THE BUDOS BAND - THE BUDOS BAND III

Daptone Records Dap-020 (Aug. 2010)

Evaluated by Claude Lemaire

 

Rating: 5.7/ A 

Category: Afrobeat + Afro-soul

Format: CD (red book 16/44.1k)

Musicians: 
    

- Baritone Saxophone: Jared Tankel
- Bass Guitar: Daniel Foder
- Bongos, Congas: Rob Lombardo
- Congas: John Carbonella Jr.
- Cowbell, Claves, Tambourine: Dame Rodriguez
- Drums: Brian Profilo
- Electric Guitar: Mike Deller, Thomas Brenneck
- Flute: Daisy Sugarman
- Shekere, Tambourine, Cowbel: Vincent Balestrino
- Trumpet: Andrew Greene, David Guy

   
Produced by Bosco Mann aka Gabriel Roth and Tommy 'TNT' Brenneck
Executive Producer: Gabriel Roth, Neil Sugarman       
Recorded at Daptone Studio's "House of Soul"
Engineered [chief] and Mixed by Gabriel Roth
Recorded by [Chief Tape Operator] Wayne Gordon
Mastered by Steve Berson
Design [Sleeve]: Ann Coombs, Daniel Foder
Layout: Sri Radveed
Photography [Back Cover]: John Carbonella

Since the mid-1990s, there has been a slow but definite resurgence in, for lack of a better term, 'organic music' or what the ol' timers once called 'Soul Food'. It is a bit ironic but not really surprising that after years of aseptic digital and Auto-Tune 'perfection', we humans - or at least an ever growing minority, strive to re-appropriate the vitality and raw energy of the past, warts and all. After a 'dearth' of earthy acoustic output beginning in the mid-1970s and intensifying in the following decades; soul, funk and afrobeat are making a strong comeback in our ever expanding musical universe, thanks in no small part to the powers of the unbounded web, international music festivals and some dedicated and talented artists. Extrapolating we can even make a parallel with the return of tubes in general, SETs in particular and the wider spread of the vinyl LP's comeback; coincidentally or not within the same time period.
 

Fusing the strengths of West African highlife and Yoruba music with American funk and jazz; afrobeat rose to prominence in the late 1960s only to fall out of favor - at least on this continent - with the rise of disco of which the latter drew inspiration via Camaroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango's visionary "Soul Makossa" [1972, Fiesta].

But the socio-politico polyrhythms continued flourishing in their native land by way of pioneer Fela Kuti while later passing the torch to his son Femi.

Just as James Brown was pivotal in the development of funk and used his black power to - at times - transmit political messages, so was Kuti through afrobeat. More recently this flame has kept on burning by groups like Brooklyn's Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Montreal's Afrodizz and Berkeley's Albino!

Such is also the case with Staten Island New York's The Budos Band, a twelve member unit bringing back the sunny sounds of afrobeat with a sprinkling ray of soul thrown in for good measure - which explains their preference for the term 'afro-soul'. This is in fact their fourth release on Daptone Records (not counting a few 7" singles). 

Brooklyn-based Daptone - formerly Desco - is one of the leading conduits of this 'organic renewal'. Since 2002, through means of an indie label and all-analog studio, house engineer Gabriel Roth and partner/musician Neal Sugarman have poured heart, mind and savings in this 'family-oriented' approach to making music.

Indeed this last point is what makes Daptone truly stand out among the two opposing directions the music business has taken since the turn of this century. Nowadays either you are signed to a major and they provide state of the art 72-track analog and 'near infinite'-track '24/192 digital' with all the famous mikes at your disposal or... you keep your independence taking the DIY route with your trusty '58 and all the free plug-ins in the world dumping it on your portable workstation in your basement. As with anything in life, your mileage may vary. Daptone kind of takes the middle ground or rather the 'retro way'; bearing some resemblance to the way Stax-Volt and others were doing things circa 1967-70.

Like the music that inspired them and continues to vibrate in the old 'House of Soul' in the Bushwick neighbourhood, the musicians and singers are captured 'live' with little overdub in a minimalist - though not audiophile purist - way with a mike or two per instrument; nothing esoteric but an assortment of old dynamics and a few newer condensers to experiment with. Tracking is either done on an 8-track half-inch Otari, late 1960s solid state 8-track Ampex or 16-track Tascam tape deck.

The Trident 24-track input mixing desk is then bounced and sent to either a restored 3M or an old Otari quarter-inch 2-track. Modern outboard tube compressors and EQs mixed in with some vintage Altec plus Orban spring reverbs share processing duties.

Many of their recordings are released both on vinyl and CD.

