King Britt, Remembers Only. (Ovum Recordings, 2001). This is very possibly the record of the summer, imho. It is much deeper, musically speaking, than his first (now classic) Sylk 130 release, but even with all the slickness, the songs are the thing. This is a party album that budding producers can really sink into. (In fact, the last time I was so blown away with production was back in the day of 4 Hero's 2 Pages and some of the UFO productions.)
Almost all of the selections are vocal cuts. Holdovers from the first Sylk 130 joint include Alison Moyet and Capitol A, but the new comers are in full-effect; Vikter Duplaix, Jazzy Jeff, The Cosmic Funk Orchestra, even Grover Washington Jr. in what was, I believe, the final track of his career.
You've got the beautiful tracks, like "Skipping Stones" f. Alison Moyet, (check out the string arrangements, courtesy the Elixer Quartet, and James Poyser's moody acoustic piano). Incredible vocal arrangments here. Also on the same line, Vikter Duplaix is featured on "I'll Do It For You." If you're waiting for Maxwell's newest, this might hold you over for a bit.
You've got the Jordache / Sassoon shakin' vibe of "Happiness" f. Alma Horton, which puts you in mind of those AM radio jamz from back in the day, but with King Britt's distinctive touch of class. And the Chic good time party vibe comes out on "I Can't Wait" featuring Twyla.
The Grover Washinton track shows one of the strenghts of this album, the drum programming. I don't know who did it (King Britt, I guess?) but it is really nice. It's on the 1984 "Sound System" tip (lots of sixteenth and thirty-second notes, not much swing or shuffle, and all with those vintage sounding beat boxes.) In fact, the programming here is a lot better than most of what I've got on my '80's albums.
Finally, you've got your party-party Fab Five Freddy / Fantastic Five type tracks (All The Way Live, and a track that out-Jurassic's the J5, Cobbs' Creek.)
So yeah... pick it up. It's a good one on a lot of different levels.
***********
Also picked up the new Greyboy release, Mastered at the Art. (Ubiquity, 2001). Man, this is one MOODY hip hop record. Lots of melancholy flute and guitar passages, stark, jarring (but hellainteresting) chord changes, ethereal bits of female vocal, agressive raps from the Blackthought school by MC Main Flo, live bass and guitar from Elgin Park, all mixed up and topped with legendary vibist Dave Pike adding his authentic flavor here and there.
This is, with a few exceptions, a mellow, dark disk, with real austere production values. But there's alot of musical depth here, thanks to the contribution of Park (aka Mike Andrews), who transforms the tracks from bumps and beats into fully-realized, deep musical pieces. Texturally, it owes a bit to "PreEmptive Strike" but it is not as lush, it's a bit ruffer on the ears. This is another deep disc that gives it up on repeated listenings.
So there you have it. Yin and Yang, Light and Darkness, both available at your local record store.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Jun 28 2001 - 16:56:19 CEST