Chris
Cutler/Thomas Dimuzio/Fred Frith
Golden State
(ReR)
I have to admit that it was with a strong sense of curiosity and anticipation
that I waited for the moment when I could finally listen to the album (as
in, "vinyl-only") called Golden State. And my wait was destined
to last a bit longer than I expected, for reasons I’ll briefly discuss
in a moment.
I was quite intrigued by the possibilities that were potentially entailed by
this meeting. In fact, provided I’m not mistaken, this is the first time
that a physical item is available on sale to the general public, involving
these three players: Chris Cutler on drums, etc.; Thomas Dimuzio on sampling,
manipulation, etc.; and Fred Frith on guitars; of course, we already know
about the four albums released by the Cutler-Frith long-standing duo, and
the two albums by the Cutler-Dimuzio duo: all fine albums, those, offering
multiple points of interest.
Looking
quite majestic, Golden State is a limited-edition album: only 1969 180
grams vinyl copies were pressed, 500 copies in translucent gold, 500 in
white vinyl (for this writer, it’s always the most elegant look), the others
in the usual
"classic black". Though the press release talks about all material
having been recorded in California in 1999, the actual liner notes date the
four tracks featured here to the years 1999, 2000, and 2002. No details to
be found about the nature of the tracks, so we don’t know if they come from
live or studio sessions, though a certain "ambience" that I think
it’s possible to "feel" here and there makes me think of concert
recordings, though later edited by Thomas Dimuzio, who also did the album’s
pre-mastering.
The
reason for my long wait is quite simple indeed: It was my intention to
listen to this new album after mounting my brand-new cartridge on my faithful
turntable, the old one having seen better days. But since what one wishes
for and reality are very different items…
Side
1 features just one long track (about 18′) performed by the trio. Strange
but true, a word that often came to me while listening to this track was
"psychedelic", even if the word has not to be seen in its literal
sense – though the lead guitar passage performed by Frith at about 5′ has
a definite "raga rock" flavour; there’s also another very fine
guitar passage, about 5′ later. Lotsa space and a highly skilled use of dynamics,
the trio never making use of the more predictable "wall of sound".
Quite strange, this: just when I was getting really involved in the music,
the side ended.
Side
2 features three tracks: a brief piece for trio; a 6′ track featuring both
the trio and Beth Custer on vocals and bass clarinet; and a last trio track,
of about 10′. To me track #1 sounded just like a very good intro, while
track #2 greatly benefits by the dark-sounding, woody timbre of the clarinet;
again, the track ended just I was really getting into the music; track
#3 features some
"dark" colours that I regard as being peculiar of Dimuzio’s work;
I have to confess that this is my favourite track on the album; sure, I would
have liked a few more minutes of this, too.
So
it’s all perfect. Well, not quite. But here I have to add a few points.
In
the last twenty years I have listened to just a few vinyl releases – here
I’m referring to vinyl versions of recently released, digitally sourced,
albums; and to re-releases of old & famous albums in a new, digitally-sourced,
pressing; once in a while I buy "mint", or "sealed",
original pressings of vintage albums. So I don’t really know what the current
acceptable/tolerated quality standard is when it comes to new vinyl editions,
though I have to say that the few LPs I’ve received as promos in the course
of the last ten years or so told me I was in the right when I decided to
stay away from all this.
Funny
thing: While I happen to read some comments about this or that new pressing
as being quite faulty when it comes to a certain number of technical issues
(it’s specialized "fan" blogs I’m talking about), most conversations
I happen to hear, and most "professional" reviews I happen to
read, never mention this stuff. Here readers are invited to draw their
own conclusions.
Pressed
by MorphiusDisc, the copy I received had a bit of a warp: nothing really
terrible, but it was enough to partially ruin my enjoyment of the first
track on Side 2; the hole placed on Side 2 was a bit off-centre, with the
typical
"seasick" effect in the outer portion of the side; there was noise,
too: the vinyl itself was quite silent, but pops and tocs abounded, this
especially (but by no means limited only) on the first part of track 1/Side
1; such problems are only made worse by the fact that the volume of the music
is quite a bit lower than (what I regard as being) preferable: it goes without
saying than any album featuring such clean, highly dynamic, music, will have,
by necessity, very quiet moments; but I strongly believe that – since both
sides aren’t that long – a bit more level should not have been a source of
grief when it comes to the dreadful "jumpin’ stylus" phenomenon;
of course, the fact of one having to turn the volume knob to the right will
make those pops sound quite dramatic.
Of
course, it’s entirely possible that those faults are well inside the range
of what’s "average" today when it comes to vinyl releases, so
I’ll invite readers to judge for themselves: it would really be a pity
if such fine music were not listened to due to those technical issues –
I don’t really expect most new vinyl albums to sound any better than this.
In
closing, I’ll add this: While listening to Golden State I asked myself
if my daily listening to digital media could maybe make me exaggerate what
are, in effect, the usual characteristics of vinyl "as it’s always
been right from the start". And I have to say that it’s only with
a sense of horror that Italian readers will think about those old Italian
pressings of Matching Mole’s Little Red Record on CBS or King Crimson’s
Larks’ Tongues In Aspic on Ricordi. But before listening to Golden State,
in order to "calibrate" my hearing to the new cartridge, I listened
to a whole bunch of albums pressed between 1970 and 1984, the quality of
the vinyl going from very good to superb. To silence my doubts, I also
listened to the original UK LPs from 1973 of Leg End by Henry Cow and IV
by Faust, both on Virgin: in this day and age, truly stuff from another
world.
Beppe Colli
© Beppe Colli 2010
CloudsandClocks.net | Sept. 30, 2010