''Ain't Nothin' Stoppin' Us Now'' is an album by
Tower of Power
Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. The band has had a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted ...
released in 1976, the band's first record on
. Ron Beck takes up the drummers spot after
David Garibaldi exited for a second time.
This also would be the last album to feature bassist Francis "Rocco" Prestia as he would go on an extended hiatus from the band until his return in 1986. It is also the only album to feature vocalist Edward McGee.
Release history
In addition to the standard 2 channel
stereo
Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...
version the album was also released by Columbia in a 4 channel
version in 1976 on
LP and
8-track tape
The 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8; commonly called eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, and eight-track) is a magnetic-tape sound recording technology that was popular from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, ...
. The quad LP was encoded with the
SQ matrix.
This album was reissued in the UK on the
Super Audio CD
Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the compact disc (CD) format.
The SACD format allows multiple a ...
format in 2016 by
Dutton Vocalion
Dutton Vocalion specialises in re-issuing on CD music recorded between the 1920s and 1970s, and in issuing albums of modern digital recordings. It was established by British recording and re-mastering engineer Michael J. Dutton.
Dutton Laborator ...
. This release contains the complete stereo and quad recordings.
Track listing
# "Ain't Nothin' Stoppin' Us Now" (Emilio Castillo, Stephen "Doc" Kupka, David Bartlett) – 3:58
# "By Your Side" (Edward McGee, Clifford Coulter) – 4:30
# "Make Someone Happy" (Ron E. Beck, Keith Rogers) – 2:47
# "Doin' Alright" (Bruce Conte, Coleman Head) – 4:48
# "Because I think the World Of You" (Stephen "Doc" Kupka, Frank Biner) – 3:00
# "You Ought To Be Havin' Fun" (
Hubert Tubbs, Emilio Castillo, Stephen "Doc" Kupka) – 3:06
# "Can't Stand To See The Slaughter" (Stephen "Doc" Kupka, Emilio Castillo) – 2:47
# "It's So Nice" (T. Castillo, Emilio Castillo, David Bartlett, Stephen "Doc" Kupka, Frank Biner) – 5:39
# "Deal With It" (Chester Thompson) – 3:20
# "While We Went To The Moon" (Stephen "Doc" Kupka, David Bartlett, Emilio Castillo) – 4:24
Personnel
Tower of Power
* Edward McGee – lead vocals
* Chester Thompson – acoustic piano,
Fender Rhodes
The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...
,
clavinet
The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...
,
organ
Organ and organs may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function
* Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body.
Musical instruments
...
,
Moog synthesizer
The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...
,
bass pedals
Bass pedals are an Electronic instrument, electronic musical instrument with a foot-operated pedal keyboard with a range of one or more octaves. The earliest bass pedals from the 1970s consisted of a Pedal clavier, pedalboard and analog synthesi ...
, backing vocals, horn arrangements (7, 9, 10), string arrangements and conductor (10)
*
Bruce Conte – guitars, backing vocals
*
Francis Rocco Prestia – bass guitar
* Ron E. Beck – drums, percussion, backing vocals
*
Stephen "Doc" Kupka
Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. The band has had a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the ...
– baritone saxophone
*
Lenny Pickett – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone,
Lyricon, tenor sax solo (1, 2)
*
Emilio Castillo
Emilio Castillo (born September 24, 1950) is an American saxophone player and composer, best known as the founder of the band Tower of Power.
Background
In 1965, Emilio Castillo took to music after he and his brother Jack were caught stealing b ...
– tenor saxophone, backing vocals
*
Mic Gillette – trombone,
bass trombone
The bass trombone (, ) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and u ...
, trumpet, flugelhorn,
baritone horn
The baritone horn, sometimes called baritone, is 3 or 4 valved tenor-voiced brass instrument in the saxhorn family.Robert Donington, "The Instruments of Music", (pp. 113ff ''The Family of Bugles'') 2nd ed., Methuen, London, 1962 It is a pist ...
, backing vocals, "superbone" solo (10)
*
Greg Adams – trumpet, flugelhorn, backing vocals, horn arrangements (1−6, 8), string arrangements and conductor (2, 4, 5, 8), flugelhorn solo (3)
Additional musicians
* Bill Lamb – trombone (2), trumpet (2), flugelhorn (2)
* Tower of Power – horn arrangements (1, 8)
* Patricia Henley – backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 6)
* Melba Joyce – backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 6)
* Ivory Stone – backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 6)
* Carol Rogers – backing vocals (3, 9, 10)
Production
* Emilio Castillo – producer
* Tower of Power – producers
* Alan Chinowsky – production assistant, engineer, mixing
* Bob Edwards – engineer, assistant engineer
* Jim Gaines – mixing
* Rich Ehrman – assistant engineer, mix assistant
* Bruce Steinberg – art direction, design, photography
Studios
* Recorded at Kendun Recorders (Burbank, California);
Record Plant, Los Angeles (California);
Record Plant, Sausalito (California); CBS Studios (San Francisco, California).
* Mixed at Record Plant, Sausalito.
References
{{Authority control
1976 albums
Tower of Power albums
Columbia Records albums