| Street Party | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | the Mellow Fellows |
| Cover: | Street Party (album).jpg |
| Released: | 1990 |
| Studio: | Dr. Caw Recording |
| Genre: | R&B, blues |
| Label: | Alligator |
| Producer: | Gene Barge, Peter Special |
| Prev Title: | Live from Chicago! – Bigger Than Life!! |
| Prev Year: | 1987 |
Street Party is an album by the American band the Mellow Fellows, released in 1990.[1] [2] It was the band's first album since the March 1990 death of frontman Big Twist.[3] The Mellow Fellows supported the album with a North American tour.[4] Street Party was a success on radio stations throughout Illinois.[5]
The album was recorded at Dr. Caw Recording, in Northbrook, Illinois.[6] It was the band's first studio album with early bandmember Martin Allbritton.[7] The Mellow Fellows wrote five of Street Partys songs. The bandmembers strove to play more as an ensemble rather than as a backup band.[8] "Feels Like Rain" is a cover of the John Hiatt song. "We'll Be Friends" is a tribute to Big Twist. "Since I Fell for You" was written by Buddy Johnson. "Don't Turn Your Heater Down" was cowritten by Steve Cropper.[9]
The Calgary Herald deemed Street Party "an album solidly anchored in the journeyman work ethic." The Chicago Reader labeled it "a gutty, powerful album that shows a band restless to explore new directions as they retain their patented good-time roots."[10] The Kingston Whig-Standard considered it "a treatment of classic rhythm and blues, the likes of which haven't been heard in a long time."[11]
The Washington Post determined that "Allbritton is a real find—a soul-shouter cum blues-belter who sings with both passion and authority, precisely the combination a lot of these songs demand."[12] The Morning Call deemed the album "hot and brassy, a joyride of '60s-era Chicago R&B."[9] The Record-Journal wrote that "Allbritton's gut-wrenching vocals wail, shriek and generally haul emotion all the hell over the place."
AllMusic called Allbritton "a melismatic and undeniably more powerful vocalist than the finesse-oriented Twist."