2015/08/29

today's chillout music (403)

jon hassell-brian eno / fourth world vol.1 possible musics
Largely thought of merely as a mostly stillborn offshoot of Brian Eno's larger ambient music series, the Fourth World series of albums, in collaboration with trumpeter Jon Hassell, is actually an entirely separate beast. Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics starts off from the same basic idea as Hassell's previous solo albums, like Earthquake Island and Vernal Equinox: a blend of avant-garde composition, jazz soloing, and African and Middle Eastern rhythmic forms. This album adds only Eno's characteristic production touches, like the reversed echo that adds a ghostly, unreal edge to Hassell's trumpet solos on the side-long "Charm (Over Burundi Cloud)." The rest of the album, including the African hand drummers on the hypnotic "Delta Rain Dream" and the swirling, almost speech-like solos of "Griot," is pure Hassell. Although this album was never a chart hit and has become surprisingly underappreciated over the years, its influence on what has since become known as tribal techno is incalculable, as has its influence on those art rockers who have picked up a world music vibe. Peter Gabriel in particular owes a fair chunk of his royalty checks from Security onward to Jon Hassell.

2015/08/27

today's chillout music (401)

tears for fears / songs from the big chair
If The Hurting was mental anguish, Songs from the Big Chair marks the progression towards emotional healing, a particularly bold sort of catharsis culled from Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith's shared attraction to primal scream therapy. The album also heralded a dramatic maturation in the band's music, away from the synth-pop brand with which it was (unjustly) seared following the debut, and towards a complex, enveloping pop sophistication. The songwriting of Orzabal, Smith, and keyboardist Ian Stanley took a huge leap forward, drawing on reserves of palpable emotion and lovely, protracted melodies that draw just as much on soul and R&B music as they do on immediate pop hooks. The album could almost be called pseudo-conceptual, as each song holds its place and each is integral to the overall tapestry, a single-minded resolve that is easy to overlook when an album is as commercially successful as Songs from the Big Chair. And commercially successful it was, containing no less than three huge commercial radio hits, including the dramatic and insistent march, "Shout" and the shimmering, cascading "Head Over Heels," which, tellingly, is actually part of a song suite on the album. Orzabal and Smith's penchant for theorizing with steely-eyed austerity was mistaken for harsh bombasticism in some quarters, but separated from its era, the album only seems earnestly passionate and immediate, and each song has the same driven intent and the same glistening remoteness. It is not only a commercial triumph, it is an artistic tour de force. And in the loping, percolating "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," Tears for Fears perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the mid-'80s while impossibly managing to also create a dreamy, timeless pop classic. Songs from the Big Chair is one of the finest statements of the decade.

2015/08/26

today's chillout music (401)

passport / cross.collateral
You can get quite an argument going about what Passport really is -- rock fans hear a very accessible jazz outfit, and jazz fans hear a progressive rock band with real chops. Cross-Collateral is the album that shows how well this jazz band can rock and how well this rock band can play jazz. The title cut is 13 minutes and 38 seconds of progressive rock suite, with elements of funk and jazz fitting into a seamless whole. Klaus Doldinger's sax goes through its whole range of sounds, from growls and grunts to soaring melody lines. Elsewhere on the album are delightfully ethereal pieces that are closer to straightforward jazz, such as the meditative "Damals." "Will-of-the-Wisp," aptly named for the way that the simple theme appears and reappears, is a concert favorite for this band and reappears on their live albums. Cross-Collateral was an international success and brought this band to greater prominence in the U.S.A., and it's easy to see why. To put it simply, everything fits together perfectly. NOTE: Fans of album cover art cherish the LP version of this release, which has an eye-catching cover credited only to Wandrey's Studio.

2015/08/23

today's chillout music (398)

herbie hancock / magic windows
Magic Windows is the thirty-second album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, released on September 29, 1981 on Columbia. Personnel involved in this album, besides Herbie himself, include among others: Wah-Wah Watson, Ray Parker Jr., Sylvester, Paulinho da Costa, Adrian Belew and Sheila Escovedo.

2015/08/14

today's chillout music (389)

samuel jonathan johnson / my music
Samuel Jonathan Johnson's lone album My Music is the epitome of a cult classic: a record that didn't do much upon its release in 1978 but steadily found an audience, one large enough that it eventually worked its way into the culture, its presence known through recurring samples on songs by Jadakiss, Q-Tip, and others. If My Music offered nothing more than sample source material, it'd be little more than a curio, but it's a unique record in its own right, falling halfway between the romantic disco opuses of Barry White and the seductive smooth jazz of Donald Byrd and Roy Ayers. Johnson does indulge in a bit of exuberance -- "Sweet Love" bubbles over with joy and "It Ain't Easy" is nearly as ebullient, while "You" bounces to a determined disco thump -- but the overall tone of the LP is one of love, not seduction. Johnson has love for his mother, his family, his love, and music, and that sincere, earnest emotion gives this resonance while Johnson's lush but not extravagant production gives it an enveloping warmth that doesn't fade.

