Midnight Without You - Chris Botti

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	This is cool music
Disadvantages:	It may take a few plays .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

For his 1997 release Chris Botti assembled the pretty much the same stellar cast of musicians as he used of his previous recordings.
This album has 9 tracks that are new and 1 previously released song that appeared on the soundtrack to the film “Caught” this being the song with Jonatha Brooke on vocals called “Forgiven”.

To begin this collection the instrumental track “The steps of Positano” starts the album off, this has a familiar feel to it as just like his previous 2 releases the music is all atmosphere, this is perfectly conveyed by the brushed cymbal playing of Jerry Marotta and the keyboard skills of Paul Joseph Moore (of the “Blue Nile” fame) and Mr Botti himself who plays the same themes as the keyboards but with sensuous trumpet playing.

The next track is a song co-written by 2 members of the Blue Nile Paul Buchanan and P. J. Moore. (The sleeve has a credit for the entire band on it, but Robert Bell who plays the bass for the Blue Nile isn’t on the album at all)

For me this is the key song on the album and worth the price of the collection on it’s own. The title track “Midnight without you” is hybrid of the styles of Mr Botti and the Blue Nile put together on this song to great effect both parties deal in creating textures, atmosphere and space.

To put a little variation in the album the third track “Regroovable” is more funk than texture this is put across by the trumpet and the rhythm section being funkier than normal, this track has still got atmosphere but now only the keyboard playing of P. J. Moore is the only instrument creating it.

The middle section of this album, tracks 4 – 7 are all atmospheric in character just like the opening 2, and then track 8 starts, jazzier in style to what’s been heard previously on the album, the reason I think “Mr Wah” has a more jazz sound to it is the bass playing of Tony Levin of Peter Gabriel fame, there is a hint of the same on the other track that Mr Levin plays on “The way Home”.

After the up beat sound of “Mr Wah” the previously released song “Forgiven” can be heard, to close this recording the track “Alone in the City” is heard there is a different element in this track instead of the standard drum sound Jerry Marotta is playing native “American” drums which in the hands of Mr Marotta adds a whole new dimension to the soundscape, a similar effect can be heard on the track “When Rain Falls” where the native drums are used as well.
The overall sound of this recording is excellent where all the musicians can be heard to great effect all the way through the album, this is because of the remarkable mastering skills of Bob Ludwig my personal favourite audio wizard.

An album for followers of well-written music and skilled musicians, it may take a few plays but you will find worth it in the end…