Audio CD review:
Gino Vannelli - Brother to Brother

Gino Vannelli - Brother to Brother

Band: Gino Vannelli Title: Brother to Brother Rating: Release Date: 1990-10-25 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Appaloosa - Gino Vannelli, Vannelli, Gino 2: The River Must Flow - Gino Vannelli, Vannelli, Gino 3: I Just Wanna Stop - Gino Vannelli, Vannelli, Gino 4: Love and Emotion - Gino Vannelli, 5: Feel Like Flying - Gino Vannelli, 6: Brother to Brother - Gino Vannelli, Vannelli, Gino 7: Wheels of Life - Gino Vannelli, Vannelli, Gino 8: The Evil Eye - Gino Vannelli, 9: People I Belong To - Gino Vannelli,

Gino Finds Solid Ground However that meant some musical consessions had to be made. This is the album that made Gino Vannelli a commercial superstar. On this recording Gino pulled back heavy on the ARP synthesizer orchestraion that had characterized his previous albums The Gist of the Gemini and A Pauper in Paradise and concentrated on live instrumentation. The jazzy R&B strains in his work are played up more then even before;the funky "Appaloosa","The River Must Flow" and "Love And Emotion" certainly accomplish this well. This album also contains "I Just Want To Stop",the pop ballad that became Gino's signature song and is the song most people currently associate with him. But the fusion leanings of the poignant declarations of familial love on the title track and "People I Belong To" show not only that Gino hadn't lost his golden artistic touch but that he cared a great deal about his family and the people who helped him become successful-as always he seems to have a huge heart when it comes to lyrics,but never looses his cool doing it. True on "Feel Like Flying" and the cryptic "The Evil Eye" there are definate hints of the "old" Gino where he tended to value artistic vision over commercial success. All that being true the fact that this album says a lot more about Gino the songcrafter and tunesmith then it does Gino the virtuoso it did have the effect of getting more people interested in his music. If you don't have any Gino in your collection and already own recordings by people like Steely Dan,Jan Hammer or even Edgar Winter (all often unsung artistic innovators in a similar genre as well) this is something you cannot do wrong with!. SOLID When I was stationed in Germany, I made a very close friend in an Italian guy who was stationed there at the same time. This cd takes me back. We both loved our music. One day he pulled out this vinyl of some guy I had never heard before. I was floored. The music was stirring and the vocals were dynamic. Since that time, the songs from this album have been in my head. I listened to the sample tracks and knew right then I had to have this CD. My MP3 is going to be giving this one a lot of playing time. This is kind of a jazz, soul, pop thing. I highly recommend it. A must have for your audio collection. Without question one of the best albums of the late 70s Every track is worth it's weight in gold, make that platinum. An excellent album. Gino delivers beautiful ingenious compositions and vocals on EVERY album he releases. He is truly a gifted music. I would be blessed to have at least 1/10 of his talent. I'm a Gino fan forever!. I bought a CD I found the CD I was looking for in a few minutes. I found this web site very easy and intuitive to use. I received this brand new CD a few days later. The CD was in perfect condition. I will re-use this site the next time I want to buy a CD. Great Sound Quality But Not So Great MLPS Design! Gino was one of the first to use the synthesiser predominantly in his music and this album represents among the best of his works. Gino Vannelli has always been one of my favourite singer-songwriters and he must be along with Rupert Holmes among the best ever Canadian contributors to pop music. The complexity of tracks from the intricate rhythms fused with jazz stylings reminds me a lot of the work of Steely Dan although Gino's sound is unique to him alone. My favourite track is the AOR hit "I Just Wanna Stop" but all the tracks from "Appaloosa" to "People I Belong To" make for compelling listening and do not represent filler even remotely. The sound quality of this remastered version of the album is also very, very good. The only gripe I have is the way the mlps is put together. Having an insert that has all the lyrics in both English and Japanese is nice but the quality of the cardboard used is thin and poor unlike some of the better designs that I've seen that is out there. To get an idea of how good mlps designs can get, just take a look at the mlps releases of any of the Hall & Oates albums or the Sly and the Family Stone "Greatest Hits" or the Patti Smith "Horses" albums and you'll see what I mean about this version looking cheap and shoddy in comparison. Still, you would be hard pressed to find a better sounding remaster of this album and so at least for now, this is the best version of Gino's best known and perhaps best ever album that is currently out there. Recommended. You can see a complete list of all Gino Vannelli discography, or go back to the Gino Vannelli tabs