Customer Reviews

Remember

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just as an update on Seawind, all of their albums--except for "Remember"--are currently in print. Two are available on Amazon and the other two are available via the group's new web site: www.seawindjazz.com. I talked with their manager a few months ago and he said that the two albums on the web site were earlier available in Japan, but they were not legal albums. A fifth album--the classic (and one of my favorites) "Somebody Loves You," listed under Bob and Pauline Wilson but includes all of the Seawind backing them up, is also available on CD in Japan (it is on the Amazon Japan site, I think). Pauline's new albums are both on the U.S.A. Amazon. There is talk about a reunion in the near future and a possible new album (see the web site). I suspect sales of their web site albums may be an indicator of how much demand there is for their music and thus may influence the likelihood of a new album, but that is probably true of sales of albums listed on Amazon as well.

One last comment--the "Remember" album has several songs not available on their other albums.

Seawind's lastest album cannot remotely compare to their first and second albums, with emphasis on the one with "Follow your Road." The second album was a spiritual-secular bombshell. Maybe it is too much to ask for that same kind of album now. I will admit, it is nice to here the sweet soulful voice of the lead singer. Please put the Follow your Road album on CD. It will make an impressive present for a host of my friends. Peace and Self-reflection.

I would love to see all of their records released on CD. I especially love the Light the Light album with "Free" and "Follow Your Road".
Pauline was not the only great musician to come from Seawind. The legendary Jerry Hey and his horn section has been heard on countless artists work for decades as well as Larry Williams who did many great recordings with GRP and Dave Grusin. And you can't forget the composer of their great music, Bob Wilson.
This music changed my musical life and influenced many others.

I WAS SO HAPPY THAT THIS CD COMPLIATION WAS CREATED.
SEAWIND IS ONE OF THE MOST UNDERATED BANDS FROM THE 70'S.
THIS COMPLIATION IS SIMPLY WONDERFUL.
IT BRING BACK FOND MEMORIES OF THE SUMMERTIMES IN THE 70'S/80'S.
SEAWIND WAS THE FIRST NON JAZZ ALBUM THAT I PURCHASED, OH, AND
WHAT A WORLD DID THE SONGS FROM THIS ALBUM BRING...FROM LISTENING
TO SEAWIND,I BEGAN TO LOVE BRAZIL '66, ANTONIO JOBIM, SERGIO MENDEZ, SANTANA,ANGELA BOFILL,DAVE GRUSIN, LARRY ROSEN,PATTI AUSTIN,YATAKA..IT ENDLESS.I'M GUESSING SINCE THIS IS NOW AVAILABLE, THEIR FIRST 2 ALBUMS,THAT FEATURED "WHATCHA DOING',SOME OF THE TIGHTEST EXPLOSIVE MUSIC EVER WILL BE AVAILABLE ON CD SOON ALSO.
NEVERTHELESS,BUY THIS CD, PAULINE'S EMOTIVE,CLEAR VOCALIZING AND HER WONDERFULLY COMPLIMENTRY BAND IS TOP NOTCH.

After reading the reviews in this sections, there seems to be an impression that the material on this Remembering album is later stuff. It is actually the FIRST two albums that had been originally released on CTI Records entitled Seawind and Window of a Child, PLUS some unreleased material that had been recorded for a THIRD album on A & M. Yes Follow Your Road was a minor hit for the group but it was actually on their THIRD release, the first on A & M Records. That is the one with the tropical cover with the white border. If you buy this album plus the two originally released on A & M you have it all.....with one exception. Back in the 70's Seawind, then known as OX released a single to use as a way of getting jobs when they were working in Honolulu. I wish I still had my copies. Those fans of Pauline Wilson can occasionally find her on albums by, Yutaka, George Benson and Island Style Band. She was also featured on the new Michael Paulo Christmas album that was released this year on Noteworthy.

