24 November 2012

Michael Smith, ‎– Totality,Red Record – VPA 118,1974

For onxi, heres Michael J.Smith's 1974 solo lp for RED!

Smiths Early work ,was hugely idiosyncratic and Ambitious, and we here at IS love it  feeling that it has been unjustly eclipsed.
, This one though very good is perhaps a little low key, rather introspective and slightly meandering in over all tone by comparison to the group sessions we have previously posted...


Here we have a leisurely stroll through a couple of bare bones ballads and a few originals , featuring Smiths own unique, often stark variations on standard tunes , treated in a way which t is similar in many respects to the free floating way an Andrew Hill, a Howard Riley or a Paul Bley  handle a tune like angel eyes.

there is an unsettling rather frayed romanticism at play here, bitter sweet and  fractured.
Angel eyes is a stand out performance , its a tune i love ,which like Nature Boy, has a mysterioso , slightly ironic under tone,perhaps  prefiguring some profoundly unsettling pathos hovering just beneath the surface ripples..of our fragile ,shaky  albeit painstakingly constructed & ultimately delusional senses of self. 

sadly at present there appears to be only one recording featuring Smith as a (co)Leader currently available 
A wonderfully intense duo with Steve Lacy, Sidelines which can be bought direct from the source here

Michael Smith, ‎– Totality,Red Record – VPA 118,1974
Tracklist

A1-Tender Are Your Eyes
A2-Jazz Ballett For Patricia
A3-All I Need Is You
B1-Angel Eyes
B2-And Then ... I Died
B3-Your Voice Speaks (1 Over Track)

M.J.Smith-Piano Solo

ENJOY!!

ps...this is pretty much a straight transfer , with the volume jacked up and light declicking in a few places
there is a little surface jitter, and rumble , i  initially tried de rumbling, but wasnt happy with the resultant musical loss , so...ive left it as is 




19 comments:

SOTISE said...

Flac...Pics
https://rapidshare.com/files/3063874430/MSVPA11_8.rar

wightdj said...

Nice one, new to me. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Intresting..

Thank you

Andy said...

Ditto. :)

Wallofsound said...

Really enjoyed this. Red Records releases remain an enduring source for great music.

corvimax said...

splendid. thank you SOTISE

Anonymous said...


Thank you,Mr.Sotise,for this
piano-strings-of-consciousness
excursion of Michael Smith...
and also for Greene and Coursil
upgrades.Very much apreciated.

Horatiu

Anonymous said...

Anyone know what we're going to do after the (apparent) non-availability of RS? Colin

Brewing Luminous said...

Nooo! It said your public traffic is exhausted. I really wanted to grab this one too.

Brewing Luminous said...

I can't download it. It's not available. Very strange. This must be one of RS's new changes.

SOTISE said...

And so, whats the Verdict on RS, Luc Mosely have you or anyone else been able to download this since those last comments?

kinabalu said...

As of writing, I can't, but I believe I downloaded it before, so it's in the system, but not on this computer. From my own perspective, I haven't run out of public traffic so far and with the upgrade from 30 to 50 gb, there's even less of a chance of that happening. Right now I have more than 40 gb left and it's 3:30 in the afternoon.

kinabalu said...

Special Xmas present for glmlr:

rapidshare

glmlr said...

Praises to the Santas of Norway! Many thanks for the Xmas present Kinabalu.

Ernst Grgo Nebhuth said...

1fichier

francisco santos said...

and another..
BIG THX!...

correct silence said...

It is the 4th re post of Michael Smith and it is the 4th gemm. Reading the comment of the original post I was expecting a less interesting record, more classical and a bit mellow but it is not the case. yes the record is certainly more introspective but it still have the mysterious mood of the others ones and the re recording on some tracks gives a very nice perspective to the sound. In one word: great!

Solomon said...

Thank you!

YasanBY said...

Thank you very much!
Music by M.Smith was a revelation for me!