I changed my mind about my favorite tune from "this way" with each time I popped it into my CD player. there is that much to listen to.... and I agree with Shannon, this one hit me hard - I had a similar reaction the first time I heard Blue Chip - so many songs hit me that it was hard to pick a favorite.

I think everyone here will find a fave tune or multiple choices when they hear it. Just a little under 3 weeks to go now...

I don't know if I agree with the review which referred to "Ernie" as Latin jazz.... to me, it's a more reggae-ish tune and Carribean in flavor. If you saw the guys last year, you heard Ernie.

Maybe it's just me, but when I think Latin Jazz, I think of Xavier Cugat or Tito Puente, something more Cuban or Puerto Rican in flavor, with timbales and congas, etc. Miles has been intro'ing the song with a reference to Ernie Ranglin - who was born in Jamaica (the music there has always sounded different to me than Cuban music).

Anyhow, I thought some might be interested in knowing that Ernie Ranglin toured with the Jummy Cliff and did some guitar sessions for the Wailers in the 70s - what is referred to as "rocker reggae". In the 60s, he was a pioneer of ska music.

Kat, you're on target. Ernie Ranglin has done many sessions with The Wailers( He's worked very close with Earl Lindo,and the Barrett Brothers), Toots, Jimmy Cliff, Studio One Band, and so forth. If I'm correct, he's on the soundtrack of the movie "The Harder They Fall".

As a matter of fact, Ernie can be heard on the soundtracks in the movies "Rockers" and "Countryman" that features the great reggae artists in the industry.

Moose gives us the benefit of his Alaskan ears and lays down the law from above the 49th Parallel….....

Ok, here goes:-

1. Love Is All There Is.
Think of Herb Alpert ( Second Wind rather than Tijuana) guest appearing on a soft and laid back groove featuring Sitar licks and both Greg and Miles taking turns on gentle steel and nylon, then a nice wailing sax solo half way through. Underpinned with a vocal chant type chorus at the beginning and dotted throughout the piece. Add a really thick phat sounding analoguish synth outro piece set to a nice ( possibly looped/ virtual) drum track and you have a lovely laid back classic opener to the CD. Not an overly memorable melody but as a whole it’s a really nice song.

2. Ernie.
Now we’re talking! Superb dynamic groove on the kit, underpinned by a very heavy bass line which practically walks across the mix, and throws sand in the face of the rest of the album. Featuring a very, very memorable melody line on steel guitar, occasionally replicated on trumpet, giving it a thick and warm vibe. Nice percussion fills aplenty and some traditional vocal scats a la Tippa Irie…kinda..”two gyirly gyirlies”…wonderful..
Try not to think of Sex and the City when the piano slides in with an octaved latinesque fill, very nice , then followed by a nice sax solo, not too demanding but astonishingly well phrased as is the outro trumpet section, marvellous and a great departure for AA yet retaining hallmarks and trademarks aplenty.
Think reggae lover, dating a Cuban girl and this is their love child.
Sublime.

3. Who Knows.
Back to ‘Herb Alpert’ cashing in on the AA session, and all the better for it.
Tell me that sound ain’t one of the best sounds in the musical firmament when applied to this kind of groove? Damn right.
Wicked melody , simple, short, effective and funky.
Then along comes trumpet boy on a laid back solo outing…this is what livings all about, true smooth jazz…ditch the saxes and stick a horn in there…winning stuff…it has a slightly programmed feel about the arrangement with a tripstop brass swell halfway through, and a touch 80’s in places with synth arrangements but who the heck cares..
I have played along with this so often it’s addictive.
It suddenly ends with a very ominous ‘synth-string’ outro with trumpet, sudden and unexpected, perhaps a musical reference to a lost band member.
Lovely track.

4. Slampop
Ok, enter here all ye AA fans of old, classic 4 on the floor live drum pattern, with simple but nicely played steel guitar with a nice key change section up to chorus, which has Greg on nylon doing what we know and love, octave finger work , bit like Peter White, then WHOAH! Miles kicks in with a PRS thrashing of thrashings slammed though a wailing wah wah pedal…check that out and try not to picture him on stage giving it large!, nice…Intro sort of reminds me of a slightly reworked version of a pop vocal song by some band about 5 years ago, ‘he’s got the dreamers disease, every night you smash a mercedez benz’….the free radicals I think…
Very happy, fun and joyous song which has a certain Detroit Shuffle good time vibe but in 4/4 not ¾…you get me?

5. Out of Nowhere
Nicely looped drum program and simple synth section opens this classic groove with a really nice melody which has a load of references to other tracks, not intentionally, but lets just say it’s instantly AA!..
Nice chord progressions…I can’t figure them out!
Also a nice little ‘Fourplay’esque edge to the mix with stilted bar endings ending on a silent pause then kicking back in, lovely mmmmm nice.
I like the synth sound Fred plays on this, sort of a synth harmonica part…not a terribly complex song, not a career best but it’s still worth sticking on the cd..

