The 100 Best Live Recordings - No. 86 Live and in Living Color
No. 86 - Tower of Power - Live and in Living Color (Warner Music, 1976)
In 1975, Tower of Power recorded their first live release at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium and Cerritos College. The band released the album in 1976, and it was their last for Warner Bros. Live and in Living Color comprises five songs from the TOP’s first three recordings, East Bay Grease (Atlantic, 1970), Bump City (Warner Bros., 1972), and Tower of Power (Warner Bros., 1973). This live recording deserves the full Super Deluxe Treatment considering the three records released between Tower of Power and this live recording (Back to Oakland (Warner Bros., 1974), Urban Renewal (Warner Bros., 1975), and In the Slot(Warner Bros.,1975)).
As presented, this live recording addresses the best material from the first three albums, opening with the tight and tidy “Down to the Nightclub” from Bump City. The sleek and brassy ballad “You’re Still a Young Man” follows this, from East Bay Grease. The band’s biggest hit to date, “What Is Hip” funks up the landscape created by Tower of Power, before closing with two East Bay Grease classics, the lightly intense “Sparkling in the Sand” and the lengthy leg-day, “Knock Yourself Out.”
The TOP was the premiere horn section from the 1970s, appearing on such notable recordings as Elvin Bishop’s Live! Raisin’ Hell (Capricorn, 1977) and Little Feat’s Waiting for Columbus (Warner Bros., 1979). But here, the band is in its own element, tight and brightly captured in concert. Let’s hear some more.