| Review by Chris Garrett August 22, 2003
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Performance:  Sonics:  |
The first of two (The Sound Of Love being the other) Linn Tommy Smith hybrid SACDs that I have and this one features a completely different lineup with James Genus on accoustic bass, John Scofield on electric guitar and Clarence Penn on the skins. This title is interesting because it was recorded directly to analogue tape w/o any bass redirection and while it's not pure DSD, the sonics are quite nice to listen to. All tracks are Tommy Smith compositions.
Obviously, with electric guitar in a quartet, we're foregoing the piano and it is a bit more uptempoed than his Ballads album that I review elsewhere.
Starting off...El Nino has a latin flavor to it and is enjoyable and this moves into a more funky Hubba Hubba. I'm not really a 'funk' kind of guy, but Smith's playing on this track and Scofield's wah-wahing are both interesting to say the least. These first two dissimilar tracks move into Rain Dance, which conjures up Arabian Nights and flying carpets with what I gather is the soprano sax sounding like an Arabian flute/piccolo of yore. Drumming is quite monotone and subtle and room accoustics are abundant. Play this one loud for the neighbors and hire some belly-dancers to perform, or better yet, let the little lady play dress-up and have her go to town for you. You'll thank me for the suggestion in the morning, trust me.
Not to go into detail on every track, I'll skip a few and come to his arrangement of the classic Amazing Grace. This track is slowly played, but possesses a nice full bodied sound from the tenor that Smith's playing. If you want to test out your midband presentation and detail, play this short little diddy.
The next track, Blacken' Blue is--you guessed it--a bluesy number with Scofield doing his blues thing. Same with The Blues Blew Blue, but to a lessor degree. If jazz guitar is your thing, you'll be a happy camper listening to these two numbers.
The 'You Give Me Fever-ish' Eany Meany Miny Mo is fun to listen to and is right up my alley. Sultry (in the beginning at least) comes to mind and Scofield does a nice laze fare (sic?) job of strummin' the strings on this one. The movie LA Confidential comes to mind for some strange reason, so I must give up drinking before noon. This one's a cranker, however and Smith does a nice job of wailing his tenor, to be sure. Make sure your amps are biased properly prior to blasting.
The next two songs are Smith soloing on Miracle (again like Grace, nice detail in midband) and then we end with Dr. Smith, a busy number that has some nice cymbal work on it.
Well, both Tommy Smith albums are worlds apart and he shows a nice range. He's able to move through ballads and then through some funk and blues with his own compositions.
As with Ballads, sonics are worthy of a good system and I find myself pulling these out and giving them another listen more than many of the other titles that I currently own.
Thanks for reading, Chris Garrett
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