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From Louisiana, this African-American group ranged in age from 17 to 11 at the time of this 1979 recording, with father Herbert Sam adding vocal and accordion on a couple of tracks. The cover of this album gets your hopes up for some kind of cool hybrid between zydeco and soul, as visually this five-brother band does indeed resemble the Jackson 5 gone zydeco. However, the touches of funk and soul are fairly mild on what's for the most part a competent, straightforward, yet unremarkable zydeco set. Leon Sam seems to be the group's figurehead, singing in a husky voice that could belong to a man quite a few years his senior and writing most of the material, though Herbert Sam wrote the tracks on which he appeared, and there are also a couple of Clifton Chenier covers. There are touches of blues and soul, but these are only touches to a good-time, commonplace assortment of zydeco tunes. With one exception, that is -- the opener, "SAM (Get Down)," is very much '70s dance soul-funk with some similarity to Chic's "Le Freak," indicating that perhaps the brothers varied their sound and repertoire according to the circumstances in which they were performing.
© Richie Unterberger /TiVo
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Unknown, Composer - Sam Brothers 5, MainArtist - Chris Strachwitz, Producer
(C) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (P) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Arhoolie Records.
Unknown, Composer - Sam Brothers 5, MainArtist - Chris Strachwitz, Producer
(C) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (P) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Arhoolie Records.
Unknown, Composer - Sam Brothers 5, MainArtist - Chris Strachwitz, Producer
(C) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (P) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Arhoolie Records.
Unknown, Composer - Sam Brothers 5, MainArtist - Chris Strachwitz, Producer
(C) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (P) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Arhoolie Records.
Unknown, Composer - Sam Brothers 5, MainArtist - Chris Strachwitz, Producer
(C) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (P) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Arhoolie Records.
Unknown, Composer - Sam Brothers 5, MainArtist - Chris Strachwitz, Producer
(C) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (P) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Arhoolie Records.
Unknown, Composer - Sam Brothers 5, MainArtist - Chris Strachwitz, Producer
(C) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (P) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Arhoolie Records.
Unknown, Composer - Sam Brothers 5, MainArtist - Chris Strachwitz, Producer
(C) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (P) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Arhoolie Records.
Unknown, Composer - Sam Brothers 5, MainArtist - Chris Strachwitz, Producer
(C) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (P) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Arhoolie Records.
Unknown, Composer - Sam Brothers 5, MainArtist - Chris Strachwitz, Producer
(C) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (P) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Arhoolie Records.
Unknown, Composer - Sam Brothers 5, MainArtist - Chris Strachwitz, Producer
(C) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (P) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Arhoolie Records.
Unknown, Composer - Sam Brothers 5, MainArtist - Chris Strachwitz, Producer
(C) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (P) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Arhoolie Records.
Album review
From Louisiana, this African-American group ranged in age from 17 to 11 at the time of this 1979 recording, with father Herbert Sam adding vocal and accordion on a couple of tracks. The cover of this album gets your hopes up for some kind of cool hybrid between zydeco and soul, as visually this five-brother band does indeed resemble the Jackson 5 gone zydeco. However, the touches of funk and soul are fairly mild on what's for the most part a competent, straightforward, yet unremarkable zydeco set. Leon Sam seems to be the group's figurehead, singing in a husky voice that could belong to a man quite a few years his senior and writing most of the material, though Herbert Sam wrote the tracks on which he appeared, and there are also a couple of Clifton Chenier covers. There are touches of blues and soul, but these are only touches to a good-time, commonplace assortment of zydeco tunes. With one exception, that is -- the opener, "SAM (Get Down)," is very much '70s dance soul-funk with some similarity to Chic's "Le Freak," indicating that perhaps the brothers varied their sound and repertoire according to the circumstances in which they were performing.
© Richie Unterberger /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 12 track(s)
- Total length: 00:35:35
- Main artists: Sam Brothers
- Composer: Unknown
- Label: Arhoolie Records
- Genre: Soul/Funk/R&B R&B
(C) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (P) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Originally released on Arhoolie Records.
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