The Neophonic String Band-Direct To Disc Vinyl Album Review
DD105 – The Neophonic String Band – 1977
Vinyl surface noise: 4+ (not pops and clicks)
Dynamic Range: 5-
Stereo Imaging: 4+
Image depth/perspective: 4
Overall frequency response: 4+
Side One
- The Legend of Bill Munroe
- Ronoake
- Blue Moon of Kentucky
- Cheyenne
- Uncle Pen, Scotland, The Legend of Bill Munroe
Side Two
- Foggy Mountain Breakdown
- In The Pines
- Sugarfoot Rag
- Silver Haired Daddy
- The Flint Hill Special
This album was released in 1977 under the Direct Disk Records label and was recorded at the Woodland Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.
The label seemed to exist up until about the very early 80’s at which point they appeared to become part or Warner Bros having earlier changed their name to Direct Disk Labs. Besides producing about a dozen or so direct to disc cuts they were also known for their half speed mastering.
This special limited edition album (serial number 05477) is uniquely Blue Grass through and through. Like all other direct to disk cuts it’s a one take recording on each side.
The instrumentation is fairly traditional with twin fiddles, twin banjo’s and twin mandolins. All supported by guitar and bass fiddle and for the non-tradionalists drums and piano.
I am not a Blue Grass fan but after hearing this album during a show room demonstration I just had to have it. That was several decades ago and I never regretted the purchase.
Despite the number of tracks on each side there appears to be no compression as none of them are particularly long. Vinyl noise on both the lead in and between tracks was very low.
I cannot comment on the musicianship other than to say it was water tight and alive!
The tracks are all very open and clean with the occasional reverb tail-out audible at the end of several tracks. The bass line drives all the tracks with a great solo on S1T2. The stars of the recordings were undoubtably the dueling fiddles, banjos and mandolins. The picking and bowing are exquisite and I am no fan of this style of music. The piano also deserves recognition for a number of short punchy solos. Male vocals had plenty of presence but like the female backing tended to be a little strident and hard. Neither showed any signs of sibilance. The kit made its presence felt on every track from the clean, bright and detailed hi-hat and cymbals to the punchy snare and toms. The kick drum didn’t posses buckets of slam and punch and was generally a little recessed, merging as I believe that it should, with the bass line and not being pushed forward in the mix, except on a couple of tracks. After all this IS Blue Grass, not Pop and Rock!
The majority of tracks rip along at a fair old pace with a small respite during S2T2 and S2T4, both of which have terrific vocals with lots of presence. All the tracks are full of short instrumental solos giving you plenty of opportunities to appreciate the musical style and muscianship.
If you like Blue Grass then you are going to love this album.
Available on vinyl from Discogs.
