New Grooves:
Here are some recent new additions to the collection.
The Blackbyrds: City Life (Jazz Dispensary/Craft Recordings)
Back in the early 1970s, Donald Byrd departed from his hard bop albums and drifted into more modern forms of jazz. A few of his early albums in this direction recalled some of the modal and fusion recordings of Miles Davis (think In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, etc.). But when Byrd connected with Larry and Fonce Mizell with the Black Byrd album, he touched on a new direction of soul, and funk mixed into jazz. While jazz purists shunned it, the record was successful enough that it became Blue Note’s best selling album, and led Byrd to record four more with the Mizell brothers team, while also spurring other artists to follow his path.
Byrd was also a jazz educator at Howard University during this time and with his guidance, some of his students formed the band The Blackbyrds, whose charting hits included “Walking in Rhythm” (a million-seller), “Happy Music,” and “Rock Creek Park,” the latter two released on the Fantasy record City Life. This album is one of the newest installments in the Jazz Dispensary Top Shelf series from Craft Recordings and per usual, Kevin Gray’s mastering gives it some much-needed clarity. The music itself is more in line with horn-based funk and soul than it was with jazz, but still has some of the spirit of jazz thanks to Donald Byrd’s production and guidance. The Blackbyrds’ albums would later be sampled heavily by many artists. I’ve enjoyed this one quite a bit, especially since I recognized “Rock Creek Park” as a song our local jazz radio station played throughout the 70s.
Black Sabbath: Paranoid (Rhino High Fidelity/Warner)
I vowed that if Rhino High Fidelity ever released Paranoid, I would buy it before it disappeared. Indeed, the original numbered pressings sold out quickly, but I lucked into getting one of the unnumbered re-pressings. Like the first Black Sabbath album I mentioned a few months ago, this is the best I’ve heard this record sound. Again, it’s no audiophile masterpiece, but the improved mastering makes the best of it. The Rhino version it replaced was also quite good, although it had an odd volume shift halfway through “War Pigs.” But how could I pass up a record with my favorite Sabbath song, “Fairies Wear Boots”? This album is packed full of other great early Sabbath songs like “War Pigs,” “Iron Man,” and “Paranoid.”
Bill Evans: Moon Beams (OJC/Craft Recordings/Riverside)
As much as I like Bill Evans, honestly, I’m so tired of seeing Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby reissued incessantly by every audiophile label out there. (Fellas, Bill Evans did record other albums!) I’m so over it. And this is where Moon Beams steps in. It was one of the first records Evans recorded after Scott LaFaro’s tragic death (the other, recorded during the same sessions, is How My Heart Sings!), with Chuck Israels taking over the bass chair. It is a low-key album of ballads that seems to slip under the radar, but it’s not as moody as you would think. Evans still tickles the ivories like only Bill Evans can, and while the mood may be a bit darker following LaFaro’s passing, he is still lively on the keys. Craft has done another great job with remastering this title, certainly as good as the Analogue Productions SACD version I’ve had for years.
Pearl Jam: Ten (Epic)
I’m a bit of a latecomer to Pearl Jam, as I’d heard a few of their songs on the radio when they were new but never took the plunge to buy one of their albums, except for Vitalogy. I recently heard “Even Flow” after many years and it was not only still a strong piece, hearing it made me want to explore the rest of the album. Using my trusty Qobuz subscription to check it out beforehand, I picked up the Sony/Legacy reissue on vinyl and honestly, it’s fairly good for a major label reissue. Might there be better versions? Perhaps. But like other records I buy, this one sounds plenty good enough for me, and I have no reason to chase down a better version, if it even exists.
I haven’t really dipped into my older alternative rock favorites in recent years, but this Pearl Jam record is one that fits the season. With that in mind, here are some more seasonal favorites of mine.
Library Grooves
These are some records on my shelves that I return to for music I enjoy, along with their outstanding sound quality. You still may be able to find these on sites like Discogs or eBay.
