wherein he got really drunk and said something derogatory about Ray Charles and James Brown in a bar, and he decided to finally make that soul record he had wanted to make.

The song, "Riot Act" tells the story, "when the heat gets sub-tropical and the talk gets so topical." Clearly, he didn't believe what he said and it bothered him to be such a stupid drunk. I guess one could see this album as both his penance and tribute to those he offended.

That said, this doesn't play as just sounding like a Motown record. In fact, many of the songs sound more like other EC songs rather than Motown. That is, until you listen beneath the surface. Some of the songs actually were written for use by Motown and others were simply written in the style. Maybe the performances aren't soul styled, but the song structures certainly are. Some of the performances actually sound that way as well, most notably, "High Fidelity" and a Sam and Dave b-side called "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down." The rest of them, however, are pure EC. The one track I can't get my head around is the excellent, "New Amsterdam," which sound pretty much nothing at all like Motown. But it's a good song, so you can only complain so much.

My personal favorites are the above mentioned, "Love For Tender," "The Imposter," and "Opportunity."

This is a great album, but probably isn't a great place to start a collection. At its highs, it's very high, but it can drone on a bit, being 20 songs long. And in addition to that, there are 30 songs on the bonus disc. Naturally, they aren't all gems.

Rating: 7