Lost In Tyme Blog

The Harvey Averne Dozen - 1971 - The Harvey Averne Dozen

Tracks :
1. Never Learned to Dance
2. Dynamite
3. Girl That I Love
4. I Feel Fine
5. Central Park
6. Beat Goes On
7. Can You Dig It
8. Accept Me
9. Why Can't We Really Be Free
10. Lullaby from Rosemary's Baby
11. Goin' Out of My Head
12. Gotta Do My Number

One of Harvey Averne's classic Latin Soul crossover albums, with a number of short instrumental renderings of pop and soul standards, plus a few tracks of his own - all with a great loud Latin Soul feel! Marty Sheller handled the arrangements, and the whole album's a nice batch of soulful choppy instrumentals, similar to some of Marty's work with Mongo Santamaria.

Review :
Leading off with "Never Learned to Dance," one of his most frenetic singles, Averne certainly didn't let up for his second album. The opener is a great piece of boogaloo popcorn, with a background of punchy brass and wild-man electric piano solos. The first side of The Harvey Averne Dozen alternates vocal tracks (usually slow-dance period pieces) with some hot instrumentals, more in a funk vein than salsa. The album wins out with instrumentals like the original "Dynamite" and the Beatles cover "I Feel Fine," while the bland vocal tracks "Girl That I Love" and "Central Park" only succeed in dragging down the proceedings. The second side takes a slight dip in quality, with rote versions of "Goin' Out of My Head" and even "Lullaby From Rosemary's Baby." It's not an LP masterpiece by any means, but surprisingly good for the times.
~ John Bush, All Music Guide