Most of
Eddie Harris' recordings on the Dutch Timeless label in the mid-'80s saw some action in the States but not this one, which was only released in Europe. A shame, for this was mostly one of
Harris' few recorded excursions into funk during this period -- and it's a good one, stripped down, to the point, and featuring remarkably better material than most of his later Atlantic funk recordings. The full name of the vocal title track is "People Get Funny When They Get a Little Money" -- and it's another of
Harris' wry, slightly bitter takes on the foibles of the material world, complete with some vintage acrobatic funk sax. "Three Quarter Miles" is one of
Harris' most ingratiating loosey-goosey, triple-meter blues, and "Silver Plated" is a fine tune based roughly on a variation of the "Listen Here" vamp. With the help of overdubbing,
Harris lays some electric and tenor saxophone, choral vocals, and humorous funk scatting over his own clarinet comping on the snazzy samba "Carnaval"; sometimes it's a bit stiff, but there is ebullience to spare. When drummer
Carl Burnett is laying down a straight-ahead bop groove on "Hal Strange,"
Harris is locked into his distinctive funk manner, but when he takes off on
Burnett's "The Time of My Life," he plays bop style with stunning harmonized electric sax runs -- Supersax on DC current. Pianist William S. Henderson III also contributes a
Headhunters-esque piece called "Ski Ball."
Harris' fans ought to grab this if it ever turns up in the vinyl bins. ~ Richard S. Ginell