Author: Dr. Vibes

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Donald Byrd – Ethiopian Knights (1972) SBM CD Pressing

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This is not a repost. I got hold of a the Super Bit-Mapped (SBM) Remaster of this album from the late 90s and figured I would share it here. Probably not great propaganda for my own vinyl rips, because I think this remaster probably sounds better than my nth-generation Blue Note repressing. But don’t judge me — I have some tasty vinyl treats coming up soon that really do sound lovely! You can see the original description for this album here

Donald Byrd – Ethiopian Knights (1972) SBM REMASTER in 320kbs

Donald Byrd – Ethiopian Knights (1972) SBM REMASTER in FLAC LOSSLESS AUDIO

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Hugh Montenegro – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly …(1968)

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Busy week here in Flabberland but I figured I would stop by and leave you all a small treat, at least. Although Ennio Morricone wrote the theme for Sergio Leone’s “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” and did the original soundtrack, Hugh Montenegro (and his Orchestra, of course) scored a hit record by recording a bunch of compositions from all three of the “Man Without a Name” films. Montenegro had also done other well-known scoring for film and television such as the groovy theme from spy-thriller The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and in a few years hence would begin producing albums of electronic music using that newfangled creation, the Moog. (thanks to lightningclap for setting me straight about all this..)

This CD is a collection of titles those three Leone films, “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly,” “Fistful of Dollars, and “For a Few Dollars More.”

Hugh Montenegro – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly …(1968)in 320kbs em pee three

Hugh Montenegro – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (1968) in FLAC LOSSLESS AUDIO

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Orlando Silva – A Voz de Orlando Silva (1951-56)

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Wiki article on Orlando Silva (in Portuguese)


Short biographical article on Orlando Silva by Alvaro Neder

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Orlando Silva was arguably Brazil’s most popular singer of the first half of the 20th century, heralding from a time when the use of microphones in live performance was unavailable or ‘optional’, and making his name singing on national radio. His influence on a young João Gilberto is well known, particularly in the early years after he relocated to Rio and sang in vocal groups. But some say that Silva’s was a voice whose influence runs through all Brazilian music that came after him.

This collection brings together a bunch of 78 rpm sides recorded for the Copacabana label between the years of 1951 and 1956. With his greatest successes in the 1930s and 40s, these sides were quite a bit after Orlando’s star had faded, and his voice was considerably different. Not quite the difference between early Tom Waits and later Tom Waits, for example — I still think he sounds great. But his hard-living had caught up with him, as the photos included in the booklet well attest to — It is hard to believe that he was only 35 – 40 years old in these photos, as he looks about ten years older to me. His voice no longer had the same range or capacity in the higher register, and the tonal clarity is not quite what it had been. But these observations are part of a preconceived aesthetics of what comprises a “good voice”, and I find his more ‘mature’ sound quite charming.

As explained in the liner notes, the repertoire of this collection consists largely of songs that had been staples of other performers, like his mentor Francisco Alves and Silvio Caldas, the latter of whom had big hits with a lot of them. The songwriting credits include some of the most vaunted samba composers of his time like Ary Barroso and Cyro Monteiro. All in all, this is a very nice collection in spite of not being from his ‘peak’ period. I have no idea why Discos Marcus Perreira issued this on 2 discs because it could have easily been fit on one. It might have something to do with the type of copy-protection they saddled the release with — which I valiantly defeated in order to an EAC rip. However, the victory was not complete. For those of you who care about such things please read this

TECHNICAL NOTE: the ripping log for EAC shows mismatched CRCs, and that the rip was done in Burst Mode. I am not sure how the program got in Burst Mode (it was necessary to use a rolled-back version of the program, so it might have been my fault). The CRCs are probably false-positives caused by whatever evil hoodoo the record label has slapped on these discs, so I wouldn’t worry too much about them. Some music colleagues of mine have reported that only Plextor drives can get an error-free rip from some of these ridiculously “protected” EMI pressings. Unfortunately, the original disks are in my ultra-secure bunker in the offshore Cayman Islands, and I will not have access to them anytime until next year, so there’s nothing to be done for it.

ENJOY THE MUSIC, in the end that’s what matters!

A Voz de Orlando Silva, 1951-56 (2005) in 320kbs em pee three

A Voz de Orlando Silva, 1951-56 (2005) in FLAC Lossless Audio

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Donald Byrd – Ethiopian Knights (1972) vinyl rip

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Donald Byrd
“Ethiopian Knights”
Blue Note BST 84380Recorded at A&M Recording Studios
Recorded: August 25th & 26th, 1971
Remix at: Van Gelder Recording Studios
Pub. by Elgy Music Pub. Co. BMI

Producer – George Butler
Engineer – Henry Lewy
Engineer [Remix] – Rudy Van Gelder
Liner Notes – Bill Quinn
Photography, Artwork – Norman Seelf
Album Design – Dave Bhang

VINYL TRANSFER TECHNICAL INFO: Blue Note repress -> Pro-Ject RM-5SE turntable / Sumiko Blue Point 2 cartridge / Pro-Ject Speedbox power supply -> Creek OBH-18 MM Phono Preamp -> M-Audio Audiophile 2496 soundcard. Recorded at 24-bit / 96 khz resolution to Audition. Click Repair on very light settings to remove some clicks and pops, some clicks removed manually in Audition. Track splitting in Adobe Audition 3.0. Dithered to 16-bit using iZotope M-Bit noise-shaping. Converted to FLAC using DbPoweramp. ID tags done with Foobar2000.

