The Relatives
Goodbye World (Luv N' Haight)
Reviewed by Jim Caligiuri, Fri., May 13, 2016
Backstory to the Relatives' Goodbye World echoes the compelling music they've created. Dallas' gospel funkateers were recording a follow-up to 2013's aptly titled The Electric Word when Gean West, the band's founder and lead vocalist since 1970, fell into a coma. Twelve days later he awoke, saying the Lord had commanded him to "get back to work." After two near-miraculous recording sessions at the beginning of 2015, West ended up back in the hospital where he died a week later. Goodbye World's lead track "Rational Culture/Testimony" features West at his most powerful, recalling his meeting with God and the orders he received over a muscular backbeat. Beginning on such a startling high could've easily undermined the effort, but the remaining seven cuts possess an aura that's persuasive, showing what the Relatives are capable of: psychedelic funk ("No Man Is an Island"), deep, shimmering soul ("This World Is Moving Too Fast"), and spiritual undertones as infectious and captivating as "Forgive Me Now (Songbird Goes Home)," a closing eulogy for West. (The Relatives back Mike Flanigin at Antone's on Fri., May 13.)