Not having the vinyl, I'll limit my evaluation to the CD version. The modest gatefold cardboard jacket is mostly two-toned with credits listed on the front inside. The CD underside displays twenty of the artist's album covers signed to the label. The back side cover lists the eleven songs.

Recorded to 16-track analog by chief engineer Gabriel Roth with chief tape operator Wayne Gordon and mastered by Steve Berson.

Musically things get off to a good start with "Rite of the Ancients" opening the album in an early 1970s style. Such is not automatically the case sonic-wise. Indeed the sound is compressed leaving the horns thin sounding, lacking 'grunt' in the low-mids around 250 to 600 Hz. Compounding the problem, the whole horn section but especially Jared Tankel's baritone sax is recorded way too far with too much reverb producing a distant emasculated sound for such a powerful 'barking' blattiness in real life. For this type of music and most jazz and funk, the baritone or tenor sax are the foundation of the horn section and because of the ears natural lower sensitivity in that region compared to the upper-mid 'presence' region - where the alto, soprano, trumpet and flute shine through - it is preferable to mike the former up close and 'dry' and backed-up by the bass and drum. Speaking of which, the latter two are on the anemic side also. On a more positive note the percussion sounds and Thomas Brenneck's guitar are fairly clean and tastefully balanced in the mix. All this aside, it remains a solid opener.

Bass, guitar and Mike Deller's electric organ leads a psychedelic intro into "Black Venom". This follows with a mix of drums, congas and shekere establishing a tribal-esque groove underlying tight Middle Eastern-influenced horns, making a nice blend of brass and woodwinds. Still lacking 'grunt', they are slightly less compressed yet still too much. Trumpet 'blowing' turns funkier. About halfway into the piece, the low end suddenly appears - as if 'punched in' on the board - bringing a better tonal balance; too bad it was not present since the beginning of the track or the album for that matter. Equally as excellent music-wise as the opening track.

"River Serpentine" captures the attention with superb majestical cymbal-leading chord changes in the intro. Persuing with slightly panned horns; better 'grunt' in baritone sax. Percussive sounds are clearer also; Vincent Balestrino and Dame Rodriguez add 'color' to the rhythmic groove pattern on shekere and clave, respectively. Deller's melodic organ playing delights over a smooth vibe reminiscent of MFSB's "Love is the Message" (1973, Philadelphia International) and other Gamble-Huff / Vincent Montana, Jr. collaborations. A bit of improvement in the bottom octave but barely. How unfortunate the piece fades out just when the melodic structure was taking a new interesting direction. As if a 'Part-2' was awaiting us on the B-side of a seven-inch single; strange.

"Unbroken, Unshaven" has Thomas Brenneck on guitar up front plus a groovy rhythm section backing him from the get-go. Rodriguez's tambourine is on the left bringing a mid-1970s 'Sunshine' disco sound. The horns come in a bit saturated and 'squashed' on the tape producing mild but distinct distortion. At the other end of the spectrum, bottom is not bad. Structurally, organ soloes first, followed second by Tankel's exciting baritone sax blowing - a shame that he's almost 'lost' in the mix because of recording engineer Gabriel Roth emphasizing reverb over proximity, intimacy and boldness - with organ 'comping'. Once again, superb groove but just when 'getting into it', premature fadeout makes it sound like a 'CD sampler'.

"Nature's Wrath" changes the pace and ambience with an intro presenting a 'crescendo-reverbed' trumpet trill in left field shortly joined by baritone sax on the right. Drum, bass and tremolo-augmented guitar establish a slow tempo 6/8 blues. At last, kick, snare and hi-hat come out stronger in the mix; still a bit veiled and muted in harmonics though well balanced for the meditative mood. Middle Eastern-influenced horn playing, at times majestic, at times 'punchy', eventually ceding spotlight to Daisy Sugarman's flute solo. Before long, horns gradually make a 'crescendoed'-comeback taking over anew. As the piece progresses, the main 'looped' bass/guitar riff becomes hypnotic, having a calming effect. The coda has the trumpet reverberate towards centre-left field. While not outstanding, this is probably the most dynamic, less squashed and saturated track of the album; thus the best sounding one.

"Golden Dunes" sets the pace with a faster 4/4 'feel'. Four-bar intro comprising bass, guitar+tremolo and metronomic cowbell are followed by Arabic tinged horn riffs and 1960s-styled trebly organ, both flirting with dissonance. The rhythm is almost disco. Too bad the horns and organ are quite compressed.

