Herbie Hancock - Fat Albert Rotunda (1969)

Side One
Wiggle-Waggle
Fat Mama
Tell Me A Bedtime Story
Oh! Oh! Here He Comes

Side Two
Jessica
Fat Albert Rotunda
Lil' Brother


Cecily's notes... Personal Background: I got this from my father, gave it a listen and, as usual for me and jazz, discerned nothing exceptional about it above and beyond every other jazz record. A second listen, as usual for me and jazz, improved it vastly.

Resonance: Turns out listening to Fat Albert Rotunda makes you feel way cool when you give it a spin. It also has a vintage movie vibe, possibly because Hancock also did soundtracks for people, and this supplies a delightful landscape that (at least for me) is a melange of Barney Miller, Dirty Harry, Rockford and Kolchak. It's not the deepest emotional experience, but it's very pleasant. 2/5

Design: I have nothing bad to say about this record. Starts off chill and upbeat, has a nice quiet middle and the romantic piano number 'Jessica,' and then it rounds everything off with another lively pair of quasi-funk numbers. I was reminded of a more upscale Booker T and the MGs (*ducks from the jazz experts out there*). 5/5

Utility: This is a good housework album and probably sounds nice in the car too. Syncopation and general 70s soundtrack feel help a lot here. I tried it out while kneading bread and it passed the time splendidly, but I have to assume I won't be playing it that often because that's just how I am with this genre. 3/5

Best: Oh! Oh! Here He Comes.

Worst: Title track has one of those tedious noodling solos that I just don't care for no matter who's doing the blowing.

Conclusion: 10/15. Perfectly solid jazz album, no worries for its demise.

Ticharu's notes... Personal Background: Why did I start listening to jazz? Same reason I started listening to classical music before that I suppose. Rock music in order for me to want to hear it again requires content most of it doesn't have. Beyond that, the content must be appealing. Rock music is such a personalised statement, even the uninitiated can tell the difference between The Kinks and The Beatles. But the uninitiated would struggle telling the difference between Debussy and Ravel. Likewise, can you tell the difference between Herbie Hancock and Oscar Peterson? I might be able to tell the difference now. Maybe! Music that takes more effort. That is why I started listening to jazz. 

Resonance: Does jazz music have resonance? Intellectual resonance obviously, gifted musicians performing and improvising to the best of their abilities, that should translate in any genre. The emotional resonance is harder to pin down. I personally want music I can just listen to and appreciate without getting involved emotionally. 5/5 on this one. It doesn't move me emotionally but delivers uncompromising musical content with a sense of fun.

Design: Late 60s jazz albums... they were in trouble and they knew it. Trying to hold onto your market and tap a new one. Herbie managed this brilliantly for a while. 5/5

Utility: Easy! Play it! 5/5

Best: It's all really good.

Conclusion: Dipping into the Herbie Hancock discography, Fat Albert Rotunda is great place to start. A happy middle ground between earlier more traditional jazz sounds and later more experimental.

Kinks - Face to Face (1966)

Side One
Party Line
Rosy Won't You Please Come Home
Dandy
Too Much On My Mind
Session Man
Rainy Day In June
A House In The Country

Side Two
Holiday In Waikiki
Most Exclusive Residence For Sale
Fancy
Little Miss Queen Of Darkness
You're Lookin' Fine
Sunny Afternoon
I'll Remember

Bonus Tracks of note
I'm Not Like Everybody Else
Dead End Street
Big Black Smoke
Mr Pleasant

Cecily's Notes... Personal Background: First impression was hearing it in the car, my father driving us somewhere. I remember that every song I really started getting into would end suddenly. I also remember liking 'Mr. Pleasant' a lot. Later, this became my most played of the classic Kinks trio, mostly for sheer consistency. No 'Death of a Clown' or 'Animal Farm' on it, in other words.

