It was the summer of 1981 when Maze featuring Frankie Beverly released their landmark album Live in New Orleans. Though I was going through my neo-hippie phase, worshipping at the black vinyl altar of gypsy rocker Jimi Hendrix, electric Miles, and alien nation Bowie, there was no escaping the sometimes funky, often laid-back grooves of Maze.

Although I didn’t listen to the complete album until years later, I especially dug the haunting harmonies on “Look At California,” the eternal timeliness of “Changing Times,” and the bumping funk of “Southern Girl.” But at that time—and even now, some 28 years later—nothing could touch the brilliant summertime anthem of “Before I Let Go,” the soundtrack to a million family reunions and backyard barbeques.

Having recently graduated from Northwestern High School in Baltimore, where the Pink Panther was our mascot and I met some of the coolest folks on the planet, I was slaving away Metropolitan magazine. Although I was on a mission to flee back to the concrete beast of Harlem where I originally hailed, I’d just turned 18 (the legal drinking age back in the olden days) and was all about having fun in the sun.

On the weekends, I hooked up with my homegirl Carol Bizewski and we’d often cruise through Druid Hill Park. In those pre-crack days, before wild boys from Park Heights and North Avenue started nine-millimeter spraying in the middle of the day, young folks just wanted to party and bullshit. To me, Druid Hill Park was like a scene from Eric Monte’s 1975 classic Cooley High. It was that “what’s happening”/”hey baby” spot where Black teenagers hung out, played Frisbee, flirted with one another, and parked on the side of the road blasting their car radios.

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like Frankie Beverly without Maze -- i count the days

In the summer of '81,"Running Away" and "Before I Let Go" were two of my favorite songs.That was an INCREDIBLE summer for R&B and funk music! Frankie Beverly and Maze were on fire with their 2-LP set 'Live In New Orleans'.I recently bought a sealed copy on vinyl.I believe that this show has also been released on DVD too.Gotta get that next.

These ladies have the right idea

xtraloveable said:

I forgot about that song.