Remixes And Rarities celebrates the expansive sound of Matt Bianco featuring a selection of recordings from across their first four studio albums: ‘Who’s Side Are You On?’ (1984), ‘Matt Bianco’ (1986), ‘Indigo’ (1988), and ‘Samba In Your Casa’ (1990).Containing remixes of the band’s many singles including the highly sought after Steve Anderson remix of ‘Half A Minute’, never released commercially until now. Among the rarities is a previously unreleased version of ‘You’re The Rhythm’ featuring the spectacularly soulful Kym Mazelle, the First Lady Of House Music, on lead vocals; and the original version of ‘Blame It On That Girl’. An essential companion piece to the deluxe editions of ‘Who’s Side Are You On’, ‘Matt Bianco’, and ‘Indigo’, each of which have been released on the Cherry Pop label and have sold extremely well. Inlcudes a 20-page booklet containing comprehensive credits and a fully illustrated discography. Remastered from the original master tapes stored in the Warner archives. Also available: ‘Whose Side Are You On?’ (Deluxe Edition) ‘Matt Bianco’ (Deluxe Edition) ‘Indigo’ (Deluxe Edition)
Bassist Luke Stewart is fast becoming one of our favorite talents on his instrument in recent years – an artist who first grabbed our ears with his work in Irreversible Entanglements, but who seems even better suited to stand out front as a leader! The performance of the trio here is wonderful – complex, but organic – very rhythmic, but also never tied to the groove – maybe a bit in the spirit of the UK group Ill Considered at times, but with a direction that's very much its own! In addition to Stewart on bass, the always-amazing Chad Taylor is on drums – really given the space here to remind us how brilliant he can be – and the group also features Brian Settles on tenor, carving out these really beautiful lines over the top. Titles include "Roots", "Angles", "Reminiscence", "Circles", and "Dream House". ~ Dusty Groove
Maybe one of the most beautiful albums we've heard from William Hooker in years – and a set that has so much more to offer than just his work on drums! There's certainly some of the freer, more improvised moments on the record that you'd expect from Hooker – but there's also these wonderfully tuneful passages, too – work that draws from all sorts of warmly crafted sounds from other group members – a lineup that features Mara Rosenbloom and Mark Hennen on piano, Jimmy Lopez on percussion, Charles Compo on flute, Stephen Gauci and Sarah Manning on saxes, and Jal Rohm Parker Wells on bass. There's also a bit of electronics from Theo Woodward – an element that's used sparingly, but in really great ways – and at the core, Hooker is still very much in charge of the proceedings, as you can feel when he really gets going on the kit. Titles include "Right Speech", "Ring Pass Not", "Seven Rays", "Major Planetary Centres", "Sequence Of The Form", and "Synthesis Of Understanding". ~ Dusty Groove
William Parker's given us some tremendous music over the years, but this album may be one of our favorites of the bunch – as the set's got this back-to-basics approach that has Parker working in trio formation with Hamid Drake on drums and Daniel Carter on reeds – all with this effortless sense of fluid spontaneity that comes through right from the very first note! The interplay between the musicians is fantastic – free, but always very soulful and directed too – and Carter shifts between trumpet, alto, tenor, clarinet, and flute – making these really magical sounds that are sometimes echoed by Parker on trombonium and shakuhachi. The whole album's brilliant – and features the long songs "Happiness", "Painted Scarf", "Groove 77", and "Painter's Winter". ~ Dusty Groove
No comments:
Post a Comment