FunkFreak75
Recorded on a 16-track recorder in Weesp, Holland, on May 25th, 26th, 29th, 30th 1974 with Emile elsen engineering for producer, arranger, and principal composer Chris Hinze.
1. "Skyrider" (8:28) a song that opens with Jan Huydts' piano playing (with synthesizer strings supporting) a variation of the second movement (Adagio sostenuto) of Sergei Rachmaninoff's 1900–1901 Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18, a song that classically the trained composer (and son of a world class orchestra conductor) would have been intimately familiar with. (The Raspberries' Eric Carmen's would make an international hit song, called "All By Myself," based upon the same theme. Perhaps Eric heard Chris's version, though it is far more likely that he picked it up from his music studies with his Aunt Muriel who was a concert violinist with the Cleveland Orchestra when it was under the direction of George Szell--who had built "the world's greatest symphonic instrument" ªº.) Anyway, at the end of the first minute, the song jumps into a long (90 seconds) proggy segue into an "electric" orchestra symphonic bridge (which sounds tremendously like something fellow Dutch band FOCUS had done or would do), which ultimately empties out onto an RETURN TO FOREVER-like funk-jazz showpiece for instrumental virtuosity. Philip Catherine gets one of the first solos while John Lee and Gerry Brown provide a very Stanley Clarke-Lenny White-like foundation speeding along beneath. All the while, composer Chris Hinze's flute is buried a little into the mix, giving it the feeling/effect of being a supportive thread in the large tapestry being created. In the sixth minute Chris's flute is moved to the front while Philip's stll-raging electric guitar soloing is moved back into the far background (but you can still hear him!) A Chick-Corea-like electric piano is right there on the right side, supporting, embellishing, and encouraging the others. Man! That segue in the eighth minute is intense--and so well played! From the start to finish of this song I began to wonder if this is an example of Chris trying to emulate the Deodato move that the Brazilian bandleader made in co-opting a piece of classical music on his recent world-wide hit album, Prelude. (Eumir had made a jazzed-rock fusioned version of Richard Strauss' "Also sprach Zarathustra"--which had been re-made famous and popular by its use in the fairly recent sci-fi film, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The song had achieved massive success around the world in 1973.) Was Chris hoping to achieve similar commercial success with his own jazz interpretation of a particularly accessible classical music theme? Whatever his motivations or influences, I think Chris has achieved something quite extraordinary here. The sound engineering/mix could be a little better, but I think he has found the perfect ensemble of musicians necessary to do this great song justice. (19/20)
2. "Easy Answering" (8:41) flute-led smooth jazz with a definite foot in the realms of funk-jazz (due to the processing and forward mix of John Lee's distorted funky bass). Philip Catherine's lead guitar work in the first half of this one is much more in line with the electric jazz guitar players of the late 1960s than the modern styles (and sounds) promoted by the likes of Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, Bill Connors, and the latest phenom, Al Di Meola. Henny Vonk's wonderful "smooth-scat" vocalese is used prominently throughout the song's second half. She sounds strikingly similar to Flora Purim (as opposed to Urszula Dudziak or Annie Haslam--the three most well-known female vocalists attempting this style of wordless scat-singing at the time). A very solid song with lots of entertainment value; well worth repeated listens in order to try to pick up all of the wonderful contributions of the ensemble's individuals. (18.5/20)
3. "I Like To Feed A Smile On Your Face" (5:21) more of John Lee's stanky funk bass, fast and forward, drives this song as well if not more than the song's melodies and excellent drumming. I wish the sound recording/engineering choices had been a little better: the mix is a bit unbalanced and there is a scratchiness and disappointing distortion throughout. I love Philip Catherine's "tarnished and degraded" electric guitar sound. I like the spread on this one: John Lee's bass low and center; Philip Catherine's stinky rhythm guitar in the right channel, the dirty Fender Rhodes in the left channel, the drummer covering the entire field from down below, and Chris's flute in the very middle (but not mixed forward at all). Everybody is made equal in importance in this kind of mix. Cool! At the same time, one can definitely get a sense for the limitations a 16-track recorder places on the engineer and producer: there is only so much sound one can jam into each and every song. Hence, the single track, start-to-finish allocations of the individual musicians' performances (with volume and panning dials the main method of singling out the soloists.) (9/10)