Resonance: Ray Davies is so easy to relate to. He has this perpetually happy-sad voice of the everyman, even on the "wannabe-Donovan" number 'Fancy.' 'Rosie, Won't You Please Come Home' sounds like it's sung from the bottom of a well over an early wireless set. The Kinks were underrated at the art of the riff - 'You're Looking Fine' holds its own. Then there are the little vaudeville numbers, with all their twee charm. Ray Davies was singing the stories no one was telling, about all the "uncool" people: the rich, the unromantic poor and the middle class, as well as the terminal nerds, the broken hearts and the sad families of those bright young things in other songs. 5/5

Design: What I appreciate here is how much of a garage band the Kinks are. They have a sound that would have crushed the delicate soul of George Martin. I mean, 'A House in the Country' is almost identical to something by the Clash or the Jam - I don't know if that means the Kinks were early punk or the Clash Jam weren't really punk at all. Let's not dwell on it. The point is, every one of these songs has an unfinished feel, even though each track is a completed melodic thought. Not much spit and polish, no attempt to sound like a British Invasion hearththrob, all Chad & Jeremy. The exception is the final album track, 'I'll Remember,' which I'm pretty sure rips off 'If I Needed Someone' for the bridge and just feels so much like a pale Beatles imitation the rest of the time. From the opening telephone ring to the final "in the summertime..." on 'Sunny Afternoon' (an album closer if I ever heard one), Face to Face is perfectly constructed, so they lose a star. 4/5

Utility: With bonus tracks, this is a full meal. Great way to open up the summer, or get a lot done in a short burst of energy. Good on bad speakers, so it gets hauled out on car trips a lot. I can recite the words to every song, which isn't much of a boast - it's like memorizing fifteen haiku instead of 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.' Anyway, this ended up my most played Kinks album, so it's a little tired now. Whenever I unbox the other ones I'm sure they'll be on heavy rotation a while. I miss 'Harry Rag' and 'Village Green.' 4/5

Best: 'Sunny Afternoon,' by a midsummer mile.

Worst: 'I'll Remember'...or not.

Conclusion: 13/15. Really good stuff.

Ticharu's Notes... Personal Background: I avoided listening to The Kinks for many years because bands I didn't like had hits with Kinks covers. Is that an odd reason? I don't know, that's just how things go with me. Maybe in the 90s when I realised I'd missed something. Much the same with T-Rex but possibly not missed so much in that case. The Kinks on the other hand were real genius.

Resonance: Well, it's very English but even so they sing about stuff that's easy to relate to with a delivery and simplicity that draws you in. Deceptively simple most of the time. Simplicity cleverly done. It's not going over your head but there's enough in it to keep you coming back. The melancholy shifts, the short turnarounds as in 'Most Exclusive Residence For Sale'. The dark humour of songs like that or the poignant beauty of songs like 'Sunny Afternoon' or 'Too Much On My Mind'. 5/5

Design: Again it's quite simple, guitars, bass and drums with harpsichord and I swear there's a French horn in there although it isn't credited. Straight up, the sessions can't have taken long to complete, rough around the edges setting it apart from The Beatles production and not as bombastic as The Who in style. A tasty middle ground with excellent song writing. 5/5

Utility: This album is a delight! Who wouldn't want to hear it? 5/5

Best: It's all top drawer but my personal fav is 'You're Lookin' Fine'.

Worst: The only track that falls down a bit is 'I'll Remember'. 

Conclusion: 15/15

The Allman Brothers Band (1969)

Allman Brothers Band

The debut album by what was, for one brief shining moment, the greatest southern rock band of all time. Much like Fairport Convention, their light was snuffed out far too quickly.

Side One
Don't Want You No More

It's Not My Cross To Bear
Black Hearted Woman
Trouble No More

Side Two
Every Hungry Woman
Dreams
Whipping Post


Cecily's Notes

Personal Background: I didn't pay much attention to the Allmans, not caring much for southern rock or 11 minute guitar jams. Then I read a review that was exuberantly in love with this particular record and I looked up 'Black Hearted Woman' on YouTube. That's all it took and don't you love it when that happens?

