Soul Preachin'

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Soul Preachin' assembles the entirety of both Hot Thang and Step by Step, two LPs first released on Sussex in 1972 by guitarist Eddy Senay. A virtual primer in psychedelic funk, Hot Thang marshals widescreen arrangements, blissed-out grooves, and deeply soulful guitar to forge a series of instrumentals that twist and turn like rides at an amusement park. Senay's supple, understated guitar style often recalls Grant Green in its sophistication and finesse, but his fuzz-laden riffs and Technicolor solos nevertheless burn with feverish imagination, reinventing material like Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine and Donny Hathaway's Zambezi from the ground up. Step by Step hones Senay's music to a lean, mean edge -- for a record so loose and laid-back on its surface, it contains not a single superfluous note or accoutrement, creating fierce funk grooves from only the most essential elements. Recorded in collaboration with keyboardist/arranger Rudy Robinson and Funk Brothers' percussionist Eddie Bongo Brown, the songs emphasize form and structure in equal balance, employing a far more varied creative palette than on Hot Thang -- cuts like Delgado and Shakedown embrace Latin rhythms, while Safari draws on the blaxploitation lexicon to underline the cinematic imagination underpinning Senay's guitar. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide