You probably know the music - or you should. Dream Weaver is possibly Lloyd's finest Atlantic record all round. Cecil McBee on bass - thunderous, solid. Jarrett - early Jarrett - at times gospelish, at others mystical, always inventive. DeJohnette rocks. Lloyd himself has a dry, light tone on flute, not always appealing, his tenor fares better. The sound is solid, up front, deep bass, if anything on the dry side. Honest, if unspectacular, sonically - it seems no attempt has been made to do more than transfer from the (not generally superbly recorded) masters, likely second generation Japanese tapes - which were almost always excellent. Love-In is a live date that is also excellent, and sonically better.
Throb is early pre-ECM Gary Burton, and the truth is his ECM period is by far his best, and those recordings, particularly the ones with the Mick Goodrick/Swallow/Moses band, are essential. This, though, is a fair record, Richard Greene's violin at times grates - but Jerry Hahn's guitar is hot. Not the prime Burton Atlantic record, but interesting.
Freddie Hubbard's The Black Angel is a transitional record, with his classic quintet with James Spaulding out front heading towards Hubbard's CTI period. Interesting, inessential, Kenny Barron is always a great player, dabbles with electricity to mixed results, but when straight ahead, this was still a great band.
Steve Marcus' Tomorrow Never Knows is a superb record, pop tunes of the day - Byrds, Beatles, Donovan etc. - played by a super red hot band that is very rock, with Marcus' tenor and soprano going very far 'out'. Listen to it loud. A period piece perhaps, but still sounds very fresh, and exciting, today.
Another batch of these coming later in May. For around $12 apiece, it's hard to find an excuse not to add even the inessential titles to any good collection.
