Everybody liked
Little Beaver; he played guitar on TK sessions for
Betty Wright, Lattimore,
Timmy Thomas, and others, so owner
Henry Stone threw him a bone every now and then and let him record under his name. He never came up with enough quality material to fill an album, but that didn't stop TK Records from issuing
Little Beaver LPs.
Party Down features both sides of
Little Beaver's finest recording, the jazzy "Party Down"; the melodic, lilting winner features his articulate lead guitar and sweet chord progressions. Only "Get Into the Party Life" is comparable; it too has jazzy overtones but is not as compelling. Nothing else merits any attention span; two cuts -- "Let's Stick Together" and "I Can Dig It Baby" -- sound ragged, incomplete, and not ready for release. ~ Andrew Hamilton