Affinity (4) – Affinity

Wow, für mich eine der top 5 Vertigo Swirl LP's! Habe sie seit heute zum ersten mal als UK Erstpressung. Der Sound und die Pressqualität ist umwerfend. Ich hatte bisher eine deutsche Swirl und eine Repertoire Pressung. Beides gute Pressungen, aber nicht vergleichbar mit der UK Version!

The group formed in 1969, then led by frontwoman Linda Hoyle (who later released the beautiful "Pieces Of Me" again for Vertigo, recorded this unique studio disc in 1970 even with the collaboration on the writing of bass parts by John Paul Jones. Honestly, the "purpose" of this splendid album has never been well understood; I find it simply as a tribute to the 60s entirely revisited by Affinity; yes, because of the 7 original songs on the LP only two were written by Affinity. The record starts with the psychedelic "I Am And So Are You" written by Alan Hull of Lindisfarne but never released: the song is full of trumpet and trombone phrasing, guitar solos and a perfect hammond accompanying the song and the magnificent voice. by Linda. The second, "Night Flight" is a song that begins in a very relaxed jazz atmosphere and then leaves its mark on the progressive outbursts of hammond and guitar, all seasoned with a groove i Incredible, worthy of the best Emerson, Lake & Palmer, King Crimson and Yes. The third song, the most atmospheric and melancholic, and perhaps in my opinion the least beautiful of the album is "I Wonder If I Care As Much" by the Everly Brothers, song commanded by a mighty harpsichord and an echoing voice that makes the song sound like a pastoral. The album starts to rise again with Annette Peacock's original "Mr. Joy" but in this case it takes on an early jazz imprint and then moves on to a progressive-jazz attributable to Matching Mole, the first two records of Soft Machine and Kevin Ayers releases; Linda's voice really gives its best, it becomes psychedelic and blends into the melodies of the other instruments, it becomes almost soulful and the song becomes really very hot. This is followed by the bluesy Three Sisters with a truly catchy lyrics, again accompanied every so often by wind instruments and guitar phrasing. The sixth "Coconaut Grove" by Lovin Spoonful is a beautiful beat track of scarce 2 minutes that seems to have come out of a Caravan record and gives way to the umpteenth cover which however is perhaps the best revived song I have ever heard. I'm talking about Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower", remade by Hendrix, remade by Canned Heat, re-sung by the Grateful Dead but never, I repeat NEVER reprized in such a sublime and overwhelming way. Eleven minutes and 40 seconds of unique pleasure. Linda's voice is bluesy, the song is divided into three main-sung parts separated by about 4-5 minutes of solos and that unique sound that existed only in those years, that enveloping sound that leaves you in mid-air and you relaxes despite the fact that the instruments taken individually are really lively. After the first sung part there are immediately 2 minutes of hammond's solo, he resumes singing and then leaves another 3 minutes of solo keyboards, chorus and then 5 minutes of psychedelia dictated to perfection by a hammond that seems to be played by Keith Emerson or by John Lord. The best song on the record without a doubt. The original disc would end here but on the market there are various versions among which I personally recommend to remedy that of Akarma which contains 8 bonus tracks starting from Laura Nyrro's pop-symphonic "Eli's Coming" in a 60s dance version accompanied by strings and piano. "United State Of Mind" is another song written by Alan Hull and remade by Affinity in a blues-folk version. These first bonus tracks should date back to a period of time equal to zero from the release of the album because the songs have practically the same sound and so I suppose they were simply discarded on the original medium due to space problems.