🎵 AotW AOTW: Gato Barbieri - EUPHORIA (SP-4774)

[Captain Bacardi]

Gato Barbieri
EUPHORIA
A&M SP-4774

Released 1979
Peaked at #11 on the Jazz Album chart and #116 on the Pop Album chart (1979)

Format: Vinyl/8-Track/Cassette

Produced and Arranged by Jay Chattaway
Associate Producer: Michelle Barbieri

Songs:

• 1. Theme From Firepower (Gato Barbieri) - 6:08
  2. Sophia (Gato Barbieri) - 4:36
  3. Carnavalito (Gato Barbieri) - 5:17
  4. Lions Also Cry (Gato Barbieri) - 4:12
  5. Gods And Astronauts (Errare Humanum Est) (Jorge Ben) - 6:59
  6. Secret Fiesta (Gato Barbieri) - 7:05
  7. Speak Low (Weill/Nash) - 6:32

Musicians:
Gato Barbieri - Tenor Sax, Keyboards (5), Percussion, Voice
Neil Jason - Bass (1, 2)
Anthony Jackson - Bass (3, 5, 7)
Ron Carter - Bass (4)
Luico Hopper - Bass (6)
Alan Schartzberg - Drums (1, 2)
Billy Cobham - Drums (3, 5, 6, 7)
Idris Muhammad - Drums (4)
Jeff Layton - Guitar (1, 2)
Lance Quinn - Guitar (1, 2)
Eric Gale - Guitar (3, 6, 7)
David Spinozza - Guitar (4, 5)
Eddie Martinez - Keyboards
Pat Rebillot - Keyboards (1, 2)
Richard Tee - Keyboards (7)
Jimmy Maelen - Percussion
Miguel Valdez-Pomier - Percussion
David Nadien - Concertmaster
Violins: Ida Kavafian, Guy Lumia, Barry Finclair, Curtis Macomber, Diana Halprin, Naoko Tanaka, Lucy Stoltzman, Ben Hudson, Lew Eley, Robin Bushman, Masako Yanagita, Guillermo Figueroa
Violas: Alfred Brown, Louise Schulman
Celli: Fred Sherry, Jonathan Abramowitz, Gerry Grossman, Richard Sher
Trumpets: Jon Faddis, Michael Lawrence, Lew Soloff, Jim Bossy, Ron Tooley, John Frosk
Trombones: Wayne Andre, Paul Faulise, Earl McIntyre
French Horns: Peter Gordon, John Clark, Don Corrado
Woodwinds: Harvey Estrin, Phil Bodner, David Tofani

Production Coordinator and Contractor: Christine Martin

Recorded and Mixed at The Power Station, New York, March 1979.
Recording Engineers: Bob Clearmountain and Neil Dorfsman
Assistant Engineers: Ray Wilhard, Jeff Hendrickson and John Rotondi
Additional Recording at Media Sound, New York.
Engineer: Doug Epstein
Mastered at CBS Recording Studios, New York
Mastering Engineer: Vlado Meller

Art Direction: Roland Young
Design: Amy Nagasawa
Photography: Bill King



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Dave]

A shockingly sad and weak-sounding farewell to Gato's tenure at A&M...

Though a few of his sax lines still ring of his earlier and much better works, and some of the guitar riffs are fun, this album as a whole just seems to be a dreary, meandering, going-through-the-motions type of affair...

A few tunes such as "Theme From Firepower", "Carnivalito" and "Secret Fiesta" set this record off with some spark, but the version of the Weill-Nash-written "Speak Low" makes me hunger for Eumir Deodato's version...


Euphoria clearly doesn't live much up to its name...



Dave

 

[toeknee4bz]

A shockingly sad and weak-sounding farewell to Gato's tenure at A&M...
Dave

"Sad and weak"? I'm sorry, but you must be thinking about TROPICO. In another thread somebody used the word 'nauseating' to describe that album, and I agreed. It reminded me of a bad episode of "CHiPs"...

