Customer Reviews

Sense of Direction (Reis)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a long-time fan of Climax Blues Band, I have been waiting for this one for a while, now. A previous CD release of 'Sense of Direction' (on Plum Records) had a serious flaw in my favorite song, in addition to so-so sound. Really, how can you lose about 20 seconds of music in the middle of a song and not notice it?

This new Fuel Records release at least corrects that deficiency. 'Amerita/Sense of Direction' has been restored to its full 6:08 length, the sound of the album as a whole has been cleaned up, and three bonus tracks have been added. The single version of 'Amerita/Sense of Direction' actually appears on some other import compilations listed as simply 'Sense of Direction,' since the edit for the single consisted largely of hacking off the 'Amerita' section of the piece. The extended version of 'Right Now' is good for completists, but doesn't add much overall. The surprise of the package is the alternate version of 'Reaching Out,' which is a much shorter and radically different arrangement of the song.

Overall, 'Sense of Direction' was always one of my favorite Climax Blues Band albums, right behind the 'FM/Live' live album. The title track, 'Nogales,' 'Losing the Humbles' and 'Reaching Out' combine to make this an album well worth owning.

So why only 4 stars? Fuel Records did an acceptable but not great job on this reissue. The remastering is good, but not as good as I would like it to have been. A sticker on the jewel case cover promises Extensive Liner Notes!, but the package delivers a four-page booklet (one piece of paper, folded in half), no pictures, two of the four pages taken up by the British and American covers of the original album, and one short essay whose central thesis could be summed up as "It isn't very good, but here it is." The company couldn't even get the name of the album right; it's shown on the disk as 'Straight Ahead.' If you're that blase about delivering a quality product, why not let someone else do it, and do it right?

But this is still about music, and this album is well worth buying on that basis. Thirty-two years later this is still an excellent album, and it deserves a place in any serious music collection.

Unlike another reviewer on this page, I have always enjoyed this album. I had the privilege of knowing the band back during the period when it was recorded, and was a great fan of theirs. Their unique combination of the sax and the guitar, often with the two playing so perfectly in synch that it sounded like a single instrument, was amazing, and is shown to its best effect on the first half of the song "Amerita/Sense of Direction". I have always believed that Climax Blues Band's Pete Haycock was one of the most underrated guitarists of his time. My one complaint with this album: while the album sounds great if you have never heard it before, there is a flaw in the version of "Amerita/Sense of Direction" that appears in the Plum Records CD. In the portion of the song that is the transition from 'Amerita' into 'Sense of Direction' there is a short portion of the song missing! What should be a very smooth flow from one song to the next becomes a jump cut. Unfortunately this seems to be the only version of the album currently available.

This album is such a rare treat. No other band really combined progressive rock with the blues in such a manner as on this album. It was a double edge sword for the Climax Blues Band. The blues purists hated "Amerita/Sense of Direction" and the proggers felt the same about the disco-laden "Reaching Out". The other cuts are very good...just a mix of different styles. "Shopping Bag People" is a pleasant blues-riff because of Haycock's slide guitar. "Right Now" has a kick-back boogie-woogie feel. However, Haycock's searing guitar work on "Sense of Direction" is a mind blower and worth checking out at any cost for those who love great classic rock. Yes, it is that good and puts this album over-the-top ranking this as one of the best albums that Climax Blues Band ever released. Highly collectible!

OK, I've waited for this cd to be re-issued,without chopping up the
title tune.Well here it is,intact this time, and with bonus tracks,and
they really cleaned up the sound, but wait a minute.If you listen really
closely you'll hear that they mastered this CD from an L.P.I know the sound of a needle traveling thru a groove @33,1/3 rpm and it is slightly
noticable in several spots on this disc.That aside Sense of Direction(the
entire CD) sounds fabulous.I highly recomend it...Now let's release Flying
The Flag!

