Your classic 1970 soul song of the day is “Love Land” by Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. The track was recorded late in 1969 and released in January 1970. The tune hit #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and #23 on Billboard’s R&B chart) the week of July 18.
Like all of the band’s music, “Love Land” is a funky mix of hummable melody and syncopated rhythms, with a soulful vocal and really nifty horn chart. The band’s drummer, James Gadson, sang the lead vocal, with Charles Wright doing the producing and arranging. The song itself was written by Don Trotter and Charles Wright (although some sources inexplicably credit it to Luther Dixon and Rose Marie McCoy). .
The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band was a highly influential funk band out of Los Angeles. Charles Wright himself hailed from Mississippi but found success on the West Coast, forming what would become known as the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band in 1968. Original members of the band included James Gadson on drums (and sometimes vocals), Melvin Dunlap on bass, Ray Jackson on trombone, and Al McKay and Benorce Blackmon on guitar. They went on to place a number of songs on the charts, including their biggest seller, “Express Yourself,” released later in 1970; it reached #12 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the R&B chart.
Charles Wright and his band, along with Sly and the Family Stone, were influential in establishing the funk sounds of the ’70s. They were also big influences on Prince; you can hear lots of their music in Prince’s funky style. The band had a rotating cast of players and eventually dissolved by the end of the decade. Charles Wright is still kicking, however, having released a couple of new albums in the 2000s. He’s now 83 years old.
