Baby Huey – Living Legend

When you stumble upon an album titled Living Legend, you think said album will either be one of the best you have ever heard or the person is full of him/herself.

Baby Huey’s Living Legend definitely lives up to its name.

James Ramey’s one and only album as Baby Huey showcases what late 60s, early 70s soul/funk was all about. From the blood-curdling vocals in “Hard Times,” the trippy space odyssey spoken words in Ramey's cover of the Sam Cooke-penned “A Change is Gonna Come” to the numerous instrumental jams, Living Legend is the ultimate glimpse as to what Jimi Hendrix was aiming to accomplish when he ventured into the Band of Gypsys. Unfortunately, Ramey died as a result of a heart attack in 1970 while recording his debut album, leaving this classic, released in 1971, worthy of its Living Legend name.

The Curtis Mayfield-produced album is shockingly underrated and unknown, yet those who have stumbled upon this album continue to sing its praise, and rightfully so. All eight tracks are psychedelic epics, and have provided a blueprint for future hip hop artists.

“Hard Times,” “Listen to Me” and “Mighty Mighty” have been sampled by numerous hip hop legends, including Ice Cube (“The Birth”), A Tribe Called Quest (“Can I Kick It?”), Eric B. and Rakim (“Follow the Leader”) and numerous others, while John Legend and The Roots covered “Hard Times” for the 2010 Wake Up! album.

Living Legend features five songs with Ramey’s soul-crunching vocals, but his backing band shines on three instrumental tracks, including the four-minute classic “Mama Get Yourself Together.” Other instrumental masterpieces include the flute-tinged “California Dreamin’” and the beautiful - and perfect - album closer "One Dragon Two Dragon."

In a perfect world, Ramey, who died at the age of 26, would have teamed up with Hendrix to provide the perfect combination of psychedelic soul. But alas, we can only imagine what type of music they are making in the afterlife while eating Oreos and drinking Thunderbird. The closest song to such a pairing would be “Running,” which has Ramey feeling like he’s being an educated fool about his love, who has him blowing his cool but he is willing to accept she might be with another man. Yet, he’s still going to run to her despite not knowing how much longer he can take it. Think Hendrix's "Love or Confusion," but a little funkier.

WATCH BABY HUEY'S "HARD TIMES"


STANDOUT TRACKS: A case can be made for every single track. However, the best tracks belong to "Listen to Me" (maybe one of the finest first tracks off a debut album), "A Change is Gonna Come", "Hard Times," "Running" and a killer instrumental cover of The Mamas and the Papas’ "California Dreamin'."

COMPLAINTS: This album logs in at eight tracks, which could be seen as a minor disappointment. Ramey didn't write any of the lyrics on Living Legend but did compose two instrumentals, "Mama Get Yourself Together" and "One Dragon Two Dragon." The lack of Ramey-written songs is easy to overlook when you have a songwriter like Mayfield in your corner coupled with the fact that two of the strongest songs on this album are Ramey-composed instrumentals.

PASS OR KEEP: A definite keeper. Living Legend is an essential album in anyone’s collection, from the hip hop fan to soul/R&B enthusiast to the indie hipster. Every track on this album is unreal and is a showcase of the strengths of every member of the Babysitters, Baby Huey's backing band. How this album isn’t more well-known is mind-boggling, as Living Legend has to be considered one of the greatest ever made.

WATCH BABY HUEY'S "RUNNING"