Edgar Winter's White Trash: Edgar Winter's White Trash
This article originally appeared on Circus, May 1971
THIS IS MY pick for the greatest album of the year; it certainly is the most impressive surprise masterpiece to hit the rock scene in months.
Forget Edgar's syrupy debut Entrance album of last year, and don't expect the Johnny Winter hard blues sound. White Trash is a superbly produced, fantastically performed, well written rock masterpiece in the tradition of Cream, Traffic, and Joe Cocker. It has all the powerful excitement and freshness of the great rock albums of 1967 and as much musical competence and authenticity as anything around today.
The band includes several horns but instead of playing orchestrated unemotional music the way Chicago or Blood, Sweat and Tears are wont to do, White Trash cooks with its brass and takes you far out. Edgar's voice is satisfying and hard to forget. He sings with uniquely controlled emotion which periodically bursts into a shriek. That shriek undoubtedly will come to be his trademark. The arrangements are unencumbered by formula or boundary. Producer Rick Derringer has a secure reputation after this one. The mood is always changing, but always connected. The album is unforgettable.
Edgar's version of the Ray Charles classic 'I've Got News For You' is a high point, but a big part of the album's impact are the fantastic original tunes. Edgar wrote most of them, but was ably helped by Jerry LaCroix who plays tenor sax and harp and helps with the singing. 'Fly Away' would be a good choice for a single because of a lovely refrain and hauntingly beautiful rock sound. 'Keep Playing That Rock and Roll' is a fast moving good time dance number, 'Dying To Live' is a beautiful ballad destined to be a much-recorded classic, Edgar's voice in it moves with a profound sensitivity he previously has kept hidden. And 'Save The Planet', sung by LaCroix, is the first authentic ecology rock song, bursting its words of sanity through a memorable musical background.
It's a little embarrassing to write such an unqualified rave, particularly for an artist who has never had a popular record. But the album is so powerful, so well put together, and so exciting, that my real regret is my inability to do it justice. It does derive a lot of its sound from other contemporary musicians, most apparently Sly and the Family Stone; but it is put together so well that it takes you through several pleasant changes, always exceeding expectation until it builds into an experience. The songs and sound will grab you the first time you put it on. White Trash establishes a new superstar whose talent will bring his songs to millions of ears.
