Jonathan Wilson - "Fanfare" (BellaUnion 2013)

Yes, pals... Santa arrived early, this year... he brought a gorgeous copy of last Jonathan Wilson's disc in Deluxe edition - i.e. a double pale blue 180 grams vinyls AND disk and fold cover with a very strange, dadaist studio picture, some naked girls, with hairy armpits and bushes à la Tina Modotti (of Edward Weston's fame;-)) and a Masked Magician using his magic stick on them... weird, yet pleasant (... ahem, the nice girls... not the magic stick;-))

Symbolism isn't so obscure, don't you?... or am I and my Freudian background;-)?

The disc exists also in not foldable cover and black vinyl, with no disk enclosed... but you'll miss the above...

... but stop kidding... the disc is WONDERFUL,  ALL analog multi tracked on Studer A80 24 channels and mastered on Ampex ATR-100 1/2 inch 2 tracks tape machines... lathe was a Neumann VMS 70 at GoldenMastering in Ventura, CA... superbly engineered by J.J.Golden, as well.

Echoes of Jerry Garcia's liquid solos and David Crosby and Graham Nash and Jackson Browne's voices give shivers - like 40 years didn't pass from my love affair with California and CSN&Y and P.E.R.R.O. Sessions and Jefferson Airplane and Crosby alone and the Deads and Quicksilver Messenger Service - and Jonathan's simply exquisite taste for '70s sounds, which sound both old and brand new... maybe because unheard in decades, but on Memory Lane shelves of my discotheque...

Acoustic guitars inter-woving are echoing Crosby's Guinnevere and The Lee Shore, but without sounding copycatting or hi-jacking them... it's respect and music made DNA...  also some early Pink Floyd's hintings (from Ummagumma or Meddle)

The recording is also IMPRESSIVE and gorgeous... Jonathan and his cohort proved 100% analogists as the record two inner sleeve shows some Kodak 400 ASA contact proofing sessions pixies... clever and classy.

The vinyl is crisp and seldom seen, a clear blue, fresh as a springtime Sunday morning sky.

... like the music.

Don't be fooled by too many words... just buy it.... talking to the music-lovers and to the audiophiles, as well.