The Crusaders

• The Best of the Crusaders [ABC/Blue Thumb, 1976] B

Consumer Guide Reviews:

The Best of the Crusaders [ABC/Blue Thumb, 1976]
"A group for all seasons and all tastes," annotator Don Heckman proclaims, and given "Chain Reaction" and "Soul Caravan" and most of side one--especially the irresistible "Put It Where You Want It"--I guess that includes me. I resent it, though. Better Wilton Felder honking his horn and Stix Hooper laying into that beat than Tom Scott and friend, but if this is El Lay's idea of the hard stuff may Booker T. preserve us. Their basic project is soulful Muzak, Muzak with charms to soothe the complacent humanist, and there are hundreds of harder hard bop and funkier funk albums. Try Lee Morgan's Cornbread or James Brown's Sex Machine. B