"Budos Dirge" has panned horns with trumpet occupying center-left while baritone sax takes center-right. Snare hit initiates rhythm; drums, congas and bass make for an instantly captivating hook recalling some percussive-oriented disco around 1977. There is some brief intense dissonant brass 'punches'. Sound is more compressed than other tracks, producing a thinner more fatiguing balance. Another premature fadeout unfortunately.

Solo bass plus guitar greet "Raja Haje" soon to be accompanied by clave, shekere and horns in this mildly-fast 3/4 tempo.

"Crimson Skies" repeats the above pattern in structure and instrumentation augmented by the organ. Horns play in unison. Repetitive but interspersed with brief R&B punchy drum fills. Horns a bit too compressed.

"Mark of the Unamed" is more middy and compressed. The backbone rhythm is a cross between the Bar-Kays, The Meters and Booker T. & the M.G's. Midway there is an interesting change of direction. The first run has the bass, guitar, conga, shekere and later baritone sax grooving all along. On the second run, the organ rules 'til the horns make a strong punchy comeback. Saturating a bit in the mix because of the heavy compression, they induce listener fatigue in the end. This is probably the worse sounding track of the album.

"Reppirt Yad" is you guessed it: The Beatles' "Day Tripper" inverted. Taken at a slower pace and darker mood with a bit of 'ghostly' vocals and tambourine like the original featured. Although not bad, it seems a bit 'filler-up' material. I would have left it off the album, instead reducing the numerous unnecessary fadeouts. The compositional skills of the band are impressive enough to keep it an 'all-original' album.

Finally I examined the shape of the waveform from start to finish and based on the numerous amplitude gradations and the overall medium loudness level, it seems that mastering engineer Steve Berson did not use or 'abuse' the limiter or level maximizer like the norm these days. So the compression and harshness noted in the horns must emanate from earlier in the chain, either at the tracking or mixing stage or a combination of both. I then performed a spectrum analysis on every track to give further insight into the problem and my sound perceptions were confirmed by an excess of energy in the upper mids / lower treble roughly spanning the 2 kHz to 6 kHz plus a lack of energy at the other end of the bandwidth under 60 Hz.

Summing up,

in an interview he gave to SOS (Sound On Sound) in 2008, Daptone's recording engineer Gabriel Roth says that he often cuts some bass around 80Hz to 100Hz before printing it on tape so he can get the upper range of the sound to saturate and distort, for which the low frequencies' higher amplitude energy would hinder "the benefit" he's seeking for. He later adds back some low end in the mix "if necessary".

This goes on a long way explaining why this musically awesome album unnecessarily suffers from some important sound compromises. There is this trend lately that certain producers and engineers want to give a 'vintage sound' to a mix, often by rolling off both the low and high end and squashing the life out of a band. To add insult to injury - but surely with good intent - they embrace the advantages of everything analog. Don't get me wrong I love Analog! and have always defended it, even when most everybody was ready to put it to the grave. But I saw this happen in a big way with Arcade Fire's The Suburbs and see it happen all too often. And it is really sad.

Listen to some classic Manu Dibango from the 1970s on Fiesta or Isaac Hayes' Theme From Shaft Soundtrack on Stax/Enterprise or The J.B.'s on People or James Brown's "Body Heat" or Monk's Brilliant Corners or Monk's Music on Riverside or Sonny Rollins' Way Out West on Contemporary and you will hear how a baritone sax, how a tenor, how horns can sound so raw, so powerful, so beautiful and how Analog can be incredible WHEN you use the right mikes and vision.

The Budos Band merit all the praise they can get and it must be great to experience them live but on CD - and the vinyl can't be that far off - they are a bit 'shortchanged'. I'm sure the gang at Daptone have their heart at the right place and you cannot feel but admiration, for people who put their talents and hard earned cash in a 'return to the days when real musicians played on real instruments' and on top of that, support analog and vinyl. Like Booker T. and "Green Onions", let's hope they tinker with the ingredients and perfect the recipe.

_______________________________________________________________ 

STEVIE WONDER - TALKING BOOK

Tamla (1972, Oct.)
Original U.S. pressing T319L

Motown

Canadian pressing T319L B5 RS-8106/07

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (2011)
reissue MOFI 1-009

Evaluated by Claude Lemaire

Rating: 8.0 / A (CAN. Motown)
Rating: 7.7 / A (U.S. Tamla)
Rating: 6.6 / A (MoFi)

Category: Soul / Funk
Format: Vinyl (140 gram LP at 33 1/3 rpm)

Musicians:

