Eddie Brigati and Gene Cornish both left the Rascals by 1971. The remaining members -- chief songwriter, vocalist, and keyboardist Felix Cavaliere and drummer Dino Danelli -- kept the name and left Atco for Columbia. Before disbanding permanently in 1972, they released two albums for the label -- 1971's Peaceful World and 1972's The Island of Real -- that have been unjustifiably discounted and forgotten for years.
Cavaliere had become deeply interested in the writings and teachings of the great Sufi master musician Hazrat Inayat Khan, who -- through his own tradition -- looked at music holistically, as an integral part of earthly and spiritual life. He also came under the sway of the emerging sounds of jazz, gospel, and the emerging uptownfunk and soul of the period. Peaceful World is a sprawling yet very focused collection of songs. With Danelli on drums and Ralph MacDonald on percussion, he filled out the rest of the band with the cream of the New York studio scene: saxophonists Joe Farrell, Pepper Adams, and Ernie Wilkins; bassists Gerald Jemmott and Chuck Rainey; guitarists Link Chamberlain and Buzz Feiten; trumpeters Ernie Royal and Joe Newman; trombonist Garnett Brown; flutist Hubert Laws; and backing vocalists Ann Sutton and Cynthia Webb. In other words, he put together a smoking studio band.
The remarkable aspect of this gorgeous record is that it sounds vintage but not dated. The production is clean, the funk is in the cut, and the communication between musicians in the charts is tight. The LP's last side is taken up by the title cut, a 21-minute complete bliss-out of a spiritual jazz jam. But there are some excellent gospel and sophisticated soul tunes as well -- check out "Mother Nature Land,""Bit of Heaven," the funky Rhodes in "Sky Trane," and the rave-up soul-rocker "Love Letter." The ballad "Little Dove" includes stunning harp work by Alice Coltrane!
Commercially, the end may not have been pretty for the Rascals, but this album hold together as well or better than anything in their catalog and vindicate them with their timeless appeal.
by Thom Jurek
Tracks
1. Sky Trane - 5:47
2. In And Out Of Love (Buzzy Feiten) - 3:13
3. Bit Of Heaven - 3:30
4. Love Me - 3:48
5. Mother Nature Land - 3:31
6. Icy Water (Buzzy Feiten) - 4:31
7. Happy Song - 3:42
8. Love Letter - 5:27
9. Little Dove - 6:30
10.Visit To Mother Nature Land - 5:04
11.Getting Nearer - 8:57
12.Peaceful World - 21:25
All songs by Felix Cavaliere except where stated
Musicians
*Felix Cavaliere - Vocals, Keyboards, Marimba, Organ, Piano
*Dino Danelli - Drums
*Howard "Buzz" Feiten - Guitar, Bass, Background Vocals
*Annie Sutton - Vocals
*Linc Chamberland - Guitar, Horn Arrangements
*Gerald Jemmott - Bass
*Robert Popwell - Bass
*Chuck Rainey - Bass
*William Salter - Bass
*Hubert Laws - Flute
*Alice Coltrane - Harp
*Pepper Adams - Baritone Saxophone
*Garnett Brown - Horn, Trombone
*Ron Carter - Bass
*Joe Farrell - Flute, Soprano Sax, Tenor Sax
*Molly Holt - Background Vocals
*Buddy Buono - Background Vocals
*Cynthia Webb - Background Vocals
*Ralph Macdonald - Bells, Conga, Percussion, Shaker, Talking Drum
*Joe Newman - Trumpet
*Ernie Royal - Trumpet
*Jon Smith - Saxophone
*Ernie Wilking - Saxophone
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