The Stroziers - Red Light

THE STROZIERS
Red Light
1974
320 CBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip + pics from MRL 415

Swamp Walkin' Charlie

Welfare Woman



This one comes courtesy Arkadin P.I. of Arkadin's Ark, who is currently on a well-deserved vacation. Sherlock, as we often call him, has been a boon to the music blog world the last year, consistently emerging from the depths with more gems in hand than a pearl-diver at an oyster farm. He's been especially helpful with filling up the many holes at the shad shack and this is yet another one he's plugged. However, due to time restrictions and the fact blues ain't really his bag, he passed it my way to post on Soundological.

As you can tell from the clips it's a straight-up blues set and a one-shot for the brothers as a family unit, at least on Mainstream - although the info is severely sketchy, they may have had another later release of some type or other under the name Hill Street Blues Band. As for Red Light it looks not so much to be for Shad but more like the tapes were licensed/bought from elsewhere since Bobby didn't produce. Its place in the sequence of the label's catalogue, immediately after the first Ted Nugent cash-in re-issue effectively announced Red Lion's demise as a creative enterprise, is an even clearer indicator this was not done in-house.

Similar to other releases at the tail end of the run, this record has markedly different album art than the normal Ruby Mazur style and lacks liner notes since by this point in time MRL, gasping for breath, had dispensed with gatefold covers in order to cut back on costs. However, it was all over but the cryin' and there were only a half-dozen more releases to come before the label closed it doors for good. It took a while to dig up some solid info on these Atlanta brothers, mostly due to the mysterious Abner. However, once I clued into the fact that "Abner Strozier" and "Al Strozier" were the same cat after reading the latter's MySpace page, the pieces started to fall in place.

Al Strozier ca. 2009

Source: The Al Strozier Band @ MySpace

Born in 1942, Al was the oldest of the brothers and the most musically prolific. Highlights of his lengthy career include a year with the Soul Stirrers alongside Sam Cooke and being a founding member of Gladys Knight and the Pips, playing with them from their formation until they left Atlanta. He also founded the legendary Houserockers with Luther Johnson and, due to his serious skills on the harmonica, spent over three decades supporting blues artists like Little Richard, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Billy Wright and BB King. He's still going strong to this day in his native GA with the Al Strozier Band, playing a mix of R&B, blues and soul originals.

Clyde Strozier ca. 2005

Source: Georgia Council for the Arts

Clyde, born in 1946, was the middle kid. He started playing blues guitar when he was 9 and prior to forming this group with his brothers had been a member of The Tams and played in bands behind Curtis Mayfield and Martha & The Vandellas. According to him, it was really brother Al who wrote The Tams' biggest hit "Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy" and not the writers credited (Whitley & Cobb) who "stole" it. Sucks to be Al since that slice of upbeat soul found longevity thanks to the Northern Soul crowd and can be heard on Kent's excellent Shoes compilation. Clyde still works the Atlanta blues scene, although in contrast to his elder brother's band he specialises in a much rootsier brand of acoustic folk-blues. He recently spent time as a Master Artist with the Georgia Council of the Arts' Traditional Art Apprenticeship program, preserving the blues art form by assisting in the development of younger players.


Curtis was the youngest of the brood, born a year after Clyde and as often happens with the baby of the bunch, there was nothing left for him at the table when they passed out internet biographies.


Clyde Strozier - vocals, guitar ,bass
Curtis Strozier - drums
Abner Strozier - harmonica, vocals on "Swamp Walkin' Charlie"


1 Red Light
2 Mo-Jo-Georgia Woman
3 Swamp Walkin' Charlie
4 Big Boss Man
5 Honest I Do
6 Oh Baby You Don't Have To Go
7 Welfare Woman
8 Love Shortage
9 Let's Have A Party


Saunter through Arkadin's red light district with Soundological HERE or HERE.