Three Good Reasons To Be Optimistic

Optimistics: If I Could Influence Man , You Put Something New In My Life and Man
From: Optimistics [All Platinum, 197?]

So, first off thanks to Jazzsucka who kindly shared a copy of this out of print album over on the 'Strut.

I don't know an awful lot about this group beyond the basic facts: They were from Baltimore, they were formed by Billy Butler in the late sixties, and, most importantly, they were produced by George Kerr - the man behind the more well known Whatnauts sound.

Taking the above into account, it's no surprise that the album sounds fantastic, with a mixture of strings, beautiful falsetto vocals and funky percussion throughout the LP.

There were a number of tracks I was dithering about posting from this but in the end I've gone for If I Could Influence Man, with it's hypnotic guitar lick and Temptations style funk, and You Put Something New In My Life with it's gorgeous blend of sweet harmonies and absolutely stellar production.

As an apology for the break in posting and as the album doesn't seem to be looking to be reissued anytime soon I also couldn't resist including the funk track Man which is just waaaaaaay too good to be ignored. The kind of track that comes roaring out the gate, it's full of blistering energy with heavy percussion and wild falsetto vocals. This is dynamite stuff my friends.

Enjoy and maybe one day they'll actually reissue it for us all to get our hands on a copy.......