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Love that Pharoah/Phyllis Hyman cut. Have never heard that album before, will need to pick it up. One of a handful of his I don't own.

How are the 2022 donations going?

Love Child Hippiness holds period charm for me. I like his Columbia work (leader and Hamilton) best, but do like the Atlantic's fine. And the decades later ECM (and some of the Blue Note) are outstanding.

So #1 would be cut 3 from this. Thankfully, I do have it (and, I think, everything else by that group and their various guest stars). Spectacular drummer!

BFT 224 1 – “Miles Mode”, certainly sounds like it’s the drummer’s album – he’s an animal, whoever he is. Spectacular version! First tenor soloist sounds like he has the Coltrane-era Pharoah Sanders thing down, and second tenor soloist also really good. Thought at first this must be the Idris Muhammad version, but it’s not. I need this! 2 – This is good stuff. Another cut without a pianist. Very facile bass player, with those double stops and all. 3 – This is amazing! No guesses. I need this even more than I need #1! I will be revisiting this cut often. 4 – Love the concept, but not so much the execution. Has to be from the 70’s. Don’t think it’s Airto and Flora, but whoever it is memorized their records. I like the trumpet solo. 5 – Pretty, though it fades into the background some for me. I do like it. Very nice touch on the piano. 6 – Older, I assume 50’s. Well done for what it is. I enjoy this, but not in my wheelhouse. Lockjaw? 7 – Verve-era Betty Carter? Fabulous, whatever it is. 8 – Solid, so good. That is one clean trombone player! Interesting that there are vibes rather than piano on something that sounds this straight ahead. I have to think this is sitting on my shelves somewhere, as these are obviously big-time musicians. 9 – Piano duo, which is generally not a favorite format of mine. I recognize the song, but the title isn’t coming to mind. 10 – Well done for what it is, but again, I’m generally not a big duet guy. I like my rhythm sections! 11 –Vocal is lost on me. Band can play, but not something I would choose to listen to. 12 – This is the Carla Bley type of thing, which is generally (and in this case, specifically) lost on me. Guitar player especially gets on my nerves. Worst cut by far on the BFT for me. 13 – The singer ruins the cut for me, to me painfully bad. Her Broadway credentials would seem to be in order. The sax solo also doesn’t do much for me. The composition and orchestration are beautiful (though the lyrics sounded a little loopy once I started paying attention to them). Looking forward to reveal to see if anyone else has done this song. Thanks for the stimulating BFT! I liked the earliest cuts best, not sure if that means anything. Can’t wait for some of the reveals, especially #3, also #1,2,7,8.

Marsalis is a very eloquent speaker, so I can understand the appeal of getting him as a talking head. Wish his recorded work of the last 35 years was less self-consicously "eloquent".

MIne too.

It's great. That and his solo piano stuff are my favorites by him, especially the solo side of 'Young at Heart/Wise in Time'.

Yep!

Received and listened to the 2 CD set today. Stunning, though short, about 75 mins total. But essential listening, even if you have the original. Also has remixed Paperback Writer/Rain.

Agreed, and they had the wisdom to leave off the 19 minute foolishness of "Revelation", which wasted half of 'Da Capo', where they could have put a whole side of fine Bryan MacLean compositions. I had that set in the early days of CD's, eventually replaced by remastered versions of the individual albums. And Arthur Lee/Love stayed interesting throughout, no matter how trashed he/they got. 2003's 'Forever Changes' concert is fantastic, and miraculous for being so. Grab the DVD.

Great stuff, especially "You Set the Scene".

RIP

Agreed, that's my favorite album by him by far. Great year for soul/r&b and jazz.

I have them all except the Desmond (have the earlier box set with the same material). Every one of them is well done. There are other sets which could/should also be reissued. Weather Report Vol. 1, Woody Shaw, Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Stanley Clarke, George Duke, Brubeck come immediately to mind.

I hear that. I like the Steely Dan albums and love the Who and Springsteen albums. The Springsteen actually didn't sell at all in 1973 (despite the "New Dylan" push), sold big as a catalog title once Born to Run hit in 1975. The Rundgren, Elton John, and McCartney albums are find for what they are, but not thrilling. The Kinks, Bowie, Fleetwood Mac albums were disasters compared to what they had been doing even the year before. A couple of (way) under the radar gems from 1973 are John Martyn's 'Solid Air' and the Buckingham/Nicks album. Santana's 'Welcome' is pretty great, but not sure it's really a "rock" album.

Totally agree it was a great year/era for Jazz and Soul/R&B. Just not for rock.

Here's a similarly-vibed pic of the Gram Parsons era Byrds, just to complete the set. Parsons is in front, Roger McGuinn is over his left shoulder, all the way to the right in the photo:

Stunningly beautiful. Best historical release of 2022?

Staggeringly beautiful. Best historical release of 2022?

Thinking about this more. 1973 seems like a tipping point of "Rock" taking itself oh so seriously, setting up the Punk rebellion ca. 1977 and the (admittedly often cynical) fun of New Wave and the early MTV years shortly thereafter. Another thing I notice. We only are talking about the first tier "heavyweights" when analyzing 1973. One of the great joys of the late 60's and early 70's were countless fabulous albums made by what were considered second and third tier groups. The self-titled debut album by It's A Beautiful Day, 'Goodbye and Hello' by Tim Buckley, 'Forever Changes' by Love, 'Realization' by Johnny Rivers, 'Argus' by Wishbone Ash and albums and artists much more obscure than that were all wonderful and great pleasures . There were some of those in 1973 I'm sure, but they don't jump to mind.

Some albums I do love from 1973: Genesis 'Selling England By The Pound', Doobie Brothers 'The Captain And Me'. By far the best albums those groups would ever make. Also really like Blues Project 'Reunion In Central Park'.

Totally with you on that Crimson album - stunning then and now. Mahavishnu and Soft Machine sit on my jazz shelves, but they are really good albums, though to me a step down from their immediate predecessors. I'm not a Reggae fan, have some token Bob Marley, and that's it. I like the other albums you mention, but as you correctly indicate, they were a step towards the softer side. My idea of a great Dead was/is 'Live/Dead' and "The Other One". As Mr. Duckworth indicates, IMHO, the fun and excitement at that point was gone from Rock, but was very alive in the early Jazz Fusion (RTF, Weather Report, Mahavishnu, Miles, etc.) and Soul/R&B (TSOP and much more). Or something to play while watching the first 20 minutes of The Wizard of Oz (by the way, the synch IS eerily amazing).

Totally with you on that Crimson album - stunning then and now. Mahavishnu and Soft Machine sit on my jazz shelves, but they are really good albums, though to me a step down from their immediate predecessors. I'm not a Reggae fan, have some token Bob Marley, and that's it. I like the other albums you mention, but as you correctly indicate, they were a step towards the softer side (except the Neil Young, which was intentional commercial suicide). My idea of a great Dead was/is 'Live/Dead' and "The Other One". As Mr. Duckworth indicates, IMHO, the fun and excitement at that point was gone from Rock, but was very alive in the early Jazz Fusion (RTF, Weather Report, Mahavishnu, Miles, etc.) and Soul/R&B (TSOP and much more). Or to watch the first 20 minutes of 'The Wizard of Oz' (BTW, it works!).

'Houses of the Holy' is a very good album, but a long drop off from the spectacular 'Led Zeppelin IV', so was another disappointment to me at the time. It does sound better now. DSOTM is an album I respect more than enjoy, and the clap trap it caused lesser artists to produce is terrible. BTW, Jethro Tull's 'A Passion Play' was yet another deeply disappointing 1973 album.