BOB CREWE - THE COMPLETE ELEKTRA RECORDINGS
What do “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” “Jenny, Take a Ride”
and “Lady Marmalade” all have in common?
Each one of those songs came from the pen from Bob Crewe. A songwriter, producer, singer, entrepreneur,
artist and candidate for the title of “Fifth Season,” Crewe was one of music’s
true renaissance men. With Bob Gaudio,
he co-wrote and produced most of the Four Seasons’ greatest hits, and he also
guided the careers of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Oliver, and many others. Yet one period of his extraordinary career
has been long overlooked…until now.
During 1976 and 1977, Crewe was signed to Elektra Records, where he
released two remarkably diverse albums.
1976’s Street Talk resurrected The Bob Crewe Generation, best-known for
the swinging bachelor pad classic “Music to Watch Girls By,” for the disco
age. As a “disco-rock ballet” concept
album aimed at Broadway, Street Talk reflected the exuberant, uninhibited and
provocative spirit of the era with its lush, orchestral disco style. The following year, Crewe emerged as a
singer-songwriter with the solo Motivation.
Helmed by legendary rock producer Jerry Wexler and famed Muscle Shoals
musician Barry Beckett, Motivation was inspired by Carole King’s Tapestry and
remains a passionate, spiritual and raw pop statement from an artist who had
plenty to say. Real Gone Music’s Bob
Crewe – The Complete Elektra Recordings, the inaugural release from the label’s
new Second Disc Records imprint, brings these two, long-unavailable hidden gems
to CD in the United States for the very first time. And that’s not all. A host of never-on-CD bonus tracks have been
added to each title including rare singles and remixes! The Second Disc’s Joe Marchese provides the
new liner notes for this newly-remastered collection. Take one listen, and you’ll agree: Crewe’s
pulse-pounding, emotionally-charged Elektra recordings deserve a place
alongside his undisputed classics…and offer a timely tribute to this late,
great pop music giant. ~ Real Gone
JACKY TERRASSON - TAKE THIS
Pianist/composer Jacky Terrasson makes his Impulse! label
debut with Take This, a sparkling new disc that captures the quintessence of
his multifaceted musical makeup, which often draws upon modern post-bop, pop,
hip-hop, European classical, and African and Afro-Caribbean rhythms and
melodies. On Take This, Terrasson convenes a truly international band featuring
American bassist Burniss Travis, Cuban-born drummer Lukmil Perez, Malian
percussionist Adama Diarra, and Afro-French vocalist and human beatbox virtuoso
Sly Johnson, forming a hip cosmopolitan combo that represents jazz s expansive
global mindedness while still affirming its African-American roots. ~ Amazon
JAKOB BRO - GEFION
Gefion is Danish guitarist Jakob Bro's first ECM album as
leader, following recordings for the label as sideman with Paul Motian and
Tomasz Stanko. Like the work of those masters Bro s balladeering distils a sense
of jazz history in its specific and highly personal atmospheres. The open forms
of Bro s compositions leave plenty of space for his companions drum legend Jon
Christensen and creative bassist-of-the-moment Thomas Morgan - to make their
statements, interactively and in parallel. And there is space too for the
listener s imagination to follow the flow and the delicate melodic tracery of
Bro s electric guitar in this thoughtful and poetic album. Gefion was recorded
in Oslo s Rainbow Studio in November 2013 and produced by Manfred Eicher. ~ Amazon
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