The Greyboy Allstars - Grab Bag: 2007-2023 (2024) [Hi-Res]

With the release of Grab Bag: 2007-2023, The Greyboy Allstars, once again, redraw the boundaries and redefine the terms of their iconic brand of West Coast boogaloo. The title of this eighth LP from GBA could suggest a random assortment of miscellaneous tracks, yet rest assured there is nothing random, nothing miscellaneous about these nine stellar cuts, previously unreleased over the past decade and a half of the quintet’s illustrious 30-year history. Perhaps stylistic and sonic outcasts resulting in their exclusion from previous albums, here they seamlessly come together to highlight the more experimental side of the quintet’s ever-evolving sound and vision.

Born in San Diego as the “Allstars” of DJ Greyboy’s underground label, the five musicians offered living, breathing interpretations of his rare groove, crate-digging discoveries. Flash forward thirty years later and GBA have grown into legitimate “Allstars” in modern music. Away from GBA, guitarist Elgin Park aka Michael Andrews is a notable composer of scores for film and television, ranging from Donnie Darko to Freaks & Geeks to his most recent work on the upcoming animated documentary Piece by Piece that tells the life story of singer and producer Pharrell Williams through LEGO pieces. Robert Walter, the group’s keyboardist, has been jumping between tours with Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, and Phish’s Mike Gordon, among others, while leading his own 20th Congress. Saxophonist Karl Denson divides time between his touring juggernaut Tiny Universe, as well as the jazz-based KD3 trio, while handling saxophone duties on tour with no less than The Rolling Stones. And then there’s the liquid cool of GBA’s rhythm section: bassist Chris Stillwell and drummer Aaron Redfield, a formidable, first call rhythm section on pop and hip-hop sessions, including credits on recordings by Sia, Elton John, CeeLo, and Charli XCX.

In December of 2023, when GBA’s recording sessions focused on new material ran out of time as various members were called back to their other “Allstar” jobs, they’d take advantage of the pause to dig into a generous back catalog of songs that hadn’t been previously issued. Many of the tunes were too experimental or didn’t quite fit within the context of the albums for which they were originally recorded, yet had still gone onto become staples of their live shows. The nine tracks sizzle in sequence, opening with “Slip the Grip,” a classic GBA party starter that used to ignite their live sets. There’s “Watch Out Gail,” another cast-iron cooker, and “Speed Freak,” that dazzles, as its title suggests, with pinpoint frenzy awash in the ensemble’s telepathic sense of the group mind. Next up is “Boxes,” sliding into Walter’s compositional jazz, and again pushing the five to outer territory.

The quintet saunters into the smooth for a middle three on the sunny daze of “San Diegogo,” the AOR leanings of “LLL,” and the vamping wanderlust of “Suadela,” an early standout from their most recent sessions in 2023, that downshifts into unexplored spaces new and provocative.

More still, there is a Michael Jackson cover, an instrumental take on “The Way You Make Me Feel,” that’s yet another live favorite. And the closing “Pixie Stick,” the second of the two gems pulled from their most recent recording endeavors, that with a Cheshire grin, slinks and bops its way to the finish line. All told, Grab Bag is this premier boogaloo dance band at its most elastic, eclectic, and experimental.