Chakk - Ten Days In An Elevator
Ripped from a vinyl album released on MCA Records (MCG 6006) in 1986 to high resolution 24-bit flac audio. (I've also included the limited 12" single which came free with my copy)
I think this will be my third rip of 10 Days In An Elevator, but my first in 24/96 high res. If you had downloaded the original rips, feel free to dump them, this one greatly surpasses what went before. I am going to cheat now and post exactly what I said before about this album, grammatical flaws and all - spot one or two amendments?
I don't normally do requests, but this re-rip has been in the pipeline for quite some time. Each track has been lifted from the original vinyl individually, then digitally cleaned, balanced and normalised separately. Everything has been neatly repackaged as one lossless flac archive and it sounds great. The recent documentary The Beat Is The Law gives a lot of clues where MCA went so wrong with this album, but discerning, and now older ears may enjoy a listen.
After enjoying the band's first two singles, I remember the great anticipation of this album back in the mid-80s. This was quickly followed by disappointment as signing to a major (MCA) had cost Chakk their edge. On stage, they were youthful, distinct, powerful and energetic, but the American giant had polished them and added even more gloss with the final production - they even roped in Sly & Robbie to assist on studio duties.
Nearly 30 years later, I've been giving the album a third chance. Yes, the production does polish off the band's edge but listen closely and the experimentation is still there from the early singles, Smykle has just pushed it back in the mix and replaced it with that tacky 80's passion for non-acoustic drums. John Stuart does have a wonderful soulful voice complementing Jake Harries' much harder vox very well, Mark Brydon's (he of Moloko fame) indie-funk bass work is lost in the mix at times but shines through occasionally and Sim Lister's sax work is quite magical. Murderer and Cut The Dust on the free 12" are great pointers as to where the band should have been - not surprisingly they are amongst the few self-produced tracks !
The label were desperate for a return on their investment and pushed out multiple singles in multiple mixes, all of them flopped and Chakk were dropped. Chakk were great but Hula were better!
A1. Stare Me Out
A2. Imagination (Who Needs A Better Life)
A3. Big Hot Blues
A4. Over The Edge
B1. Lovetrip
B2. She Conceives Destruction
B3. Falling
B4. Years I Worked
C1. Murderer
C2. Big Hot Mix
D1. Stare Me Out (Crash Mix)
D2. Cut The Dust
Does anybody have a copy of the
Brain single they'd like to send into the blog?
