Dec 14

Alex Henderson

Under Appreciated

ALEX HENDERSON
 
 

Their opening album, Awake in a Dream (1991) was praised by Alex Henderson in Allmusic:  “Eleven was a so-called alternative rock trio of the early 1990’s that drew heavily on the psychedelic rock and soul music of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.  Awake in a Dream is much too guitar-oriented to have been played on a Black radio station in 1970 or 1973, and yet, enjoyable selections like ‘Before Your Eyes’, ‘All Together’ and ‘Rainbow’s End’ make it clear that singer/guitarist Alain Johannes, bassist/singer/organist Natasha Shneider and drummer Jack Irons have spent a lot of time listening to the likes of Sly and the Family Stone, Ike and Tina Turner and Stevie Wonder.  Shneider is also heard on the clavinet, a synthesizer that was prominent in 1970’s soul and funk but was seldom used in the urban contemporary music that followed in the 1980’s and 1990’s.”  

 

(April 2015/1)

 

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I recently picked up their second album, The Fat Boys Are Back (1984), and it sure is a lot of fun.  Alex Henderson says of the album for Allmusic:  “Because the Fat Boys acted like buffoons, some people dismissed them as a mere novelty act.  But for all their clowning, the Fat Boys had impeccable rapping technique – the skills that they bring to ‘Yes, Yes Y’all’, the title song [‘The Fat Boys Are Back’], and other wildly infectious offerings are first rate.  Much to their credit, this album is fairly unpredictable; The Fat Boys Are Back finds them rapping to everything from sleek urban contemporary (‘Pump It Up’) to hard rock (‘Rock-N-Roll’) and reggae (‘Hard Core Reggae’).  The latter, in fact, is one of the most impressive examples of hip hop/reggae fusion to come from rap’s second generation.”
 
(September 2016)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021