(Fusion) Gary Willis - Actuаl Fictiоn - 2007, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The opening notes of this Cd hit me like John McLaughlin's Industrial Zen, but
quickly turned my head around. Industrial Zen and Actual Fiction are both deeply profound statements in the direction of
Fusion's ability to adapt itself to the new Home Studio environment. Actual Fiction by contrast is much more Groove oriented
while still maintaining that wild experimental and "fusionist" vision.
Gary Willis has outdone Gary Willis on this one. I must admit to being slightly biased, as I'm a huge fan of Gary's work and
his stand-out playing in the post-Jaco era of Fusion bass players. Actual Fiction takes everything you've ever liked about
his work with Tribal Tech and leaps forward a few light years.
Gary's past outing's "No Sweat" and "Bent" are great recordings, however, they are much more song based than Actual Fiction. This project is wide open from the very first note and will test your neck vertebrae with the powerful rhythms all through this recording. Nothing is routine here, yet it all feels so "together" and "focused". Gary's ability to lay down a groove to the most complex of rhythms is shown front and center. Add to that his ability to improvise and solo over the steaming funkiness, you end up with Actual Fiction.
The liner notes state that Kirk Covington drums on all tracks except two, where David Gomez is utilized and Gary Willis plays
"everything else". I'd have to say that Gary chose his drummers wisely and they clearly make the project superior for having
them. Both drummers are so musically gifted on the drums, there's no "beat keepers" here. They really add a tremendous
musical voice. Gary's playing "everything else" is as mystifying as it is wonderful. I tried to dissect who was doing what
and when, and it gave me a great deal of difficulty, and then I realized it doesn't matter. The end result is what matters.
So, after throwing out my "musical microscope" and just listening, I was simply blown away.
I didn't really care how an album with just a bass player and drummer could be so incredible from a technical standpoint
anymore. I was too busy digging the amazing music and trying to keep my head attached to my neck from the funky grooves that overwhelmed me. Every note kept me smiling and interested. This is an amazing recording for Fusion fans. An amazing Fusion recording without any guitar shredding solos? Yep, in fact, I was struck hard by the ancient words that Joe Zawinul used to describe early Weather Report "We always solo and we never solo". That concept applies here almost 40 years later with all the benefits of having experienced Fusion's golden age and beyond.
This album is a Jazz Rock Fusion treasure. The music is 100% about the music and not the "commercial aspects" that hinder so many recordings. 2007 has been a great year for Fusion releases and no collection would be complete without this one.
On a scale of 1 to 5, it's a 6. It's not just Fusion - it's GREAT Fusion.
By,
Rick Calic
Jazz Rock World

01 - Cartoon Fetish.flac
02 - Smells Like A Party.flac
03 - PodCast.flac
04 - SayNever.flac
05 - Eye Candy.flac
06 - Take Me To Your Leader.flac
07 - Mean Streak.flac
08 - If Only It Could Talk.flac
09 - Tio Loco.flac
10 - Based On A True Story.flac
Actual Fiction.log
ActualFiction.pdf
Actual_Fiction.CUE
Gary Willis - Actual Fiction.m3u
tau.txt

EAC extraction logfile from 10. December 2007, 23:39 for CD
Gary Willis / Actual Fiction
Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-112D Adapter: 1 ID: 1
Read mode : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache
Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Used output format : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe (User Defined Encoder)
128 kBit/s
Additional command line options : -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T
"tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" -8 %s
Other options :
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Track 1
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Track 3
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Track 4
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Track 5
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Track 6
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Track 7
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Track 8
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Track 9
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Track 10
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No errors occured
End of status report

2069319170 52743644 01 - Cartoon Fetish.wav
1019441474 50052956 02 - Smells Like A Party.wav
1735338426 65839580 03 - PodCast.wav
3365559676 48430076 04 - SayNever.wav
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auCDtect: CD records authenticity detector, version 0.8.2
Copyright (c) 2004 Oleg Berngardt. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2004 Alexander Djourik. All rights reserved.
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