Album Review by EDF
The amount of music that is just sitting in certain record company vaults must be frightening. Recently EMI have been going through the vaults and releasing some quality soul and funk compilation albums through the Stateside label. This latest one from a long forgotten artist called Little Beaver highlights nearly five years of solo material from this singer guitarist. Having worked with a number of artists such as Betty Wright and Clarence Reid, Willie ‘Little Beaver’ Hale embarked on his own career in 1972.
Little Beaver’s first hit was the slow melting JOEY, which was more blues than funk. This was not a clear indication of what was to come as tracks such as the instrumental WE THREE showed Little Beaver at his funkiest, while MONEY VIABRATIONS and PARTY DOWN showed him at his grooviest.
Little Beaver might not have the best voice round but it is his relaxed guitar playing that is enough to get people in the right mood. We can now find Little Beaver supporting Josh Stone on her excellent THE SOUL SESSIONS album with the likes of other legends such as Latimore and Timmy Thomas, who also have recently released retrospectives.