I too noticed the poor transition and also an edit in the guitar/sax exposition in AMERITA which only goes to show the respect these guys have gotten over the years. Next to none! But at least they've released it, flawed or not. This is another great LP that seemed to signal the end of the band because it was a bit too commercial. Or was it? There are some great licks here and some songs (LOSIN' THE HUMBLES, REACHING OUT, NOGALES) that stay in the head for ages. Musically, I think it's very sharp and powerful. They'd do well to put out a definitive 3 or 4 CD set of CBB's material from all phases of their career but I'm not holding my breath. Until then. . .

The three best albums by Climax Blues Band, IMHO, were "FM Live", "Sense of Direction" and "Real to Reel".

Of these, FM Live is now available on a terrific remastered CD; "Real to Reel" is not available at all!, and "Sense of Direction" is available only on a poorly-transferred CD. This one desperately needs to be given the "Rhino" treatment; it's a great album; best tracks are "Amerita/Sense of Direction" and Nogales. I've always loved this album, and was listening to it tonight and reminiscing about all the times I'd played it in High School & College (back in the '70's).

Having worn out several vinyl LP versions of Climax Blues Band's "Sense of Direction" album over the years, I was jazzed when I finally found it released on CD by Plum Records.

Much to my horror and disappointment, however, Plum's version of the title track's show-stopper, "Amerita/Sense of Direction" was ruined by a jarring truncation of the bridge between the songs! For whatever reason, some genius at Plum thought they might be able to save a dime and toss out the few seconds of lovely instrumental guitar transition (kudos to Pete Haycock as always!) between the songs, and the result is akin to a terminal skip in the record -- or the sound of skidding tires. That whole CD was ruined for me.

Now, there's this version, with the aforementioned bridge/transition intact, and all's right with the world now. Definitely recommend this relatively-cherry version of the album over the Plum.

This album, along with "FM/Live" and "Stamp Album" were the Climax Blues Band in their finest hour, in my opinion.

great classic, this is a fantastic reissue from japan that comes in an lp replica sleeve, this was one of the best climax blues band albums of the 70s, great sound, great remastering.

I grew up in the 1970s and knew of the existence of the Climax Blues Band without really knowing who they were.

Much music gets lost in the shuffle and this did when I went dollar grabbing: snorting tons of cheap vinyl from dollar bins.

But what was once lost is now found. Sense Of Direction has a fantastic take on the blues that could have only been cooked in the Me decade. Music came polished and slick then, and this is the former. This album has all kinds of takes on blues, and is done with beautiful shine. But the blues flavors here--funky, pristine, imaginative--are both inventive and cozy. Especially good is the slide guitar playing on some of the tracks.

If your an old purist cogger this is not for you, and I would graciously send you home to Muddy and The Wolf. But for the adventurous rest of us this will be a real treat.

This is one of those frustrating re- re- re- releases that give one the idea of writing an angry letter to the editor; in this case, the owner of FUEL who has traipsed thru the tape vaults for this mid 70s fave of mine. This band doesn't seem to get any respect from the record companies and obviously there are legal issues, otherwise it wouldn't have been given so many bowdlerized versions of SENSE OF DIRECTION, an oxymoronic title if there ever was one. The music, finally, is given it's proper due and no chopping of the title track is evident. However, the promise of "remastered with extensive liner notes" is laughable at best. Whoever Marc D. Allan is, liner notes are not his forte. He states that the product you bought is "...far from the Climax Blues Band's best album." Comforting thought but you know we don't buy nearly 40 year old classic albums to be told they could've done much better; I happen to love every song here because I've listened to them since it was originally released and could care less. Mr. Allan's "extensive liner notes" contain no new information at all, just an uninformed opinion. His backhanded compliment comparing the title track to the Kinks' LOLA had me scratching my head; I haven't given up trying to find a resemblance but somehow the 2 never seemed to be in the same universe. Oh well, everyone's a critic; maybe Mr. Allan owns FUEL and perhaps for that I can thank him for finally putting this "underwhelming" record on a CD that I'll play alot now that the music is done right. Debit one star for "false advertising".