Fatback
's first album outing of 1975 has pleasant grooves to spare but lacks the consistent material or cohesive feel that would make it a memorable album. The highlight is the title track, a relentless groove built on a thick bassline that features the band trading lively double-entendres about how "hungry" they are. The
ballad
"Feed Me With Your Love"
tackles similar lyrical territory, but uses a silky mid-tempo groove layered with plenty of keyboards to powerful effect. Sadly, much of the other material is too thin to sustain the album. Songs like
"Put the Funk on You"
and
"Boogie With the Fatback"
have got a similar party-hearty style and benefit from an engaging live-in-the-studio feel, but lack the strong hooks and clever arrangement that characterize
"Yum Yum."
The album is also saddled with weak tracks like
"Trompin'"
"Let the Drums Speak,"
songs that trudge along through endlessly repeated chants as they run their central riff into the ground. While
Yum Yum
shows the promise that would later be realized on albums like
Fired Up and Kickin'
, it is too unfocused and tentative to please anyone except
's most devoted fans. Since the hit title track can easily be tracked down on compilations,
funk
fanatics should think twice before getting this album. ~ Donald A. Guarisco