I'm pretty sure I got this CD shortly after it came out (1987), and that must have been based on a good review. I'd probably picked up on the reputation of Ronald Shannon Jackson, who drums on this album, and Bill Frisell, who plays guitar, and I expect I thought this would be a good way to try out two birds with one stone.
I was disappointed with the album at first. I couldn't find my way into it, and it seemed like I couldn't quite grasp its substance. In fact, I felt that way about it for a long time. I enjoyed it more today than I ever have before. I like it when that happens; when you have to live with an album for a decade or two before you realise that it is, indeed, great.
It's the drums that grabbed me particularly today, perhaps because I was listening on my Mac with the speakers up close and the bass woofer by my feet. Shannon Jackson has a very physical power. He was playing with the Punk-Funk All Stars at the gig I mentioned before (as was Melvin Gibbs, who's the last of the Power Tools trio, on bass). On the way into the Barbican, this guy with a massive grin on his face asked me, "Are you going in to see the Punk-Funk All Stars?" When I nodded my affirmation, he punched his fist in the air and said, "Yeah! Ronald Shannon Jackson! This is going to be so great!" (or words to that effect). You don't get that a lot with patrons of the Barbican.
I may be wrong, but I think this is the only Power Tools album.
 MusicBrainz entry for this album
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