Biography
Around 1970, psychedelic ensembles featuring African-American musicians remained rare, as did rock outfits hailing from Trinidad. The Next Morning occupied both categories at once, rendering the band noteworthy on that basis alone. Their sound, however, offered fewer surprises: standard-issue hard rock of the era laced with soul and psychedelic touches, most prominently those associated with Jimi Hendrix. Nothing in the dense, blues-inflected guitar and organ patterns or in Lou Phillips’s taut soul-rock singing hinted at the members’ largely Trinidadian roots. The group cut a single album that appeared in 1971, drew scant notice, and preceded their dissolution.
The Next Morning coalesced in New York during the late 1960s after four of its five members emigrated from Trinidad; Lou Phillips originated in the Virgin Islands. Jimi Hendrix exerted the strongest pull on their style, alongside other hard-rock acts such as the Who and rock-soul fusions exemplified by Sly Stone and the Chambers Brothers. Steady work on the New York club scene earned interest from Columbia Records, yet the band ultimately landed with Roulette’s Calla imprint, which released their only album, the self-titled The Next Morning, in 1971. Although Bert Bailey’s jagged guitar lines and occasional unexpected chord changes lifted the record above generic efforts in the idiom, the tracks often stretched into rambling lengths and the songwriting failed to match the caliber of their cited influences. Activity dwindled in the early 1970s; bassist Scipio Sargeant later supplied horn arrangements for Joe Tex and Harry Belafonte. Sundazed reissued the album on CD in 1999.
The Next Morning coalesced in New York during the late 1960s after four of its five members emigrated from Trinidad; Lou Phillips originated in the Virgin Islands. Jimi Hendrix exerted the strongest pull on their style, alongside other hard-rock acts such as the Who and rock-soul fusions exemplified by Sly Stone and the Chambers Brothers. Steady work on the New York club scene earned interest from Columbia Records, yet the band ultimately landed with Roulette’s Calla imprint, which released their only album, the self-titled The Next Morning, in 1971. Although Bert Bailey’s jagged guitar lines and occasional unexpected chord changes lifted the record above generic efforts in the idiom, the tracks often stretched into rambling lengths and the songwriting failed to match the caliber of their cited influences. Activity dwindled in the early 1970s; bassist Scipio Sargeant later supplied horn arrangements for Joe Tex and Harry Belafonte. Sundazed reissued the album on CD in 1999.
Albums