It can be a beautiful thing indeed to reassess an album after it has languished in obscurity for a time. In this case it's the James Taylor Quartet's A Few Useful Tips About Living Underground, originally issued in the United Kingdom in 1996 on the Acid Jazz imprint. The set was the band's second for the label -- the first was the more soul-oriented offering In the Hand of the Inevitable -- and should have been a smash given the label's profile at the time and the JTQ's ability to nail single after single onto the charts. ...
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It can be a beautiful thing indeed to reassess an album after it has languished in obscurity for a time. In this case it's the James Taylor Quartet's A Few Useful Tips About Living Underground, originally issued in the United Kingdom in 1996 on the Acid Jazz imprint. The set was the band's second for the label -- the first was the more soul-oriented offering In the Hand of the Inevitable -- and should have been a smash given the label's profile at the time and the JTQ's ability to nail single after single onto the charts. However, the album, while selling respectably, failed to make the charts. The label, experiencing at the time its first real financial problems, failed in its attempt to market it properly and subsequently made a ridiculous mistake when issuing it later in the United States (on the Hollywood imprint) with a different title (Creation) and track selection. Thanks to the good folks at BGP, this absolutely classic slab of timeless hard-driving B-3 jazz and groove-laden jazz-funk is available again in a remastered edition that reconciles the differences between the U.K. and U.S. versions. The band -- Taylor on B-3, Rhodes piano, and Moog; his brother David on guitar; bassist Gary Crockett; and drummer Neil Robinson -- enlisted the help of John Wilmott and Dominic Glover as a horn section and Maurizio Ravalico on percussion (no vocalist this time out) in order to literally burn through the nine new cuts and a pair of cuts from a 1995 session, all adding up to the band's greatest single album. Some of the highlights are originals such as "Summer Fantasy" and "Serenity" -- both of which have locked-down grooves that are nonetheless airy and lithe thanks to a rhythm section that had been playing together for five years at this point -- and a pair of covers that are unequaled from the period: Lalo Schifrin's "Theme from Dirty Harry" and Gil Scott-Heron's "It's Your World." But this is just the icing on the cake. The hard-driving funk of the opening "Selectivity" features killer conga work by Ravalico and stomping breaks by Robinson setting off the driving synth and organ work by Taylor. The wah-wah guitar edges are sharp as a knife, too. There is no letup as the much more intense hard-edged groove of "Creation" reminds the listener of Santana if they were led by Gregg Rolie's keyboards driving the band instead of the electric guitar. "Staying Active" enters a bit slower, but is far more funky with its backbone-slipping break and the loping B-3 playing a melody that is by turns as hip as John Patton and as knotty as Charles Earland. The point being that this set has no fat, nothing extra. Each cut is a slammer in its own right and could have been a single worthy of intense play on the dancefloor, but makes for great listening as well. The new version of A Few Useful Tips About Living Underground also features the tracks from the U.S. edition (that never saw U.K. issue in any form), including a remix of "Creation" as well as "Austin's Theme," "Theme from a Far Away Land," and "Man of Mystery." None of them are filler, and with these cuts tacked on at the end of the disc, the listener gets the original album in its full glory with the U.S. tracks added as a real treat. Whether you were around and grooving to it back in the day or are a fan of tough jazz-funk in the current era, pick this up and have your head ripped off. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi
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Add this copy of A Few Useful Tips About Living Underground [Bonus to cart. $14.21, new condition, Sold by Importcds rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Sunrise, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by BGP.
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Clinton; Schifrin; Scott-Heron; Taylor; Taylor/Taylor. New. New in new packaging. USA Orders only! Brand New product! please allow delivery times of 3-7 business days within the USA. US orders only please.
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