Record Store Day 2014: Milk Chocolate – Action Speaks Louder Than Words

I am very tardy on reviewing my Record Store Day 2014 booty – I apologize dear readers.  As you know from my RSD post, Chocolate Milk was number one on my wish list (thanks again to Fifth Element for saving the day).  I had never heard of Chocolate Milk prior to the RSD list coming out this spring.  I am not sure what caught my attention (the list did not display cover art), but I did a little research and all I need to know was:

• Mid-70s funk
• New Orleans
• Classic cover art
• Produced by Allen Toussaint

Allen Toussaint is one of pop music’s great Midas touches.  He has a gift of putting Cajun spice into pop music without overpowering it.  This album is Earth Wind & Fire album after a Bourbon Street bender.   It has nice little New Orleans lilt, giving it a unique sound in the mid-70s funk landscape.  It is grittier then EWF, but not quite P-Funk.

I can’t get enough of this jam.  It has great grooves and beats.  You can see why it would be a sampler’s dream (its titular track was used on Eric B. & Rakim’s classic Paid In Full album).

This RSD edition (originally slated for Black Friday 2013) is lovingly remastered and issued on chocolate-colored vinyl (of course).  The recording quality and vinyl pressing is perfect.  This is exactly what RSD is all about – discovering an unknown classic.