Invisible Man's Band - s/t

Name: Invisible Man's Band
Album: s/t
Year: 1980
Style: Disco, R&B, Funk
Similar Bands: Dr Buzzards Savannah Band, Parliament Funkadelic, Bobby McFerrin
"One-Word" Review: Island Funk Disco
Based Out Of: Chicago
Label: Mango Records, Island Records

Cover, Notes, Record

Back, Lyrics, Record

Invisible Man's Band (1980)

1. Full Moon 4:53
2. All Night Thing 6:20 (#9 R&B chart single)
3. X Country 6:19 /
4. 9 X's Out of Ten 5:52
5. Rent Strike 6:54
6. Love Can't Come / Love Has Come 8:03

Album Rating (1-10): 5.5

Members & Other Bands:

• Clarence Burke - Producer, Lead + Acoustic Guitar, Rhythm+Synth Arrangement (Five Stairsteps, Venus Dodson, Kwame, Keith Pol, Together as One, Dream Theater, herbie Mann, Touch of Class, Freddie Jackson)
• Alex Masucci - Producer, Backing Vox, Mgmt, Direction
• Chris Blackwell - Exec Producer
• Keni Burke - Bass (Five Stairsteps, Peabo Bryson, Ca$hflow, Andy Lewis, Smoove, Preston Glass, Billy Preston, DJ Rogers, Bill Withers, Gladys Knight & Pips, Stargard, Linda Clifford, Dusty Springfield, Spyder Turner, Leroy Hutson, Les McCann, Emotions, Narada Michael Walden, Eugen Record, Terry Callier, Sly & Family Stone, Undisputed Truth, Clifford Coulter, Ramsey Lewis, Curtis Mayfield, Chocolate Milk, Ahmad Jamal, Smokey Robinson, Thelma Houston, Brenda Holloway, Natalie Cole, Cameo, more  )
• Dennis Burke - Rhythm Guitar (Five Stairsteps, Trinidad Oil Company, Brenda Holloway)
• James Burke - Vibes (Five Stairsteps, Rob Galbraith)
• Dean Grant - Synths, Keys, Arrangement (Stargard, Linda Clifford, Spinners, Stephanie Mills, Larry Graham, Jones Girls, Madonna, Keni Burke, Anita Baker, Outkast, Peabo Bryson, Don Kinsey, Sunfire more)
• Steve Ferrone - Drums (Average White Band, BFD, Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, Easy Pieces, Eric Clapton, Legacy, Spin 1ne 2wo, Superfriends, Domenic Troiano, SNL band, Tom Petty & Heartbreakers more)
• Ricardo Marrero - Latin Percussion (Buggers, Las Siete Potencias, Ruben Blades Y Seis Del Solar, Stairsteps, Franke Dante, Touch of Class, La Charanga 76, Special Request, Jellybean, Roman Sandals, Caco Senante Y Despues, Hector Lavoe, James Ingram, Roberto Roena Apollo Sound)
• John Weisenburg - Banjo
• Totico Sanchez - Latin+Vocal Percussion
• Carlos Sanchez - Latin+Vocal Percussion 
• Bob Byrant - Trumpet (Corcovado Trumpets, Gerald Wilson, James Bond & his Sextet, Oliver Nelson, Quincy Jones, South Central Avenue Municipal Blues Band, Buddy Collette, Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orch. more)
• Greg Fowler - Guitar 
• Lee Jaffe - Harmonica (Bob Marley & Wailers, Peace Choir, Kwame, Joe Higgs, Culture, Lenny Kravitz, Wingless Angels, Alpha Blondy, Tricky, Peter Tosh)
• Don Myrick - Sax, Flute (Sky, Phil Collins, Phenix Choir, Philip Cohran, Artistic Heritage Ensemble, Intentions, Pharaohs, Salty Peppers more)
• Rahm Lee - Trumpet, Flugal Horn, all solos (Phenix Choir/Horns, Piece of Peace, Ramsey Lewis, Grey and Hanks, Phil Collins, Beatchuggers, Imaginations, Smoke, Chanson, Emotions, Pockets, Kinsman Dazz, Eugene Record, Twennynine, Lenny White, Whispers, Earth Wind & Fire, Al Johnson, Edmund Sylvers, Kwame, Chuck Jackson, Chi-Lites, Randy Brown, Rodney Franklin, Dells, Gene Chandler, Stanley Turrentine, Patrick Cowley, Frida, Toshiki Kadomatsu, Superior Movement, Kaoru Hirose, Heaven 17, MCB, George Kranz, Philip Bailey, Shuybah, Kassav, Topanga Express, France Gall, Jocelyne Beroard, Pharaohs, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Anri, Bobby Lyle, Grainger)
• Louis "Vibes" Satterfield - Trombone (Phenix Choir/Horns, Philip Cochran, Artistic Heritage Ensemble, Sky, Inentions, Pharaohs, Salty Peppers, Phil Collins, BB King, Fontella Bass, more)
• Brenda Madison - Backing Vox (David Dancious & Tone, Andy Pratt, Kwame, Don Kinsey & Chosen Ones)
• Janice Burke - Backing Vox (Kwame)
• Yvonne Wright - Backing Vox (Minnie Riperton, Kwame)
• Vernon Stuart - Backing Vox 
• Pete Jackson  - Backing Vox (Al Raymond Big Band, Touch of Class, Moody Blues, T. Life, Michael Pedicin Jr, Meco, Buddy FeFranco, Maynard Ferguson)
• Gerald Jackson - Backing Vox  (Touch of Class, Bohannon, Ojeda Penn, Victor Vick, Sonny Emory, Meco, Issac Hayes, MC Breed)
• Ben Taylor - Backing Vox 
• Chris White - Rhythm Arrangement
• Steven Stanley - Mixing Engineer
• Jonathan Fearing - Editing
• Jim Douglas - Mixing Engineer
• Alfredo Li - Mixing Engineer
• Mark Ledzian - Photos, Design
• Jane Walsh-Ronayne - Art Direction, Design
• Eddie Kamali - Clothing
• Maggie Hahn - Model

Unknown-ness: Never heard of this band, but it looks like a weird Robert Palmer-like (model's red outfit + red lipstick) new wave band.

Album Review: This is the Burke family's regrouping from the remnants of Five Stairsteps. The doo-wop sound is mostly dropped, and this is an interesting mix of genre-disco...imagine disco through the eyes of funk, soul, r&b, calypso, country, and soft ballad for each song. But it always carries the shuffle percussive beat. The first track features a lot of earthy tribal vocal beats, track 2 is straight up disco single, track three comically plays with country music at the intro, before trading it in for a stereotypical disco (Flaming/Hot/Fire/Burning) lyric content. Side B track one is a smooth & slow R&B love song. Rent Strike explores Funk (and comes off as very topical in the current pandemic), and the closing track explores island percussion and Love Boat wavering vocals with a solid support harmonic choir and smooth jazz.

Stand Out Track: Rent Strike

Links:
discogs
Five Stairsteps wiki
allmusic
Gant's Passing 4/25/20
Clarence Burke's Passing
Soulwalking
Who Sampled