POP MUSIC REVIEW : Funky in O.C.? If Anyone Conduit, Tower of Power Can

“Let’s get funky in the Crazy Horse! C’mon!”

One can pretty much go for decades without hearing that combination of words at the county’s premiere country music club. With its ultra-Knott’s decor, upscale clientele and Nashville-heavy bookings, “yee-hahs!” and yodels tend to be the dominant cries. But by the time Tower of Power leader Emilio Castillo shouted his encouragement during the band’s encore, the packed Crazy Horse already had been situated in Funky Town for an hour.

It’s been a decade and a half since the Oakland-born 10-piece band has had anything resembling a hit single. Tower of Power’s group identity has been eclipsed by its famed horn section’s forays backing arena acts, with the band’s subsequent periods in dry dock leading to numerous personnel changes. Yet the group’s ability to sizzle a groove clearly remains undiminished.

Like country’s Dirt Band has found, if an act does something reasonably well for long enough, at some point it makes the transition from merely old news to minor national institution (kind of like those desert Stuckey’s stands). Tower of Power seems to have reached that comfortable status, reflected in its assured performance Monday.

After several fallow years, the group even has a new album, “Monster on a Leash” on Epic. The 13-number Crazy Horse set drew several numbers from the new disc, which fit well alongside the band’s ‘70s classics, though none likely to endure as long.

The band has been through a succession of singers, the latest being ponytailed Tom Bowes. His voice isn’t as soulful or innately musical as that of his predecessor, Ellis Hall, yet it was still engaging, sounding like a curious cross between Stevie Wonder and Bad English vocalist John Waite. Sporting a red cowboy shirt, Bowes also displayed a flair for showmanship, frequently plunging into the audience as he sang.

Usually overlooked in appraisals of ‘70s soul music, Tower of Power had two of that decade’s best ballads in “You’re Still a Young Man” and “So Very Hard to Go.” Though Bowes also is a capable shouter, it was on those songs and the new Wonder-esque ballad “Someone New” (penned by band trumpeter-arranger Greg Adams) that his wide-ranged voice was most impressive.

Along with their ‘70s classic “What Is Hip?” Tower of Power offered a distinctly ‘90s party tune, “Keep Your Monster on a Leash.” Over a hot backing that suggested that music is party enough, trumpet player Lee Thornburg sang the cautionary lyric, which warned against the dark road to which abusive excess can lead.

The five Tower of Power horns are justifiably legendary, playing with a funk and precision that make them sound like an expanded version of James Brown’s classic horn section. Blended brass and reeds carry a warmth and power that’s like nothing else in the world--certainly like nothing that issues from a synthesizer.

There can be too much of a good thing, though, and often the horns were so hot in the mix that Bowes was all but drowned out. That, at least, still sounded wonderful, but the group’s well-played but abrasive-sounding synths also were often far too prominent in the mix.

These were mere pennies on the tracks, however, coming nowhere close to derailing the locomotive impetus the band developed on the new tunes “Attitude Dance,” “Believe It” (with a hit-potential chorus and Earth, Wind and Fire-derived vocal harmonies) and the flying instrumental closer “Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.”

The latter tune and several others featured furious tenor sax solos from the group’s newest member, Orange County-bred reed man Brandon Fields. On sabbatical from his own solo career, Fields is filling in for longtime member Steve Grove, who left the band in mid-tour.