Purple Image - Purple Image (Reissue) (1970/2004)

Though African-American and raised in the predominantly Black 105th Superior area of Cleveland, Purple Image played rock -- psychedelic, mind-bending, pass-the-bong, strobe-light, posters-on-the-wall head music. This obscure album recorded on Map Records has risen to the status of cult because of its scarcity and the musical orientation of Warren Adams (vocals, piano, organ), Kenneth Roberts (vocals, rhythm), William Adams (vocals, conga), Frank Smith (lead guitar), Del Moran (bass), Richard Payne (drums), and lone female Diane Dunlap (vocals); Edward Snodgrass, a non-member, augmented P.I. on sax. Purple Image wrote everything except the LP's masterpiece, the 15-minute, 24-second rendition of Bob Craig's "Marching to a Different Drummer." As with all six selections, Purple Image sounds better when the volume is cranked. "Drummer" is an energetic, powerful blend of acid rock and fusion; Snodgrass blows a frantic Coltrane-ish sax, and Dunlap wails like she slammed her hand in a door. "We Got to Pull Together" is an airy, charming, socially significant ballad that urges us to become color-blind, forget the past, and get along. Snodgrass plays a tender horn while a male does a convincing lead wallpapered by some arresting, swooping harmonies. On "Living In the Ghetto," they sing about the woes of poverty; if you like heavy metal, this and "Why" will tickle your fancy. "Lady" features Dunlap and a male on an upbeat rock-blues number. The back cover pictures P.I. posing under the now-defunct Liberty Theater marquee in mod-type clothing. The front cover features a slim, pretty, Afro-wearing Black woman with three arms holding three globes surrounded by clouds.