Resonance: Gregg Allman successfully mimics a blues patriarch come back from the wilderness to teach us all about suffering. His voice is not as otherworldly as Robert Plant's could be but it carries the same weight of conviction on its introduction. Of course it would be nothing without a powerful band - inventive and sweeping. For being all about suffering because of some no good woman, this isn't actually a depressing record because the energy level is so high. It's great. 5/5

Design: This is really well thought out. It starts with an instrumental opener, putting the emphasis on the band's skill and inventiveness before seamlessly moving into a slow-burn soul number to successfully introduce Gregg Allman's powerful vocals. The catchy rock numbers only kick in after the band has established itself as a serious outfit, not as just another in the sea of hard rock wannabes. This ambition carries you through all seven songs without complaint. 5/5

Utility: Can be played anywhere and in just about any mood because it's gloomy without being a depressant. It's actually a pick-me-up. 5/5

Best: 'Whipping Post.'

Worst: 'Dreams' sometimes strikes me as overlong.

Conclusion: 15/15. Whoo hoo.

Ticharu's Notes

Personal Background: If I had heard the first two Allman Brothers albums back in the day I would have tried harder to like their later stuff. As it is nothing they did after the first two albums had any possibility of approaching the brilliance of these first two albums. So my background on these is none existent. I had Brothers & Sisters which was an OK record verging on the more mundane sound they embraced after that. Everyone from my generation has heard At Fillmore East. Part of it anyway, I never could get through that one. Eat A Peach is the only other offering I tried and again it just didn't stick. I guess when a band is primarily a live band, well it sets up a conflict, hard to resolve. I am of the mind that recorded albums and live performance are two different things especially with pop music. Take advantage of the studio to make a piece of art in and of itself. Your live performance is there and then it's gone. The record album will outlast you and all your fans.

Resonance: So there's me somewhat surprised I like this album as much as I do. Southern Rock is never going to have much resonance for me but the thing about this album and the second is Duane Allman's guitar and their uncanny ability to mix jazz, blues and prog into something that sounds like it crawled up out of the swamp. It's pretty cool. 3/5

Design: What I don't like about it and this is weird, but I don't like Greg Allman's voice. He doesn't sound like a fresh faced kid. Not ever? Nope. That just seems wrong to me. After 10 years of hard graft yes. I could believe it. So he's just naturally gifted with this incredible gritty voice. If you got it you got it. The other thing that bugs me is just me thinking this was their live set. As such some of the songs have exaggerated big endings and false stops. The kind of thing a live band would do. At their best they transcend all that. I want to credit Duane with that but it's really the sound of the whole band working together. They were great. 4/5

Utility: Here's an album that'll get a mixed reaction if I play it within ear shot of anybody. For some it'll be amazing and for others it'll be a bloody racket/when will it stop? I can't really see listening to it quietly so opportunity might only come when I can crank it, let it rip and boogie my little socks off. 3/5

Best: Dreams - Every Hungry Woman - Don't Want You No More - Black Hearted Woman - Trouble No More

Worst: It's Not My Cross To Bear - Whipping Post

Conclusion: This and the Idlewild South albums certainly look a little odd in my collection but they are stellar and worthy of being included. AND since I haven't heard them to death I may play them now and again unlike some of the other war horses.

Led Zeppelin III (1970)

 The first gloriously British album from the blues juggernaut.


Immigrant Song

Friends
Celebration Day
Since I've Been Loving You
Out on the Tiles
Gallows Pole
Tangerine
That's the Way
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Hats Off to (Roy) Harper

Cecily's Notes;

Personal Background: While I did grow up hearing Led Zeppelin, it wasn't until I was about 14 that I gave any of their music a close listen. Their first two albums passed me by but Led Zeppelin III caught my undivided attention with its mixture of hard rock, blues and folk motifs. It became my long-standing favorite Zep album, finally and reluctantly replaced when I could no longer deny the power of IV, and still in the top rank even today.

