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I’ve never been a huge fan of jazz but once I listened to this debut record from Royal Crown Revue’s drummer, Daniel Glass, I’ve become a believer. For me, this album is the audio version of visual art deco.
The full colorful notes of the tropical-sounding vibraphone create the ethereal melody that intertwines itself with the sharp staccato drumbeats and resonant bass – “Lotus Blossom” is the perfect marriage of these exotic and familiar sounds. When the vibraphone travels on one of its many musical tangents, you’re wonderfully powerless to float along with it; you’ll be dancing happily with the rest on “Dance of the Infidels.”
Each time you think you’re going to soar away, the drums – especially with those cymbals – pull you back in, keeping you grounded for the next trip into space. When the drum and bass take center stage on “The Crippled Waltz”, you’re stirred with the earthy sounds jangling through your head.
The album is remarkably mellow, which would normally consign it to the gray limbo of “background music.” If you banish it to this void, you’ll discover the music will refuse to stay there – it will gradually and subtly squirm, pry, and slink through your thoughts, in order to crash into the foreground of your awareness.
I suggest listening to this album while sipping your martini – you’ll be left wonderstruck and breathlessly ecstatic.
[Barflies.net]
Track listing:
01 Lotus Blossom
02 We Three
03 First Rain
04 Gregory Is Here
05 S.O.S.
06 Sparkler
07 The Crippled Waltz
08 Dance of the Infidels
09 Don't Look Back
10 On The Verge
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