• Produced, Arranged and Written by: Stevie Wonder 
• Programming, Engineer, Associate Producer: Malcolm Cecil
• Engineer, Associate Producer: Robert Margouleff
• Engineered by: Austin Godsey
• Assistant Engineers: Joan Decola
• Recorded at Air Studios in London, Electric Lady Studios in New York, Crystal Studios in Los Angeles, and Record Plant in Los Angeles.U.S.A. 
• Originally Mastered by: George Marino
• Remastered and Lacquer-Cutted by Paul Stubblebine for Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Sebastol, CA, U.S.A. 
• Pressed at RTI, CA, U.S.A.
• Cover Design:
• Photography: Robert Margouleff
 

 Stevie Wonder not only distinguishes himself by being one of the rare artist to remain loyal to his debut record label but also nearly fifty years later, the longest signed to the legendary Motown family. In fact, even The Miracles' own Smokey Robinson - named vice president in 1961 - temporarily left the company in the 1990s. Which is all the more astonishing given the fact that just a year before recording Talking Book, when turning twenty-one and as a prior agreement, Motown paid him a million dollars that they held onto while he was minor. Not bad for a birthday present you might think, as long as you ignore the fact that the label owed him 30 million in unpaid royalties.

That's when Wonder founded Taurus Productions and Black Bull Music publishing to assert future control of music and financial rights. Those early years at parent company Tamla and its subsidiary Gordy was a veritable who's who of what was to become the biggest names in (Detroit) soul music in the nineteen-sixties and early-seventies; The Temptations, The Supremes, The Four Tops, Junior Walker, Marvin Gaye and of course Little Stevie Wonder as he was known at that time. Of that list - and not in the least discarding the great musical contributions of the remainders - the latter two, stand out as the true pioneer 'rule breakers' from the 'Berry Template'.

Just like Marvin's 1971 groundbreaking What's Going On [Tamla]; Stevie's Where I'm Coming From [Tamla] released within a month the same year, departed from the well-oiled 'Motown machine recipe' and set the stage for what is considered his peak creative period. Starting with Music of My Mind the following year and culminating with Songs in the Key of Life in 1976; the apex of which arguably being 1972's Talking Book or 1973's Innervision [all on Tamla].

Compared to Wonder's poppish soul characterized by his formative recording years, Talking Book explores new grounds in instrumentation such as synthesizer and clavinet; putting a heavier emphasis on funk than previous albums. Also, and like soul innovator Marvin Gaye, he retained more artistic freedom than ever before; being credited as songwriter, producer and playing a great many of the instruments.

In effect it is immediately clear that we are in another universe as far as the Motown Sound is concerned; there is nary a hint of the famous Holland-Dozier-Holland nor Smokey signature. As for his later period; like so many of his contemporaries, the 'creative juices' did not seem to be 'au rendez-vous' so much. While still retaining commercial success in the 1980s, the rich multilayered compositions and musical advances of the previous decade were no longer - the low point being no doubt the perennial wedding favorite "I Just Called to Say I Love You" from - you guessed it - 1984 (there's that year again) and 1982's 'wishy-washy' duet with Paul McCartney, "Ebony and Ivory"; quite ivory indeed when juxtaposed against a song like "Living for the City".

This is the second record under MFSL's 'Silver Label Series' that I am evaluating; the first one being July's KC & The Sunshine Band that impressed me greatly for its many improvements over the original. I was eager to find out if MoFi could produce another winner with Talking Book.

Apart from the silver band at the top, the gatefold jacket-cover remains a near exact replica of the original, minus the bottom left 'TAMLA square' and a hint more emphasis in the reds. The back cover maintains the original's printed lyrics, supplemented by the universal barcode and MoFi logos.

Opening the jacket, the 'sunset picture' along with the usual credits are faithfully reproduced.

Mobile's slightly heavier rigid carton is both reassuring for long time preservation and gladly surprising considering the lower price of this series; no cutting corners packaging wise (some of the competing labels should take note). Inside, the record is housed in their flexible anti-static rice paper 'Original Master Sleeves'. In addition, a folded light carton with twelve album covers taken from the 'Silver Label Series' adorning one side and various products on the flip side, brings further record protection. The standard-weight LP appeared a bit lighter than 150 grams plus seemingly more flexible than the KC & The Sunshine Band of the same series - probably closer to 140 grams; the original vinyl is sturdier and a bit thicker. It is an unfortunate fact that pressing plants will exhibit from time to time, small variants in vinyl weight, strength and surface noise due to so many variants; vinyl pellets, temperature, humidity, release times and stamper quality just to name a few (artistic, technical and environmental aspects all come into play). Pressed at RTI in California; it was shiny and black with a few light visual - almost tangential - scuff marks mainly on Side 2 on the second and third track; these are common enough under good lighting conditions but not that worrisome. As per usual with MoFi, the new label does not try to reproduce the original (in this case the yellow+brown Tamla) but instead is plain black with a top rim of white. The groove spacing is close to the original U.S. Tamla pressing, but in reverse; where the original utilized just over 3 1/8 inches on side A and 3 1/4 inches on side B of width modulation, the MoFi is modulated 3 1/4 on A and 3 1/8 on B, leaving an adequate dead-wax margin. With roughly 21 to 23 min./side, there could be some compromise regarding cutting level versus frequency bandwidth for the chosen speed. The original was mastered and cut by George Marino at The Cutting Room while the MoFi was handled by Paul Stubblebine.

