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Fuse.Net
Having listened to this album for the better part of the last two months, I feel the urge to tell I am mesmerized, as in COMPLETELY MESMERIZED! Now I can't stop listening. Once I start spinning one of
the two discs, next thing I know I'm through the entire two-disc set. Extremely original and uplifting. Stevens's [sic] pulsating, often polyrhythmic groove is intricately intertwined with Manring's Jaco- inspired, hypnotic bass lines. On top of the kinetic rhythm tandem, McGill's guitar, like a musical chameleon, hops, squiggles, gushes, dashes, sneaks, crawls, romps, scurries around. As avid fan of Indo- jazz fusion, I'm delighted to hear some influence of John McLaughlin's trio work with Trilok Gurtu and also Shakti in portions of the acoustic disc, which they seamlessly assimilate to their own style. McGill's approach to soloing in Indo-jazz contexts is different from those of McLaughlin or Lane - how is he bending notes, sounds like he is using a fretless guitar.
I've determined that this is the best record I purchased in 2002, and with all certainty one of the best ones I purchased in the last five years. Great recording and sound quality too.
I've got to throw in a minor gripe, however: The CD cover art. What the f**k!! It's totally incongruent with the musical content. I guess that may be why they went for it, as some sort of self-burlesque, but...well...I don't know. I'd rather like to see a Kafkan monochromatic photograph endemic to many an ECM record; such a cover would be altogether more suitable to the music of CbR. In fact CbR measures up to some of the best ECM records I've heard, for example
my beloved Gateway trio.
I wholeheartedly recommend this record to anyone who lays claim to being a connoisseur of progressive, high-art music. And I hope they will continue the journey even further into realm of the unknown. Add to this band a imaginative keyboardist, they may yet become a unit that seriously challenges the original Mahavishnu where musico- philosophical depth is concerned.
Fusenet remains an outstanding information source for creative music as well as a stimulating forum where varied, even conflicting views are freely exchanged. Keep it coming folks!
Review by Keitaro
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