Resonance: Remarkable emotional power in almost every song. From exuberant to wrist-slashing – I am completely on Robert Plant’s side when he sings “you had the NERVE to say you didn’t want me no more” during the incredible wind-up on ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You.’ Impossible not to feel for the guy. There are a lot of moods on this album and they’re mostly wrapped together with a strong sense of British heritage, from vikings on the shore all the way to the influential career of folk-rock musician Roy Harper. It’s not yet the dazzling ode to the west that Zep IV would be but only that last  Roy Harper dirge really leaves me cold. 4/5

Design: Aside from the screechy caterwauling on ‘Hats Off to Roy Harper,’ everything is excellent. Got the storm surge of ‘Immigrant Song,’ the moody bounce of ‘Friends’ and ‘Celebration Day,’ and the late-night blues epic ‘Since I’ve Been Loving You’ bringing it all to a head. You just can’t top that, and since it’s only the fourth track they wisely switched up the mood, got a little more upbeat, walking in the sunshine, cheerful hangmen, wistful ballads, culminating a second time with a joyful, footstomping number to make you feel all’s right with the world. Sensible people just stop the music at this point. Trust me, the design is better that way. 4/5

Utility: Great for housecleaning and baking, has a nice ebb and flow of energy. Not the best for the car speakers because the volume fluctuates a little too much. It rewards close listening yet might work well in mixed adult company – although the folk lovers and hard rock lovers tend to be separate people, perhaps accounting for this album’s lower rating compared to I, II and IV. 3/5

Verdict: A mainstay in my collection since I was fifteen. 11/15.

Best: Since I’ve Been Loving You; Bron-Y-Aur Stomp.

Worst: ‘Hats Off to (Roy) Harper.’

Ticharu's Notes;

Personal Background: III was the second Zeppelin album I heard. Listened to it one afternoon with Mark Foley. IV was the first one with Robert the previous summer. Tony picked up Physical Graffiti when that came out. Zeppelin I, I got to hear that while camping, Tony, myself, Robert and Roger I believe. We were on one side of the river while some party on the other side with a good sized stereo were blasting Zeppelin I. Fond memories of that. Mark bought Presence when that came out. So I have really good memories of all these. I didn't own a Zeppelin album until the 90s when I started buying them for myself. I didn't really get on with Zeppelin II when I finally heard it and I can say I've never heard Coda or In Through the Out Door.

Resonance: Led Zep are one of the few remaining 70s rock bands I still enjoy. Zeppelin III one of my favourites. It covers everything they were good at. Power, catchy riffs, great melodies, awesome guitar. Then there's Robert Plant's unearthly wail. This album connects for me on every level. The foggy memory of my teenage years, that desire to be a part of things, to be needed, to be invincible. They connect on a musical level, intellectual and an emotional level. 5/5

Design: The design of the LP cover art was fantastic. Totally devoid in the CD format. I have to harken back to the original and give it 5/5

Utility: I suppose if I'm going to listen to this album these days I want no interference. No distraction. I want to play it LOUD! Que up 'side one'. Bask in the majesty of it. Take a moment to collect my thoughts and then let 'side two' wash over me. I wouldn't skip anything. It's all of a piece however it ends. I accepted that long ago. It's like life in that way. Sometimes there's a happy ending, sometimes there isn't. 5/5

Conclusion: It's an absolute classic. A must have.

Best: Immigrant Song, Friends, Out on the Tiles

Worst: Hats Off To Harper

Erik Satie - 3 Gymnopedies & Other Piano Works - Pascal Roge

Erik Satie, 17 May 1866 – 1 July 1925 was a self styled phonometrician from France. That's really all you need to know...

