Customer Reviews

Retroactive

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

 

 

Okay, I know that the old saying is that you "Don't judge a book by it's cover," but if it wasn't for the cover art of this album, I probably wouldn't have taken the time to listen to the Samples.(I dig the teal/blue color and the confident 'Don Johnson'-like pose.)

But thank goodness that I did listen to the Samples because I feel as if I have discovered one heck of a contemporary jazz album.

RetroActive breaks the mold of that very familiar and very typical smooth jazz sound that we're all so familiar with. Also, in my opinion, the writing and the songs on this album are pretty awesome. Just listen to the samples from the MP3 format page to get an idea of how this album sounds.

Also, I was very pleasantly surprised by the two infrequently used covers songs on this album: "Shaft" and "Hot Fun In The Summertime." Although, I'm always happy to hear artists use cover songs that aren't frequently used by other artists.

Additionally, after learning about Alan Hewitt's credits(see Sandy Shore's review of Alan Hewitt's Metropolis album), it helped me to see where this artist's experience and professionalism comes from.

that Alan Hewitt has seriously got it going on. His last effort "Metropolis" was one of the stellar releases of 2006, in case anybody asks you, and he knocks the ball out of the park with this 2010 release. It's absolutely first-class. I bought this before the music samples were available as I'd already become a big fan of his through the aforementioned "Metropolis" and it's predecessor, "Noche de Pasion". This one here, you just put it on and let it play. Ok the commerciality of the opener "Shaft" may have you raising your eyebrows a bit but he tickles the ivories enough to make it an enjoyable 3:49. Next up is the top down cruiseability of "All For You" followed up by Alan and the crew getting busy on (with?)the title track. Hey you really don't need me to go into detail,the samples are available, check it out, it all works. Before I go tho, I've got to give up/give out the mad props for track 6 "In The Works" and track 8 "Amagine That". Both of these are worth the price of this set alone. Well done Alan. Looking forward to doing business with you again.