ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 44 MOTHER'S FINEST - ANOTHER MOTHER FURTHER (1977)

1. Mickey's Monkey

2. Baby Love

3. Thank You For The Love

4. Piece Of The Rock

5. Truth'll Set You Free

6. Burning Love

7. Dis Go Dis Way, Dis Go Dat Way

8. Hard Rock Lover

Well, last week's SHT featured some funkified rock. So I thought I would expand on that theme a little with this week's AOTW. So, we'll talk about none other than Mother's Finest, a Southern Funk Rock band out of Atlanta Geogia. The album is Another Mother Further, which was released in 1977. The band is fronted by Joyce "Baby Jean" Kennedy and Glenn Murdock. I was introduced to this band via my first concert back in the late 70's. Mother's Finest was the middle band, sandwiched between the openers (The Dixie Dregs) and the headliners (Atlanta Rhythm Section). MF was fantastic. From what I can remember, it's basically an African American band with a Caucasian lead guitarist. Mrs. Kennedy is a great vocalist, I do remember that.

The album opens with a hot little riff and just builds from there. The funky rhythms are all over the record. I wouldn't call the guitar work earth shattering, but it's quite sufficient for this music. My favorite song on the album is easily Baby Love, but I do remember Piece Of The Rock getting a fair amount of airplay back then. The absolute funkiest bass line on the entire album may be on Truth'll Set You Free. Hell, I even enjoy the cover of Elvis' Burning Love. As a matter of fact, I think the first 6 tracks are really good. Track 7 is definitely filler, while the final track is one of several that the band seems to use to try and debunk the stereotypical myth that black folks don't like hard rock music (they have one album titled "Black Radio Won't Play This Record" along with a song from their debut titled "Niggizz Can't Sing Rock And Roll", which managed to get them into some trouble).

By the way, I always liked the album cover, a simple derivation of the Superman logo. Pretty cool. The CD is available from Amazon for less than 8 dollars new.

My Favorite Song: Baby Love

Most Likely To Skip: Dis Go Dis Way, Dis Go Dat Way

***click album cover above to listen to the album***