Recorded in 1972 by engineers Joan De Cola and Austin Godsey at four different studios in London, L.A. and New-York. With our man handling more than his fair share of the instruments, we can ascertain with certainty that this was a pure analog muIti-track - 16 track most probably - tape recording and the 'sound fashion' of those early seventies was typically fat groovy warmth plus soft and smooth highs trumping loudness level; quite the opposite of today's 'fashion' and even of the preceding 'Motown Sound' for that matter.

I started the 'spinning shootout' with my original United States Tamla first pressing. The opening notes of "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" was pretty much as I remembered; warm generous bass and low mids but a definite lack of airiness in the top end, making a pleasant but ill-defined soft sound. Singer James Gilstrap enters first on the left followed by Lani Groves on the right before Stevie takes over in the middle as lead vocal. The vocals are 'creamy' with warm palpability and retain a rare dry naturalness; no artificial reverb here. Cymbals are a bit far and curtailed in the mix. Switching to the MoFi, I was surprised and disappointed that the lows were attenuated and the vocals lost the very positive qualities mentioned above. The one minor improvement was a 'lifting of veils' in the higher frequencies, producing better clarity but at the expense of tone; as if the treble details were somehow distracting or intruding on the gestalt of the music. That said on certain systems and with different sound priorities, some audiophiles may prefer this opposite tonal tilt. As seems to be a recurring theme with the 'newer' MoFi LPs, the cutting level registers roughly 4dB lower on the sound meter; so of course levels were re-adjusted between swaps.

"Maybe Your Baby" takes us on a radical departure from the sophisticated suave pop of the prior track. Here things turn grittier with a slow tempo heavy-funk worthy of Sly Stone that did not get the fair amount of airplay that it deserved. Synthesizer maven Robert Margouleff and bassist Malcolm Cecil who had work previously with Stevie on Music of My Mind bring their magic to this awesome cut.

Already working as a duo under the name Tonto's Expanding Head Band, the three would later collaborate on Billy Preston's 1975 album It's My Pleasure [A&M] with ex-backup Motown singer, friend and former wife Syreeta Wright lending voice on one track. Margouleff often served as a bridge between the creations of electro-whiz Robert Moog and adventurous musicians. Their elaborate keyboard programming enabled Wonder to expand the sonic landscape encompassing urban ghetto-soul, P-Funk and electronic sounds; opening up doors for future black musicians to integrate more electronic sounds in their music. The sonic differences between both copies remained pretty much the same, with the original pushing the lower fundamentals of the vocals upfront with a nice warm densely sustain on the electric guitar blending in the mix and more in the background; again everything a bit veiled and muffled. The MoFi was less veiled with the cymbals more pronounced, this widening a bit the soundstage. The vocals pushing more the harmonics, sounded as if higher pitched a bit. Too bad the diminished bottom robbed some of the bass power of the song. Nevertheless this is probably the track to come out the strongest or balanced in sound regarding the MoFi version.

"You and I (We Can Conquer the World)" is the worse sounding track of the album regardless of which pressing; displaying lots of sibilance in the reverb tail of the vocals, close to distortion and a lack of weight on the piano; moreso on the MoFi. Although a hit, music wise it was never my cup of tea. A bit of surface noise could be heard in the right channel but not surprisingly my second-hand original had even more.

With "Tuesday Heartbreak", Stevie returns to form in this lighter funky soul piece. This, along with “Maybe Your baby”, is the high points of side A in terms of original composition, arrangements as well as on sonic terms. Comparisons in sound remained constant and in line with those described in the prior tracks.

"You've got It Bad Girl" closes the first half of the album. It is obvious that the tape suffers from excessive distortion mainly caused by the truly disturbing sibilance and what resembles some flute - though none are mentioned in the credits - like playing. The mix seems almost saturated as if the meters were pegging '+5dB' on the soundboard or the tape heads at the time. Add to that the less favorable 'end of side / inner-groove' handicap pushing twenty-three minutes and you've got yourself a recipe for disaster. On the original, with its shelved treble, the distortion is a bit less obtrusive if you are not in comparative mode but once exposed, it is there alright and hard to ignore.

