Serviceton..a friend in Melbourne ,sends his regards AND another wonderful contribution.
thank you ServicetonThe following are servicetons thoughts on this great record.
" I meant to write a little bit along with the last Carter / Bradford post (Secrets) back in July.
I’ll add a couple of comments here..
I love this record.
For me, it’s an absolute knockout. As with Secrets previously, it’s the 2nd side that rises to the heights of greatness, but the whole album is really good.
It’s the first tune, the most “Ornette-ish” piece, that for my money is the weakest thing on the record. But make no mistake, even this is a good performance! Although there are other things going on as the piece builds, at least thematically, it’s *really close* to a Coleman / Cherry harmonised line. Thus, maybe the most ‘derivative’ thing on the album.
Those listening will immediately notice the sound of 2 bass players, combining and complementing beautifully
Eye of the Storm is the sole Bradford composition, and shows this group doing something original, involving and absorbing.
After the quiet intro by the 2 bassists, the whole band kicks in with a wonderful sense of drive and energy. The theme is inventive and individual - far fewer *echoes of Ornette* on this. Bradford solos first, and at length, with control and invention, as the band build the intensity. Freeman is fantastic in being “loosely tight” and driving at the same time.
Loneliness, which begins Side 2, for me, is the highpoint of the album. Just a beautiful, haunting piece of music, with an inspired level of musicianship from all.
Both leaders double - Carter plays flute for two sections, Bradford, glockenspiel near the beginning. The 2 bass players, as before, weave around each other magically. Those missing the sound of Carter’s clarinet, just listen to his opening notes on alto saxophone here – the strength and purity of tone enough to make you regret that he later gave up that instrument. A slow and spare mini-masterpiece..
Encounter is a driving free-form cooker of a piece. With more of a complex compositional interplay between the horns, and an odd time signature, this is slightly off-kilter and driving at the same time. Freeman is again (as throughout) fantastic in ‘making this go’. The group dynamic is wonderful, all the soloing is strong (including Carter on tenor), and the thing finishes beautifully to round out a really satisfying record.
Worth Noting: -
For a well-known clarinet player, Carter plays a lot of saxophone on this album! There’s no clarinet at all. But some flute, as per above..
The only bass player listed on the sleeve is Tom Williamson. There’s clearly a 2nd bass player throughout - who plays really well. I’ve read informally in a couple of places that the second bassist is Henry Franklin, who later appears as one of the bassists on 1972’s ‘Secrets’
There’s a reasonable possibility that the 1st track is mis-titled on the cover and *should* be called ‘The Sunday Afternoon Jazz Society Blues’. At least, it is labeled that way on my promo LP label. Sounds kind of snappier that way...
Sound of the rip from vinyl is pretty much ‘untreated’. The most egregious clicks have been manually removed, and I chopped between-the-tracks noise. Maybe chopped too savagely, I don’t know. NO musical information has been cut.
So, if you’ve got FLACs, you can treat away, equalize, and noise-reduce to your personal preference.
To my ears at least, the sound is crying out to parametrically remove that constant background vinyl’shoosh’ throughout, and maybe clean up a couple of other spots.
If you’ve got MP3s, sorry - what you got is what it is..
Having said all that, the sound is pretty good.
And the music is wonderful.
Hope you enjoy too."
BTW/ THIS CAN ALSO BE FOUND AT 192KBS AT THE FLYING DUTCHMAN BLOG.