This "Best of" compilation includes nine tracks from the group's first two albums on the CTI label and six more from their later releases on A&M. It becomes immediately obvious which are which because the production style and quality of material change so drastically. The earlier cuts are truly representative of who Seawind was - a very creative club ensemble of outstanding musicians who seemed to think and play with so much unity its almost scary! The performances are superb, the arrangments tight, seemless, and impeccable. The horn section and trumpeter/arranger Jerry Hey show the foundation for their subsequent work on so many L.A. pop releases of the 80's, (Al Jarreau, Michael Jackson, etc.) But here the lines are so intricately woven into the rhythm chart that it's impossible to think they weren't conceived simultaneously. Pauline Wilson's voice is simply another instrument that happens to be capable of singing lyrics. A group this focused doesn't come along very often. Their sound is unique and unmistakable whether driving the straight ahead funk of "We Got A Way" or understating the poignancy of "Window Of A Child" or the mellow instrumental "Campanas De Invierno." Its wonderful that their music has been revived on CD and for that I commend Noteworthy Records. I personally would have preferred more of the early tracks and none of the A&M stuff even though it is very good pop and much of the group's identity still cuts through the highly commercial production. Thank God for programmable CD players! I do recommend this CD highly. It would be worth its price if it only contained five cuts!

Nice compilation, but as another fan lamented, give us all of Seawind's albums on CD. "Light The Light" is especially terriffic.

I heard Seawind in college circa 1978 at our "Spring Thing" formal diner at Ports o Call San Pedro CA (near Long Beach Cal, in LA County). This band from HI combined a fusion/modern jazz sound with a little rock n roll. They could really jam. The horn section could literally blow the doors off your car! The horn section also appeared on several Bryan Duncan's Sweet Comfort Band lps. If you have not heard their lead singer,Pauline Wilson, you have been deprived of hearing one of the great, dynamic female vocalists.

At the Spring Thing, Seawind literally had us dancing in our seats. Generally speaking, I do not dance, but how could I not dance?

Back in the 70s and early 80s, Seawind toured with some jazz greats including Chuck Mangione. They had a couple of tunes that charted, but no real monster hits. Too bad they did not make a bigger splash and put out a ton of material.

My big rergret is that they only put out roughly 4.5 lps. This disc contains 5 tracs off their last, unreleased lp plus some off their earlier 70s lps. (before Seawind and Light the Light). So, if you buy Seawind, Light the Light, and this disc you will just about have everything. This is a great alternative considering how expensive those two early discs are. I have Light the Light on vinyl and I popped for the Japanese import cds (Light the Light and Seawind). The anaolog ported over to digital is very well done on these discs.

If you have heard the Seawind disc or Light the Light, you will not be disappointed in this disc, not at all! Often when bands break up, they throw together bits and pieces and try to get one more out on their good names, though the quality often disappoints. This disc, like Seawind and Light the Light, will rock your house. The production qualities, the playing, the lyrics, the vocals, etc. etc. are just wonderful.

From info at their website, they are supposedly putting together a reunion disc with new material and they had a reunion concert circa Dec 2005. I have checked back at Amazon every once in a while, all to my disappointment, looking for this disc.

Please re-release their first two albums on CD, especially the one with "Follow Your Road" on it.

If I remember correctly this album was called

Seawind/Seawind. It had a tropical style cover.

The c.d. contains many of my favorite cuts.

I wish, however, that it would have contained the song "Follow Your Road." The c.d. contains some filler cuts that don't truely represent the Seawind at their very best.

It would have been nice to have also included some cuts from the Bob and Pauline Wilson album, since that was essentially Seawind's personnel on the songs and songwriting, in lieu of some of the other cuts. Those songs displayed a higher level of musicianship that has become a standard expected from Seawind, as oppose to the workmanship quality in the filler material. However, their filler cuts would be monster tracks for any other group - which is a sign of how good Seawind was!

I recently heard Pauline sing at a jazz club with Michael Paulo, with the great Larry Williams sitting in, and she was great! (Larry Williams is always great). She still has her pipes and deserves a record deal with somebody to take the place of the many other singers who think they can sing. Those people should listen to Pauline. People who are thinking about being a singer should listen to Pauline. This diminutive singer packs a big wallop!