If someone was able to figure out why Yellow Springs, Ohio has birthed so many cultural figures and moments they’d be enshrined as one of the nation’s most astute arts commentators.

There were probably earlier markers in the town’s history which separated it from the run of the mill Mid-American town, but Coretta Scott King was a student at Antioch College, which has since been closed. But she along with Dave Chappelle called the place home – not at the same time, obviously. In between those two figures was the soon to be infamous Seattle based band the Gits, who got its start on campus as well.

There are probably other instances of the wider American culture being impacted by folks associated with this small, Ohio town, but for now that’s enough – well apart from Brute Force. The band can’t be figured to be as important as the aforementioned figures, even the Gits as the murder of the band’s singer spurred on a movement to empower women through imparting self defense tactics. But Brute Force and its lone long player has become something of a collector’s item – a well deserved space in the culture.

Recorded in 1970, the confluence of soul, funk, jazz and pop was readily apparent in most music and definitely here. Counting Herbie Mann as producer, Brute Force composed a spate of originals, split between vocal cuts and instrumentals and headed into the studio. Oh, one last thing: Sonny Sharrock, free jazz guitarist, was a friend of the band as they were all growing up in…Yellow Springs.

Sharrock’s contributions most likely pushed the band further towards free jazz then it would have otherwise found itself. But hearing his guitar rattle off occasionally understandable, if not completely guttural lines, imbues the music with a grit that might have been there otherwise, but wouldn’t have been as persistent.

After a few vocal cuts, Brute Force along with Sharrock, who’s only credited on the first few numbers, but surely played on a few more, the band turns in the album’s centerpiece: the fourteen minute “Ye-Le-Wa.” It’s an elongated version of all that proceeded it. Drumming approaches funk while the keys dabble in slight soul styles and the band’s trumpet player belts out an endless solo that veers from noisy free junk to allowing the sax a feature. Some chanting drops into the mix for a bit – but just for a bit prior to the band hitting its stride and riding out the groove to its natural end.

There’re probably stronger efforts on the whole than Brute Force, but the band’s record has just as many highlights to offer.