The Chambers Brothers are an American psychedelic soul band, best known for their eleven-minute 1968 psychedelic soul hit 'Time Has Come Today'. The four bothers were originally from Carthage, Mississippi, and started playing together in 1954, after eldest brother George relocated to Los Angeles after his discharge from the Army. His brothers soon joined him, and they played gospel and folk music throughout the Southern California region, but remained little known until 1965 when they began performing in New York City. By then the group consisted of George on washtub bass, Lester on harmonica, and Willie and Joe on guitar, and after being spotted by Barbara Dane, they secured a spot on the bill of the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Their first single was 'Call Me', which was written by Joe and Willie, and which came out on the Vault label in the US and on Vocalion in the UK. Shortly after appearing at Newport, the group released its debut album, 'People Get Ready', in 1966, and it had a positive review in the 23 April issue of Cash Box. for the recording sessions, the group was too busy playing different instruments to do hand claps, so they had to get a drummer, and after trying out a few they met Brian Keenan and offered him the job. In 1966, the group recorded 'The Time Has Come Today', which was a wild hard driving funky outing, but it was rejected by Columbia, and so the group recorded 'All Strung Out Over You', which was composed by Rudy Clark, and which was released in December 1966. The band scored its only major hit in late 1967 with 'Time Has Come Today', an 11-minute opus written by Joe and Willie Chambers, and highlighted by echoing vocal effects and Keenan's drumming, which gave the song a psychedelic feel. The song was edited for release as a single and spent five consecutive weeks at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Their 'A New Time - A New Day' album was released in October 1968, and was well-received, including positive reviews from Record World and Beat Instrumental. Their next long-player also appeared in 1968, with 'Groovin' Time' coming out on Folkways Records, but for 1969's 'Love, Peace and Happiness' they were back with Columbia, who released this half studio and half live double album, containing what was described at the time as "sizzling music". By January 1971, the group's single 'Funky' from their forthcoming 'New Generation' album had been released, debuting at no. 58 in the Record World R&B Singles Chart. Following the release of the album, the brothers found they were having issues with producers who weren't willing to listen to their ideas, and so they started producing their own material. In 1972, the band's last album for Columbia was to be a gospel album, entitled 'O My God', possibly inspired by the recording of the song 'Did You Stop To Pray This Morning' on the flip of their 1971 Christmas single. Despite '(By The Hair On) My Chinny Chin Chin'/'Heaven' being released as a single, and one of the other tracks appearing on the 'Music People' compilation album in 1972, the album remained unreleased until it sneaked out as a digital-only release in 2022. However, a missed opportunity for Sony was that they didn't include the track that started the whole thing, which was that Christmas b-side, so for two reasons, firstly that people could easily have missed this online only release, and secondly because 'Did You Stop To Pray This Morning' really needs to be on the album, I'm posting it here.
Track listing
01 Mean Old World
02 What Side Of The Fence
03 Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven
04 (By The Hair On My) Chinny Chin Chin
05 Man Did It
06 Did You Stop To Pray This Morning
07 That Old Doggone Devil
08 This Little Piece Of Land
09 Celebration Of Life
10 Any Old Time
07 That Old Doggone Devil
08 This Little Piece Of Land
09 Celebration Of Life
10 Any Old Time
