Vinyl Review: Lincoln Mayorga and Distinguished Colleagues – Sheffield Lab 1 – Volume III – Released 1974
Lab 1. Lincoln Mayorga and Distinguished Colleagues Volume III -1974
Surface noise: 3+
Dynamic Range: 4+
Stereo Imaging: 4
Image depth/perspective: 3+
Overall frequency response: 4
Side One
- The Perfect Song – My Love
- America
- That Certain Feeling – Oh Lord, I’m On My Way
- Camarillo
Side Two
- You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
- Le Grand Medley
- From Menaggio To Bellagio
- King Porter Stomp
Well, Sheffield Lab really got its act together on this one. I am not surprised that it received a GRAMMY NOMINATION for the Best Engineered Album.
Only having 4 tracks on each side they really let the cutting head do its thing, there seems to be little to no compression on these tracks. There are plenty of dynamics, good deep clean base that seems to just roll right through you, and the drum kit and kick drum really shine on several of the tracks. Side 1 Track 4 and Side 2 Track 3 really tear things up if you wind the volume up – great demo tracks. One thing about all the Sheffield albums is that many of them REALLY come to life when you crank up the volume, assuming your system can handle the sometimes stupendous dynamic range. The musicians on this recording were nice and tight and seemed to really get into the rhythm of the tracks. All tracks were clean and very well recorded but again, being studio based, the recording lacks depth and perspective, once again providing a front row line up of all the musicians. Camarillo, side 1 track 4, really brought back memories of actually being back in the control room, it had tremendous presence, a great bass line and kit sound, the saxophone was in the room with me and the overall recording had lots of high end detail.
I have listened to this album too many times to count as I thoroughly enjoy the music and how well it was performed and recorded. In the past it was the album I used to show off what vinyl should sound like. That was until I received Lab 3, The King James Version – Harry James and His Big Band.
Purchase vinyl and CDs from Discogs, and CDs from Sheffield Lab.
