Average Rating: (3.9 out of 5 stars)
List All Reviews By far the best Edgar Winter Group album
I bought the LP when it came out in the 70's and I bought this CD to update my collection. Not every song is good, but "Round and Round", "Free Ride", "Frankenstein", and "Autumn" are all regularly played on Oldies Stations. This album was great when it first came out and it's still great today. Definitely rates a "Buy"!
Submitted by dp.brock (Naples, FL, USA) 
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A ring dong dinger from 1973
All these years later I still can't figure out why old Edgar had to humiliate himself by getting all gussyed up like a limp fag for the cover art on this record. Maybe he was just openly mocking the whole glam thing--I wasn't sure then, and I'm still not now. Anyway, once you get past the silly eye make up and the red lipstick, I think you'll discover there's good, solid music in the album within. Edgar tried for something different, and largely succeeded. At its best, the music here is frivolous good time party material; at its worst it’s ponderous and corny, just like Edgar on the album cover. Besides the obvious hits ('Free Ride' and 'Frankenstein'), stand out funkafied rockers include 'Hangin' Around' and 'Undercover Man.' And while I never had any patience for ballads, "Autumn" is a solid piece of melancholia that doesn't turn syrupy and leave the listener with aching teeth. On the down side, there's "R.&.R.B.W.B." which is plodding and repetitious, and "Alta Mira" which veers perilously close to Jimmy Buffet territory—the kiss of death for any true rocker. Thus only a three star rating from yours truly for Edgar's sophomore effort.
'T.O.C.O.A.N.' was not one of those era-defining albums like The Who's 'Quadrophenia' or anything like that, but it certainly served as the background music for a lot of fond memories, many of which admittedly took place in a haze of hash oil, aluminum foil and crude conversation. I seem to recall most of the people playing this LP at parties or on tape decks in muscle cars circa 1973 were some pretty rough looking characters who have probably done jail time in the intervening years for one offense or another. In one way 1972 – 1974 was a wonderful, transitional era for music. But at the same time, thank God it's gone.
Submitted by Dr. Mesopotamia (Snakewater, WY)
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