Gymnopedies Nos. 1 - 3

Je te veux
Preludes flasques pour un chien
Prelude en tapissarie
Nocturne No. 4
Vieux sequins et vieilles cuirasses
Embryons desseches
Gnossiennes Nos. 1 - 6
Sonatine bureaucratique
Le Piccadilly

Cecily's notes;

Personal Background: I listened to this because I heard a few tracks from an Ensemble Sarband album called Satie in the Orient or something like that. I loved the melodies so I looked at the two Satie albums I had and picked the one with the Gnossiennes on it. It was not an instant hit with me but I really loved the waltz track, so I kept playing it once and a while.

Resonance: At times opaque, yet repeated listens crack the emotional code of one piece after another. 'Je Te Veux' is a waltz so of course it should sound like falling in love. 'Le Piccadilly' is a ray of sunshine - if I made a mixtape (or modern equivalent) of "songs to brighten your day" this would be on it for sure. The Gnossiennes and Gymnopedies are haunting and delicate. Nothing is overcooked yet nothing is simple. Emotionally it is remarkably rewarding, not closed off and overly intellectualized. 5/5

Design: Sometimes I listen to this CD and start thinking the piano is the only necessary instrument. Guitar, violin, voice - any of these by themselves starts to feel incomplete after a while but piano in the hands of a master is a completely sustainable creation. 5/5

Utility: I listen to this more often than any other classical CD I own. This is partly due to the soothing atmosphere (one isn't always in the mood for orchestral bombast) but its also because, subdued as it is, it is a work of melodic genius. 5/5

Best: Gnossienne 1; Je te veux; Le Piccadilly; Gymnopedie 1;

Worst: There are some parts of 'Vieux Sequins et Vielles Cuirasses' that slightly annoy me but I really like other parts of the melody so it evens out.

Conclusion: A keeper. 15/15 points.

Ticharu's notes;

Personal Background: This CD was released in 1984, I may have had both the LP and the CD, hard to remember but I think I had both. The CD would have been one of the first CDs added to my little box of CDs in 1984. As such I'm amazed it still plays!

Resonance: Extremely high on all levels not least because I've been listening to these performances for a very long time. 35 years! So there aren't any other versions of these little pieces that sound right. Pascal Roge nails it.  5/5

Design: Satie is that composer who gives all non-virtuosi musicians and phonometricians hope that they too could invent such beautiful music. Of course it isn't that simple. Satie brought an intelligence to his composition. So controlled, so perfect, this music is completely beyond time and imagining. These notes reach right inside to the centre of your being. 5/5

Utility: All piano music, much as I love it, is difficult to listen to these days with the tinnitus. I have different frequencies in each ear something like 4 and a third micro-tones apart. The ringing seems to increase with piano music more than any other instrument. I've tried all sorts from adjusting the EQ, playing it quiet, playing it loud. I can add echo and reverb to my own piano music which helps mask the high pitched ringing but I can't add reverb to a recording like this. That would be silly. Piano, my favourite instrument in the world and I'm virtually unable to listen to it. Turning me into a grumpy old man ahead of my time... 1/5

Conclusion: The CD was re-released in Europe and the UK in 2006. Find a copy! Put it in your box and if you really love piano music, stay out of loud, deafening environments like rock concerts unless you have industrial grade hearing protection.

Richie Havens - Mixed Bag (1966)

The debut album by Richie Havens and still considered his best work by the majority of fans. Features his distinctive thumb-chorded and open E tuned guitar playing, according to Wiki.

High Flyin' Bird

I Can't Make It Anymore
Morning, Morning
Adam
Follow
Three Day Eternity
Sandy
Handsome Johnny
San Francisco Bay Blues
Just Like a Woman
Eleanor Rigby

Cecily's Notes

Personal Background: Not a lot to speak of here. I saw him on the Woodstock film and wasn't that impressed until the DVD was finished and I realized he and Arlo Guthrie were two of the strongest parts of the whole show. I listened to clips of this CD and bought it from Amazon, listened to it, enjoyed it, kinda forgot about it.

