Basia/Matt Bianco Featured on New Surround Sound SACD

Basia Featured on New Surround Sound SACD

The new album entitled Matt's Mood by Matt Bianco (Emarcy 6024-98200-1) features Polish jazz singer Basia making her Super Audio CD debut.

It's now available in Europe, and as an import via the CD Universe and Amazon.Com web sites.

 

Matt Bianco and Basia fans alike will enjoy this reunion album featuring the original trio of Danny White, Mark Reilly, and Basia Tzretzrelewska! A great listen.

 

About time she recorded something new!

 

It's a good one. And very nice in SACD Surround Sound.

 

Now if Sony would reissue her three recordings on SACD instead of those grating CDs I have.... (Yeah, I'm dreaming. )

 

I'm just checking Amazon right now--I'm still a bit disappointed that Matt Bianco product is largely available only as an import. Granted, I had no trouble ordering the SACD just a minute ago ($21.61 plus shipping ), but IMHO it's a sad state of the US music industry that something like this usually doesn't get released here.

 

According to the Matt Bianco web site, they plan a U.S. release in the Spring of 2005.

 

OK, gang, has anyone heard this new recording yet? I received Matt's Mood this past Friday, and promptly copied the redbook layer onto a CD-R to store in my car's CD changer magazine for the next few months. I've listened to various tracks over the weekend, a few of them several times.

My impression so far: this is very much a Matt Bianco recording. If you like Basia, she doesn't sing lead on everything (she's mainly in the lead role for four songs), but her vocals are present throughout: she'll take a chorus (often multitracking her parts), split a few verses with Mark Reilly, add a vocal backdrop to a song, or just add some "scatting" lines here and there. (So, in other words, she's not a guest vocalist on just two or three songs--she's very much a part of the whole project.) Even inside the Matt Bianco framework, a few of the songs are still rooted in the same type of sounds she had on her own recordings. And in fact, you'll find some of the same musicians from Basia's own recordings (Peter White on guitar, for instance). The disc opener "Ordinary Day" could have been lifted right from one of her own recordings. Takes me back to about 15 years ago when I first spun Time and Tide on the way home from Sam's Jams.

Not all songs sound like a Basia album: the dark, bluesy "Wrong Side Of The Street" (one of my favorites so far) and "Kaleidoscope" are something I would only expect to find on a Matt Bianco recording. It has what I'd call that certain endearing quirkiness that you won't find on Basia's own recordings. Danny White still does a good job as a "chief architect" in putting all of the sounds together, as Basia and Reilly do all the vocal chores. Checking the credits, Basia, Mark Reilly and Danny White share songwriting and production duties on all tracks, so this is very much a group project. Basia's still in fine voice, too, maybe just a little softer and lower than what you'd hear on the first Matt Bianco album. The late Ronnie Ross (bari sax) is featured here as well; they located three unused solos of his and incorporated them into three new songs on this disc.

How's the sound? No solid impressions yet, as I've mainly heard it in the car, and on a portable system. Mine is the hybrid SACD version, and I've only heard "Ordinary Day" on my good system. On that short sample, I'll give it . The sound of the redbook layer seems quite good also, and only a very few peaks are clipped off (limited). This one sounds like it has room to breathe, in other words. Nice tonal balance, full bodied...far better than the older Matt Bianco CD I own, which just sounds wonky to my ears. This one's very enjoyable and musical.

So, do I like it? How about an emphatic "yes". Would I recommend it to other Basia fans? Definitely. She's featured enough on this album to keep a fan from feeling shortchanged. Not being a follower of Matt Bianco (outside his other recording with Basia), I don't know how it compares to other Matt Bianco recordings. But it does compare favorably to Whose Side Are You On?, perhaps being a little more focused and a little less erratic. Even the group feels this should have been the second Matt Bianco album.

Check out their website for the EPK (electronic press kit) which has a video of Basia, White and Reilly briefly discussing the new album. The radio edit of the first single, "Ordinary Day", is up on the site as well. http://www.mattbianco.com

 

When you get to the SACD Surround Sound layer, you'll find it's very tasty as well. I like the 4 cuts where Basia sings lead the best (La Luna, Ordinary Day, Say The Words, Ronnie's Samba) but the others are enjoyable as well. Recommended !

 

I was thinking about bringing back this thread, too, because I just got the hybrid SACD last Friday as well. I have played it three times so far and am really enjoying it. So far I have only listened to the surround mix and, I agree, it sounds great. Given that I didn't really care for Basia's last two solo albums (the live one, which I felt contained too many weak vocal performances; and "The Sweetest Illusion", where only a couple of the tracks interested me), I am very happy to have her presence throughout this album.

 

I don't have surround capabilities yet--if anyone wants to comment on what the mix is like, feel free.

Agreed about her last couple of projects. I liked a little more than half of Sweetest Illusion, but unfortunately I just don't get into live albums at all, and hers was no exception. Something lost in the translation I guess. I saw her twice on the tour for London, Warsaw, New York and enjoyed it quite a bit.

