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The Gentle Rain- Moody
Sunbeam Records
Thanks to the fine folks at Sunbeam Records, one of
the most sought after records of the mid-'70's has finally been
reissued. A coveted collector's item for many years, fans of
this albums' mixture of sunshine pop and lite, breezy R&B will
no doubt rejoice at the chance of finally being able to own a
copy without having to pay the exhorbitant sums original copies
of the album have been fetching on Ebay for many years.
A project conceived and arranged by the legendary
Nick Ingman (who has worked with such luminaries as Radiohead,
David Bowie, Bjork, Oasis and a plethora of others) and aided
and abetted by Brit musicians Kenny Wheeler, Alan Hawkshaw and
Brain Bennett, this CD has been one of the coolest and most
fertile sources of beats and basslines for samples since hip-hop
began. Though a classic of British psyche pop and rare groove,
the album has its' genesis in America, particulary the time
Ingman had spent studying at the Berlee College of Music in the
late '60's. Impressed by the school's vibe and the acumen of his
fellow students who constantly seemed to be playing music and
bringing musical projects to fruition at a dizzying rate, Ingman
immersed himself in jazz music as much as he had immersed
himself in pop music when he was still in his native Britain.
By the time Ingman returned to England a few years
later, he was equally adept at the subtleties of jazz and the
broad brushstrokes of pop music. Ingman hooked up with one of
the biggest A&R men in Britain and scored his first big-time
music business jobs working for mainstream acts such as Cliff
Richard, The Shadows and Olivia Newton-John. Though it wasn't
where his musical heart was, these jobs gave Ingman a foothold
in the business and gave him practical experience in arranging
and orchestration which eventually allowed him to do some albums
of his own. The first was an album co-produced with Tim Rice
(yes, that Tim Rice) entitled Soul Cure which was credited to
the fictional group Power Pack which blended big band music and
funk. The next was a lush orchestral album called The Love Album
under Ingman's own name.
Moody, Ingman's third album as a leader, was
conceived as more of a fusion project but didn't really turn out
that way as can be evidenced by the end result. While it is a
fusion of jazz and pop music, what people now refer to as 'jazz
fusion' was a more bastardized version of rock and jazz that
launched a thousand careers in the early to mid '70's and
created a lot of boring elevator music in the process. There is
not much related to that kind of hackneyed mess on this album.
Given two whole days to record the project, Ingman and his
hand-picked band of studio vets dove in a created a masterpiece
totally at odds with what was going on in pop music at the time.
With melodies mostly carried by flute and woodwind instruments,
the albums sounds different from anything else yet sounds so
completely "'70's" at the same time. As is typical for the
jerkwads at the majors, Polydor (the label for whom the project
was recorded) didn't want one of their head arrangers to have
his name on a perceived low-selling album and created a fake
band name to use. Polydor ended up just throwing the album out
into the marketplace with no promotion and didn't even service
the album to reviewers. Still, over the years the album has
taken on a life of its' own and has become a holy grail of sorts
for beatheads. It's easy to see why as the music here is sublime
with excellent readings of hits like "While My Guitar Gently
Weeps," "Fool On The Hill" and "I Fell The Earth Move". A true
find for those interested mind-blowing music!
Fans of summery pop, B-3 organ groove jazz, and funky
lite R&B of the late '60's and early '70's will love this CD for
its' deep grooves and stellar arrangements of popular hits.
Though the music has a definite soul flavor, the album should go
down easily both at a party and even on a Sunday morning when
some sunshine uptempo pop is needed to wash away the previous
night's indiscretions. A must-have disc! - Scott Homewood
www.sunbeamrecords.com
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