Reviews

Another right down the middle release from Mark Knopfler. Denigrated in some circles as not "growing" as an artist, occasionally this is not necessarily a bad thing. Any new Knopfler release is a known quantity. Guaranteed a class act, by one of the most tasteful guitarists of our time. Like Chet Atkins (there IS a mutual admiration going on here), one single sustained note tells you it’s Mark. Best known as the front man for Dire Straits, he keeps busy with other side projects. (As in The Notting Hillbillies-Missing…presumed having a good time. Warner Bros. 26147-2. Wonderful disc!) This release is his addition to his rather spotty soundtrack work. I feel his high water mark is Local Hero (Phonogram 811 038-2, PLEASE somebody re-master this!), a simply wonderful movie and soundtrack combination.
With Wag the Dog Mark once again keeps it guitar oriented rather than symphonic. Gentle jazzy blues grooves riding on top of a subdued but driving rhythm section. Here he lets bassist Glenn Worf and drummer Chad Cromwell be the driving force, while he does his now patented understated soulful guitar work. Like I said, not necessarily a bad thing. Clocking in at 24.15 and using two reprisals of the main theme, it is not actually a great value. But for Knopfler fans, a must have.

Sound Quality-

Once again, patented Knopfler. Smooth and fat instrumental tone, never piercing. Solos placed nicely r/l of center, set back in the mix with not much sense of air or room sound. Notably, the rhythm strumming that opens the title cut, hard right, literally punches into the room with its midbass power. Probably close miked or direct injected, what this could have sounded like with more "room sound"! Voice is recorded with little of the usual pop equalization in the upper mids. Vocal size is nicely rendered with the instruments, sounding just a bit larger than life.

The bass is where this record really takes off. Recorded just a little on the fat side, the powerful loping bass lines provide rock solid propulsion. A very well done kick drum underpins this. Maybe it is my new sub but the kick drum simply shocks my room with dynamic impact. I’m not referring to boosted bass levels here, it just punctuates the beat and disappears. It is one thing to load your room with bass that leads to a "throbbing" drone sound. Here the kick drum is simply stunning in its transient decay.

Hopefully one to be played at the next round of hi-fi shows. I know I’m bringing it!

JTG

If you are a fan of SRV, you already know of the man and his music. I have always been on the fringe regarding Stevie. His brand of pyrotechnic rock doesn’t quite suit my taste. But when he plays the blues, well, that’s another story. In my opinion, Stevie was just beginning to come in to his own as a blues interpreter and (especially), a vocalist at the time of his untimely death. To hear where he may have been headed, one needs to look no further than the cuts Life By The Drop, and the jazz standard Chitlins Con Carne.

Life By The Drop is, as I understand, the only acoustic guitar recording in his catalog. A crying shame here as this cut showcases his, as yet untapped vocal prowess. Stevie just crawls inside this tune, (unfortunately too inside, as it is about heroin addiction.), conveying the pain and isolation of living a life of addiction. Takes my breath away at each listen. His (understated) guitar playing is EVER so slightly behind the beat, building tension and letting his voice share the story. Truly, I feel, a master interpreter coming into his own.

Chitlins Con Carne shows just what a band he had in Double Trouble. Everyone is just ON in this cut! While jazz purists may not agree with his interpretation of this standard, I find his slightly modernized version quite beautiful. Also worth seeking out is his version of Roughest Place In Town, (sometimes mistakenly referred to as Tin Pan Alley), from Couldn’t Stand the Weather.

Sound-

MFSL has truly done it again! While not quite the improvement as some of their other remasterings, EVERYTHING is improved. The sense of instruments in their own space is greatly enhanced. I would have liked a little taming of the 1-2khz frequency, but that may be my taste.

