Pollution
View on Discogs
View on Wikipedia
Album Summary
Out of the sun-soaked, smog-heavy streets of Los Angeles came Pollution — a collective of West Coast funkateers who laid down their self-titled debut in 1971 on Uni Records, riding under the MCA umbrella. This was a time when the City of Angels was cooking up something serious in its studios, and Pollution stepped right into that fire. The album was recorded during one of the most fertile stretches of West Coast funk and soul exploration, capturing a raw, horn-driven sound that owed as much to the psychedelic soul movement as it did to the hard-edged urban funk that was bubbling up from the concrete. Tight rhythm section work, socially charged lyrics, and a production aesthetic that kept things honest and unvarnished — that was the Pollution recipe, and they served it up on wax for the world to discover.
Reception
- The album moved quietly upon its 1971 release, failing to register on mainstream charts in any significant way, its power largely bypassing the commercial machinery of the moment.
- Critical acknowledgment at the time was sparse, with the record arriving in the shadow of more high-profile funk acts, leaving it to find its true audience through years of devoted word-of-mouth among soul enthusiasts and collectors.
- Decades after its release, the album earned a devoted second life in the crates of hip-hop producers and record diggers who recognized the raw, percussive energy locked in its grooves.
Significance
- Pollution stands as a genuine cult artifact of early 1970s West Coast funk — rough around the edges in the most beautiful way possible, representing the genre before the suits got hold of it and smoothed everything out.
- The record is a vivid document of the socially conscious funk movement, with lyrics that looked hard at urban life and the world's troubles, speaking a truth that was deeply resonant in the cultural climate of the early seventies.
- As a snapshot of Los Angeles soul at a crossroads between psychedelia and hard funk, the album occupies a singular place in the West Coast musical lineage, cherished by those who seek out the music that fell between the cracks of history.
Tracklist
-
A1 Travelin' High (With The Lord) —
3:19
-
A2 This Feelin' Won't Last Long —
3:45
-
A3 Ballad Of A Well Known Gun —
4:39
-
A4 Do You Really Have A Heart —
3:26
-
A5 Dry Dream —
3:41
-
B1 Underdog —
3:55
-
B2 River —
4:17
-
B3 Lo And Behold —
3:46
-
B4 Mother Earth —
6:59
Artist Details
Pollution was a Los Angeles-based funk and soul collective that emerged in the early 1970s, blending gritty urban grooves with socially conscious lyrics that spoke to the struggles and spirit of the times. The group laid down a raw, heavy sound that sat somewhere between the earthiness of Sly Stone and the street-level urgency of early funk, making them a cult favorite among those who knew what was real. Though they never quite broke through to mainstream glory, their recordings left behind a deep, smoky fingerprint on the era that true soul seekers still chase to this day.
