Gary Bartz & Maisha direct cut vinyl

[Tony L]

Not often one sees a direct cut album these days. They were all the rage in the ‘70s with labels such as Crystal Clear, Sheffield Labs etc. Basically you do away with the tape stage and the band play live via a mixing desk straight to the cutting lathe.

This one is especially interesting as Maisha are part of the currently amazing London jazz scene that brought us The Comet Is Coming, Shabaka And The Ancestors, Nubya Garcia, Sons Of Kemet etc etc. It’s really good chilled out soul-jazz with quite a ‘70s vibe, think the best of CTI, but with a more modern twist. Standard vinyl price too (Amazon).

PS If looking to check out this London jazz scene the We Out Here compilation from a couple of years ago is just superb (Amazon). Every band a winner. I came into it a bit late so have annoyingly missed out on a few great limited editions by the artists. I’m more awake now! I am paying attention!

 

[paulfromcamden]

The first Binker & Moses LP Dem Ones was recorded direct to disk too. At the time Mark Ronson's studio was next door to the Gearbox Records mastering room with it's Scully lathe so they were able to run a tie-line between them. I spoke to the recording engineer a while back and he confirmed there was no digital jiggery pokery!

 

[Tony L]

To be honest I’m far from convinced its a good idea and I find a lot of direct cut audiophile albums sound quite dead and odd. I guess as the band know they can’t fix anything later, so play safe, and obviously you can’t properly mix and do all the mastering engineer magic after the fact as it’s all live, but I rather like this one as its a great band and part of a proper musical scene.

 

[daytona600]

Same label as Bartz D2D live recording & great workout for your system

 

[Woodface]

To be honest I’m far from convinced its a good idea and I find a lot of direct cut audiophile albums sound quite dead and odd. I guess as the band know they can’t fix anything later, so play safe, and obviously you can’t properly mix and do all the mastering engineer magic after the fact as it’s all live, but I rather like this one as its a great band and part of a proper musical scene.

Never stopped the greats from the 20’s & 30’s, snowflakes

 

[Tony L]

Just playing this again and it is superb. The fact, like many direct cuts, it is cut fairly quiet threw me a bit. It took a peep at the sound meter to figure out I was quite a long way below my usual listening level. Crank the amp up and it sounds amazing! I got the Seun Kuti too (Amazon link) and that is superb as well.

 

[kingston12]

I've just got this today. My copy is hopelessly warped so will have to go back, but it sounds superb.