The truly stand out cut has to be Chitlins Con Carne. Even on the stock release this song sounds noticeably different than the rest of the disc. Almost as if they came back in at 2:00 in the morning and were just relaxing and just jammed this song. It just has that late night feel all over it. His guitar sound is also much different. A big fat, almost Billy Gibbons sound, as opposed to a brighter, twangy edge. This cut is demo material supreme, (especially for rock). Bass impact is simply stunning. A clear differentiation between the bass guitar and the kick drum for instance. Extremely tight and articulate. Also, the AHH, HA, HA, which comes in after the first break, (I think it is Stevie off mike), is rendered deeper in the soundfield but still clearly discernable.

As stated above, his brand of rock never did hit me. I had the chance to see him once in a small auditorium, early 80’s I think. Halfway through the show he started doing his Hendrix tricks, like playing with his teeth and behind his back. This coupled with his, how many notes can I play in this bar, resulted in an early departure on our part. (Heresy I know!) How I would love to hear what he would be doing now.

In any event, if you are a fan, you will want this disc. If you are an audiophile who would like to have on hand some demo quality rock, look no further. Just put on Chitlins Con Carne and TURN IT UP!

DELLLLBERT!!! (I feel better already!) This disc positively vibrated in my hands carrying it home. Why? Well, it’s a Delbert record, and it has special guests galore. Lyle Lovette, John Prine, BB King, Jim Keltner, Patty Loveless, Pam Tillis, Mavis Staples, Benmont Tench, etc. And HDCD encoding no less!

Then it hit me. It’s too much. It will be too slick. Watered down, passionless. Well, for the most part, I was correct. Aside from a few stand out cuts, this disc just lays there. The musicianship is top notch. The songs are actually all fairly strong, mostly penned by McClinton/Nicholson. But, alas, compared to say, LIVE! From Austin, or, even better, Keeper of the Flame, it all seems rather uninspired. Granted, these are rather high standards to meet, but hey, HE set the bar.

This pains me dearly to say this about my favorite blues artist, but this is sonic garbage. This disc will make your system sound like a boom box, and a cheap one at that. Vocals are processed, eq’d and compressed with an icy edge. No air, room sound or bass for that matter. Severe upper midrange peak. A Hammond B-3 that sounds like a toy, (now that’s a crime!) Absolutely NO sense of musicians playing in a real room. Shameful.
In short, a typical run of the mill modern production job. Until we ALL start voicing our displeasure with the quality of recorded sound we are being force fed, this is all we will ever get.
Note- as I do not have HDCD decoding, I can not make a final judgement. Although I fail to see how even this technology will help this bright, edgy, icy recording.

Do we sense any displeasure, HMMM?

JTG

While the bulk of the Electronica genre has cold, technical, beats per minute sameness to it, William Orbit has been a continued breath of fresh air. Like Howard Jones’ first release (Humans Lib) which the critics hailed as the first "human sounding techno release, Orbit has the ability to inject an organic weight into the synthetic.

Strange Cargo 3 finds Orbit at his most accessible (commercial). One of the few electronic artists who tastefully "loads his brushes" with sonic minutia with which to "paint" an audible canvas. Loaded with constant specks of color floating in, around and outside the soundstage. While never a beats per minute club member, SC 3 sports many danceable tracks, albeit of the laid back variety. A perfect late night lights out disc. In my opinion, it also ranks a close second to Roxy Music’s’ Avalon as a great "make out record"!

Sound Quality-

In terms of bass weight, we seem to have gone from one extreme to another. From anemic, bass shy recordings to an overblown, undefined 300lb marshmallow bass. I surmise that the rapid growth of the Rap genre (and by definition, a bass response far out of proportion with the rest of the frequency spectrum) has made marketing inroads. Example- the latest Jennifer Warnes release (The Hunter) is a soft rock w/female vocal disc. It also has an extremely elevated bass response. Listen up producers, just because we can, does not mean we should have our systems sound like "boom trucks". If you guys can’t strive for realism, could we at least fit the technique with the music?

Other than the elevated bass, SC 3 has a relatively smooth tonal character. No hard, bright electronic edge to transients, and a fairly fat upper midrange. Interestingly, while containing much use of phase manipulation (for the outside the speakers effect), I hear little of the midbass cancellation that is a byproduct of these effects. Well done.