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"The Electric Indian," said Jimmy Bishop of Philadelphia soul powerhouse WDAS on the liner notes of their LP (UAS 6728), "is not history. It is the present and the future." To give Bishop his due, they indeed didn't have much of a history, at least as a group: they were all session pros from Philly. That's Vince Montana on the vibes, and Daryl Hall, pre-Oates, on keyboards. The present was an idea by Bernie Binnick, who'd founded the local Swan label many years before: according to local guitarist Frank Virtue, Binnick wanted something Indian, with sitars and all. What he wound up with was, well, a different sort of Indian entirely, complete with vaguely-Native American ("savage" and "pulsating," said Bishop) rhythm. Perhaps this was the influence of Binnick's co-writer, one Bernice Borisoff, who almost certainly had some connection to producer Leonard Borisoff, better known as Dovells lead singer and later solo act Len Barry. The record first appeared on Barry's own Marmaduke label, and was licensed to UA after it started to take hold outside Philadelphia. One more single, a non-LP cover of Chris Kenner's "Land of 1000 Dances," managed to chart before the Electric Indian name was retired. Most of the E.I.'s tracks were recorded at Philly's legendary Sigma Sound, and several of those session pros, including Montana, evolved into MFSB, the band behind all those Philadelphia International hits produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Quite a future.
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Where can I get this on CD?
"Keem-O-Sabe" is seldom anthologized, but it's turned up a couple of places: I suggest Muthafunkinsonofabitch, an instrumental collection on Funkadelphia Records (F 1003) which also contains the Indian's cover of Stevie Wonder's My Cherie Amour. You can buy the whole thing at iTunes.
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Copyright © 2009 by Charles G. Hill
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