[Review] Buddy Miles Express: Expressway to Your Skull (1968)

The Stax sound meets the psychedelic Sixties on this powerhouse debut from Buddy Miles’ new band.

Kronomyth 1.0: A head of its time.

Buddy Miles was only 21 years old when this album was released and already he was a musical force of nature, with one band under his belt (Electric Flag), a new venture underway (Buddy Miles Expressway) and a budding relationship with Jimi Hendrix that would bloom under Band of Gypsys. For the Express, Miles recruited a couple of ex-Flag members (Herbie Rich, Marcus Doubleday) and added six more players (including guitarist Jim McCarty) for a heavy, horn-driven sound that combined R&B, soul, funk and psychedelic rock into a rich musical stew. The album’s title, Expressway to Your Skull, sums it up: this is music that floods the senses and hijacks your mind and body. Train almost goes completely off the tracks in the opening moments before finding its groove. It’s one of several psychedelic sequences on Expressway to Your Skull that forces you to really listen to this album. The production on the album feels like a Stax session recorded in San Francisco. There are big horns, soulful grooves, surround-sound drumming, strange vocal effects and even stranger guitar solos. McCarty is impressive throughout; Miles obviously understands the value of a great guitarist. The three originals from Miles and Herbie Rich are highlights, but the covers impress as well. The band’s treatment of Don’t Mess with Cupid is even tighter than Otis Redding’s version and their rendition of Wrap It Up might be the best I’ve ever heard. Toss in a soulful ballad (You’re the One) and the instrumental Funky Mule, and you’ve got an exciting debut that should push all your Electric Flag freak buttons and then some.

Original elpee version

A1. Train (Buddy Miles/Herbie Rich) (4:55)
A2. Let Your Lovelight Shine (Buddy Miles/Herbie Rich) (3:24)
A3. Don’t Mess with Cupid (Otis Redding/Steve Cropper) (2:37)
A4. Funky Mule (Marvin Holmes) (4:40)
B1. You’re the One (That I Adore) (Deadric Malone) (6:20)
B2. Wrap It Up (Isaac Hayes/David Porter) (6:37)
B3. Spot on the Wall (Buddy Miles/Herbie Rich) (3:30)

Original 8-track version
A1. Train
A2. Let Your Lovelight Shine
B1. Don’t Mess with Cupid
B2. Wrap It Up (Part 1)
C1. Wrap It Up (Part 2)
C2. You’re the One (That I Adore)
D1. Funky Mule
D2. Spot on the Wall

The Players

Buddy Miles (vocals, drums, guitar, organ, bass), Terrence Clements (tenor sax), Marcus Doubleday (trumpet, flugel horn), Virgil Gonsales (baritone sax, soprano sax, flute), Jim McCarty (guitar), Bill McPherson (tenor sax, soprano sax, flute), Bill Rich (bass), Herbie Rich (organ, tenor sax), Ron Woods (drums). Produced by Lou Reizner; engineered by Brian Engoldsby.

The Pictures

Photography by Michael O’Bryant. Graphics by Rhinoceros Studios.

The Plastic

Released on elpee and 8-track in November 1968 in the US (Mercury, SR/MC-8-61196) with gatefold cover. (First appeared in 11/30/68 issue of Billboard.)

1. Re-issued on compact disc in 1992 in Germany (Linam, LMCD 9.51168 Z).
2. Re-packaged w. Electric Church, Them Changes and We Got to Live Together on 4-for-2CD in 2021 in the UK (Beat Goes On).
3. Re-issued on compact disc in 2021 in the US (Hip-O Select, B0002976-02).