Customer Reviews

Touchdown

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First of all I have to strongly disagree with the other reviews written on this album, by reviewers who seem to know Bob James only from the songs that have been sampled by rappers. The five cuts on this album define "smooth jazz" before it became bland and uninteresting. I feel he hit a creative peak with this album that he only reached again with his duet album "One On One" with Earl Klugh. "Touchdown" features excellent supporting players like Hubert Laws, Earl Klugh, Ron Carter, Steve Gadd, Idris Muhammad, and David Sanborn, there's definitely nothing formulaic about the performances here. This album was James' first to crossover and hit the top forty on the pop chart thanks to hit theme from "Taxi", "Angela", and his first gold album. "Sun Runner" received heavy airplay from contemporary jazz stations when this album was released back in 1978. This is one of the best smooth jazz records of this or any era.

...That's the best way to describe this recording. TOUCHDOWN is one of those musical occurences which happen only once or twice in a lifetime (such as Chick Corea's RETURN TO FOREVER, or Dave Grusin's MOUNTAIN DANCE). There are so many reasons why. For one, there is the incredible assembleage of talent. The CD boasts such names as David Sanborn, Earl Klugh, Hubert Laws, Ron Carter, Eric Gale, and Mongo Santamaria. Then, there is the material itself. "Angela" (a.k.a. the theme from TAXI) is laid back (and check out that heartbreaking solo from Eric Gale). "Touchdown" features Bob at the keys and Sanborn's hard-driving sax. "I Want To Thank You", "Sun Runner", and "Caribbean Nights" are as smooth as they come. This is, bar none, the best CD that Bob ever put out.

This is the first Bob James I ever heard and that was in 1980.
I love this album and is 1 of my 2 favourites.This is another beautiful album,one of his best.Also,I recommend "One on One" and the album "Restoration:The best of Bob James".

This is a must have in your Bob James collection. I still have the original vinyl as well. I keep playing this album over and over again after owning it for I guess about 25 years now.
Great to notice that BJ never left his origins and still knows how to renew the sound. In my opinion one of the best and most consistent smooth jazz musician ever!

Ahhh, the late 1970s with it's breezy multi-cultured sound. This album is Bob James' sixth album, understandably called "touchdown" (six points). This album was released at the end of 1978 and was Bob's second album on the tappan zee label (He had been on Creed Taylor's CTI records for his first four albums). I think this is one of Bob's best. It's opening track: "Angela" was originally the theme of the TV series "Taxi". The version on this album is longer and more progressive that the TV version. The title track is somewhat similar to the sounds of Maynard Ferguson or Bill Conti. The strong rhythm sounds like an action adventure. My favourite song on the album is the latin flavored "I Want to thank you very much" (which originally closed side one). Bob's tender fender rhodes playing on "Thank You" have ranked this album one of my all-time favourites in jazz: and i've been a jazz fan since 1979. Along with "Lucky Seven", I think this is Bob James' best work. I think true jazz fans should add this CD to their collection.

Beatifully produced, with great solos from an all-star cast. Apart from Eric Gale's classic solo on Angela, there are some really tasteful melodic lines from Bob on Fender Rhodes and Acoustic Piano and Dave Sanborn's playing on Touchdown is excellence bar none. Earl Klugh and Hubert Laws complement each other perfectly on Carribean nights and Steve Gadd powers the band on in a subtle understated manner. All in all Touchdown is a lovely recording. I listened to it today back to back with Bob James' 1975 offering "Two" yet another classic from the Seventies. It's good to treat oneself now and again. I'll say it again, beautiful!!!! I'm not the biggest fan of so-called smooth Jazz but this album is something special. Musicians could learn a lot from "touchdown".

Tuchdown was one of the first (smooth) jazz albums that I ever purchased. I was in college and was captivated by the music of the television show Taxi. I was not disappointed and nearly wore the album out on my turntable. I've long since migrated to cds (like everyone else), but I did not have Touchdown on cd--until this very afternoon. More than twenty years later, this music still resonates. The collection of talent on this recording is unbelievable: Ron Carter, Eric Gale, Ralph MacDonald, David Sanborn, Earl Klugh, and others. Touchdown remains one of the very best of this genre, a seminal recording.

The first reviewers (who didn't use their names) are way off base. Bob James defines smooth jazz and Touchdown defines Bob James. I was so enchanted by Angela's Theme (Theme from Taxi) that I had to find out who did it. Of course, I had to have this album but then proceeded to collect all the Bob James efforts including tracking down the early CTI albums of BJ1 to BJ4. This is still the first Bob James album I will pull from the rack almost every time.

The reviewers who bad-mouthed this CD don't know their jazz. I have been listening to Bob James since the early 70's, this is one of his best!

The music on this album is awesome and hard to beat. The instrumental arrangements are spectacular. One of my favorites is the flute player. Brings sort of a Jethro Tull or Camel atmosphere to the album. Makes this album much more fun and enjoyable.
Even though this album is considered more mainstream than Bob James earlier albums it does not miss any of the creative elements, in fact it expands them. An extreme rarity in any type of music. But I definitely recommend getting the first 4 albums with this one. None are to be missed. they are cheap here in a 2 CD set sold on Amazon by the way.
Bob James keyboards really roll and the choices of synths remain cool and do not sound dated.
You have to listen to this album from start to finish. It is not very long in length like most albums of it's time and does not include bonus tracks but it does not need to. It is so incredibly good just the way it is and stands the test of time.
Along with legendary bestselling albums Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" and George Bensons "Breezin" this album deserves to be up there with them.
It is that good and I enjoyed listening to it for the very first time just as much. It is an extremely catchy album. The ultimate definition in cool in music period.