Search - Brian Auger & The Trinity, Julie Driscoll :: Open

Back to basics

G. Pennell | Haddonfield, New Jersey USA | 08/29/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"All things come around, good and bad, and no good deed goes unpunished. In this case, the 10 track LP has been augmented by four great bonus tracks, all featuring great Julie Driscoll vocals. That's the good part. The bad part is "stereophonic" sound is back. "Stereophonic": was a faux stereo mix made by taking a perfectly good mono master, throwing the treble into one speaker, all the bass into the other, drenching it in echo and then centering the sound somewhere between the speakers, destroying the original force of the mono, and certainly not making it sound like any kind of stereo. While the original album here was recorded, mixed and issued in great stereo, and still sounds great on this CD - the bonus tracks never were, or have never been issued as such. So instead of the perfectly good mono mixes, after 37 years of technological advances, we're stuck with the only readily available version of "This wheel's on fire" sounding as though it was recorded with a hand-held mike in the hallway outside your neighbor's door. I hope the Brian Auger anthology touted in the booklet didn't trot this sad piece of audio un-magic out for use. Driscoll and Auger deserve better."

Great but for the fake stereo bonus tracks

Mark H. Linett | Los Angeles | 08/29/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"A great reissue nearly ruined by the fake stereo of the bonus tracks. The original mono mixes would have been so much better. Shame on Tom Vickers who produced the reissue for allowing these unlistenable tracks on the CD."

Jazzy mods

ol' jawbone | Washington, DC | 06/24/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A very upscale, classy version of Austin Powers music -- swinging London w/ a healthy dose of jazz. Don't know about this guitarist, but just before this lineup John McLaughlin (later of Mahavishnu Orchestra) was with Auger. Some great jazz guitar on "In and Out." The main thing here is the rocking, sock-it-to-me organ and some solid soul vocals by Jools (Driscoll, a groovy bird if ever there was). The album is from 1967. Included, and worth the price of admission, is their cover of "This Wheel's on Fire" a non-album hit from 1968. It's not as inventive as The Band's version, but it's more rockin'. Some good jamming in "Black Cat" and "Season of the Witch" and spirited up-tempo pop in "I've Gotta Go Now" & "A Kind of Love In," which should've been a hit. Glad to have this back in print."