Additional information
Personnel: Johnny "Guitar" Watson (vocals, guitar, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Clavinet, organ, keyboards, synthesizer, Moog synthesizer, voice box, electric bass, drums, congas, timbales, triangle); Emry Thomas (whistling, drums, siren, background vocals); Albert Wing (saxophone, horns); Paul Dunmall, Knud Jensen (saxophone); Walt Fowler (trumpet, horns); Peter Martin (trumpet); Bruce Fowler (trombone, horns); Tommy Robertson (trombone); James Ivory Johnson, Randie Redman, Darcus Thomas & Marci, Rudy Copeland, Marci Thomas (background vocals). Liner Note Author: Chuck Young. Recording information: Kendun Recorders, Burbank, CA; Paramount Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA; Paramount Studios, Hollywood, CA. This best of collects a variety of vintage mid-1970s wide-lapel funk from the remarkably enduring career of Johnny "Guitar Watson," who first appeared on the R&B charts in the early '50s and was performing right up to his death in 1996. The jazzy hit "I Need It (That Thing)," with its Crusaders-type arrangement, and his classic "A Real Mother For Ya" are the obvious highlights, but the slow-burning "Funk Beyond the Call of Duty" and the humorous monologue of "Telephone Bill" are also minor gems--and you've got to love a guy who can call a slick, sophisticated slice of silk-sheet R&B "I Want to Ta-Ta You Baby."