Trackback | Pieces of Peace
I have a little sticky note next to my desk that says “talk less, listen more” as a way to remind me to keep my mouth shut and listen to what people have to say. Over the years I’ve found that I was one of those people that just cut into a conversation and start talking about whatever I wanted to, never letting the other person speak their mind. I started catching myself doing this within the last year or so and thought that it must be really fucking annoying to be on the other end of the conversation.
I still interrupt from time to time, but usually catch myself and apologize. By allowing others to talk and actually listening I have learned a lot about other people and discovered many great new things. Just today, at a used book store, I listened to an older guy ramble on and on about Fitzgerald and Norman Mailer soaking up as much information as I could and NOT interrupting.
Some of the things I’ve written about on here have come from these sorts of discussions. Take Pieces of Peace for example. The Chicago funk-soul outfit came recommended from a friend who explained that their debut LP (originally recorded in the early 1970s) was shelved after the band broke up and is finally going to be released on September 25th after 30+ years of gathering dust.
Pieces of Peace were somewhat of a soul super-group that had their beginnings as the Constellations in the early 1960s and ran in the same crowd as Carl Davis, Chi-Lites, Barbara Acklin, and later (as Pieces of Peace) the Pharoahs. Referred to as the most important group in Chicago in their prime, Pieces of Peace had a various lineup changes throughout the 60s, finally settling on a roster consisting of Bernard Reed (bass and vocals), John Bishop (guitar and vocals), Joel Brandon (flute), Jerry Wilson (sax), King Johnson (lead vocals), Michael Davis (horn), Ben Wright (organ and piano), and Fred Crutchfield (a high-school prodigy drummer), along with members of the Pharaohs.
The band recorded only one album, which was shelved after the group split up while in Singapore during a 6-month Southeast Asia tour. Following the tour, the record was vaulted indefinitely until recently when music researchers Dante Carfagna and Rob Sevier, along with DJ Shadow, procured the original Pieces of Peace tape. The self-titled LP will finally see its release on Quannum Projects/Cali-Tex tomorrow. I read somewhere that Pieces of Peace features one of the last recordings featuring the Pharaohs (Derf Recklaw, Aaron Dodd, and Willie Woods).
The tracklisting includes: 01 Cease Fire / 02 Pollution / 03 Flunky for Your Love / 04 I Still Care / 05 Peace and Blessings / 06 Yesterday’s Visions / 07 Pollution / 08 Yesterday’s Visions (Alternate)
Check out “I Still Care” below, which features Wright on lead vocals.
[MP3]: Pieces of Peace ”I Still Care”
Nice