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| Track list: 1. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To 2. Two's Blues 3. The Answer Is Yes 4. Concierto De Aranjuez 5. Rock Skippin' 6. Unfinished Business 7. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To (Alt. Take) 8. The Answer Is Yes (Alt. Take) 9. Rock Skippin' (Alt. Take) Running time: 65 minutes Released: 1975 |
Another almost random disc now, as this came as part of a big box of jazz classics. I've never heard of Jim Hall before so don't know what to expect. Apparently he's a staple of jazz guitar and the original disc was just 4 or 5 tracks but there are 9 here so a bit more to work with. I suspect this will not be my thing, but lets plow on and see...
The opening refrains have that light, dated electric guitar sound that I associate with noodling and cheese. The melody is perfectly likeable but there is something about the timbre of the 70s jazz guitar that is instinctively off-putting. The wind/brass led section that takes over from that guitar-driven opening is more my thing, but even then the tune tends a little too much to the cheesy for my tastes, I think its the constant nature of the bass and business of the drums and keys. Too much going on.
I'm not having a great day. Yesterday I failed to get this listen in and thus missed my target of 1 a day through the point I return to work, today I have woken up with a strange burning pain in my hands - just down the sides around the knuckles of my little fingers. It's much worse on the right, which I can barely touch to anything, and I've managed to give myself a blister because my trainer socks didn't cover the tops of my trainers when walking to do some shopping. Oh well, at least the sun is out, and in lieu of the listen yesterday I got stuff done in the garden and got out on my bike for the first time in too long.
The tune has grown on me a little bit as I digressed, leading me to think that maybe its a question of accepting it on its own terms. Certainly when the second track starts, then gets into its swing, I am more favourably disposed to it, though perhaps that is something to do with it not being the awful sounds I can hear being played next door, tasteless euro-pop. Ugh.
As much as I hate track-by-track statements, here it feels appropriate to call out the change with The Answer Is Yes, too. This tune has more space, more time, and feels better crafted as a result. One thing I really like here is how the guitar lead and the keyboard seem to be playing as extensions to each other in places - one starts a line, the other finishes it. The tune as a whole feels closer to the areas of older jazz that I have been fond of.
I am struggling to find many words this morning (well, midday now). I should by rights feel massively rested by now after a week off, what with it being Sunday, but I don't. Struggle to sleep last night as my mind wouldn't shut off didn't help. After a quick break to baste the lamb I have roasting for lunch it's into the centrepiece of the disc - a 20 minute concerto. Checking on LastFM I am surprised to find that I have clocked up 20 listens to Jim Hall (including the first 3 here), and that I have apparently heard enough of the Concierto De Aranjuez to scrobble it twice before. Surprised because consciously I was not really aware of this disc at all.
I rather like the tune though, a Latin rhythm, softly delivered by the bass with a little help from the drums keeps it rolling gently along as the various other musicians give their rotating parts over the top of it all. It has a nice gentle relaxation to it. The parts swap in and out in such a way that it doesn't get repetitive, at least through the first 10 minutes, only half way I'll grant, and the flow of the tune is really spot on. I could probably do with it coming to a close sooner than another 7-8 minutes though. Without the context of a live performance, immensely long tracks can strain the attention, and any dissatisfaction with the tune as it continues is more because I am trying to be attentive rather than doing something else whilst it plays. When really giving it a close ear, the patterns that provide that nice gentle sway are the ones that strain the interest. In general relaxation I wouldn't hear them as much, the melodic parts would win out, but here it was harder to escape them.
The ending of Concierto De Aranjuez is heralded by a complete change of pace and rhythm, it becomes ploddingly slow and patchy, losing all the coherence it had for most of its run. Now I really do wish the piece concluded 5 minutes earlier.
There is one more tune of note, what looks like a 2-minute interlude, and 3 alternate takes to come. Retakes, remixes, acoustic versions etc. are all well and good, but I do wonder about including so many on the same disc as the original cut. Yes, this was a re-issue thing, but when you only have a handful of tunes in the first place...? This kind of thing is less annoying if it's one or two tunes in 10-20; when it's 3 in 8 the ratio is all wrong. Anyhow, minor rant aside, it seems to me that Rock Skippin' is well named - the sounds are bouncy, jumping around and I can immediately relate them to skimming stones, or clambering and jumping over boulders as a kid. Having said that, I then think again; in my memory or visualisation of those activities they're solo affairs, out in the countryside, slow pace, escapism. I don't know where I am going with this thought at all, but I feel that I need to get out into the countryside more, but finding the motivation to do so alone is... eugh.
So, into the repeats we dive and I find myself less at odds with it than I expect, but without anything to say.
My overall impression of this disc is positive, actually, which surprises me - especially given my initial reaction. I still rather resent the sound of the jazz guitar as exemplified on You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To, as a lead instrument anyway, but the one instrument doesn't make or break the track, and when it is employed with a less "ringing" sound the guitar is an excellent instrument for any genre. It's the specific electric rounded note guitar sound of the 70s that irks me. It's employed a little too much here for me to be 100% on board with the album but the general flow, pace and energy of the disc makes up for that some.