But EUPHORIA is void of any cheesy vocals, and loosened the disco noose a bit. The very first thing that I ever heard by Gato was "Firepower", and both the album version and single edit are worthy of cranking up again. "Sophia" is one of the most beautiful sax tracks I've ever encountered. As for the other cuts, I admit that I don't think about them individually as stand-outs. And I can't debate the "Speak Low" comment, as this version is the only one I know (I don't know much about Eumir Deodato except for his production of Chuck Mangione's 1984 album DISGUISE).

Still, the horn charts on EUPHORIA, featuring Jay Chattaway's pre-"Star Trek" arrangements combined with Gato's signature sound, make this album a 'must have' in any collection. It may not be CALIENTE!, but then again, what is?

Tony

 

[jazzdre]

Yes...mmmm...I remember this one, this is one of Gato's best. After TROPICO, who thought that Gato would make something like this? I'm not a fan of TROPICO for the same reason a lot of you don't like Gap Mangione's 70s stuff: too much disco, not enough jazz.

But this album was like a breath of fresh air!The first cut"Theme from Firepower" was the theme of an action/adventure of the same name; and both Chattaway's arrangements and Gato's playing are very fiery. "Sophia" was named for one of the stars of the movie, the legendary Sophia Loren, and from what I remember, the tune was a slow jam; sensuous and sultry like the lady herself.

"Carnavalito" was the playful side of Gato's playing, sort of like the theme for a Latin day parade, while "Lions Also Cry" was very dramatic and also very beautiful. "Gods And Astronauts" I heard not too long ago, but it was sampled by an acid jazz outfit; whose name I can't recall, I don't remember "Secret Fiesta" all that well, but I certainly do remember "Speak Low" very well, because that was my favorite song on the album!

After this album, Gato would not record for a few years, until I believe 1985 or so.But man, what an album this was!

P.S.: The opening of "Gods" with the guitar, bass, percussion, and Gato's scatting was the part sampled by the acid jazz outfit I was talking about.

 

[Dave]

I'm sorry, but you must be thinking about TROPICO.

OK, it seems as though I couldn't erase the taste of Tropico, so yeah, but somehow the magic of what Gato did earlier just isn't here, either...

I guess I'm just too accustomed to the "Midas-touch" Herb Alpert gave Barbieri's first two LP's and I find him a fairly not-so-easy artist for me to get into at that...

Anyway, I gave this 2 and a 1/2 ** 's, seeing as how I'm just more of a casual listener to the newer Jazz sounds...



Dave

 

[toeknee4bz]

I gave this 2 and a 1/2 ** 's, seeing as how I'm just more of a casual listener to the newer Jazz sounds...
Dave

If EUPHORIA didn't excite you, for the reasons mentioned, then you definitely don't want anything to do with QUE PASA?, CHE CORAZON or SHADOW OF THE CAT. Those albums are much more low key and fit into the boring jazzOH, I'M SORRY I meant "Smooth Jazz" category.

Tony

 

[Captain Bacardi]

I'm having a hard time believing that anyone actually liked this album, let alone rating it as one of the best.

This is an incredibly dismal effort, and it's little wonder Gato took a sabbatical after this release. Even he didn't care for it. This is so repetitive of his past albums that it seems as if he's just going through the motions. His sax playing is lethargic - there's no passion, no fire. This is supposed to be Gato? This is supposed to be The Cat??? No, no, no. This is not what he was about. Anyone thinking that needs to pick up his excellent Impulse! releases of his Chapter series. Jay Chattaway did Gato no favors here, and even copies his own string sounds. Listen to the strings on "Secret Fiesta" - doesn't it sound remarkably the same as "Behind The Rain" on the Caliente album? And once again Chattaway tries to find the magic of "Europa" on "Sophia", and misses the mark. There's nothing that I find redeeming at all on this album, and it's little wonder it never made it to CD. 1 star.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Captain Bacardi]

If EUPHORIA didn't excite you, for the reasons mentioned, then you definitely don't want anything to do with QUE PASA?, CHE CORAZON or SHADOW OF THE CAT.

