CASTLE MUSIC

Released on 21 October 2002

Ruth Copeland cut two albums on Invictus 'Self Portrait' and 'I am what I am', neither of which were released in the UK. Featured personnel include Eddie Hazel, Bernie Worrell and Dennis Coffey. Ruth actually is British and was married to Motown producer Jeffrey Bowen and she made her name when assigned to the Holland Dozier Holland Creative Corporation that was Invictus Records. She was an aide to George Clinton at the start of Parliament a swell as being a solo artist. She also wrote, produced and performed and her imprint can be seen on Parliamnet's obscure first album 'Osmium' as a singer and writer.  George played on Ruth's aforementioned albums on Invictus.

'Self Portrait' came out in 1969 with the second one in 1971 and was a blend of soul, funk, blues, pop, psychedelia and acoustic, capturing very much the free spirit of the time. Influences range from the likes of Janis Joplin to James Brown.

On tracks like the spoken word 'Prologue' and folky ballad ' Thanks for the birthday card' and wah wah guitar on 'You're love been so good to me' I find far too 'Woodstock' for my liking.

For me the interest is in the label and the collaborations. For example Ruth wrote 'The silent boatman' which appeared on a Parliamen album but Ruth's version is here. 'I got a thing for you daddy' is a piece of raw funk jointly written with George Clinton. The album clearly captures the cross relationships in style that were emerging at the time, although the sleeve notes advise us that some of the production was actually carried out by Jeff Bowen who couldn't be credited because of his position at Motown. 'The music box' was co written with Ronald Dunbar and Edith Wayne who were responsible for some of the labels biggest hits with the likes of Flaming Ember, Honey Cone, Chairmen of the Board and Freda Payne.

For me the best vocal performance is on the more controlled gospel flavoured 'Crying has made me stronger'

'Hare Krishna' and 'Don't you wish you had (What you had when you had it)' are part penned by Clinton, the former track not being quite the chanting piece you may expect. It is a rather good building gospelly devotion to Hare Krishna. The latter a typical both lyrically and performance wise Parliament thang.

'Gimme Shelter' and 'Play with fire' are of course Rolling Stones covers.