I have run out of steam entirely over the last 20 minutes, so I am grateful for the end when it comes. Now to go halve the lamb and take one half off to be eaten. Yum!
The opening refrains have that light, dated electric guitar sound that I associate with noodling and cheese. The melody is perfectly likeable but there is something about the timbre of the 70s jazz guitar that is instinctively off-putting. The wind/brass led section that takes over from that guitar-driven opening is more my thing, but even then the tune tends a little too much to the cheesy for my tastes, I think its the constant nature of the bass and business of the drums and keys. Too much going on.
I'm not having a great day. Yesterday I failed to get this listen in and thus missed my target of 1 a day through the point I return to work, today I have woken up with a strange burning pain in my hands - just down the sides around the knuckles of my little fingers. It's much worse on the right, which I can barely touch to anything, and I've managed to give myself a blister because my trainer socks didn't cover the tops of my trainers when walking to do some shopping. Oh well, at least the sun is out, and in lieu of the listen yesterday I got stuff done in the garden and got out on my bike for the first time in too long.
The tune has grown on me a little bit as I digressed, leading me to think that maybe its a question of accepting it on its own terms. Certainly when the second track starts, then gets into its swing, I am more favourably disposed to it, though perhaps that is something to do with it not being the awful sounds I can hear being played next door, tasteless euro-pop. Ugh.
As much as I hate track-by-track statements, here it feels appropriate to call out the change with The Answer Is Yes, too. This tune has more space, more time, and feels better crafted as a result. One thing I really like here is how the guitar lead and the keyboard seem to be playing as extensions to each other in places - one starts a line, the other finishes it. The tune as a whole feels closer to the areas of older jazz that I have been fond of.
I am struggling to find many words this morning (well, midday now). I should by rights feel massively rested by now after a week off, what with it being Sunday, but I don't. Struggle to sleep last night as my mind wouldn't shut off didn't help. After a quick break to baste the lamb I have roasting for lunch it's into the centrepiece of the disc - a 20 minute concerto. Checking on LastFM I am surprised to find that I have clocked up 20 listens to Jim Hall (including the first 3 here), and that I have apparently heard enough of the Concierto De Aranjuez to scrobble it twice before. Surprised because consciously I was not really aware of this disc at all.
I rather like the tune though, a Latin rhythm, softly delivered by the bass with a little help from the drums keeps it rolling gently along as the various other musicians give their rotating parts over the top of it all. It has a nice gentle relaxation to it. The parts swap in and out in such a way that it doesn't get repetitive, at least through the first 10 minutes, only half way I'll grant, and the flow of the tune is really spot on. I could probably do with it coming to a close sooner than another 7-8 minutes though. Without the context of a live performance, immensely long tracks can strain the attention, and any dissatisfaction with the tune as it continues is more because I am trying to be attentive rather than doing something else whilst it plays. When really giving it a close ear, the patterns that provide that nice gentle sway are the ones that strain the interest. In general relaxation I wouldn't hear them as much, the melodic parts would win out, but here it was harder to escape them.
The ending of Concierto De Aranjuez is heralded by a complete change of pace and rhythm, it becomes ploddingly slow and patchy, losing all the coherence it had for most of its run. Now I really do wish the piece concluded 5 minutes earlier.
There is one more tune of note, what looks like a 2-minute interlude, and 3 alternate takes to come. Retakes, remixes, acoustic versions etc. are all well and good, but I do wonder about including so many on the same disc as the original cut. Yes, this was a re-issue thing, but when you only have a handful of tunes in the first place...? This kind of thing is less annoying if it's one or two tunes in 10-20; when it's 3 in 8 the ratio is all wrong. Anyhow, minor rant aside, it seems to me that Rock Skippin' is well named - the sounds are bouncy, jumping around and I can immediately relate them to skimming stones, or clambering and jumping over boulders as a kid. Having said that, I then think again; in my memory or visualisation of those activities they're solo affairs, out in the countryside, slow pace, escapism. I don't know where I am going with this thought at all, but I feel that I need to get out into the countryside more, but finding the motivation to do so alone is... eugh.
So, into the repeats we dive and I find myself less at odds with it than I expect, but without anything to say.
My overall impression of this disc is positive, actually, which surprises me - especially given my initial reaction. I still rather resent the sound of the jazz guitar as exemplified on You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To, as a lead instrument anyway, but the one instrument doesn't make or break the track, and when it is employed with a less "ringing" sound the guitar is an excellent instrument for any genre. It's the specific electric rounded note guitar sound of the 70s that irks me. It's employed a little too much here for me to be 100% on board with the album but the general flow, pace and energy of the disc makes up for that some.
I have run out of steam entirely over the last 20 minutes, so I am grateful for the end when it comes. Now to go halve the lamb and take one half off to be eaten. Yum!
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