The New Birth - Comin' from All Ends (1974)

This New Birth album almost single-handedly brought the momentum built by their previous LPs to a screeching halt. To say this uninteresting production failed to take them to next level is a gross understatement. It's not horrible, it's just blah. These tracks may have been hitting in the studio, bouncing out of the big speakers, but on vinyl, at home, on a Philco Phonograph, forget it. The synthesizer-ridden "I Wash My Hands of the Whole Damn Deal" got pushed as a single but failed to bring home the bacon. "Take This Train to Freedom" attempts to jar one's social consciousness, but it's so irritating the message is missed. "Do It Again" and the title track, "Comin' from All Ends," are like most of the other tracks -- they're too predictable, almost as if they were produced by a computer programmed with New Birth data. ~ Andrew Hamilton