Search - Climax Blues Band :: Sense of Direction (Reis)

Sounding Good...

Richard J. Atkinson | Queensbury, NY USA | 11/06/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Better than a plum,but not a peach either

Justin Case | USA | 11/14/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"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!"

Cherry, compared to the Plum...

J. Byler | Morgan Hill, CA USA | 12/22/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."