Blue Pacific (album)
| Blue Pacific | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Michael Franks | ||||
| Released | 31 May 1990 | |||
| Genre |
Smooth jazz Vocal jazz | |||
| Length | 52:24 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | Reprise | |||
| Producer |
Walter Becker Tommy LiPuma Jeff Lorber | |||
| Michael Franks chronology | ||||
| ||||
Blue Pacific is a smooth vocal jazz album by American singer-songwriter and musician Michael Franks, released in 1990 with Reprise.[1] It was Franks' eleventh studio album after The Camera Never Lies in 1987 and prior to Dragonfly Summer in 1993.
Background
The album marked three notable returns for Franks. The first was a return to the Reprise Label he'd released The Art of Tea with in 1976, fourteen years prior. Tommy LiPuma also returned as producer after a ten-year absence, the last album they worked on being One Bad Habit in 1980.
Commentators noted the stylistic return to the more laid back, Brazilian jazz inspired music of his earlier works, as opposed to the more electronic pop sound Franks had experimented with throughout the 1980s.[2][3]
Track listing
| Side one | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "The Art Of Love" | 4:10 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Woman In The Waves" | 5:58 | ||||||||
| 3. | "All I Need" | 4:46 | ||||||||
| 4. | "Long Slow Distance" | 5:09 | ||||||||
| 5. | "Vincent's Ear" | 6:21 | ||||||||
| Side two | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "Speak To Me" | 5:01 | ||||||||
| 2. | "On The Inside" | 5:12 | ||||||||
| 3. | "Chez Nous" | 4:29 | ||||||||
| 4. | "Blue Pacific" | 4:58 | ||||||||
| 5. | "Crayon Sun (Safe At Home)" | 6:20 | ||||||||
Personnel
Musicians
- Arrangements, Keyboards and Programming – Jeff Lorber
- Background vocals – Brenda Russell, Bunny Hull, Kareem, Livingston Taylor
- Bass – John Patitucci, Neil Stubenhaus, 'Readdie' Freddie Washington
- Cymbals – Sean Franks
- Drums – Vinnie Colaiuta, Peter Erskine, John Guerin
- Electric Guitar – Dean Parks
- Guitar – Larry Carlton, Buzz Feiten, Paul Jackson, Jr., Michael Thompson
- Keyboards – John Beasley
- Percussion – Alex Acuña, Luis Conte, Michael Fisher
- Piano – Joe Sample
- Alto Saxophone – Marc Russo
- Tenor Saxophone – Bob Shepard, Kirk Whalum
- Synthesizer Arrangement and Programming – Larry Williams
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
Reception to Blue Pacific was generally positive.
Writing for AllMusic, Stephen J. Matteo praised Franks' "return to form and his best album since 1979's Tiger in the Rain", commenting that "[t]he album marked a total rebirth for Franks." He described the album as "[m]editative, lush and clearly the work of an artist intent on making personal music regardless of trends or airplay, Blue Pacific is as open and beautiful as the ocean for which it is named."[2]
Writing in the Orlando Sentinel in the year of the album's release, Susan M. Barbieri commented that "[w]hereas Franks' last effort, The Camera Never Lies, didn't quite click as an album, Blue Pacific does.". She described the work as an "easy vocal [stroll] that [lulls] the listener into joining him in a state of calm" and praised the lyrics as "clever pop poetics for which this former English teacher is known."[3]
References
- ↑ "Discography in Order of Release". MichaelFranks.com. Retrieved 2012-02-11.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Matteo, Stephen J.. Blue Pacific – Michael Franks at AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-02-11.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Michael Franks – Orlando Sentinel". The Orlando Sentinel. 1990-09-14. Retrieved 2012-03-15.
Bibliography
- Blue Pacific (Vinyl back cover). Michael Franks. United States: Reprise. 1990. 1-26183.
External links
- Album on Apple iTunes
- Album on Discogs
- Album on Franks' MySpace musician profile
- Album on MSN Music
- Album on SoundUnwound
- Album on Yahoo! Music
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