The Crusaders - Street Life (1979 Japanese MCA Vinyl LP)

The Crusaders - Street Life | Vinyl LP - 1979 Japanese MCA Stereo Pressing (VIM 6195, Victor Musical Industries)

Recorded at Hollywood Sound Recorders in Hollywood and mastered at A&M Studios, Street Life was self-produced by the Crusaders' core trio of drummer Stix Hooper, pianist Joe Sample and Wilton Felder, who plays electric bass, tenor and alto saxophone across the album. The title track, featuring vocalist Randy Crawford, runs to eleven minutes on the LP and became the group's most commercially successful recording, reaching No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. Sample's horn and string arrangements provide the harmonic framework throughout, his Fender Rhodes work interlocking with Felder's bass and Hooper's drumming across six tracks that move between funk workouts like "Rodeo Drive (High Steppin')" and more atmospheric pieces such as "Carnival of the Night" and "Night Faces." The album represents the Crusaders at the intersection of jazz improvisation and late-1970s soul and funk, the rhythm section providing the kind of clean, spacious groove that had made the band fixtures in Los Angeles studios for two decades.

The title track's staying power has been confirmed repeatedly: a re-recorded version featuring Crawford appeared in the Burt Reynolds film Sharky's Machine in 1981, and the original was used on the 1997 Quentin Tarantino soundtrack Jackie Brown. The remaining tracks demonstrate that the album functions well beyond a single, Felder's saxophone work on "The Hustler" and "My Lady" showcasing the improvisational instincts the band never abandoned even as their commercial reach expanded. Released in Japan in 1979 on MCA Records (VIM 6195) and manufactured by Victor Musical Industries, Inc., Tokyo.