Resonance: Richie Havens is a lot like Neil Young - he's very sympathetic and relatable when singing songs of life and love but the second he starts in on prophecying and Dylanizing about the woes of his generation he loses me completely. What the heck am I supposed to make of 'Follow?' Elsewhere, the effect of his gravelly voice on the sweetly arranged sad pop songs he covers is very similar to that of Nico on her Chelsea Girl album. Power is invested in some fairly cliched material by this method and I enjoy it. However, nothing really stands up to the frankly chilling opening track, 'High Flying Bird,' which is a devastating lament that nothing else on Mixed Bag even comes close to for immediacy and impact. 4/5

Design: I think it would have helped if all the sermons had been broken up a little, instead of being lumped in together near the start. I also don't think ending it with two high profile covers helps Richie Havens make a statement about his own arrival on the music scene. Otherwise the album flows quite well and would have appealed to the "bright young things" of the era - thoughtful, idealistic, educated material cheek-by-jowl with mellow folk-pop. Perfect for coffee with the roommates. 4/5

Utility: I don't listen to this record very often. It's simply not that well-suited to anything outside of introspective listening. 1/5

Best: High Flyin' Bird; San Francisco Bay Blues.

Worst: Follow.

Conclusion: Coming up with an actual rating for this album was kind of difficult. It gets 9/15, which is weak, but its a fairly strong record and definitely doesn't sound like anything else in my collection - I just don't find myself in the mood to play it that much and I don't see the future holding much difference in that regard. Maybe I just always get 'Morning, Morning' stuck in my head for days after listening and it subconsciously puts me off wanting to go through that again.

Ticharu's Notes

Personal Background: I would frequently run across Richie Havens albums when I worked at The Wax. Spin them for people in the store. I'd always find a song I liked sort of like an Iggy Pop album in that way. There's always a really good song in amongst the less memorable stuff. If you're a fan, it's the voice you're a fan of more than anything. I'm a fan of Haven's voice but the albums are a mixed bag (sorry) but it's true in many ways. His albums are a mix of styles, covers and subject matter. Interesting but maybe not completely satisfying. I would have loved to see him live and I'd also like to find the song I thought so much of back in the day, can't remember the name of the song or which record it was on. Thought it was on this one.

My notes deviate from form in that I've just rated the songs. High Flyin' Bird is a strong start. Classic Haves and 5 stars. An album of material in this style and this quality would have been amazing. I Can't Take it Anymore is a nice mid 60s pop song I almost wouldn't mind hearing again at some point. 2 stars. Morning Morning has a mid 60s pop country feel and it's a stronger piece of music. 4 stars. Adam sounds like a song composed after an LSD adventure with Gabor Szabo. I'm not sure Gabor was into that and I highly doubt he's playing on this album but that's what it sounds like to me. Great track, probably best they kept it short. 5 stars. Unlike Follow. At first I thought 'nothing wrong with this song, what's Cecily on about?' But it does go on a bit. At the halfway point I just forwarded to the next track. 1 star. I think that was side one...

Three Day Eternity is another rather strong track. Easy to like. 5 stars. Sandy changes style again and makes me think there were several producers and different musicians involved so I'm going to have to consult Wiki... where I too learned this album is considered his best work... don't you hate that? You're an artist and you've spent your whole life playing and recording and they say the first thing you did is the best thing you did... why bother? I'm guilty as anyone, well I liked their first album... anyway, Sandy is OK, 3 stars. Handsome Johnny is cited as one of the stronger songs on the album but in the pantheon of anti-war songs there are more powerful statements, Machine Gun by Hendrix for one but I like the fact that folk singers could sing songs like Handsome Johnny and be remembered for it. The sentiment is right but I don't know how to rate it. It's preachy. San Francisco Bay Blues is more of that mid 60s pop production that seems to follow every other track on the album. I like this one or almost like this one. 3 stars.

