Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express – Straight Ahead

Straight Ahead is the fifth album by Brian Auger and the Oblivion Express, released in 1975 and for many his last good one, after which the reviews that followed were mixed. Brian Auger, who was also called the “godfather of acid jazz”, has done an excellent job, with some of his keyboard passages being truly wonderful as in “Beginning Again”, with which the album begins, or “Bumpin’ On Sunset”, with its excellent guitar and keyboard arrangement.

The music with a jazzy upbeat combined with slower passages, is not at all boring, but pleasant throughout the album. Brian Auger’s very good voice fits perfectly within this context, warm and perfectly combined with the music, in addition to his keyboards, which make him a true legend in his field for more than 50 years.

Straight Ahead is a very good vintage album of classic jazz-rock music, simply because its music is a mix of classic rock and jazz. In the opening track of the album “Beginning Again”, the music flows beautifully, with the percussion giving its own texture to the rhythm of the track and the keyboards giving an atmospheric mood to it. The quality of the vocals is also excellent. The next track “Bumpin’ On Sunset” is an organic and more R&B in its beginning reminiscent of the music of another vintage band El Chicano. It has a gentle style with a unique keyboard solo, which gradually moves to a faster tempo to return to the gentle style again. The third track “Straight Ahead”, is a very nice song that has inspired later artists such as Jamiroquai and the Leon Haines Band. The music is also R&B here with Auger’s jazzy keyboard solo being simply amazing and with the percussion still giving its own texture to the rhythm. “Change” starts with rhythm guitar followed by percussion and drums and continues beautifully with the guitar and the nice vocal line given by Brian Auger’s voice, reminiscent of the music of Santana. “You’ll Stay In My Heart” starts with bass followed by vocal harmonies, with the music here also being characteristic and moving at the level of the previous tracks.

The album also features, in addition to Brian Auger on vocals, piano, electric piano, organ and moog synthesizer and the quite Afro-Caribbean-influenced Jack Mills on guitar, Barry Dean on bass, Steve Ferrone on drums, Lennox Laington on congas and Mirza Al Sharif on cymbals and percussion.

Through this excellent album I select the amazing cover of Wes Montgomery’s classic jazz piece “Bumpin’ On Sunset”.

Tracklist

1. Beginning Again 9:22
2. Bumpin’ On Sunset 10:57
3. Straight Ahead 5:09
4. Change 8:10
5. You’ll Stay In My Heart 3:44