At this juncture, it seemed evident that both pressings were far from ideal and that - sibilance aside - an 'in-between' solution (as far as tonal balance / equalization is concerned) was still wanting; enter the 'Classic Canadian Compromise'.

I remembered a friend who had a mid-1970s 'indigo' Motown pressing (gatefold with squared maple leaf emblem but pre-barcode [T 319L B5 RS-8106/07]). As luck would have it, while still not perfect, it nevertheless fit the bill for navigating right in the middle between bottom heavy-shelved top and shelved lows-ascending treble. Surprisingly transparent for a Canadian (most probably) second pressing; usually the Canadian counterparts have a bit less top end detail than the U.S. and imports. The cutting level fell in between also and compensated for.

Side B opens with the blockbuster funk classic "Superstition". Originally offered to Jeff Beck who had created the drum beat, Wonder was persuaded by Berry Gordy to make it his own first. The 'Man' may have got it wrong a few times, but there is no doubt he got it right this time and was the best advice he ever gave to his protégé. Reaching number one on the charts, with its instantly recognizable funky clavinet riff along with Margouleff & Cecil`s Moog and Arp sounds, it remains one of the grooviest song ever put to wax.

Towards the coda the tenor and trumpet trade places thanks to 'Mr. Pan Pot' keeping things exciting 'til the last notes. The original has great weight and grunt in the bottom plus lots of presence in the mids conveying a very groovy feel to the song. The 'nasty' Hoener clavinet has good clear bite. Negatively the hi-hat is lacking in overtones which is really a shame. The MoFi lacked quite a bit of weight reducing the groove factor but had more detail in the top end. The Canadian alternative got it almost spot on, with impressive clarity in the treble plus nice hi-hat definition balanced at just the correct level. Only minor caveat was a slight penalty in the bottom bass impact and low mid warmth proximity which couldn't displace the U.S. Tamla.

"Big Brother" takes on another direction with some oriental aspirations.

"Blame It On the Sun", another strong composition, comes out best on the original with very good tonal balance, tremendous lows, creamy vocals and the highs a bit better leveled and detailed than the rest of the album. The Canadian is a close second.

"Lookin' for Another Pure Love" with Jeff Beck on electric guitar, is equally as strong if not more so. Sonic differences between all three pressings remain constant.

The album closes off with the much covered "I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)".

After completing my evaluation I roamed the forums and the web (I never do before to prevent pre-bias influence) to gather added info on the subject. I subsequently found out that Stevie Wonder preciously withholds the two-track Master Tape and there is no way it ever leaves its master. So we cannot be sure of the fidelity of the copy, that mastering engineer Paul Stubblebine had to work with.

Summing up, cautiously recommended only if you don't already own an original Tamla in good condition or have always found it to be shelved and veiled on top. If you feel funky but are hesitating between this reissue and MoFi's KC & The Sunshine Band [MOFI 1-012], wait no longer and go for the latter. It may not carry the artistic recognition that Talking Book has earned throughout the years - not surprising given the 'anti-disco' attitude of the mainstream press - but with no filler-up material, it displays less distortion and a much better - near perfect - tonal balance. Or if you feel more soulful, Marvin's What's Going On [MFSL 1-314] may be better - I have not had the chance to assess theirs, but know the original recording was really excellent. In any case, with their vast selection of music styles, there are plenty other MoFi titles that I would recommend for sound before this one. For the most neutral tonal balance, try to find an early to mid-1970s Canadian Motown pressing. If your tastes cater more to a weighty low-mid palpable creaminess and can tolerate the missing top end harmonics, go for the original United States Tamla first pressing on the second-hand market. Rating them, the original Tamla and Canadian Motown would garner between a 7.5 and 8. The latter sounds like an excellent neutral MOSFET transistor, while the former compares more to a well-played vintage tube with its charms and limits.

The pitfalls of having done mastering and owning a neutrally revealing system is the tendency to second-guess one's peers. There are so many 'what ifs': what if the engineer added a 3dB lift under 80 Hz to retained the weight or tamed down the 5 kHz to 10 kHz octave by half a dB or so to lessen the sibilance and even more important; what if Mobile had had access to the Original Master Recording that resides 'stashed in the Maestro's Vault'? So many questions...

For now, only Stevie may well know the answer while one has to Wonder. ________________________________________________________________

JAGA JAZZIST - ONE ARMED BANDIT

Ninja Tune (2010, Jan.)

