Andrew Hill: Golden Sunset (alternate take)

This is from one of a couple of records that Andrew did for Blue Note in the late 80s. The album itself has a certain coldness, which I think has to do with the way it was recordeddirect to digital two-track, with digital reverb on the drums, and everything sounds a bit cold. Particularly the sound of the bass is nasal. Its a strange mix, which for me diminished what could have been this records impact as a comeback or whatever you could call it. But this song nonetheless is quite powerful, and everyone plays beautifully on it. To me, the alternate take, which is about half as long as the one that was chosen to be released, is the more focused, more intense of the two. The other one was more sprawling and a lot more things happened in it, but the power of the song is watered down. Greg Osby sounds great. Its a beautiful song, delivered with power and grace. A nice gem from Hills later years.