thoughts on greyboy allstars (again!)
Fischbarg, Victor (fischbav@moodys.com)
Fri, 15 Mar 96 17:37:00 EST
having seen last night's show in NYC, I must add my name to the list of
admirers Greyboy Allstars have collected on this list...I could only watch
about 25 minutes though! therefore I was so sorry I wasn't able to hook up
with those of you who were there and couldn't send those hellos to the band
for you (sorry teresa & tim) teresa, your beau is extremely talented and
focused and has that subdued Rhodes touch -- which got me to thinking about
how ALL the members groove together so well as many of you noticed -- what I
think is this and forgive me if I'm repeating what any one else already
said: they don't OVER-play. They just groove well together because they
listen and subtly play together...could that be the difference between east
& west coast that someone wrote that they heard...because the times when
I've seen the Groove Collective live (which was cited as the example of east
coast) it's just down right sloppy playing by a ton of people who all want
to be heard as the baddest retro cats around. Could the difference cited
between gritty east vs. "sunny sounding" west be as simple as the difference
between sloppy and rehearsed? Just my $0.02...
But THEN I was disappointed after their great live show and the raves you
all have given the Greyboy records stuff when I then bought the band's "D is
for Diesel." Is it just me or does the recording sound very dry and
unnecessarily digital? Their arrangements are so similar to much in the
Jamiroquai/BNH vein and yet the production sounds more like a rehearsal in a
basement than a finished record...was that the intent? Is it supposed to be
like an anti-record record? Because I don't think that succeeds in making
them sound more vintage, just more poorly recorded.