Here’s the joy of summertime-going to music festivals and county fairs to see bands all together in one day. This lovely day by the beach in Del Mar, the Fair featured sets by a Beatles Tribute Band (The Fab Four-Not a big Tribute Band fan. Where does it end? Seals and Crofts?!?) and Leon Russell (he finally looks his age, and sounds great), but the winner of the three was the hot, funky and get on your feet and dance set by The Spinners.
Only Henry Fambrough is left from the original band, but like with The Coasters or the Temptations, who cares? The key is the material and vocal delivery. Not only did the latest incarnation of Fambrough with Charlton Washington, Bobbie Smith, Jessie Peck and Marvin Taylor.take turns with gospel dripping leads on tunes like “Mighty Love” and “Working My Way Back to You,” but it was their harmonies blending together like a 70s lava lamp on the snapping and upbeat that showed why 70s soul was the apotheosis of pop R&B.
Backed by a band that was tighter than John Travolta’s polyester pantsuit, the Spinners slid through the wacka wooka guitar rhythms of “It’s A Shame” with velvety voices that rivaled a Duke Ellington sax section, and how few songs exemplified the optimism of the times with the joy of “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love” while the reassurance of “I’ll Be Around” mixed hope and hip in ways never even conceived in this present musical era of misogyny and foul language. The bands church roots was exemplified throughout as each singer got a chance to testify, and by the time they closed with a sizzling “Rubberband Man” (how could a song like THAT ever make it these days?!?) the fans from Boomers to Busters to Millennials were all experiencing what good music was meant to do-bring people together. When did the wrong turn start?
