Expressway to Your Skull

Although Buddy Miles' alchemical fusion of psychedelia, blues, and soul did not truly coalesce until his masterpiece Them Changes, his debut LP, Expressway to Your Skull, remains an inspired and original statement of intent, a record that's both timeless and an unmistakable product of counterculture consciousness. Each of the album's seven songs is a fascinating montage of sounds and styles -- acid-fuzz guitar collides with zig-zagging funk horns, and shrieking keyboards meet juke joint blues riffs head on. Not everything works -- a cover of Sam & Dave's "Wrap It Up" is more leaden than lively, and the instrumental "Funky Mule" feels like filler -- but the remaining material is brilliant, its twists and turns navigated by Miles' deeply soulful vocals and monster drumming.