Customer Reviews

Dig

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This disk grew on me until, to my horror, I found my rocking sensibilities in rhythm, style, and instrumentation had been broadened. Bruford and Earthworks tricked me by rocking just enough to keep every track accessible. Jazz purists may not care for it, and rock fans unwilling to stretch will be happier with _Gradually Going Tornado_ or _One of a Kind_... but _Dig_ has become one of my favorite instrumental albums, and remains unlike any other in my collection. The streaming audio samples don't capture the pristine fidelity of the recordings or its weird sections, but they do give a fair idea of the disk.

This is a record that requires repeated listenings to be appreciated because it refuses any compromise whatsoever. Once you let it get inside your system, it is like a drug, not unlike the effect you get from Stravinsky (though obviously not on that level), you constantly go back for more. 'Dig?' is far superior to the first 'Earthworks' release which was much more commercial though in an acceptable non-pandering way. And the more I listen to the new acoustic Earthworks project, though it is quite good, the more I appreciate 'Dig?' with it's unusual and exotic electronic percussion and space-age clang.

Ciertamente agradezco el interés de Bruford por el Jazz (ya que es un tipo de música que me gusta mucho) y su afán por desmarcarse del típico batería de grupo de rock. Pero sus propuestas iniciales me gustaban bastante más que sus trabajos con Earthworks, ya que éstos no dejan de ser meros ejercicios de estilo sin demasiada sustancia. Demasiado envoltorio para tan poco regalo.

This recording may sound a little dated now, but if you can see past that and check out a set of some of the most origional music you've ever heard, I highly reccomend it. Aside from Bruford's intuitive playing, this CD features two of the most engaging modern jazz composers alive today: Django Bates and Iain Ballamy.

In a very natural way, this band fuses different strands together into an attractive stew. This album is not entirely successful - the pseudo-pop of "Downtown" would be my least favorite track here - but mostly works well like a hybrid child of Horace Silver, French-African street musicians, Pat Metheny, Fred Frith, 80's-era Miles Davis, and I don't know how many other things. It's worn well over time and is worth giving a listen to.