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 Funky improvisations Feb 15, 2009
I gave this album five stars just to counteract the reviewers who unfairly docked it points solely based on sound quality. What's up with that? The sound isn't perfect, but it's very much 'in your face' and fits with the overall intent. A harsh, uncompromising funkiness that makes one think of an unholy union of Albert Ayler and the PFunk.
Vernon, Jamaladeen and Calvin lay down some seriously amazing stuff on this album, and I think anyone who loves the instrumental side of Funkadelic or appreciates the wilder parts of '70s fusion jazz would love this. I'd like to see this guys work together again, and maybe even play some shows outside NYC (hint hint!).
1 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 audio compression at its worst Apr 01, 2008
The musicianship is great, but I agree with ann e. mouse -- audio compression has ruined the sound.
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Some great shredding, but not enough solid grooves for me Mar 28, 2008
This is a decent album, but not as good as Vernon's Masque albums. Fans of Vernon's shred soloing will certainly eat this album up. But in the end, I would like to have seen more rhythmic playing by Vernon to help the bass and drums build intense grooves before he goes on to really solo. There's certainly some of that, but not enough for my tastes. Like I said, the Masque albums Vernon has recently put out are superior in my opinion.
6 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 This Record Was Ruined... Mar 23, 2008
...by bad mastering. It is an unfortunate trend that rock/fusion records are being mastered louder and louder, and this is an extreme example. If you don't know about hot mastering, google or wikipedia "loudness war". Basically, it is the process of making a record sound louder by different mastering techniques such as compression. It has the effect of reducing dynamics (i.e. the differences between the quiet parts of music and the loud parts), or in this case nearly eliminating it. It makes drums sound punchless and the music a constant drone at 100% peak. It also has the effect of clipping waves. That is, the loud parts of the music, such as the smack of a drum, have part of their sound waves clipped off. It is the intentional and irreplaceable amputation of the part of the music. In this case, it is extreme and constant. There is virtually no part of the record that does not suffer from clipping.
In my opinion, this record is unlistenable on decent equipment. So if you're like me and you actually listen to your music with your full attention, and your home system cost more than say $600 dollars, you will find this record painfully bad even though the music itself is outstanding. I suppose it might sound acceptable in a noisy car or on $20 earbuds and a cheap digital player. But even if you have an ipod and $60 phones, you'll find this record extremely poor sound quality wise.
If it was the band's idea to release the loudest record possible, then they have shot themselves in the foot because they've ruined some fine music here. If it was the label's decision, then I urge the band to get a new record label that will let the mastering engineer leave some of the dynamics in the music and not butcher the sound waves.
Needless to say I regret this purchase and wish I had seen a review like this when I was considering this purchase.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Get Your Freq On Feb 24, 2008
For anyone who's familiar with these guys, this record is basically a crank-it-up no-brainer. If you're not familiar with them, or if you know Vernon Reid only from his Living Colour days, there's no better place to start. Despite the "free form" in the name, there's nothing out-there about this, in the chaotic manner, say, of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time. This is mainly very accessible funk-rock material, pretty much guaranteed to appeal to just about anyone who gets off on a power trio. The opening and closing tracks may be a little on the spacey side, with some guitar synth and laptop work from Reid, but it's not anything a metalhead can't handle. As for Tacuma's bass-in-ya-face, he sounds so good here it's ridiculous. I find myself listening to him as if he were out front, with Reid receding into the background. So here's looking to Vol. 2. As good as this is, though, for a truly adventurous Tacuma/Weston-based guitar record, check out Mirakle, with the late, great Derek Bailey doing his genuinely freaky thing over smokin' funk grooves. It lives up to its name. No idea, incidentally, why Amazon is offering only an SACD version of this Freqs record. I got it from iTunes. There's nothing about an SACD version on the Thirsty Ear site.
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