YOU CAN LEAVE YOUR HAT ON

	You Can Leave Your Hat On
	Produced by Merl Saunders
	Released on June 1976
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
F-9503 cover [high resolution photo]

A mildly funky outing from the throaty San Francisco icon. Yeah, the cover is terrible, but Merl Saunders atones for it with solid covers from Randy Newman, Stevie Wonder and Bob Dylan. There’s no ace in the hole, but Saunders does have a pair of kings (curtis and floyd) in his hand. However, however, however... as a vocalist, Saunders makes a fine keyboard player. You Can Leave Your Hat On never catches fire. It smolders sometimes, sure, but we live in a smoky world where this sort of thing happens every five minutes on some stage. I’ve never listened to a Billy Preston record, but I imagine they sound something like this. In fact, I get the feeling that Merl Saunders and Ringo Starr have an encounter in their future. Since I’m on the hook to say something charitable about this record, I will note that the guitar solos on “I Feel Like Dynamite” (Jackie King) and “You Can Leave Your Hat On” (Arthur Adams) are terrific. Sax/flute player Martin Fierro also hands in a fine performance, especially on “Teasin’.” But I bought this album for a dollar for a reason. Unless you buy into the Merl Saunders mythology (whatever that might be), you can leave your money in your wallet. If the Keystone series is a cornerstone in your collection, maybe you’ll feel differently. I will admit that “Bahia” from Brazilian composer Ary Barroso is the sort of selection that a musicologist would love. It’s also the best track on here and should have appeared about seven songs earlier. Had Merl Saunders stuck to instrumentals, he would have left a better impression with me. He’s clearly a talented musician with an ear for good material, but that velvet frog leaves its prince in all the wrong places.


F-9503 back cover	F-9503 company sleeve

TRACK LISTING

YOU CAN LEAVE YOUR HAT ON (Randy Newman) 3:46
TEASIN' (King Curtis) 4:10
FEEL LIKE SUFFERIN' (Merl Saunders/Carrier) 6:06
BOOGIE ON REGGAE WOMAN (Stevie Wonder) 5:22
M.S. (Tony Saunders) 3:35
I FEEL LIKE DYNAMITE (King Floyd) 6:00
MEET ME IN THE MORNING (Bob Dylan) 4:28
BAHIA (Ary Barroso) 6:03

CREDITS

MERL SAUNDERS -- organ, electric piano, clavinet, string ensemble, vocals, remix (6)
ARTHUR ADAMS -- guitar, guitar solo (1)
BILLY FENDER -- guitar
MARTIN FIERRO -- sax, flute, background vocals
PAUL HUMPHREY -- drums
TONY SAUNDERS -- bass, background vocals
Sheila Escovedo -- congas (5,8)
Lynette Hawkins -- bhackground vocals (3)
Walter Hawkins -- background vocals (3)
Chris Hayes -- guitar
Jackie King -- guitar solo (6)
Feddie J. Smith -- background vocals (3)
Larry Vann -- drums
Skip Shimmin -- recording engineer, remix (6)
Don Cody -- recording engineer
Eddie Bill Harris -- recording engineer, remix
Phil Carroll -- art direction
Phil Bray -- photography

REGION	RELEASE DATE	LABEL	MEDIA	ID NUMBER	FEATURES
US	June 1976	Fantasy	LP	F-9503

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