Tears for Fears: The Seeds of Love (Mobile Fidelity)
I first had this on CD when it originally came out. While I liked their first two albums, I wasn’t prepared for how different this album was from those earlier two recordings. Not only were the lyrics and music more upbeat and positive, the sound of this well-engineered recording (thanks to David Bascombe and Bob Clearmountain) was fantastic, as the group put aside the synthpop stylings for more acoustic and organic sounds, and a handful of guest musicians. (That’s Phil Collins on “Woman in Chains,” and the group was also responsible for discovering singer Oleta Adams, who features prominently on three tracks on this record.) “Advice for the Young at Heart” may possibly be my favorite Tears for Fears song.
It’s easily one of the best-sounding recordings in my collection, regardless of format. I’ve had the originally released CD since it came out. I found a used Fontana LP several years ago but it had a few too many clicks and pops to be enjoyable. Mobile Fidelity released this a while ago and it is a respectable version of this album as well.
Harry Belafonte: Belafonte Sings the Blues (Impex)
I grew up having access to this record when I was a young kidlet, but I think I only played a minute or two of it each time. As a kid (and like many other kids), if the album didn’t have any upbeat songs on it, I wasn’t interested. I guess I was expecting another album like Calypso, which I played so often in my youngest years that it’s apparently part of my DNA. The copy my mother had was the monaural release, in an interesting thick-spined jacket. When I saw Belafonte Sings the Blues as a 2-LP 45 RPM set, I took note and promptly ordered it.
I didn’t realize that the cast of musicians on this record was an A-list of top Los Angeles jazzers (among them Jimmy Rowles, Jack Sperling, Hank Jones, Ben Webster, and Plas Johnson, who takes a rare turn on baritone sax on “Losing Hand”). And this record is also notable in Belafonte’s catalog for being his first stereo recording; it is very well recorded, covering every nuance of this quiet recording. While it’s not a “traditional” blues album (only “In the Evenin’ Mama” and “Cotton Fields” qualify), it does have many other great songs, including a cover of a Billie Holiday song, and three covers of Ray Charles. Rediscovering it many decades after I first heard it, I don’t play it often, but it is a rarefied treat when I do.
The Police: Synchronicity (A&M, first pressing)
Listening to Synchronicity takes me back to 1983, when I became engrossed with the record (dubbed to cassette) on a long road trip that summer. When I bought the idea that CDs would give me “perfect sound forever,” I purchased the CD early on, and it was one of my first half dozen or so CDs. A few years on, I ended up trading away a lot of my records at another great used record store near me (Car City Classics), or giving a dozen or so to my buddy. That LP was one of them.
In that era, A&M was releasing their top, most popular titles on KC-600 audiophile vinyl. It looks black but when held up to a light, it has a deep purple glow to it. It was always an excellent-sounding record. In all the years since this record came out, it has never had an audiophile release. Universal did reissue some of the Police albums on vinyl perhaps once or twice, but did an abysmal job of it; the mastering made the records dull and lifeless. Going back to the early 1980s, A&M released their own audiophile series, mastered and pressed at JVC in Japan (where the early Mobile Fidelity records were made), and marketed through A&M Canada. The four prior Police albums were a part of that series; I regret not buying those, as they are now quite expensive.
I wanted that record back. I searched for months on Discogs until a sealed, new old stock Synchronicity came up for sale at a very reasonable price (it was around $25, plus shipping), and from the time the stylus slid into “Synchronicity I,” it felt like I’d come back home. The crystal clear and punchy sound was something I had missed , even though A&M’s SACD release is pretty close. It’s full of some of the group’s biggest hits, like “King of Pain,” “Wrapped Around Your Finger,” “Synchronicity II,” and A&M’s longest-running Number1 Billboard Hot 100 single, “Every Breath you Take.” I still listen to it all the way through, and for me the album officially ends with “Tea in the Sahara,” fading away slowly, as it should. (I’ve never liked the ill-fitting cassette/CD bonus track “Murder by Numbers” at the end of this album.)
Now if I could just get my release week pressing of Thriller back…
Header image courtesy of Pexels.com/cottonbro studio.
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