6. This Way
Cute little 5 piece synth opener which is then dotted around the song. Interesting synth sound, over a slow groove and a nice slightly sad minor sounding guitar melody. Bit on the downer side but all the better for it, sort of the sorbet between courses…weird synth- heavy sound with a rock guitar wailing along in the back ground on a progressive chord crescendo section leading to a …….return to the quiet five note synth bit which reminds me of Isoa Tomita …slightly…not what I’d have as the title track but hey, I aint AA!

7. Tied Up With String
Blimey!...what happened here, AA do JAZZ??..think Ronny Jordan’s ‘So What’ chord patterns and stick a similar nylon guitar melody on top and that’s pretty much it…however the drums get a stretch and so does the piano…wonderful busy, active and harmonic and also very well constructed ivory tinkling on this track so put away your geetars and prepare to AIR BOSENDORFER!!...nice….it’s very like Green Earings by Steely Dan, especially the piano stab at 2.56…wonderful lads…so there you have it So What meets Green Earings….I remember…

8. Only In My Dreams
Nice mellow laid back looped drum machine with a Hall and Oates ‘I Can’t Go For That’ kinda Rhodes intro sample… add some really nice acoustic guitar accompanying the Omar Hakim soundalike vocal chants ( from the track on the W.KBLX / GRP sampler CD) and you have a really beautiful piece. Really simple 6 note melody on steel guitar but well placed on the mix, builds up to a really nice piano skit across the speakers, then a simple solo on guitar, with Eric Serra ( Leon, Big Blue) type tympani/ gong sounds thrown in. Slightly repetitive but in a nice hypnotic style…harmless.

9. Carlos The King
Intro is immediately ‘Do It Again’ by Steely Dan, then off we go into Nylonville and a nice latin melody it is, with a dash of Bond theme chucked in, then a Santana PRS gets a strum on the chorus and very nice it is too, but TOO QUIET MILES, since when did Mr Santan play quiet solos!...then it goes off track a little bit with straight ahead guitar notes in a London style before trumpet boy gets to blow again, by this time it’s welcome as well, then the PRS sticks its neck out for some doubling up on melody duties and then it’s a nice slow fade out to finish not too dissimilar to ***ans’ Green Flower Street with each instrument taking it in turns to bow out gracefully….really nice outro lads…cool

10. Egg

Nice 10/4 groove here, superbly played on drums and featuring some nice antique portamento monophonic synth lines reminiscent of Steely Dans’ King Of The World synth parts, you’ll know what I mean, slightly weird to the ear to non musos’ but excellent to those who like to hear the black notes once in a while!. Decent Hammond sound on the ‘solo’ and again, great bass and drumming underpinning a nice busy West London jazz melody on low sax and guitar ( I think)
Definitely one for the guitarists to try to keep up with, challenging time signatures and wonderful snare ghost noting going on…ooohhhh makes me want to learn drums….

11. Now I’m On My Way
Ok, who’s the Shelia B Devotion/ Nile Rodgers fan guys?....tell me you weren’t thinking of ‘Spacer’ by her when you wrote the chord section..huh? huh?....if you’re reading this people and you know the song I’m on about, try NOT to sing “He’s a Spacer, a star chaser” to the chorus…I DARE YOU…it’s a cert.
I can’t honestly say much about this track, it’s ok, not brilliant and I all honesty you’d have been better leaving the album to finish on the jazz groove of track 10, but who am I?
It’s filler but nice one.
He’s a Spacer…damn…..see……you got me going again….

So, there you have it, my simple and probably misguided critique on the latest AA offering.
It’s polished, it’s smooth, it’s classical, it’s contemporary, it’s Definitely AA territory, It ain’t American English, but thankfully it ain’t Radio Contact…it’s a great album with a donkey load of stuff to keep all fans happy and certainly rates as one of their best… 8/10
Great to hear a decent trumpet/ flugelhorn sound on top of the two guitars and very summery it is too…driveable, shaggable, danceable, groovable….it’….AAble.

Well done lads.

Oh…and it’s British………what more could you ask for.

Moose.

So it seems this is a highly Steely Dan influenced release -- Interesting!!

Eclecticism at it's best.

Hey Mooseplayer. I've got some other friends from your part of the country. Maxi Priest, David Hinds and Steel Pulse, Drummie Zeb and Aswad, Frankie Paul, Pato Banton, to name a few.

Very nice Moose....

And Jim.... in the liner notes for American/English, Miles explains about the tune, "She Speaks American/English":

"This sure is a bit of a homage to Steely Dan. I have yet to meet a musician who won't admit to Messrs. Fa-gen and Becker being supreme songwriters and I as a mere mortal will never come close. However, it didn't stop me from using a couple of their favorite chord changes in this piece".

..thanks Kat, hope I haven't upset anyone out there who has the album...it's great....and I wish I could play/ record like that...so I'm not in a position to judge, it was just an opinion from an ageing rocker...ha ha...anyone else out there agree that it has a certain Becker & ***en-ness about it?...is Miles a full on Dan fan..and A/E was just the beggining of a small nod to the duo...? , I hope so..'Steely DAAn', the hybrid rock jazz outfit......

It's fine, Moose... the US gets the release later than the UK this time.... and here, we've always talked about the CDs before the UK releases. So no worries....

Your review was really good...