Inspiration Information

Otis, Shuggie

album cover

A Lost Classic of Psychedelic Soul

Sophisticated and gently sung, dotted with jazzy interludes and psychedelic detours, Shuggie Otis's fourth album Inspiration Information belongs in the "Should Have Been Huge" file. When Inspiration was released in 1974, a small circle of critics and musicians began talking about Otis as a next big thing. Part of their awe can be explained by Otis's production style: He played almost all the instruments, including a primitive drum machine, himself. His primary instrument is the guitar, and many of the great Inspiration tracks depend on a "guitar orchestra" of sorts, with cleanly plucked rhythm sharing the spotlight with tasteful wah-wah pedal work and easygoing, almost languorous leads. The songs range from sunny afternoon daydreams ("Island Letter") to gentle Weather Reportish Latin fusion ("XL-30") to colorful, idealistic funk in the Sly Stone mold ("Aht Uh Mi Hed").

Incredibly, the love never materialized for Inspiration. The album disappeared after a few weeks on the lower rungs of the charts. But Inspiration had an afterlife: Several years later, it inspired George Johnson of the Brothers Johnson to explore Otis's other, equally obscure efforts. He was transfixed by a taunting singsong number on the previous album, Freedom Flight, entitled "Strawberry Letter 23" that Otis wrote when he was fifteen. The Brothers Johnson covered "Strawberry" and it became one of the biggest hits of 1977.

For the next several decades, Inspiration existed mainly in the private stashes of hipsters and DJs. It was finally reissued in 2001, on a package that included Otis's original "Strawberry Letter 23." This time, the album drew fawning coverage in the press and prompted a long-overdue reappraisal of the singer and guitarist, who'd spent decades in a semi-spotlight on the West Coast blues circuit. It's easy to understand why contemporary urban musicians, whose art is built on endless repetition, would revere the loose, resolutely iconoclastic Inspiration: It calls from a time before the loop was king, before everybody followed the same worn-out playbook.

Genre: R&B
Released: 1974, Epic (Reissued 2001, Luaka Bop)
Key Tracks: "Island Letter," "Aht Uh Mi Hed," "XL-30."
Catalog Choice: Shuggie's Boogie: Shuggie Otis Plays the Blues
Next Stop: Sly Stone: Fresh
After That: Graham Central Station: Release Yourself
Book Pages: 568–569