I couldn't disagree more. Although I haven't heard Que Pasa I have heard both Che Corazon and Shadow Of The Cat, both are clearly better efforts that Euphoria. In fact, if it weren't for the cheesey vocals I would consider Shadow to be a wonderful album.



Capt. Bacardi

 

[Dave]

Hey, it looks like "no one review is the gospel"...! Well, I guess I'm not the only turned off my this album... As I've said the Herb Alpert production is what gave the first Barbieri releases some punch, but this, as well as Tropico was where Gato really lost his bite...

No, Lite Jazz..., Smooth Jazz..., --Whatever!--just isn't my bag... I typically and chiefly am into "Almost Any Jazz" just for the guitar parts and it really takes good ones for me to cherish what "the leader's instrument, other than a guitar" is for me to be in for what the Artist making the album actually does... --With some exceptions...


Dave

--With just a few more thoughts on Euphoria and why it disappointed me, Online...! inkshield:

 

[toeknee4bz]

If EUPHORIA didn't excite you, for the reasons mentioned, then you definitely don't want anything to do with QUE PASA?, CHE CORAZON or SHADOW OF THE CAT.

I couldn't disagree more. Although I haven't heard Que Pasa I have heard both Che Corazon and Shadow Of The Cat, both are clearly better efforts that Euphoria. In fact, if it weren't for the cheesey vocals I would consider Shadow to be a wonderful album.
Capt. Bacardi

What can I say? I guess I'm the odd-man-out on this one, but what really baffles me is how SHADOW OF THE CAT could even remotely interest someone who doesn't care for "Smooth Jazz" [correct me if I'm wrong] when it yawns of every nuance of the category. It has a substantially longer running time, but aside from the duets w/ Herb, and the new version of "Last Tango", it just doesn't excite me. Don't get me wrong... it does have its moments, as does CHE CORAZON and QUE PASA. But then again, so does EUPHORIA. And with tracks like "Firepower", "Carnavalito", "Speak Low" and "Sophia", I just don't understand how a Gato fan could not get excited.

And, by the way, I'm the culprit who mistakenly voted a "best" rating. I think everyone will agree that the top honor goes to CALIENTE! To sum it up, I would rate EUPHORIA as a strong second, tied w/ RUBY, RUBY, and I would forget that TROPICO was ever recorded.

Tony

 

[jazzdre]

I am really surprised that a lot of you have taken to lambast this album; particularly the Captain's, since I have come to agree with a lot of his opinions! On this album, though I have to disagree with the Captain and the rest of yours opinion.

True, this isn't the masterpiece CALIENTE was, but it also wasn't the failure TROPICO was either! I thought he played with fire on "The Theme From FIREPOWER", and on SPEAK LOW, I thought he played powerfully. Also, when you have an all-star lineup like Gato has on this album;all stars like:ANTHONY JACKSON, RON CARTER,BILLY COBHAM,IDRIS MUHAMMED,RICHARD TEE, and ERIC GALE, one cannot really go wrong!

I would suggest that the detractors of this album(including the Captain) go back and REALLY listen to this album, and truly hear what they were missing.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

I would suggest that the detractors of this album(including the Captain) go back and REALLY listen to this album, and truly hear what they were missing.

I have "really listened" to this album - I always do for any album that is the AOTW. This is still a sorry album to me, no matter how you slice it. And "Firepower" is the worst song of the album. "Speak Low" isn't too bad. And just because there's a lot of star musicians doesn't necessarily make for a good album. The entire production reeks. This album seems to me to be a rehash of the other 3 A&M albums. There's nothing new, I sense no passion at all. Gato's playing is somewhat tepid throughout. This is just a rancid effort to me. I make no apologies for my thoughts.


Capt. Bacardi