September 29, 2004 | Posted by mark at 12:11 PM

I Believe in Cleveland

Hot Chocolate
Hot Chocolate - Ain't That A Groove. Not to be confused with the "I Believe in Miracles" group from the UK, this is Lou Ragland's group from Cleveland. They cut one album in 1971 on Coco Records, pressing only 500 copies. Ragland was sort of a jack-of-all -trades on the soul/funk scene, but never really got that popular.

The album itself is a raw, stripped down low budget affair. It's funk at it's barest elements -- guitar, bass, drums and vocals. That's it. No noodly keyboards, no flutes. Just the trio, chillin' in a big cup of hot chocolate. This track stretches out for six minutes and not a second is wasted.

Soul Brother records repressed the album a few years back, and you can still get it at Dusty Groove. I don't think it ever made it to cd. There are some solid wailing ballads on there, as well as a couple more other funky cuts, kind of like a low-fi Sly Stone.

Comments

Great song, what a groovy voice this guy has, open and singing.

Posted by: Matthew at September 30, 2004 5:03 AM
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