The Relatives were a surprise sensation at Ponderosa Stomp in 2010, and in some ways they were that festival’s dream band: a regional Dallas family group, formed in 1970 and steeped both in gospel and vintage funk. Their set that night was one of the all-time Stomp highlights, a simultaneous ride in a heavenly chariot and on P-Funk’s mothership.
This is the second Relatives album since their comeback, and considering its title and backstory, the album can’t help feeling a little somber. The group’s founder, Reverend Gean West, was fighting cancer and fell into a coma during the recordings, but heard God calling him back and managed to rally for one more session. That’s the long opening track “Rational Culture/Testimony,” where he preaches movingly about the “little more work” he had to do, and the world’s need to accept God and get its act together. West is heard again at the end of “The World is Moving Too Fast,” preaching this time about the scourge of gun violence. It’s all the more affecting when you realize he died the day after the session.
Not that there isn’t some joy to be found here. Producer/guitarist Zach Ernst (ex-Black Joe Lewis) keeps the sound absolutely faithful to the ’70s origins, and the return of original Relatives guitarist Charles Ray “Gypsy” Mitchell makes for plenty of funk; the wah-wah driven “What You Say” is positively Meters-esque (though it’s not the Meters song of that title). Closing with more funky transcendence on “Can’t Feel Nothin’” and a doo-wop benediction on “Forgive Me Now,” this one’s good for the soul.