Search - David Sancious :: Just As I Thought

Simply magnificent

Ron Cronovich | Kenosha, WI | 06/09/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The kind of person who will love this album loves Stanley Clark's School Days, Romantic Warrior by RTF, The Billy Cobham/George Duke Band live. David Sancious is a brilliant musician, composer, and arranger. I appreciate this record on so many levels - pure emotional response, brilliant compositions & arrangements of keyboard layers, exciting yet in the pocket drumming, amazing keyboard & guitar solos. It's amazing the rich textures and colors that Sancious gets out of the late 70s vintage synthesizers. If you will permit a digression.... technology seems to have become an unfortunate substitute for human ingenuity. In movies, as new technology has made it increasingly easy to create brilliant special effects, less attention and effort has been put into making the story really great. Witness the new vs. old Star Wars films, or compare "Independence Day" to "Aliens". In the context of music, when synthesizers were in their infancy, and not capable of making every sound imaginable, artists had to use their creative ingenuity to get the most out of the available palette of colors and textures. Now, though, we seen a proliferation of mediocre music manufactured with technologically superior synths (that are also inexpensive and common), drum machines, sequencers, and samplers. Back in The Day, people like David Sancious made better music with less technology than the average recording "artist" today."

Must have musician music

tommoorebh | Beverly Hills, FL United States | 08/11/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Continuing the lofty tradition set forth by the previous album (True Stories), "Just As I Thought" continues to control you with the incredibly expert piano and synth work from David Sancious (not to mention extreme guitar work), and he writes this amazing stuff! Up and down go the emotions. Up goes the appreciation for the musicians and singers on this album. Nobody is Alex Litgerwood (Vocals from Brian Auger, Santana, etc.) and nobody is Jeff Berlin (bass on many cuts), monster Ernest Carter on drums (a Billy Cobham affiliate) along with the soaring vocal work by names I don't know ... Too much and just the ticket for your "real not rubber musician" starved soul. The funk, jazz and the feel (wild to gospel, almost) will set you straight once again. An enema for your yen to hear taste and true virtuosity. The recordings are dated but nicely restored. Just buy it - IF you are a listener, you'll not regret the choice!"

Wonderful album from an unknown superstar

adam872 | Houston, TX USA | 01/17/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"David Sancious is a seriously good musician. He is a virtuoso on two instruments: guitar and keyboards and an excellent composer to boot. This album, Just As I Thought, showcases his prodigous talents to their fullest extent. The music runs the gamut of electrifying jazz fusion, balladeering and balls out prog rock. I had heard of his music a before, mainly due to his collaborations with Sting and Bruce Springsteen, but I didn't know he was such a good songwriter too.



There are highlights galore on this album, tracks like "The Valley of the Shadow", "Suite for the End of an Age" and "Again" in particular. Musically, he is all over the map (which is a compliment), and has a excellent command of jazz, baroque classical, rock and electronic styles and fuses them together on many tracks. The stew concocted here is a little hard to describe, but if I was to compare it to anything else, I would say it's equal parts Chick Corea/RTF, Zappa, Bruford/UK/Holdsworth and Yes (without the soaring harmonies). The music is dense, keyboard heavy (lots of analogue synthesizers), with has more twists and turns (harmonic and rhythmic) than a F1 race track.



The supporting cast on bass and drums do a great job as well. They do well to keep up with the complexity of these compositions. If you like instrumental prog or fusion, you really have to check this album out."