BILL’S HEAVY METAL BALLADS ALBUM!?
In terms of material and performances this should’ve been a five star recording. And in terms of my enjoyment of the music, it very nearly is.
Butt… and it is, sadly, a rather large butt…
Sound quality is an issue. The mic’ on Bill Evans’ piano is either damaged, too close, or something similar (simply overloading on signal?), as there’s a degree of distortion on all the piano that is just bizarre.
Herbie’s flute and Chuck’s bass are well enough recorded. But Paul Motion’s drums are, on occasion, rather thin and distant. Not a good day for the studio engineers, this one!
And, alas… oh, woe is me. Or rather woe is all of us. Because, as already mentioned, this is a great date in terms of personnel and material. The performances are good. Possibly very good? But they’re definitely marred by the audio issues.
Most particularly the distorted piano.
I’m actually surprised by two things; that it was released at all. And that, in our ‘fix it in the mix’ age of digital wizardry, it hasn’t been cleaned up. I’m sure software exists nowadays that could significantly improve the sound.
Despite this, it still scores relatively high, for me. Because, whilst the distortion is an annoyance, the overall vibe of the album is terrific. This really comes close to Nirvana. I hope one day someone dies the decent thing, and restores the piano to a more pure pristine sound.
So, all in all, an oddity. A great album, sadly spoiled somewhat by a technical issue. But nevertheless worth having and enjoying.