Artist: Roy Ayers Ubiquity
Album: A Tear to a Smile/Mystic Voyage/Everybody Loves the Sunshine/Vibrations/Lifeline
Genre: Jazz-Funk
Label: Robinsongs
Released: 2024
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue
Tracklist:
- CD 1:
- 2000 Black (5:26)
- Magic Lady (3:19)
- Show Us a Feeling (3:07)
- Ebony Blaze (4:00)
- Time and Space (4:08)
- No Question (4:32)
- The Way of the World (3:31)
- The Old One Two (Move to Groove) (3:37)
- Miles (Love's Silent Dawn) (2:32)
- A Tear to a Smile (Album Version) (5:51)
Mystic Voyage (1975) - Brother Green (The Disco King) (5:43)
- Mystic Voyage (3:43)
- A Wee Bit (2:49)
- Take All the Time You Need (5:40)
- Evolution (4:37)
- Life Is Just a Moment (Part 1) (4:09)
- Life Is Just a Moment (Part 2) (2:36)
- Funky Motion (3:19)
- Spirit of Doo Do (6:02)
A Tear to a Smile (1975)
- CD 2:
- The Black Five (4:00)
Everybody Loves the Sunshine (1976) - Hey, Uh, What You Say Come On (3:48)
- The Golden Rod (3:06)
- Keep On Walking (3:46)
- You and Me My Love (3:14)
- The Third Eye (6:23)
- It Ain't Your Sign It's Your Mind (3:29)
- People and the World (4:50)
- Everybody Loves the Sunshine (4:02)
- Tongue Power (3:05)
- Lonesome Cowboy (4:07)
Vibrations (1976) - Domelo (Give It to Me) (4:03)
- Baby I Need Your Love (2:32)
- Higher (4:03)
- The Memory (4:36)
- Come Out and Play (3:49)
- Better Days (3:19)
- Searching (4:02)
- One Sweet Love to Remember (4:00)
- Vibrations (3:05)
Mystic Voyage (1975) cont.
- CD 3:
- Moving, Grooving (4:33)
- Baby You Give Me a Feeling (3:04)
Lifeline (1977) - This Side of Sunshine (3:17)
- Running Away (3:59)
- Gotta Find a Lover (7:13)
- I Still Love You (4:13)
- Lifeline (2:54)
- Cincinnati Growl (3:57)
- Fruit (3:54)
- Sanctified Feeling (5:43)
- Stranded in the Jungle (4:02)
- Together (3:36)
Bonus Tracks - Evolution (7" Version) (3:00)
- Domelo (Give It to Me) (7" Version) (3:07)
- Running Away (12", Long Version) (6:56)
Vibrations (1976) cont.
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Roy Ayers Ubiquity was an outgrowth and expansion of the Roy Ayers Quartet, who issued the 1969 album Daddy Bug. The following year, his all-star sextet issued Ubiquity. Ayers, seeking a new band name, settled on "Ubiquity" after his manager suggested it. The always-expansive band released He's Coming as their debut studio date in 1972 and released nine Polydor albums through 1977. The five albums here -- A Tear to a Smile, Mystic Voyage, Everybody Loves the Sunshine, Vibrations, and Lifeline -- were planned and recorded after 1974's exciting Change Up the Groove, a funky union of R&B and jazz that cracked the Top 200. It featured compositions by many of his bandmates and included the "Black 2000" as its single and opening cut, adding Afrobeat pulses (Ayers recorded Red, Black & Green with Fela Kuti) to jazz cadences, reggae, and funk. The classy soul in "Show Us a Feeling" and the title cut both offer gorgeously layered vocals and choruses. Ayers took the compositional reins for 1975's Mystic Voyage. He acknowledged the rising tide of disco in opener "Brother Green (Disco King)." The title cut was a smooth jazz affair with dreamy undertones. Ubiquity also delivered a killer cover of Ashford & Simpson's "Take All the Time You Need"; the album peaked at 13 at R&B and at 95 in the Top 200. Set-closer "The Black Five" is a jazz-funk classic, complete with strings.
1976's Everybody Loves the Sunshine is one of Ayers' best recordings. He wrote or co-wrote nine tunes and included a stellar cover of Gino Vanelli's "Keep On Walking." While jazz takes a backseat to progressive funk, one can hear it in both compositions and arrangements. The oft-sampled title tune has been a summertime anthem ever since. Its other dreamy number, "Third Eye," floats between spiritual soul and CTI-esque jazz. Everybody Loves the Sunshine peaked at ten upon its release in 1976; the previous set was still on the charts. The lineup shifted as Edwin Birdsong joined Chicas (Debby Darby) on vocals. The former co-wrote five of the album's 11 tracks with Ayers -- the bandleader composed six on his own. To date, Vibrations, a celebratory, deeply funky set, put Ayers in the mainstream. Highlights include "Domelo (Give It to Me)," "Searching," and "Moving and Grooving." It went to 78 on the Top 200 and 11 at R&B. Ayers, Birdsong, and William Allen produced 1978's Lifeline. They brought in Dee Dee Bridgewater and Sylvia Cox to join Birdsong up front. A late-'70s hard funk and R&B set, Lifeline boasted the charting single "Running Away." Ayers' virtuoso vibe solos further anchored the album. Also included are three unremarkable bonus cuts. Offering great sound and a fine liner essay by critic Charles Waring, the budget-priced Ubiquity: Five Classic Albums is central to any serious discussion of Black music in the 1970s.
Review by Thom Jurek