 

Rudy, I couldn't agree with you more. Atlantic needs to reissue "Who's Side Are You On" in the US. They really should add the extended 12" mix of "Half A Minute" to it. It's criminal that such a great record should be out of print in the US for so long.

 

I just checked Amazon--they have Whose Side... available as an import for $18.99, and there are almost 20 "marketplace" copies starting at $9.95. Got mine a couple of years ago, used, from Amazon as well. Maybe if there's enough interest in the new disc over here, Warner will see fit to reissue it.

 

I'm digging up this old thread since "Matt's Mood" was just released on Decca here in the U.S. this week. I do have two minor complaints about the US release (which I did not buy, of course): first, they used new cover art. I like the picture they used, but I felt the import cover is much more classy. Second, they changed it to read "Matt Bianco featuring Basia". A marketing move, no less. Wish they'd have just put it on a sticker on the cellophane.

I also found out they are on tour here in the U.S. Detroit appearance is April 9 at the State Theater, downtown. If anyone's planning to go to any of the U.S. dates, I'd recommend checking the Matt Bianco website first to find out where it's at, THEN check Ticketmaster. Reason: in their usual inconsistent fashion, Ticketmaster has it listed five different ways (Matt Bianco, Matt Bianco feat. Basia, etc.). For Detroit, they have it listed only as "Basia". Had to browse around the site to look up the venue and find it that way.

This one's still a favorite SACD of mine, BTW. Still haven't grown tired of it!

 

Thanks for the heads up, Rudy. I'll have to check for concert dates in the San Francisco Bay Area. I saw Basia perform once before but that was nearly 15 years ago.

The "Matt's Mood" disc is still a favorite of mine from last year. I've listened to this SACD more than any other in my collection. It's also the most played new album from last year at my place (and at a friend's place who is also a Basia fan).

 

It was THE #1 favorite at my house last year. I just think it represents the quality of the music--I remember years ago when I'd buy new albums, many of them would be steady favorites like this one. But over the last decade, I'm lucky to find a few each year that get heavy rotation in the car and at home.

I grabbed the schedule from the Matt Bianco site. I'm going to have to trade in some vinyl and CDs to get tickets for this one! Looks like they have concerts in SD, LA and Cupertino out your way.

Code:

London - UK		Shepherds Bush Empire	24 March 2005
Minneapolis - MN	State Theatre		05 April 2005
Chicago - IL		Chicago Theatre		06 April 2005
Milwaukee - WI		Pabst Teater		07 April 2005
Detroit - MI		State Theatre		09 April 2005
Cleveland - OH		Allen Theatre 		10 April 2005
Alexandria - VA		The Birchmere		12 April 2005
Alexandria - VA		The Birchmere		13 April 2005
New York - NY		The Beacon Theatre	14 April 2005
Glenside - PA		The Keswick Theatre	16 April 2005
Charleston - WV		Mountain Stage		17 April 2005
Miami - FL		Jackie Gleason Theater	22 April 2005
Orlando - FL		House of Blues		24 April 2005
Clearwater - FL		Ruth Eckerd Hall	25 April 2005
Fort Worth - Dallas TX	Bass Perfomance Hall	27 April 2005
San Antonio - TX	Empire Theatre		28 April 2005
Houston - TX		Verizon Wrlss Theatre	29 April 2005
Phoenix - AZ		Celebrity Theatre	03 May 2005
Los Angeles - CA	Universal Ampitheatre	05 May 2005
San Diego - Alpine CA	Casino Viejas		06 May 2005
Cupertino - CA		Flint Center		08 May 2005

 

I tried to order this SACD from a store in England, but failed miserably.

I think I've just ordered it from somewhere in Germany - I didn't understand a word on the website. If Ordinary Day is anything to go by it should be worth waiting for...

 

Even if a couple of the songs take awhile to grow on you, it's worth the effort. It's one of those recordings I have to listen to all the way through. IMHO the SACD is a very warm, analog-sounding disc. (I have no clue as to what it was recorded on.) It makes the Atlantic CD of "Whose Side Are You On?" sound quite bad--the latter, to me, has that bright "British" sound to it, very thin and not that easy to listen to, which is one reason a lot of that album never appealed to me.

 

Would you believe that Ordinary Day came on a freebie CD with the Mail On Sunday newspaper, including also Closest Thing To Crazy by Katie Melua, and the sound is beautiful!!! The rhythm of Ordinary Day reminds me of Telephone Song by Astrud Gilberto - it's very compelling...

 

I bought the Matt Bianco SACD three weeks ago. I really like it and I always listen to it "back to back" with the new (latest) Swing Out Sister CD "Where our love grows". Both albums really provide a nice continental summer feeling!

 

Seems fitting: one of her influences is Astrud Gilberto.

If you have a broadband connection, the Matt Bianco site has a great promo video for the new recording. It has samples of each song, with all three of them talking about the music.