[ape+cue] Acoustic Alchemy - Early Alchemy (1992)

Product Details



Audio CD (February 18, 1992)

Original Release Date: March 16, 1992

Number of Discs: 1

Label: Grp Records

ASIN: B0000001RX





Songs Title

1. Santiago 4:21

2. Sarah Victoria 1:57

3. Last Summer Song 3:23

4. Slap It Down 2:40

5. Sira's Song 3:41

6. Moonstone 1:49

7. Wind It Up 4:04

8. Casino 3:19

9. Little Bercheres 4:41

10. Amanecer 3:06

11. Waiting For You 3:26

12. Return Flight 3:24

13. Daybreak 2:57

14. A Dream Of Fair Women 2:20





Most Helpful Customer Reviews





Before Nick Webb teamed up with Greg Carmichael, he and Simon James created

Acoustic Alchemy. I was living in London when "Casino" came out and

remember loving it. These are -- except for the last cut -- early

recordings that had never been released in Album form. Like "Casino",

"Sarah Victoria" was re-recorded by the Webb/Carmichael partnership. None

of the others was. My personal favorites are "Slap it down" and "Les

Bercheres." I also like the new recording "Dream of Fair Women." Along with

"Reference Point" this is my favorite Acoustic Alchemy CD.





This is a collection of Nick Webb's early recordings with his original

partner, Simon James, who split to go solo and was replaced by Greg

Carmichael. Webb and James may have been calling themselves Acoustic

Alchemy, but really, AA didn't start as a stable and successful group until

Webb and Carmichael recorded their first album, red Dust and Spanish Lace,

in 1987; these tracks precede that. As Acoustic Alchemy's career

progressed, they added other instruments to accompany their steel and nylon

string guitars, but that was long after this. There is just about nothing

but acoustic guitar here. Try it.





I have been a fan of Acoustic Alchemy for years, but somehow never obtained

this, their first offering until 2006. I was surprised to learn that Greg

Carmichael was not on it. In fact they had not even met when this album was

issued. The "AA" sound however, is very evident through Nick Webb's

wonderful playing and writing, and I would wholeheartedly recommend this to

any AA fan or fan of the acoustic jazz genre.