From the Label Hard R&B from the veteran drummer/singer/composer/bandleader. With producer Bill Laswell and the Uptown Horns, Buddy Miles pulls together all eras of an amazing career that includes stints with such legendary archetypes as Wilson Pickett, Jimi Hendrix and Funkadelic -- as well as a series of classic Express albums -- into his most powerful recording ever. Fast-forward to the present day, with the Black Arc release of HELL AND BACK, and the legacy of Hendrix -- as well as the influences of other artist with whom Miles has worked -- still burns brightly, fueled by deeply soulful performances and a rootsy emphasis on the funk. Mixing original compositions with reworkings of some favorite standards, HELL AND BACK recalls the funky exuberance of the string of albums that Miles and the Express recorded in the seventies for the Casablanca label. (Fittingly, George Clinton, the leader of Parliament, another Casablanca act, would hire Miles to play drums on the Funkadelic anthem "Comin' Round the Mountain" for the incredible HARDCORE JOLLIES album, released in 1976.) But for all its seventies funk flavor, HELL AND BACK also boasts a technological edge -- as heard in the impeccable mixing of Miles' drums, the subsonic throb of the low end, and the sprawling warmth of the organ, bass, and guitars -- that hurtles it forward into the 21st century. Opening with a remake of Albert King's "Born Under A Bad Sign," Buddy seems to make a forceful but ironic statement concerning his whereabouts of the last ten years, and his soul-stirring take on the blues classic serves more than anything to clarify that the return of the Express is no jive. The feedback-laden intro to Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" soars with the angel of Hendrix, complete with a section of the guitar solo recorded backwards with a not to "Are You Experienced." (Those who have never seen Miles shred a guitar might be please to know that, like Hendrix, he's a lefty who plays a right-handed Strat string upside-down.) A swirling Hammond B-3 organ gives "The Change," a Miles original, its distinctly churchlike feel as Buddy infuses the story of busted romance with a big-bottomed thump and some wailing vocal tracks. As ever, Miles is equally at ease with a ballad, as his powerful and pleading vocals attest in the Everly Brothers classic, "Let It Be Me." Aided and abetted by the spirited brass arrangements of the Uptown Horns, jams like "The Decision" surge ahead with a Santana-like feel that takes flight with a juicy organ solo, while the driving, Stax/Volt-inflected "Be Kind to Your Girlfriend" grooves on in the spirit of Otis Redding. Finally, HELL AND BACK wouldn't be an Express album without the nastily funkified rhythms of "Nothing Left to Lose," where the youngsters from Chicago are turned loose to flex their muscles on scratch guitar and string-popping bass.
