(Jazz-Funk) Roy Ayers - Perfection - 2006, WAVPack (image+.cue), lossless

While Roy Ayers has never lacked ideas or inspiration, he has lacked, in recent years, a decent recording budget to make those ideas truly come to life. A case in point is Perfection on the AIM label. Here are 13 new tracks, all but one are single-word titles. The mood overall is light, relaxing, groove-based, and full of open spaces. The trouble lies in how Ayers' production ideas -- the use of synth drums, samples, and plenty of compression -- are hurt by his lack of being able to use them sonically. This set sounds like a demo tape or a rehearsal, not because the music is lightweight, because it's not., but because it simply sounds bad, incomplete, like the mix never happened, like the gear wasn't up to speed. Ayers is the king of slippery, feel-good grooves and was the father of "smooth jazz," though his has always been infinitely more complex and harmonically engaging. But he's always had the technical space to make his beautiful tunes come to life. Not so on Perfection; everything sounds flat, unfinished, not cared for properly. It's too bad because there are some tunes here that really get it right. such as "Bags" (given the heavy vibraphone in the cut , one has to wonder if it is a tribute to Milt Jackson and his years in the Modern Jazz Quartet). It's beautifully arranged and subtly played. Another standout is the breakbeat funk in "Steppin'." In all, Perfection is anything but; it's a disappointment, but not for lack of inspiration.

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009
EAC extraction logfile from 11. December 2009, 17:13
Roy Ayers / Perfection
Used drive  : MATSHITADVD-ROM SR-8588   Adapter: 1  ID: 1
Read mode               : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache      : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction                      : 103
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out          : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks   : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations       : Yes
Used interface                              : Installed external ASPI interface
Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format      : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo
TOC of the extracted CD
     Track |   Start  |  Length  | Start sector | End sector
    ---------------------------------------------------------
        1  |  0:00.00 |  5:10.38 |         0    |    23287
        2  |  5:10.38 |  4:48.45 |     23288    |    44932
        3  |  9:59.08 |  5:18.35 |     44933    |    68817
        4  | 15:17.43 |  5:15.68 |     68818    |    92510
        5  | 20:33.36 |  3:57.37 |     92511    |   110322
        6  | 24:30.73 |  4:26.66 |    110323    |   130338
        7  | 28:57.64 |  6:01.65 |    130339    |   157478
        8  | 34:59.54 |  4:59.53 |    157479    |   179956
        9  | 39:59.32 |  5:19.39 |    179957    |   203920
       10  | 45:18.71 |  4:12.10 |    203921    |   222830
       11  | 49:31.06 |  4:09.74 |    222831    |   241579
       12  | 53:41.05 |  1:39.39 |    241580    |   249043
       13  | 55:20.44 |  4:14.59 |    249044    |   268152
Range status and errors
Selected range
     Filename C:\EAC\Roy Ayers - Perfection.wav
     Peak level 98.9 %
     Range quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC D3709DB7
     Copy CRC D3709DB7
     Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track  1  not present in database
Track  2  not present in database
Track  3  not present in database
Track  4  not present in database
Track  5  not present in database
Track  6  not present in database
Track  7  not present in database
Track  8  not present in database
Track  9  not present in database
Track 10  not present in database
Track 11  not present in database
Track 12  not present in database
Track 13  not present in database
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report