Bob James – Touchdown

I have an M- quality disc and it Sounds Great! I could only comparer to digital since I don't have other versions, but sounds great on my system.
I had no issues with noise or distortion it is very quite and the instruments sound natural and pleasing. I also think it sounds as good as any blue note classic series reissue and as good as original BJ4 pressing if you have those albums to compare. Great Music!

Fluence Reference Turntable
Audio-Technica Headshell/Cart.(VM540ML/H)
SCHIIT MANI+LOKI

This is THE pressing to get. It’s just such a good pressing. Get it NM - it’s so cheap considering how good it sounds

I don’t think anyone would be disappointed with the HSM version - I have it and think it is very good - but the Japanese Mastersound pressing on the Tappen Zee label (blue and yellow) is true audiophile quality. Crispy clear with a full sound stage. Just bloody wonderful.

Oops. Should have also said the Rhodes keyboards are also wunderbar...

Just scored the half speed master - it sounds bloody fantastic. The music is super cruisy and funky and the pressing is very good. As good as some of my Analogue Productions 45rpm (not quite up with Time Out, Getz and Gilberto etc but as good as some others).

Somebody on here said the pressing was bad. I have a Japanese master pressing coming for A vs B but I doubt this will show the HSM to be poor - it sounds clear and detailed with really good channel separation and soundstage.

The taxi theme tune is a winner but the flute playing on other tracks is bloody magic!

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.