{"id":2543,"date":"2021-11-09T16:13:36","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T16:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joeviglione.com\/?p=2543"},"modified":"2022-02-04T18:59:26","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T18:59:26","slug":"manfred-manns-earth-band-angel-station-review-jv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeviglione.com\/?p=2543","title":{"rendered":"Arturo Sandoval and his group… review JV"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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https:\/\/www.allmusic.com\/album\/and-his-group-mw0000585129<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\n Review\n by Joe Viglione\n  [-]<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\n Arturo Sandoval & His Group<\/a>\n contains 11 songs which take the listener on an instrumental pop\/jazz \njourney that is completely satisfying and full of musical surprises. The\n close to seven minutes of “Para Empezar a Vivir” is pure ’80s lounge \nwhile “Cuatro Gigantes” starts off with traditional Latin sounds before \nveering off into Weather Report<\/a> territory. The cover of Jennings<\/a>\/Kerr<\/a>‘s “Yo Nunca Volver\u00e9 a Amar de Esta Manera” has Sandoval<\/a> scorching the horn in parts; it’s far more intrusive than Dionne Warwick<\/a>‘s beautiful rendition of her Top Five 1979 hit “I’ll Never Love This Way Again.” At certain points, Sandoval<\/a>\n intentionally tears into the melody while the band has some fun with \nthe rhythm, the ending disintegrating into mayhem and one wondering if \nsome satire isn’t going on. The packaging is exquisite, including a \n20-page booklet — ten pages in English; ten in Spanish — with photos \nand extensive credits. Helio Orovio<\/a>‘s\n liner notes are spot on and make for great reading while “Variaciones \nPara una Mazurca de Chopin” plays in the background, taking a turn into \nthe mysterious and exotic, sounds that shimmer inside a beautiful \nundercurrent. There’s a lot to take in on this single disc and even \nafter repeated spins it holds plenty of secrets, a work of art \ncontaining ideas that drift in and out before you realize how quickly \nthe dimensions keep shifting. It is a group effort with Sandoval<\/a> giving his bandmates plenty of space to showcase their skills, especially on their total musical revision of Gershwin<\/a>‘s “Summertime.” “S\u00e1bado 14” is one of only two Arturo Sandoval<\/a> originals, taking bits of “Moon River” and ’80s disco with perhaps a dash of Stevie Wonder<\/a>. It’s yet another fine disc for the bachelor pad fans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band Angel Station Review JV<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/www.allmusic.com\/album\/angel-station-mw0000194751\n\n\n\n

Angel Station Review<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Joe Viglione [-]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Vocalist Chris Thompson’s last album with Manfred \nMann’s Earth Band is dressed up in Mann’s beautiful keyboards. Angel \nStation has some key moments — “You Angel You,” a Bob Dylan tune that \nsounds nothing like Dylan, and not the way their Top Ten version of \n“Quinn the Eskimo”\/”The Mighty Quinn” was reinvented. “You Angel You” \nhas a strong hook with topnotch Anthony Moore production work, and it \nmelts into the title track of Harriet Schock’s landmark Hollywood Town \nalbum, the source of Helen Reddy’s “Ain’t No Way to Treat a Lady.” The \nManfred Mann version is interesting, and explores the possibilities of \nthe composition, though Schock’s version is perfect country-pop and hard\n to top. It is nice to see a rock band with such good taste. “Angelz at \nMy Gate,” co-written by Manfred Mann, leads off side two and is another \ndreamy “angel” tune. It sounds mysteriously like “Games Without \nFrontiers,” the Peter Gabriel radio hit from his 1980 third self-titled \nsolo album. Now since this was released the year before, do you think \nGabriel found inspiration from the grooves of Angel Station? While \nartists like Gary Wright and Jordan Rudess overwhelm you with the \nkeyboards, Manfred Mann’s are indeed the lead instrument, but he uses \nthem to augment the vocals, not to overpower. The John Shaw-photographed\n album cover looks innocent enough until you turn it upside down — \nthere a female dark angel, in open black cape, exposes her breasts. So \nblatant, but upside down it probably went right by many retailers, and \nwith no hit single, it probably didn’t cause too much of a stir. It’s \ninteresting that, like Gary Wright, the Earth Band recorded for Warner \nBros., yet both acts only eked out a couple of hit singles. As with \nWright’s Headin’ Home LP, this 1979 album has more than its share of \ngood material, both keyboard players being intuitive artists with \ncredentials and past chart success. Despite good performances on Heron’s\n “Don’t Kill It Carol” and a simply wonderful cover of Billy Falcon’s \n1978 release, “Waiting for the Rain,” this is yet another album that \ndeserved a better fate. The rendition of the Falcon tune may be the best\n performance of one of that singer’s compositions ever. The two Manfred \nMann songs on side two are excellent: “You Are – I Am” is good and \npleasant while “Resurrection” has lyrics that display clever sarcasm and\n religious — or sacrilegious — overtones. Angel Station is \nwell-crafted music by an industry veteran. \n\n \n Collapse \u2191\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.allmusic.com\/album\/angel-station-mw0000194751<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review by Joe Viglione  [-] Arturo Sandoval & His Group contains 11 songs which take the listener on an instrumental pop\/jazz journey that is completely satisfying and full of musical surprises. The close to seven minutes of “Para Empezar a Vivir” is pure ’80s lounge while “Cuatro Gigantes” starts off with traditional Latin sounds before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeviglione.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeviglione.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeviglione.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeviglione.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeviglione.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2543"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/joeviglione.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2741,"href":"https:\/\/joeviglione.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2543\/revisions\/2741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeviglione.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeviglione.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeviglione.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}