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HOLY CRAP look at that lineup!

I am not sure why this album is not better known. In fact it is almost downright ignored. No doubt it has been eclipsed by the masterwork `Black Byrd` that would come the following year. That´s too bad, as this is a critical ‘transition period’ album, between the Bitches Brewish explorations of ‘Electric Byrd’ and the trademark production and super-tight arrangements of the Mizzell Brothers on ‘Blackbyrd’ and ‘Street Lady’. (Incidentally, although he is not credited on the album, Larry Mizzell claims to have worked on this.. I’m not sure what I think of that, though..)

This album is much looser than what came before or after in Byrd’s body of beautiful booty-work. The two long tracks that make up the bulk of it are built on simple funk riffs around which the whole band vamps and takes solos. Drummer Ed Greene, while he definitely has chops, is not a jazz drummer in the strict sense. He was as session guy who played on some fabulous records by the likes of Eddie Kendricks and Lamont Dozier, and his style only adds to the album’s charm. Because he IS surrounded by some serious jazzista heavy-hitters: the inimitable Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Harold Land on tenor, and from The Crusaders (formerly Jazz Crusaders), Joe Sample and William Felder.

I am not entirely convinced that this vinyl rip has many advantages over the remastered CD version released in the late 90s. {Years-later edit: no, I’m certain it really doesn’t.  In fact you should probably just seek out the SBM remaster, and you don’t have to look far…}

 

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Manu Dibango – Soul Makossa (1972) {African Mix}

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Manu Dibango
“Soul Makossa” 1972

This pressing – MusiDisc, France, 331442

1. Soul Makossa
2. Lily
3. Dangwa “Three Points”
4. O Boso
5. New Bell “Hard Pulsation”
6. Nights in Zeralda
7. Hibiscus

This is the original mix of the famous “Soul Makossa” album from Manu Dibango, loaned to me by a dear friend who tells me this was mix used for the African market, with the drums and percussion mixed higher than the version released in Europe during the 1970s. The huge single from this album (released before the LP) launched Dibango’s international career and spawned many cover versions around the world. Although the tray card lists a 1969 copyright, I can’t find any information on the interwebs (which are all-knowing and wise) to back that up, so I am listing it here under its more common release date which was 1972. I could be persuaded otherwise. But the style of production does seem more like early-70s to me — a lot was changing in the studio-world during this time, and 69 seems too early for a lot of the material on this record. The second cut, “Lily” could easily have been produced in ’69, so perhaps some of this record was assembled from tracks recorded at different times. Anyone with detailed information please leave a comment. There have been a number of different pressings on vinyl and CD, some of which have as many as 13 tracks on them, so its all very confusing. Although it lacks specific information on this title, there is a very nice discography of Manu Dibango over at the lovely Soundological Investigations blog.

———————————story of “The Song”——————————————-
“Soul Makossa” is a 1972 single by Cameroonian makossa saxophonist Manu Dibango. It is often cited as one of the first disco records.[2] In 1972 David Mancuso found a copy in a Brooklyn West Indian record store and often played it at his Loft parties.[3] The response was so positive that the few copies of “Soul Makossa” in New York City were quickly bought up.[3] The song was subsequently played heavily by Frankie Crocker, who DJed at WBLS, then New York’s most popular black radio station.[3] Since the original was now unfindable, at least 23 groups quickly released cover versions to capitalize on the demand for the record.[3] Atlantic eventually licensed the song from the French record label Fiesta.[3] Their release of it peaked at #35 on the Billboard chart in 1973; in 1999 Dave Marsh wrote that it was “the only African record by an African” to crack the top 40.[4] At one point there were nine different versions of the song in the Billboard chart.[5] It became “a massive hit” internationally as well.[5]

“Soul Makossa” was originally recorded as a B-side for “Mouvement Ewondo,” a song about Cameroon’s association football team.[5]

It is probably best remembered for the chanted vocal refrain “Mama-ko, mama-sa, ma-ka-ma-ko-ssa”, which was also used in Michael Jackson’s 1982 “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'” (albeit in a different key with a not-so-monophonic melody) during the song’s final bridge. It is also sampled in the hip hop song “Face Off” by artist Jay-Z on his album In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 as well as the single “Don’t Stop the Music” by Rihanna. The song is also sampled on the intro to The Carnival, Wyclef Jean’s first solo album. The phrase “ma ma say ah, ma ma coo sah” also appears in the fourth verse of the song “Rhythm (Devoted to the Art of Moving Butts)” by A Tribe Called Quest, and in “Mama Say,” the debut single by the Bloodhound Gang. “Makossa” means “(I) dance” in Duala, a Cameroonian language.[6]
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Credits

