Hugh Hopper's masterpiece now beautifully remastered by the
Jason Pumphrey | Falls Church, Virginia United States | 03/28/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Finally the definative CD release of former Soft Machine member Hugh Hopper's: "Hopper Tunity Box" the 1977 fuzz bass classic!!! The folks at Cuniform Records gave this awesome prog rock gem the proper remastering that it truly deserves!!! No more annoying skip(during the late Elton Dean's beautiful sax work)on the track "The Lonely Sea And The Sky",voila,after all of these years(over 30 to be exact,and thousands of album and CD copies!)it's gone for good,groovy baby!!! Hugh Hopper(On bass,guitar,recorders,soprano sax,and percussion,wow,this dude is talented to the max!!!) leads an all star cast which includes,Richard Brunton(guitar),Mark Charig(cornet,tenor horn),the late Elton Dean(alto sax & saxello),Nigel Morris(drums),Frank Roberts(electric piano),Dave Stewart(organ,pianet,oscillators),Mike Travis(drums),and the late Gary Windo(bass clarinet,saxes). This Cuniform CD remastered for the first time from the original master tapes literally blows away the original CD by Culture Press that was only avalable as a high priced import that was mastered from vinyl no less,and had that annoying skip that I mentioned earlier!!! So the choice is crystal clear,why have flank steak when you can have a Porterhouse,right?! Great booklet too,with new 2006 and old 1977 notes,and some cool repoductions of the origial handwrtten music scores,all provided by the Hughman himself!!! Yes, it does have new cover for 2007,but dont be alarmed,the back of the booklet has the original 1977 cover!!! Don't miss out on this great "Hopper-tunity"!!! All in all a 5 out of 5 star release!!! Two thumbs up!!! A+"
Hugh Can Never Have Enough
Robert Carlberg | Seattle | 02/14/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Really, nobody's reviewed this yet? Well okay, this is far & away Hugh's best album, remastered from the original master tapes for the first time. The only other CD release, 1996's Culture Press issue from France, was mastered from vinyl, and though they did a very good job they included the skip at 3:37 into "The Lonely Sea and the Sky" which, due to a mastering boo-boo, was pressed right into the LP master! Even owning that, and the LP original, I'm ordering this Cuneiform re-re-release because I trust it to sound THAT much better than the ones I've known and played to death for a decade. I love this album that much, and it deserves it."
Don't miss the oportunity to Tune in!
Speedy | Fl, MO USA | 04/08/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This cd has Dave Stewart (National Health, Hatfield, etc.), Marc Charig (King Crimson, Robert Wyatt), Gary Windo (Carla Bley Band, R. Wyatt), Elton Dean (Soft Machine, Ninesense), etc., etc. and incredibly creative and totally original tunes penned by Hopper (except one by O. Coleman !!)...simply the best there is!!"