Bob James ‎– Touchdown

Get this album for carribean nights alone, absolute brilliant piece of laid back jazz/funk. The rest of album is decent as well especially angela the theme from the tv series taxi.

Consensus is that many of the CBS Half Speed Mastered issues were mastered incorrectly (EQ not adjusted for half speed mastering) and thus sound 'wrong'. To be avoided! Is Touchdown one of them, or is it one of the few that were done later on, correctly? Avoid or Seek?

This dollar bin record chud is worth just for Caribbean Nights alone! Heard the Omsk duo Acos CoolKas incorporate it in a set of theirs.. really nice! Omsk by the way, is the largest City of Southern Siberia, 2500 Kilometers from Moscow and is situated at the crossing of the Trans-Siberian Magistral & the Irtysh River. Unless you're a Geography expert, it's pretty hard to imagine where it is, but there are people living in this corner of the world producing Electronic music like Acos CoolKAs!

Identical release labeled as PC 35594.
Runout (etched) side 1: <B*AO> AL 35594 G1B G1P
Runout (etched) side 2: (H*AP) P BL-35594-G2G
US pressing. Label and cover otherwise identical.

It may be commercial, but Touchdown is an outstanding example of the late-70s/early-80s fusion sound. The album gathers together a veritable who's who of top-notch session musicians of the time, including well-known players like Ron Carter; Steve Gadd; Gary King; Eric Gale; Hiram Bullock; Mongo Santamaria; Ralph MacDonald; Jon Faddis; Randy Brecker; David Sanborn; Hubert Laws; Idris Muhammad. There're even photos of each of them inside the gatefold cover, a feature pretty much unheard of in this tightly-produced and packaged genre.

Each track has a strong hook; they build upon engaging instrumentation and flawless production that rewards headphone listening. Bob James may have composed all the tracks, but they succeed thru the supremely talented cast of artists assembled. Like everything else, they just don't make em like they used to. Highly recommended.