Organik

Niacin

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 2005)
• Original Release Date: October 25, 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Magna Carta
• ASIN: B000BDIVVG
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #146,500 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

From the Artist
"Niacin's B-3 sound harkens back to a great history within the rock tradition, something the band has front-and-center celebrated and revived."

"Well, there's some of the standards, like Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, the B-3 legends; Humble Pie and Spooky Tooth, Traffic or some of the Blind Faith stuff. Keith Emerson is the standard in the prog field, but there's B-3 all through Yes and even Led Zeppelin's debut which is a great B-3 record as is Hendrix's Electric Ladyland. Jon Lord (Deep Purple) and Ken Hensley (Uriah Heep) and some of the prog guys went for a rockier, grinding version of it. I believe Jon Lord put it through a Marshall. But the jazz guys like Jimmy Smith tended to go straight or through a clean Leslie cabinet.

"B-3 is used to designate the basic Hammond sound. There are several other instruments that do it, like the A-100 and the M-3, but basically when you say B-3 you are talking about the Hammond sound. Purists will bristle if I don't say whether we're talking about B-3, M-3 or an A-100 but, in actual fact, it's pretty much the same mechanics that go into creating that sound in all the Hammond organs."

"It's a really distinguishable sound, and, for a long time, I remember in the late '60s and the early '70s, if you didn't have a B-3, you were basically out of luck as a band. Everybody had to have one. It was an integral a part of music in that era as the Telecaster, Strat, Les Paul, Fender P bass or Ludwig drums.

- Billy Sheehan

Product Description
Time to ease the seat back, slide into Niacin, and discover for yourself one of the lost arts of rock's rich history: the Hammond B-3 sound, or more panoramically, the hot and heavy boiler room magic that can erupt out of a classic keyboards, bass and drums three-piece.

Already starting with an arcane premise, the results could have been less than spectacular in the hands of lesser legends. But John Novello, Dennis Chambers and bass monster Billy Sheehan ain't lesser anything, having cut their teeth through collective decades of rock, fusion and purist jazz creativity, converging then exploding. Following in the rambunctious, irreverent and raucous tradition of "Live - Blood Sweat and Beers", "Deep" and "Time Crunch"; Niacin now unleash "Organik

The Magna Carta release will have bonus tracks, including Niacin's take on Frank Zappa's "King Kong".

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'll just keep buying their stuff; they get better and better with every cd, October 27, 2005

By	Squire Jaco (Buffalo, NY USA) - See all my reviews

If you've never heard of this group before, trust me: grab a hundred bucks out of the drawer where you hide your 25-year-old First Communion money, run out of the house and just buy their whole catalog. They're that good!

Niacin (vitamin B3, Hammond B-3 organ - get it?) is the "unknown" John Novello on keyboards (primarily the B-3, but also piano and some synths), Buffalo's own Billy Sheehan on electric bass guitar, and the peerless Dennis Chambers on drums. They combine classic rock B-3 atmospheres with lead guitar-like bass virtuosity, and unreal jazz/rock drumming that drives and grooves and impresses all over.

To my ears, "Organik" is the most progressive sounding of their five studio cds, and sort of follows a progression (if you will) that started with their last cd "Time Crunch", in which they covered Crimson's "Red" and Jan Hammer's "Blue Wind". Certainly from their very first eponymous album, they've had a sound that is frequently compared to "an instumental jazzy ELP", so the transition towards more prog rock/jazz fusion is not a big stretch. (The fact that they've been on the Magna Carta label for the last few cds has probably influenced that transition.)

This is a GREAT album with absolutely no low spots. And even though the personnel and instruments (mostly) remain the same, every album by this group is different. I never feel like "O.K., I've got enough of this Niacin stuff now." Where their first couple of cds were more eclectic and sometimes funkier, "Deep" was more bluesy, and the last two are more prog/jazz with a greater variety of keyboard sounds (but still predominantly B-3).

The compositions continue to impress and excite, the production is excellent, and the playing (and interplay among musicians) is just so extraordinary - each member of the group sure sounds like they're 100% committed to this project on every track. Personal favorites after a few listens are "Blisterine" (infectious bass line), "Stumble on the Truth" and "Clean House". About halfway through "Club Soda", there are some background wordless vocals that make that a cool song too.

I love this band. See them live if you can - they're all friendly, down-to-earth maestros.
So, take your vitamins...and buy this highly recommended cd.

I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:
Music quality = 9/10; Performance = 9.5/10; Production = 9.5/10; CD length = 10/10.
Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 9.3 ("5 stars")

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Niacin - Back Into Prog Territory, November 4, 2007

By	Steven Sly (Kalamazoo, MI United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Organik" is yet another strong instrumental album from Niacin. The band move away from fusion a bit on this one and seem to concentrate more on progressive rock. There is more than a passing resemblance to ELP in this disc as John Novello commands his Hammond B-3 to it's full bombastic glory. There is even some music here that could be considered Canterbury. The track "Club Soda" sounds as if it could have come from Caravan back in their hey day. There is also plenty of fusion and funk to be found, and of course Chambers and Sheehan are simply incredible throughout. I also like the fact that Novello moves away from the Hammond from time to time to embark on a bit of piano. It gives the album more variety than some of their earlier work. Bottom line this is another great one from these guys.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WOW!!!, August 18, 2006

By	S. Shuster "b3122" (Oxford, Maine United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been following Niacin from the beginning. I have all their CD's. ORGANIK is - by far - the most adventursome of them all. The playing is ratcheted up considerably (which is really saying something when you consider THESE players!!!). Though this is not a CD that you would put on to enjoy with a quiet dinner, it is a great soundtrack for driving long distances on the highway. Just watch out for those speed traps. John, Billy and Dennis are all MONSTER players and this CD is a testament to that fact!