"Back on the Streets Again/Sparkling in the Sand" Released: 1970
East Bay Grease is the debut album by the soul and funk group Tower of Power, released in 1970.[1] The band was one of the early music groups to be signed by Bill Graham's Fillmore Records, which released the LP.[2][3]
The album shows the band at an early stage of development, trying out several lead singers including Rick Stevens who soon left the band (1972) because of heavy drug abuse.[4] In a retrospective review, music historian Rickey Vincent said the album contained "sloppy and raggedy horn-heavy R&B."[5] Drummer David Garibaldi later said that his playing style was undisciplined during this time, that the album showed his "rough edges". He began private drum lessons with a Bay Area drum teacher named Chuck Brown, and polished his technique in time for the improvements to be heard on 1973's Tower of Power album.[6]