2015/08/12

today's chillout music (387)

debra laws / very special
Very Special was the 1981 debut album for Debra Laws which sold over 385,000 copies worldwide.The album was produced by her brothers Hubert and Ronnie Laws, both of whom were players on the jazz scene in the 80s through their associations with Earth Wind & Fire.Following the success of the lead single from the album, which received widespread radio airplay, Debra Laws toured around the US and abroad for the following nine years after the album’s release.As a result of the extensive touring, Debra Laws got the opportunity to collaborate with such Motown and funk legends as The Commodores, Kool and the Gang and Shabba Ranks.

2015/08/09

today's chillout music (384)

rolling stones / undercover of the night (extended version)
nice dub rock disco classics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2015/08/08

sea side week end (18)



N.Yのガラージ名門レーベル「P&P Records」からの1976年に発表された、CLOUD ONE(PATRICK ADAMS)の極メロウなシンセ〜ピアノを擁したグル−ヴに浸れる1枚♪

サウンド・メイクからバックのフィメール・コーラスまで浮遊感バツグン、気だるくも洗練されたピアノの絡みも最高、アーバンかつフリーキーな最高に心地よいサマーブリーズ感がサイコーです

ROY AYERSや、KOOL&THE GANG「SUMMER MADNESS」などを思わせる名曲ですね。

today's chillout music (383)

ju-par universal orchestra / moods and grooves

2015/08/07

today's chillout music (382)

rasa / everything you see it me
A deeply spiritual group at the core – so much so that the songs here are all guided towards the aims of Krishna – but one who works with the best sort of jazzy soul styles of the late 70s! The album's become a surprising modern soul classic over the years – a record that was originally aimed at a small audience, but which has moved into countless collections – thanks to its righteous message and warmly jazzy grooves – an approach that's quite heavy on smooth keyboards too! Lead vocals are mostly by Chris McDaniels – who's got a laidback blue-eyed soul approach – but a few other singers are featured as well – and Randy Brecker also plays a bit of trumpet on the record. Titles include the funky electric groover "Chanting", plus "Everything You See Is Me", "Just For Believing", "The Dream Is Over", "Within The Sound", and "Question In My Mind"

2015/08/05

today's chillout music (380)

ofra haza / fifty gates of window-yemenite songs

Yemenite Songs a.k.a. Shirey Teyman (Hebrew: שירי תימן) is a 1987 album by Ofra Haza, in which the Israeli pop star returned to her roots interpreting traditional Yemeni Jewish songs with lyrics coming from the poetry of 16th century Rabbi Shalom Shabazi. The album was recorded with both traditional and modern musical instruments; wooden and metal percussion, Yemenite tin and tambala, strings, brass and woodwind as well as drum machines and synthesizers. The songs are sung in Hebrew with a Yemenite dialect and in Arabic.The opening song "Im Nin' Alu"'s a cappella intro would eventually become the starting point of Haza's international career as it was sampled by a number of European and American rap and dance acts like Eric B. & Rakim on their "Paid In Full" and M|A|R|R|S on "Pump Up the Volume" which led to Haza releasing a dance remix of her own recording in 1988 (subtitled Played In Full) which became a pop chart hit in many parts of the world. Remixes of both "Im Nin' Alu" and "Galbi" were included on the first international album Shaday.The Yemenite Songs album has also been released under the title Fifty Gates of Wisdom.

2015/08/02

today's chillout music (377)

cameo / she's strange
By 1984, African-American popular music had become extremely high tech. The horn-powered funk bands that were huge in the 1970s were out of style, and young audiences were demanding hip-hop, electro-funk, and urban contemporary -- not horn bands that sounded like the Ohio Players or Tower of Power circa 1975. Horn bands were still in vogue only in the home of the go-go explosion: Washington, DC. But these changes in the marketplace didn't hurt Cameo; both commercially and creatively, 1984's She's Strange was a winner. Thankfully, Cameo leader Larry Blackmon isn't afraid to try different things on this excellent album. The mysterious title song (a major hit) and the sociopolitical "Talking Out the Side of Your Neck" find Cameo responding to hip-hop's popularity by including a lot of rapping, while "Lé Ve Toi!" is very rock-minded -- it's still funk, but funk laced with lots of rock. "Tribute to Bob Marley" is a reggae gem that salutes the Jamaican legend, and "Hangin' Downtown" is a smooth, jazzy number with a definite quiet storm appeal. When She's Strange soared up Billboard's R&B albums chart, one had to admire Cameo's durability. Other bands that had emerged in the 1970s were hurting, but with She's Strange, Cameo had no problem maintaining both its freshness and its popularity.

2015/08/01

sea side week end (17)




Larry Blackmon率いる大所帯FUNK BAND 、Cameo 84年作
Group Home"Supa Star"で使用されたスロウ・ナンバー"Hangin' Downtown"や、2PAC、NATE DOGGネタの"She's Strange"など、サンプリング・ソースが多数収録のナイスなアルバムですが、今回ご紹介するのは、極上のメロウ・グルーヴ"Love You Anyway"。マイナーな曲ですが胸キュンになる名曲です⭐︎

today's chillout music (376)

lenny white / my turn to love you (dub version)
Remix – François Kevorkian, Jay MarkVocals 
Written-By – Eddy Grant

nice spacy dubby garage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!