(Crossover Jazz, Soul-Jazz) [LP] [24/192] Ramsey Lewis - Mother Nature's Son - 1969, FLAC (tracks)

Lineage:
Degritter RCM > Rega P10 Turntable with Rega P10 PSU > Rega Apheta 3 Cartridge > PS Audio NuWave Phono Converter ADC > AudioQuest Carbon USB Cable > USB-IN > Audition CC 2019 @ 24bit float, 192kHz capture.
Processing:
24bit wav > Run through Click Repair 3.9.9 at 10/0 on DeClick > Volume Boost +3 DB > Remove DC Bias > Saved as 24bit,192kHz WAV > FLAC > Tagged with Discogs tagger through Foobar.
Scans:
Epson Expression 11000XL -> 16bit 600 DPI with Unsharp Mask -> Color Correction in Photoshop CC 2021 x64 -> 8bit 600DPI PNG.

foobar2000 1.6.16 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2024-07-14 21:10:47
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Analyzed: Ramsey Lewis / Mother Nature's Son
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DR Peak RMS Duration Track
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DR12 -1.46 dB -16.23 dB 4:55 01-Mother Nature's Son
DR12 -0.77 dB -16.14 dB 2:37 02-Rocky Raccoon
DR12 -2.41 dB -16.46 dB 4:18 03-Julia
DR12 -0.44 dB -16.18 dB 3:15 04-Back in the USSR
DR11 -0.65 dB -15.59 dB 4:53 05-Dear Prudence
DR12 -1.57 dB -16.14 dB 3:50 06-Cry Baby Cry
DR11 -1.52 dB -16.96 dB 5:53 07-Good Night
DR13 -0.46 dB -16.08 dB 3:13 08-Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
DR14 -1.70 dB -17.82 dB 2:43 09-Sexy Sadie
DR13 -0.99 dB -17.20 dB 4:30 10-Black Bird
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Number of tracks: 10
Official DR value: DR12
Samplerate: 192000 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 24
Bitrate: 5051 kbps
Codec: FLAC
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This album was another brainchild of Marshall Chess' regime at Chess Records and, in a sense, is of a piece with Electric Mud by Muddy Waters -- here, he's getting Ramsey Lewis, supported by an orchestra conducted and arranged by Charles Stepney, to do jazz improvisations on ten songs from The Beatles (aka The White Album). The results are a good deal more impressive and a lot less awkward than Electric Mud, Lewis and company being in far greater sympathy with this material than Muddy Waters was with Rolling Stones material. The orchestrations are occasionally a bit thick and treacly, but when Lewis jumps in and his playing takes flight, songs such as "Julia" soar off in all manner of unexpected and delightful directions, while "Back in the U.S.S.R.," divorced from its Chuck Berry sound, still serves as the basis for some funky improvisations by the pianist. The album probably didn't do much more for Lewis' career than Electric Mud did for Muddy Waters, but it's a better fit with Lewis and an enjoyable excursion. The cover art is also funny enough to almost make it worth the price of the LP, which was reissued in Japan in 2002 in 24-bit digital audio.

Ramsey Lewis - keyboards
Cleveland Eaton - bass
Maurice White - drums
Charles Stepney - conductor, orchestra arrangement, Moog synthesizer
Recorded at Ter Mar Studios, Chicago, IL in December 1968.