Young-Holt Unlimited was a U.S. soul and jazz instrumental musical ensemble from Chicago.
Their album Born Again is a perfect reflection of its time – which does not mean it sounds dated! This is early 1971 in the aftermath of the summers of love and hate, the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., and the height of the Vietnam War. Young-Holt Unlimited wanted to lay out a music that brought people together at a very tense juncture and offer a more spiritual vibe form which to groove according to Brother Isaac "Redd" Holt's liner notes.
The album opens with a swinging version of "I'll Be There."The groove is up-tempo, slippery and almost gospel in intent, it's simply breathtaking. Likewise, an extended version of George Harrison's "Something," is a blissed-out mind-bender. Other covers, such as "We've Only Just Begun," and Bread's "Make It With You," sound like paeans to reconciliation and brotherhood as much as they do love songs. The tempos are breezy, the textural production elements – by the murky and mysterious Saturday Night Music Inc. brain trust – swirl and shimmer through the mixes. If Young and Holt wanted to put something across that offered people an opportunity to agree on something, that something was groove, and a spiritual groove to boot. It's positive, mood altering, thought-provoking and butt-shaking. Born Again is a winner on all counts. The band has been sampled over 200 times, most often in the hip hop genre.
Born Again is available as a numbered limited edition of 750 copies on transparent vinyl and is packaged in a gatefold sleeve.
