Privilege - Privilege

Bitrate: 320K/s
Year: 1973
Time: 36:07
Size: 83,3 MB
Label: Lizard Records
Styles: Rock/Hard Rock/Psychedelic Rock
Art: Full

Tracks Listing:
 1. Traitor - 4:45
 2. It's Yesterday - 4:01
 3. The Quiz - 2:55
 4. Circling - 4:28
 5. People - 3:55
 6. Going Down - 2:45
 7. Purple Dog - 2:33
 8. Easter - 3:06
 9. Taking Care of You - 3:21
10. Sojourn - 4:14

Call me stupid.  I wouldn't buy a bottle of wine based on a label, but I have bought albums based on a label ... witness Privilege.
Other than the fact guitarist Edward Leonetti and keyboard player Paul Venturini had been members of The Soul Survivors, I knew nothing about the band Privilege when I bought their 1969 self-titled release at a yard sale.  As mentioned, what initially caught my attention was the fact the set was released on The Isley Brothers' T-Neck label, with Ronald, O'Kelly and Rudolph Isley co-producing the set. 
According to the liner notes the odd collaboration resulted from a Jimi Hendrix/Isley Brothers/Soul Survivors concert at Syracuse University.  Several months after the concert the Soul Survivors called it quits. Leonetti and Venturini elected to continue their musical partnership and contacted T-Neck in the hopes of scoring a contract.  Having recently set up their own T-Neck label the Isleys were in the market for acts and quickly offered the pair a deal.  Leonetti and Venturini subsequently recruited drummer Tommy Brannick and bassist Jack Douglas for the line-up.
With Leonetti and Venturini responsible for all of the material, "Privilege" rocked way harder than anything in their earlier Soul Survivors catalog.  In fact anyone looking for another slice of 'Expressway To Your Heart' styled blue-eyed soul was likely to be severely disappointed.  Interestingly neither Leonetti or Venturini had handled vocals while in The Soul Survivors.  Picking up cvocal responsibilities in Privlege,  Leonetti may not have been the most amazing singer you've ever come across, but he was professional and competent on tracks like the opening rocker  'Traitor' and the proto-punkish 'The Quiz', His performances were good enough to ensure he wasn't a major distraction given the set's raw hard-rock orientation. These guys were also smart enough to vary their sound with 'Circling' and the closer 'Sojourn' slowing the tempo down with a couple of power ballads.  Leonetti acquitted himself particularly well, turning in some blazing guitar work throughout.  Highlights included the fuzz-guitar propelled rocker 'People' and the Hendrix-influenced 'Purple Dog', though George Thorogood should've covered 'It's Yesterday'. 
The one album and two singles seem to have been their complete discography.  Certainly not the year's most original album, but well worth hearing and one of the more pleasant surprises I've come across. 

Privilege