* Arranged by Manu Dibango
* Written by Manu Dibango
* Bass by Long Manfred
* Drums by Joby Jobs
* Electric guitar by Manu Rodanet
* Percussion by Freddy Mars
* Piano by Georges Arvanitas, Patrice Galas
* Acoustic guitar by Pierre Zogo
References

1. ^ Manu Dibango discography on Discogs.com
2. ^ The History of Rock Music – The Seventies
3. ^ a b c d e Shapiro, Peter. Turn the Beat Around: the Secret History of Disco. New York: Faber and Faber, Inc., 2005., 35.
4. ^ Marsh, Dave. “The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made”. Da Capo Press, 1999., 548
5. ^ a b c Broughton, Simon; Mark Ellingham (2000). World Music: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. p. 441.
6. ^ TRANS Nr. 13: George Echu (Yaounde): Multilingualism as a Resource: the Lexical Appropriation of Cameroon Indigenous Languages by English and French
7. ^ Billboard Pop Charts Allmusic.com
8. ^ R&B Billboard. Allmusic.com.

Includes full artwork in 600 dpi as TIF, m3u, log, cue, and a tasty yam dish in honor of Mother Africa.

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Baden Powell – Swings with Jimmy Pratt (1963)

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“Baden Powell Swings with Jimmy Pratt”
Elenco ME-4, 1963

Musicians: Baden Powell (git)
Jorge “Jorginho” Ferreira da Silva, Copinha (fl)
Moacir Santos (sax, vcl)
Sandoval (cl)
Sergio Barroso (b)
Jimmy Pratt (dr)
Rubem Bassini (perc)
unknown piano playerProduction: Aloysio de Oliveira
Direction: Jimmy Pratt
Production Manager: Peter Keller
Studio: Philips of Brasil
Sound Engineer: Norman Sternberg
Recording Technician: Celio Martins
Cover Layout: Cesar G. Villela
Photos: Francisco PereiraGuitar Model: Author 3 by luthier Reinaldo DiGiorgioAlso issued as: Developments (LP, 1970)
O Mestre do Violao Brasileiro (CD-Box, 2003)

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Flabbergasted Vinyl Transfer Specs:

Original Elenco (ME-4) pressing -> Pro-Ject RM-5SE turntable / Sumiko Blue Point 2 cartridge / Pro-Ject Speedbox power supply -> Creek OBH-18 MM Phono Preamp -> M-Audio Audiophile 2496 soundcard. Recorded at 24-bit / 96 khz resolution to Audacity. Click Repair on very light settings to remove some clicks and popsm, some manual click removal using Audition. Track splitting in Adobe Audition 3.0. Dithered to 16-bit using iZotope M-Bit noise-shaping. Converted to FLAC and mp3 using DbPoweramp. ID tags done with Foobar2000.

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I don’t know anything about Jimmy Pratt other than he plays the skins on a whole bunch of jazz records from the 40s and 50s, having done sessions with Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Oscar Pettiford, Bud Shank, and Anita O’Day. Busy guy. But this record may be one of the most famous he played on. Partly because he essentially receives co-billing on the marquee with Baden. But also he was, in a way, in the right place at the right time to really connect with the Bossa Nova explosion.

From the back cover:

“When the drummer Jimmy Pratt was in Brazil accompanying Caterina Valente, he heard Baden play guitar like everyone that was exposed to Baden’s art, he was profoundly enthusiastic. The enthusiasm provoked the idea for this recording. And from the recording was also born a friendship and mutual admiration between the two artists. ‘Baden Powell Swings with Jimmy Pratt’ is a tribute from Baden to his friend and American colleague.” – Aloysio de Oliveira

The observent among might notice Mr. Pratt apparently did not make the photo session for the album or else closely guards his image against potential feitiço and witchcraft.. He is absent from the shots taken in the recording studio, unless we are looking at the back of his head in the shot where Vinicius de Moraes appears for no particular reason — it’s an instrumental record bereft of his lovely lyrics, he didn’t play anything, and he only has a writing credit on the very first tune, ‘Deve Ser Amor.’ Anyway, I find it amusing.

In the photo to the right of this we see Baden playing into a Neumann U-87 microphone, and looking like he wants to walk into the control room and slap somebody. I’m not sure why because it’s a great-sounding recording.

Fantastic playing from everyone involved, including Moacir Santos who contributes his own compositions, Coisas No.1 and Coisas No.2. It`s the clarinet, however, that really slays me on this record: while doing the vinyl transfer and processing, I swear I listened to Coisas No.1 about ten times in a row at one point. When you hear it you will know why. There is nothing groovier on earth.

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