Original U.K. pressing ZEN 152

Evaluated by Claude Lemaire
 

Rating: 7.5/ A 

Category: Post-Prog-Fusion
Format: Vinyl (2 x 180g at 33 1/3 rpm)

Musicians:

• Lars Horntveth - Clarinet, Flute, Guitar, Piano, Clarinet (Bass), Keyboards, Programming, Sax (Baritone), Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor), Lap Steel Guitar
• Martin Horntveth - Percussion, Drums, Programming, Bells, Psaltery, Drum Machine, Temple - Blocks, Marxophone, Mandolin Harp
• Mathias Eick - Piano, Trumpet, French Horn, Keyboards, Bass (Upright)
• Line Horntveth - Flute, Percussion, Tuba, Glockenspiel, Vocals
• Erik Johannessen - Trombone, Marxophone
• Andreas Mjos - Guitar, Percussion, Glockenspiel, Marimba, Vibraphone
• Øystein Moen - Organ, Synthesizer, Percussion, Piano
• Even Ormestad - Bass, Percussion, Glockenspiel, Keyboards 
• Stian Westerhus - Percussion, Guitar (Electric), Harp, Guitar (12 String), Effects, Guitar (Baritone)
• All music written by Lars Horntveth
• All music arranged by Jaga Jazzist and Jørgen Træen
• Produced by Jørgen Træen and Jaga Jazzist
• Recorded by Jørgen Træen in Cabin Recorders and Wallpaper, Oslo, December 2008
• Assistant Engineering by Even Ormestad
• Mixed by John McEntire in Soma Studios, April/May 2009
• Additional Mixing by Mike Hartung and Chris Sansom in Propeller Music Division, August 2009
• Mastered by Chris Sansom in Propeller Mastering, August 2009
• Design by Yokoland 
• Photography By – Morten Spaberg

There's fusion and then there is Fusion. Although the former is usually found in the company of jazz and rock; the latter is very rarely encountered or accomplished in music. Norwegian multi-talented nonet Jaga Jazzist tends to fall in the second clan. Having just played the 'Festival International de Jazz de Montréal' last July, the band still on the heels of their fifth album One-Armed Bandit,are at the top of their game.

Often considered the first jazz-rock fusion recording, Miles Davis' 1969 In a Silent Way (Columbia) certainly laid the groundwork for what would be the main creative jazz incarnation of the following decade - although hinted the year before on Miles in the Sky (Columbia). Without diminishing the importance and creative genius of Miles, we must not forget the earlier works of Gary Burton with Larry Coryell nor the psychedelic extended jams of Haight-Ashbury's Grateful Dead nor the 'nothing is sacred' experimentations of the Mothers of Invention.

In fact Frank Zappa is probably the most direct musical influence on One-Armed Bandit; add in a dash of Reich minimalism and sprinkle some more modern fare of the likes of Chicago's Tortoise, and you pretty much get the winning recipe. Interestingly, most of the album was mixed by John McEntire of Tortoise; with additional mixing by Mike Hartung and Chris Sansom, the latter responsible for the mastering.

Four different front covers representing the typical set of slot-machine symbols - grapes, bell, cherries, etc. - grace the LP's and CD's.

Although not a gatefold, the jacket is nonetheless nicely presented in a quality carton distinguished by its front visual simplicity with back artistic hues and tactile pleasure; the 'Warhol' look contrasting with the nature morte of Morten Spaberg.

 Inside there is a simple album-sized shiny insert sporting the 'slot' symbols on one side and numerous credits on black background on the flip side.

The LP's are housed in quality black paper sleeves with 'angled-cropped' corners, there is no protective liner so care must be taken not to scratch the surfaces during insertion. The labels feature the grapes, bell an orange symbols respectively on my copy while side D features 'KA-CHING' written in yellow on black The vinyl was flat, shiny and black with nice groove modulations for the eyes.  The 'groove width spread' is approx. 3 1/4 inches for side A and 3 1/8 inches for side B and C. D has no music content; instead it is visually quite special with the words 'BLAM', 'CRASH!', 'KA-CHING' and FWEEEEEE' inscribe across the vinyl. At no more than 20 minutes of music per side and 33 1/3 rpm, it should not present any problem for bandwidth and a medium cutting level. That said, spreading the ten tracks on all four sides instead of three would have been a wiser choice in sonic terms of course.

Place your bets!

