Product Description
Steve Leach's Balearic beach-funk beast Ocean Potion, recorded with the Crystal Grass Orchestra is an absolutely ace, Ned Doheny-adjacent funky AOR / blue-eyed soul BBQ classic from 1976.
Who is Steve Leach, you ask? None other than Seasick Steve in a previous life! A French-only release on Philips, it's a hugely immediate, pop-funk firecracker. It features a wonderfully lush, full orchestral sound throughout, underpinning Steve's gorgeous voice and an army of brilliant backing vocalists.
The supporting cast is phenomenal and is arguably the salient reason this is such a fantastic record. We're talking legendary players from the French scene (think Arpadys, Voyage, Kongas, CCPP, Giant, Swing Family) such as Don Ray with his arranger-conductor hat on as well as synths, Marc Chantereau on percussion, Slim Pezin on guitar, André Ceccarelli on drums, Christian Padovan on bass and Pierre Halation on flute.
With these snakes behind the scenes, it remains a mystery how Ocean Potion is so relatively unknown.
As ever, the audio for Ocean Potion has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring it sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland.
The original, iconic sleeve featuring a topless Steve reclining next to his piano on a flatbed truck on the beach (of course?!) has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue reissue.
Tracklist:
- A1 The Light Of The Mind
- A2 Hey! Hey! What You Doin To Me
- A3 Take Strength
- A4 The Lady Of The Sea
- A5 All My Life
- B1 You're The Only One Girl
- B2 At Least We Got Love
- B3 All Love's Children
- B4 Get Out In The Sun
- B5 Golden Hues
- B6 I Meditate Each Day