I skipped the last two tracks... what can I say? The joke is that people covering Dylan normally do a better version, so even a better version of Just Like a Woman isn't something I want to sit through. And nobody does a better version of a Beatles track, ever, anywhere, that I've ever heard but then I've never heard this version so I guess I'll never know.

So there you have it. I've given 5 stars to the "best" and not bothered listening to the "worst". My conclusion is... it's a mixed bag :)

Gabor Szabo - Dreams (1968)

Hungarian Jazz Guitar to accompany your voyage to the moon...

01 - Galatea's Guitar

02 - Half the Day is Night

03 - Song of Injured Love

04 - The Fortune Teller

05 - Fire Dance

06 - The Lady in the Moon

07 - Ferris Wheel

Cecily's Notes

Personal Background: My father gave me a copy of this CD to further my jazz edification. Thanks, Dad.

Resonance: This is a pretty album. There's a lot going on but its all happening very quietly, kind of like the inhabitants of a mystic swamp - there's your fireflies and fairy lights and crickets and a chorus of frogs and if you want to take your throw rug and matcha tea out to a handy stump and get started on your evening's meditation nothing will stop you but if you aren't very good at meditation then you'll start looking around and wishing for a glimpse of something bigger like a flamingo or an alligator. That would be cool. I guess this is my roundabout way of saying it doesn't really have that wow factor even though it is tremendously pretty. 2/5

Design: Can't fault it here. He covers Falla and Donovan and makes them sound the same. The percussion is marvelous. A thing of beauty, really. If only Gabor Szabo would indulge in a little healthy drama, get some rises and falls to take the listener on the journey promised by that cover... 4/5

Utility: Sometimes I want to listen to something low-key and when I do this is one of my first choices, right up there with Satie (though Satie is more emotionally accessible). It gets a lot of use around the house. 4/5

Best: 'Galatea's Guitar,' because the first five minutes in a mystic swamp are always gonna be the best.

Worst: Drawing a blank.

Conclusion: 10/15

Ticharu's Notes

Personal Background: I'd run across Gabor's playing on a Chico Hamilton disc. Great stuff, works amazingly well with Chico. So I saw this album cover on one of those streaming sites I was trying to use back in the day and gave it a go. Pretty interesting stuff but I don't believe I ever listened to the whole thing, now not being the time to rant about streaming services endless choice meaning I was constantly switching between the million and one things I've never heard and never listening to anything twice or even all the way through... so I hastily Amazon'd a copy of the CD to Cecily thinking I'd found something amazing.

Resonance: This is the only Gabor Szabo album I've listened to, several times now I have a copy, the others I've just sampled on YouTube and while they all have some great guitar playing on them, they all fall down with song selection. So far Dreams is the strongest along those lines but it's still kind of hard to pull any emotion from the music or form a very strong attachment to. Maybe it's the flaws that make it human and that's where I find the connection. 3/5

Design: Is "folk-jazz" a thing? That's how I'd describe this music. Covers a lot of stylistic ground very quickly, shifting sands, urban smooth, samba, medieval grunge, Spanish guitar, slightly rock and blues at times, psychedelic Dead Head jams and that's all in the opening track! It isn't your average jazz guitar trio. Dreams is like a vaguely Oriental dream-scape with strings and some lovely subtle percussion. There's little about it that screams of showy guitar which is good but it does lack any real edge. And then there are the "lounge" pieces. Lounge music without the kitsch factor is designed for what? A dentist office? 3/5

Utility: So... at it's worst you could play this album in a waiting room... at it's best you could play this album in an opium den... so the little room with my stereo occupies a middle ground somewhere between having your teeth worked on and being awake in your dream. 4/5

Best: The Fortune Teller, Galatea's Guitar

Worst: Song of Injured Love, Ferris Wheel

Conclusion: Dreams is possibly Gabor's best solo effort, I do find it interesting, and I will continue the quest for another Gabor Szabo album to add to the collection. 10/15