by Stewart Mason
The album's title has more to do with the politics of its day (1972) than with the music; there's not much that's revolutionary going on here. In fact, the first track, the nine-minute &By the Red Sea,& is a downright placid piece of soul samba, and the follow-up, a cover of James Brown's &Super Bad,& reduces the original's intensity into a coolly percolating groove. And frankly, for a session led by the drummer, this is not a particularly rhythm-heavy set. Even the cover of Jack McDuff's &Soulful Drums& is curiously restrained, with some odd arrhythmic playing by Muhammad in counterpoint with Virgil Jones' trumpet and Clarence Thomas' soprano sax. Black Rhythm Revolution is not a bad album at all; in fact, most of the tracks are good to great, with the lengthy bookends &By the Red Sea& and &Wander& both featuring memorable grooves and tight, compact solos. It's just considerably less intense than the title might lead one to believe.