Swiss Movement

Swiss Movement Artist: Les McCann , and Eddie Harris
Label: Atlantic / Wea
Category: Music



Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 075678136528
EAN: 0075678136528
ASIN: B000002I5M


Release Date: 1990-05-01

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Listmania:

  1. 20 Collection Essentials
  2. What's in My Record Box April 2002
  3. The underground is overcrowded
  4. Top 15 Autumnal Mood Records

Tracks:

  1. Compared To What
  2. Cold Duck Time
  3. Kathleen's Theme
  4. You Got It In Your Soulness
  5. The Generation Gap

Similar Items:

  1. The Electrifying Eddie Harris/Plug Me In
  2. The Best of Eddie Harris
  3. Swiss Movement: Montreux 30th Anniversary Edition
  4. Them Dirty Blues
  5. Straight Life

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars The other 1970's.......2006-05-20

Although Swiss Movement was recorded at the festival in 1969, it was essentialy an early 1970's record. It was a funky, jazzy hip as hell album that sounds incredible today. These posers, who complain about phrases like "sock it to me" are idiots. Les McCann looks like on fierce dude on the cover.

5 out of 5 stars Still incredible.......2004-04-07

I first heard this disk when I was 15, and it knocked me out. The lead tune, "Compared to What" was the funky breakout, crossover hit that most people know, but to my mind the greatest tune on this album is Harris' "Kathleen's Tune". This is a bop tune with a catchy head that Harris works through in every possible variation, starting out with a simple diatonic restaement, and moving more and more outside until he's playing nothing *but* outside notes. It took my breath away when I first heard it, and still does.

The rest of the album may not his the same heights as "Kathleen's Tune" or "Compared to What" but it's still all great. Benny Bailey's solos make you wonder where he'd been hiding before this album came out (Sweden, as it turned out). "You Got It In Your Soulness" is another Les McCann gospel-influenced tune that makes you wnat to dance. And so on.

I've gone through three copies of this album over the years (LP, CD and now remastered CD), and played it for scores of jazz neophytes, most recently my 10 year old nephew- and he dug it. You will, too.

5 out of 5 stars "Compared To What" is Highlight of a Great Album.......2002-08-04

When I heard "Compared To What," I had to hear it again. It hooked me in from the moment the drums kick in with the steady ride cymbal at the beginning.

Some have made reference to the song's datedness, but I don't see it as a very dated song at all. Of course, Les sings about the Vietnam War (although he does not mention it by name,) and some may see that as dated, but if that were true, then any song that mentions current events is dated. Essentially, the listener must understand the times to understand the song. If one does not understand life during 1969, many of the song's references are either laughable or confusing. In fact, after one verse, McCann yells, "Sock it to me," one reference to a phrase used often on the NBC-TV comedy, "Laugh-In." One previous reviewer comented on the silliness of that phrase, but it's no different than hearing James Brown yell, "Hit Me!" Not only is it NOT corny, it's in keeping with the funky mood of the song.

"Compared To What" is worth the price of the CD alone, but each song afterward is great in its own right, including "Cold Duck Time," which Les McCann admits was given to the band by Eddie Harris that day. By the way the band plays it, you'd have never known that it wasn't a long standard on their song list.

This is a definite gem of an album.

4 out of 5 stars Withstands the test of time, almost?.......2001-01-28

"Swiss Movement" is worth the price for 'Compared to What?' but nothing else. It really doesn't require any more listening. If you want more of Eddie Harris or Les McCann then try the CD's; 'Electrifying Eddie Harris' and 'Much Les' Much more electrifying and much better. I first heard 'Compared to What' in 1969 on WJLB Detroit and the DJ at the time was as turned on as I and had to play it again without a break. It is one of only a dozen numbers I loved the first time I heard it. This was not considered high art at the time. These guys were not Lee Morgan or John Coltrane but more easy listening and mainstreem. Try not to laugh to heard when Les shouts out 'Sock-it-to-Me.' It was just as corny and unhip in the 60's as it sounds now, and to this day I still have no idea what it means. I ran right out and bought it at a place called, "LBJ's" (Lottsa Boss Jams) and still think it a Boss Jam.

5 out of 5 stars Hard Driving Funk,jazz.......2000-07-28

Les McCANN Together with Eddie Harris is an explosive force of hard driving funk-jazz,ingeniusiosly executed on this CD;a work of art as fine as a Swiss watch/Swiss Movement. THIS CD Moves the soul in a way that langers long after the music has ended. BILLY CLARK

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