Blue Mitchell - Blue's Blues

BLUE MITCHELL
Blue's Blues
1972
256+ VBR
Vinyl rip & scans from Mainstream MRL 374

Good news and bad news, faithful readers. The bad news first: this will be the last round of posts for a few days. The good news is the reason. Before the weekend I picked up a used turntable at a good price, a Technics SL-D20, to replace the crappy Kenwood belt-drive my buddy lent me and the vinyl's sounding fuller and much cleaner! Even better news is that all new vinyl rips on Soundological will not only sound better, they'll need less cleaning up so I can post them more often. The best news is this post of Blue Mitchell's Blue's Blues was the first LP played on the table with a brand new Audio Technica AT92E needle.

Blue Mitchell - Trumpet, Flugelhorn
Darrell Clayborn - Bass [Fender]
Ray Pounds - Drums
John Guerin - Drums
Joe Sample - Electric Piano, Piano [Acoustic]
Freddie Robinson - Guitar [Electric]
John Mayall - Harmonica
Herman Riley - Saxophone [Tenor], Flute

1 Casa Blues (8:25)
2 Just Made Up (7:32)
3 Blues' Blues (7:05)
4 Granite & Concrete (9:51)
5 I Didn't Ask To Be (10:09)


AMG Review
by Scott Yanow

At the time that this Mainstream LP was recorded, Blue Mitchell was the featured trumpeter with John Mayall's blues group. Mayall returned the favor for Blue's set, playing harmonica with an electric octet headed by Mitchell. Among the sidemen are Herman Riley (on tenor and flute), keyboardist Joe Sample and guitarist Freddy Robinson. The material (all obscure originals) is primarily blues-oriented, and the music overall is listenable and funky, but not particularly memorable. Just an average date from these fine musicians.

Dusty Groove review

Sweet soulful work from trumpeter Blue Mitchell -- a set that has him working with a slightly large group of players, but in a style that's always very much in the groove! There's a nice electric undercurrent to the record throughout -- sometimes in the instrumentation from other players, sometimes in the overall way the grooves are put together -- which gives the record a quality that's almost like a funky soundtrack at the best moments! The lineup is a bit weird, too -- with Joe Sample on keyboards, Freddy Robinson on guitar, Herman Riley on tenor and flute, and even John Mayall on harmonica -- playing with a vamping funky edge on a few tunes! The title track -- "Blues Blues" -- is a great little jazzy break number, and other tracks include "Granite & Concrete", "Casa Blues", and "I Didn't Ask To Be".

Like the bluesier style of jazz on this release? You also might want to check out a rediscovered lost session from around the same time where Mitchell played with Mayall and Albert King over here.

If you haven't already stopped by the Blue Mitchell post put up earlier this month on Soundological, you might want to check it out since it has beaucoup links and info regarding his 70s material. Otherwise, get down on it HERE and HERE.

Freak Power In Dub - The Fried Funk Food EP

boomp3.com

No bio here cuz if'n you don't know who Norman Cook is, you've either been under a rock or dead for years. If it's the latter, and you've recently noticed an increase of brains in your diet, please do the right thing and walk into a rotating helicopter blade. If it's the former, then check out the link and get a clue, boo.

Let's make something perfectly clear. I bought The Housemartins' "London 0 Hull 4" on import when it came out while I was living in the wilds of Canuckistan. I purchased "The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death" on import. I found Cook's name attached to a re-mix on the James Brown "Payback (The Final Mixdown)" EP in '88 and then noticed his name on an Eric B & Rakim single I had and thought "damn, that skinny goofy bass player from the Housemartins has a helluva funky touch!" I bought Beats International's "Let Them Bingo," "Echo Chamber" and "Excursion On The Version" immediately upon their releases and played them to death. Soon after I started playing out, I picked up anything by Freakpower and The Mighty Dub Katz on 12" or LP. I even picked up a couple Pizzamans (ugh). Then when "Everybody Loves A 303" popped up in the shop, it was clear the man was a force to be reckoned and soon after, as a DJ I reckon I was practically forced to buy his output for the floor (twist my rubber arm, as they say).

But I would trade them all in for a new full-length Freak Power In Dub album. For me, these six glorious tracks epitomise the dubbed-out psychedelic instrumental hip hop productions that were categorised tritely by the British music press as "Trip Hop." Cook takes his trademark sound sensibilities through an emotional range far beyond the grasp of his club-oriented material, creating expansive vistas with sonic atmospherics while the circuitous logic of the tracks unfold. IMHO this is the high-water mark in the genre and, along with DJ Shadow's first few Mo' Wax singles and his "Endtroducing" LP, one of its definitive examples. Grab it below and you can hear what can be done by one in a home studio with their wax, minimal gear, a big heart and a good ear.


FREAK POWER IN DUB
The Funk Fried Food EP
60 MB
192 CBR LAME mp3
VINYL RIP rip from white label

A1 Turn On, Tune In, Find Joy
A2 At Your Own Pace
A3 Sugar Lump
B1 Freakpower Is A Beautiful Thing, Baby
B2 My Heart Sings
B3 Where I'm Going

OR

69 MB
192/224/256/320 CBR LAME mp3
CD RIPS from various sources & covers from discogs.com

1 Turn On, Tune In, Find Joy
2 At Your Own Pace
3 Sugar Lump*
4 Freakpower Is A Beautiful Thing, Baby
5 My Heart Sings
6 Where I'm Going**

* Not on bonus disc, inserted in correct order to replicate vinyl track listing.
** Didn't have on any comps so re-used the vinyl rip - levels slightly higher than the rest.

Black Science Orchestra - Altered States / Walter's Room

Here's some more Beedle for your needle - if not the one attached to the tone arm, the one embedded in the digital junkie's arm at least. See bio info for Ashley Beedle over at the Ballistic Brothers post on Soundological. For his BSO effort, Ashely forsook the talents of buds Rocky & Diesel for a heavier reliance on Uschi Classen and engineer Marc Woolford. The album is named in deference to one of the early pioneers of the extended remix, Walter Gibbons. In all seriousness, if you just glossed over that link and you don't really know who Gibbons was then you better check yourself and click on that link, kiddo. You're in for a treat. Then go to the Disco Museum for a nice in-depth bio on the man you can read while listening to BSO's homage to the glory days of Philly, New York and Jersey disco. Shout out to Julian over at Play Jazz Loud for his psychic request!

AMG Review
by John Bush

Ashley Beedle rewires the original American disco template for a set of updated grooves more reminiscent of Philadelphia International than Strictly Rhythm (even the title is a reference to one of the original disco DJs and remixers, Walter Gibbons). Tracks like "Downtown Science" and "Save Us (The Jam)" find a common ground between house and its '70s forebear, with strings and vibes and keyboards adding to the earthy atmosphere.

Here they are for your summer listening and party pleasure. Enjoy!

The Altered States EP
256 VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip from JBO 22, scans from discogs.com
1994

A1 Philadelphia
A2 Drumadelphia
B1 New Jersey Deep
B2 Varrio (SOS)
+
CD rip of New Jersey Deep @ 256 CBR LAME mp3

Walter's Room
224 CBR LAME mp3
CD rip & scans from Junior Boy's Own JBOCD5
1996

1 Start The Dancer
2 City Of Brotherly Love
3 A Hot Family Day
4 Bless The Darkness
5 Just Holdin' On
6 Hudson River Revisited
7 St. Mark's Square
8 Save Us (The Jam)
9 Downtown Science
10 Rican Opus #9
11 Hudson River High