4. "Unity" (9:44) a delicate, richly-melodic electric piano motif (that Steely Dan would base their iconic 1976 song, "Aja" on) opens this one. At the end of the first minute the piano backs down and Chris's low, breathy flute takes the lead, soon supported/dueted with Henny Vonk's Burt Bacharach-like vocalese. The song takes an unexpected and almost-awkward shift--twice!--in the second minute (at 1:15 and again, more permanently, at 2:05). Then we're off to the races as John and Gerry power an awesome cruise over which the Fender Rhodes takes the lead for a bit before a brief bridge early in the fourth minute leads to a complete stop. The music is again picked up, at first by solo flute, and then by the full band, shifting into a Latin-based section that actually uses two different motifs (with three different bass patterns!) over which Chris and Philip provide the lead entertainment. I love Philip's reactive rhythm guitar play here! But I really love the brave stylistic switches throughout this awesome song. The Latin'Caribbean motifs in particular give it so much life! Again, I can't help but wonder if Donald Fagen and Walter Becker had any exposure to this song or album before setting into the creation of their Aja album. A real gem of a song, this is! (19/20)
5. "The Second Coming" (6:28) John Lee's single contribution to the album's compositions, it opens with a brief introductory period before shifting into third gear with a more-loose- and broad-spectrum-than-usual jazz-rock fusion motif over which flute, wordless voice, and electric guitar share the initial exposition of the main melody. Then everybody settles back to support Chris's flute with John doing that chunky free-floating "dirty" bass thing he's been doing pretty much the entire album. Electric piano and far off Arp Synth strings provide an awesome floating feeling (quite similar to the way Lenny White incorporates this effect on his Venusian Summer album) as Philip Catherine takes the lead (twice! in two different channels!) The fullness and smooth groovity of the entire song is so enticing, so lilting, so enjoyable that I feel that I could float along this river/stream forever! Definitely one of the best John Lee compositions (and renderings) I've yet heard. Awesome! A perfect song!(?) (10/10)
6. "Sister Slick" (5:03) floating Arp Odyssee synth--sounding like something from a GONG album!--over which syncopated rhythm track is laid down. It's complex and herky-jerky but not enough to totally alienate the listener; one can still pick up and appreciate the fine performances of the musicians despite the rather loose and "undefined" roles everyone has been assigned. (Which, in this respect, gives the song a kind of bluesy "practice workout" feel: i.e. feeling as if the composition was not properly finished; they'd captured a rather one-dimensional jam on tape and decided to keep it and stick it on the end of the album. The slow fade out at the end also adds weight to this theory: strongly suggesting that this jam went on for some time after the cut was made.) (8.875/10)
Total Time 43:45
The flow and style of this entire album has, to my ears and mind, the feel of that of DEODATO's masterful 1973 album release, Prelude--which was released in January of 1973 and rose to international fame and acclaim on the backs of both the amazing hit song "Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001)." Like Prelude, Deodato had employed a pre-eminently perfect matched flutist for his album in the personage of Hubert Laws--a long-established jazz artist that Chris admired greatly. We also know from Chris's heritage, musical training, and ever-evolving, ever-eclectic musical tastes that he was very prone to like a new style or trend, learn and master it, and then use his new information and skill to create new music and, being a producer and independently wealthy music studio owner, produce an album using the finest musicians within his reach (which could be achieved easily if money was never a restriction).
A/five stars; a full-blown, indisputable masterpiece of peak era Jazz-Rock Fusion. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! The whole world should know this album!
ªº from music critic Donal Henahan's New York Times obituary article on the passing of George Szell (31 July 1970). "George Szell, Conductor, Is Dead". The New York Times. p. 1. ISBN 9780405111532.
