Manafonistas

on life, music etc beyond mainstream

2023 15 Mai

Cala Boca Menino

von: Michael Engelbrecht Filed under: Blog | TB | 3 Comments

On the long and winding trip of Fire! Orchestra‘s ECHOES we encounter three  songs, one being a journey to the future, a thoughtful seduction from Mariam Wallentin, one being a voyage to times long gone, a killer „spoken word“ track performed by Joe McPhee – and the third one being a cover version from a Dorival Caymmi / Joao Donato song. I never heard this little funky thing before – the way Mats and his compadres make it a quite different sounding party (or celebration of life, or here and now) – stunning.

 

 

 

 

We better don‘t label the music of ECHOES anyways. It goes, to quote another Beatles song, „here, there, and everywhere“, but as a breathing organism, not in a clever „anything goes“-mode.

The man who did the mixing,  Jim O‘Rourke, stayed true to the original recording (though given all freedom to do it Teo Macero-style) – no radical doubling, reducing, skipping. 43 musicians appear in your living room, dear reader, and Jim had a peculiar thing in mind: transparency. Even in the most far-out passages: transparency – nothing  drowning in  echoes and reverberations. 

Big Band music can factually be overpowering. ECHOES never overpowers. The double-cd is excellent, the  three „vinyls“ offer even more opportunities to make breaks in between. Quite some ways to approach an „instant classic“. With its sense of space, listening to it all in one sitting: easy-peasy, too. 

This entry was posted on Montag, 15. Mai 2023 and is filed under "Blog". You can follow any responses to this entry with RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Comments

  1. Henning Bolte:

    DONATO has been a real killer!!! Especially good for hot summer days!!!

  2. Anonymous:

    ECHOES ist superb! But don’t miss the previous records. For example ARRIVAL with „(I Am A) Horizon“, „Blue Crystal Fire“, and the cover version „At Last I Am Free“

    Best

    Christoph aus Frankfurt

  3. Michael Engelbrecht:

    At last i am free…

    The journey from Chic to Robert Wyatt to Fire! Orchestra…

    I somehow missed ARRIVAL, don‘t know how that could happen, but I will be there soon, Christoph!


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