Wah Wah Watson / Elementary

AllMusic Review by Andrew Hamilton

After years of infusing his wah-wah guitar licks on countless sessions, Melvin "Wah Wah Watson" Ragin cut a deal with Columbia Records for this unsuccessful solo album that did so poorly Watson didn't have another solo release for 24 years. Columbia pushed this as fusion-jazz; well, some of it is, but it's really just good "head music." "Cry Baby" sounds like a track left off Sly & the Family Stone's There's a Riot Going On album; not a sad tune as its title suggests, but a jaunty stepper more related to funk than jazz. "Bubbles" is soft and understated with a clandestine groove, with Watson easing up on the wah-wah's. You'd think Norman Whitfield was in the studio on "Goo Goo Wah Wah" going by the countless gadgets and studio tricks employed on this likeable sprinter that's pushed by threatening tomtom drums: great chase music. Some of L.A.'s finest studio musicians are with Watson on this one.

Wah Wah Watson
Elementary (Extended Album)



Originally released on Columbia Records, 1976 Extended CD Version released on Big Break Records 2012 Recorded at The Village Recorder and Wally Heider Recording, Funky Features, LA

Track listing 

1 Goo Goo Wah Wah 2 Love My Blues Away (Parker, Ragin) 5:40 3 Cry Baby (Bryant, Jones, Ragin) 11:09 4 My Love For You Comes And Goes (Ciner, Ragin) 15:14 5 Together (Whatever) (Page, Johnson, Boutte, Ragin) 19:52 6 Sunset Boulevard (Bryant, Ragin) 24:48 7 Love Ain't Somethin' (That You Get For Free) (Parker, Ragin) 29:01 8 I'll Get By Without You (Grusin, Watson) 33:22 9 Bubbles (Hancock, Watson) 39:26 10 Good Friends (Bryant, Burke, Watson) 42:45 Bonus Tracks: 11 Goo Goo Wah Wah (Single Version) 48:58 12 Love Ain't Somethin' (That You Get For Free) (S. Version) 52:14

Personnel 

Wah Wah Watson aka Melvin Ragin (g, voc, syn, talk box, electronics, effects) Clarence McDonald, Joe Sample (p, key) Sonny Burke (e-p, syn) John Barnes (clavinet) Herbie Hancock (e-p, key, syn) track 9 Dave Grusin (e-p) 8 Ray Parker Jr (g) David T. Walker (g) 4 Louis Johnson (b) Wilton Felder (b) 2, 7 Henry Davis (b) 8 James Jameson (b) 4 Willie Weeks (b) 6 Ollie Brown (dr) Aaron Smith (dr) 1, 11 Bennie Maupin (ss, electronics, effects) 9 Ernie Watts (ts) 2, 5 The Waters Family (voc) Bob Manchurian, Dale Warren (arr, con)