D.J. Rogers "D.J. Rogers"

Sorry, I've been lagging a bit on the posting lately. Life has been busy, nuff said. Hopefully this one will make up for it. It's a favorite of mine that I haven't seen yet in blogland. So, enough of the blah, blah, blah and on to the album......................

This album has always held a special place in my heart because it was brought to my attention by a good friend of mine who has since past away. I can still remember the first time he played it for me and told me it was Sly Stone. I kept thinking that I had somehow missed a Sly album somewhere between “Riot” and “Fresh”, which really threw me for a loop. Well, eventually he told me it was D.J. Rogers and showed me the album. I would spend the next few years trying to track down this record to no avail. Ironically, I finally did procure a copy of it in a trade with my same buddy (funny how record karma works sometimes). To this day I still have never run across another copy of it. So this one is courtesy of my good friend Keith who’s impeccable taste in music was unparalleled.

I’m sure many of you are familiar with Mr. DeWayne Julius (D.J.) Rogers and the work he did on the RCA and Columbia labels in the late 70’s. Although he never achieved major stardom, D.J. did score a few hits over the years, most notably “Say you love me” which was later covered by Natalie Cole. The album below is his first solo effort and was released in 1973 by Leon Russell’s Shelter label. It might be easy to dismiss this effort as some sort of Sly Stone rip-off, which upon listening to cuts like “March On” and “Bail Out” out of the context of the album, may seem like a valid criticism. However, after listening to the album as whole one begins to understand that D.J. is far from a Sly impersonator. The album's mix of down home gut-bucket funk backed by a gospel choir with heavy soul vocals in the front is a sound that is all D.J. It's the kind of album that just plain and simple delivers the goods.




Boomp3.com

Boomp3.com

Bobby Watson/ Andre Lewis/ Keith Hatchell – Bass
Fred Allen/ E.T. Thomas/ Scott Sansby/ Ron Woods – Drums
David T. Walker/ Marlo Henderson – Guitar
Rhonge Southern – Rhythm Guitar
D.J. Rogers – Vocals, Clavinet, Keyboards
Kenneth Loper – Organ
Clarence McDonald – Piano
“Sod” – Horns
Stan Lee Ensemble - Background Vocals under the direction of D.J. Rogers
Lomie Washburn, Patty Hall, Rhonge Southern, Maxayn Lewis, Andre Lewis, Marlo Henderson, Marsha Smith and Sigidi - Background Vocals

Roger, if your feelin' it let me know in the comments

Peace................ Dr. Fever