Cornell Dupree - Saturday Night Fever - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The master session guitarist's rare mid-seventies album contains instrumental versions of hit songs by Paul Simon, Steely Dan, the Bee Gees, Bill Withers, Buddy Holly, Stephen Bishop, Dolly Parton and many more

Channeling the Euro-pop sensibilities of Crepuscule and the ethereal goth of 4AD, Vazz arrived in Glasgow just as the Sound of Young Scotland was taking off. Armed with a drum machine, guitar, bass, and Anna Howson's icy cooing, the duo offered a darker take to a scene dominated by poptimists Orange Juice, Josef K, and Aztec Camera. This 40th anniversary edition of their 1986 mini-album Your Lungs and Your Tongues compiles their complete Cathexis recordings and adds a handful of unissued minimal wave pearls. Colder than Dalwhinnie on the solstice-better bring a parka.

Cornell Dupree's impeccable guitar work has graced an estimated minimum of more than two thousand soul, jazz, R&B, and pop recording sessions since he established himself as a premier New York studio guitarist during the 1960s. Legendary producer Jerry Wexler marveled that once he began using Cornell regularly on Atlantic Records sessions, Wex could slice the number of guitarists he booked from three to one because Dupree phenomenally blended the lead and rhythm parts into one seamless whole-rendering additional axemen superfluous! Cornell and alto sax great Hank Crawford convened in August of '78 to record the LP InchShadow DancingInch. Here Dupree tackles a medley of Andy Gibb's InchShadow DancingInch and Donna Summer's InchLast Dance,Inch Stephen Bishop's InchOn And On,Inch and Steely Dan's InchPegInch as well as InchThe Closer I Get to You,Inch Roberta Flack's mellow duet with the ill-fated Donny Hathaway, and Dolly Parton's InchTwo Doors Down,Inch every one of them revisiting a current hit. Cornell was clearly in command, peppering each track with delightfully fluid riffs. The sumptuous InchHey, GirlInch must have been a longtime personal favorite of Cornell's-it was a '63 hit for soul balladeer Freddie Scott and wasn't a denizen of the 1978 hit parade. Once again, Dupree saved some of his best for last InchThe CreeperInch is another blistering, brass-driven blues workout allowing him a wealth of very welcome solo space. All selections have been newly remastered.