The cutting level on side A lies at a moderate level, higher than the Cars on MoFi and lower than the Vex'd on Planet Mu. "The Thing Introduces...", opens with a gong followed by a crescendo of low cut bandpass-filtered brass ensemble and crash cymbal. Lasting a mere 23 seconds, it serves as a short intro to the title track of the album. A 'pinched sound' type keyboard which I presume is the marxophone leads the way, french horn, brass, raunchy guitar, drums and percussion build up track over track leading to a sound density close to distortion. There are 'Bond-esque' stylings to the musical arrangements and the french horns or brass share two musical themes. The sound somewhat veiled, is only fair.

"Bananfluer Overalt" starts with the drums; there is a slight doubling effect, an extremely short delay blended in, thickening the sound. The whole thing lacks airiness. The initial smooth tempo changes radically at the bridge, jumping into a hurried frenzy and later returning to the calmer main theme.

A complete change of ambience awaits us with the last track of side A. "220 V/Spektral" presents a delicate piano intro, bass follows, subtle bass clarinet or sax add their touch. Syncopated beats keep it interesting; the close mic’ing captures well the breathing of the sax. The sound is better, airier, less compressed and less thick. A distorted synth comes in and the rhythm is very complex. Unfortunately cymbals are dirty and confused. Up to now the pressing is perfect, not one tick or pop; the E.U., no doubt trying to redeem itself on that front.

Flipping to side B, there is a tiny pressing circular spot on track one. Also it seems cut just a bit lower. "Toccata" opens with an intro worthy of Steve Reich's groundbreaking pieces Drumming / Music for Mallet Instruments ...(Deutsche Grammophon) from 1974 and Music for 18 Musicians (ECM) from 1978. And like the Master of Minimalism himself, Jaga Jazzist juxtaposes organ with piano with marinba in a 6/4 meter heading towards another Bond-esque theme, this time recalling moments from John Barry's 1967 soundtrack of You Only Live Twice (United Artist). In a nutshell, think Philip Glass' 1983 The Photographer (CBS) meets brassy big band meets John Barry meets Reich - blended in one superb hook. The sound keeps getting better, cleaner and breathier. Best track up to now.

"Prognissekongen" has the markings of King Crimson's Robert Fripp doing the "Elephant Talk" / Discipline / Larks' Tongues in Aspic dance. Throw in some early 1970s syncopated Yes, an accelerando piano a la ELP, a snippet of prepared piano and the interplay of The Bad Plus with the blessing of Zappa; like the title implies this track is truly the king of heavy progressive. A close second to the previous one in sound.

The drum 'doubling delay' returns on "Book of Glass". Dribbling rhythm of bass and drums in a filtered murky sound give a hectic pace to this somewhat 1980s prog-fusion styling. In the background we hear a repetitive metronomic synth counting time. Further down the road the instrumental buildup distorts, losing both extremes of the spectrum; probably wanted for creative purposes, nevertheless it becomes bothersome up to a point. Back to average sound.

Moving on to side C, the pressing looks beautiful with nice groove 'etchings'. "Music! Dance! Drama!" displays veiled drums, artistically wanted no doubt. Some warbling synth accompanied by glockenspiel subliminally recall 'space music' heard in Star Trek's original pilot "The Cage"by Alexander Courage. Electric guitar, harp and brass contribute to a large buildup until a very syncopated break of brass augmented by abrasive guitar, culminate again in grandiose 'Bond-sound character'.

"Touch of Evil" gives a nod to Pink Floyd's The Wall (EMI Harvest) with a short helicopter intro. Heavy distorted bass goes down low, producing good weight plus fine details in the highs. A quick tempo 4/4 meter driving-kick followed by handclaps, background syncopated snare and trombone lead to some angular guitar riff 'taken right out' of a Shellac/Albini record. This is the best track music and sonic wise.

"Endless Galaxy" (which appears only on the LP version) is quite complex in rhythm. The break lets glockenspiel, percussion, bass and acoustic guitar share the intimate stage before a 4/4 syncopated beat adds the finishing touch.

Lastly, a comparison between the CD and LP versions revealed the former to gain a bit in the lower registers regarding weight while the latter easily came out on top in the treble airiness, with lesser compression and congestion in the oftentimes dense mix. The supplementary track combined with the excellent pressing quality and vastly superior artistic design make the vinyl LP the natural choice.

Summing up, owing more to the 'left cerebral hemisphere' than the 'right', Jaga Jazzist's One-Armed Bandit was still sufficiently enticing to tap my foot to their challenging music compositions, which is not always the case with most fusion.

Combining such diverse instruments as drum, percussion, bass, guitar, tuba, trombone, French horn, trumpet, clarinet, saxes, marxophone, piano, organ and many more plus odd meters used as the default time signature, it should delight any open minded Zappaesque enthusiast as well as the post-prog-fusion crowd.

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