(Post-Bop) John Abercrombie & Ralph Towner - Sargasso Sea - 1976, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

John Abercrombie and Ralph Towner have forever been tied to the ECM roster as leaders and individualists, and initially it was hard to imagine their styles being compatible. As an amplified electric guitarist, Abercrombie's steely, sometime unearthly sound was an uneven puzzle piece alongside the graphic, stoic, classically oriented style of Towner. Yet on Sargasso Sea, there are several instances where they merge together as one, feeling their way through pure improvisations, angular and colorful motifs, or thematic nuances and a certain strata of consciousness that makes a world of common sense. There are selections where they both play acoustic guitars, but it is mostly Abercrombie's hopped up sound through an amp over Towner's bold and beautiful unplugged instrument, tossing in a piano overdubbed on two tracks. Where selections such as "Fable" are folksy and far from overwrought, "Avenue" lopes gracefully and the exceptional "Parasol" is semi-lyrical. Abercrombie's guitar stands in stark contrast on the near macabre title track, and more so during "Elbow Room" with heavier moans, cries, vibrato, echoplex slide incursions, and Towner as an afterthought. The best track "Staircase," with twin acoustic guitars, sports tricky intricate lines and changes only virtuosi can achieve. In laid-back surrender for "Romantic Descension," and in passive voicings on "Over & Gone," Towner need not strain to make his brilliant voice heard clearly. An uneven recording for many listeners and critics, Sargasso Sea deserves a second chance, not as an absolutely flawed, imperfect, or unbalanced effort. Like a tale of two cities, it stands as a unique project, perhaps deserving a more refined approach. Though there was a follow-up album released, a third-time's-the-charm contemporary revisit from these masterful guitar geniuses would be welcome.
Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008
EAC extraction logfile from 28. March 2009, 19:54
John Abercrombie/Ralph Towner / Sargasso Sea
Used drive  : MATSHITADVD-RAM UJ-860S   Adapter: 0  ID: 0
Read mode               : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache      : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction                      : 102
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
Gap handling                                : Appended to previous track
Used output format              : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate                : 320 kBit/s
Quality                         : High
Add ID3 tag                     : No
Command line compressor         : C:\Program Files\FLAC\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T"TITLE=%t" -T"ALBUM=%g" -T"DATE=%y" -T"TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T"GENRE=%m" -T"COMMENT=EAC FLAC -8" %s
TOC of the extracted CD
     Track |   Start  |  Length  | Start sector | End sector
    ---------------------------------------------------------
        1  |  0:00.33 |  8:41.00 |        33    |    39107
        2  |  8:41.33 |  5:19.00 |     39108    |    63032
        3  | 14:00.33 |  4:00.50 |     63033    |    81082
        4  | 18:01.08 |  2:51.25 |     81083    |    93932
        5  | 20:52.33 |  5:11.00 |     93933    |   117257
        6  | 26:03.33 |  6:24.50 |    117258    |   146107
        7  | 32:28.08 |  3:17.25 |    146108    |   160907
        8  | 35:45.33 |  5:24.00 |    160908    |   185207
Track  1
     Filename C:\Users\123\Desktop\Мои документы\Musak\Abercrombie\John Abercrombie & Ralph Towner - Sargasso Sea (1976)\01 - Fable.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.44
     Peak level 75.2 %
     Track quality 99.9 %
     Test CRC 564F044E
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     Accurately ripped (confidence 5)  [4EC0FF85]
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Track  2
     Filename C:\Users\123\Desktop\Мои документы\Musak\Abercrombie\John Abercrombie & Ralph Towner - Sargasso Sea (1976)\02 - Avenue.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.86
     Peak level 64.8 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC AA03B4F6
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     Accurately ripped (confidence 5)  [4AB99685]
     Copy OK
Track  3
     Filename C:\Users\123\Desktop\Мои документы\Musak\Abercrombie\John Abercrombie & Ralph Towner - Sargasso Sea (1976)\03 - Sargasso Sea.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:04.00
     Peak level 76.6 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 9E2FEE0D
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     Accurately ripped (confidence 5)  [2B332AC2]
     Copy OK
Track  4
     Filename C:\Users\123\Desktop\Мои документы\Musak\Abercrombie\John Abercrombie & Ralph Towner - Sargasso Sea (1976)\04 - Over And Gone.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:04.04
     Peak level 60.4 %
     Track quality 99.9 %
     Test CRC 98CDE5F4
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     Accurately ripped (confidence 5)  [3FC6728F]
     Copy OK
Track  5
     Filename C:\Users\123\Desktop\Мои документы\Musak\Abercrombie\John Abercrombie & Ralph Towner - Sargasso Sea (1976)\05 - Elbow Room.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:03.10
     Peak level 86.8 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC B3EBB4F8
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     Accurately ripped (confidence 5)  [7973B553]
     Copy OK
Track  6
     Filename C:\Users\123\Desktop\Мои документы\Musak\Abercrombie\John Abercrombie & Ralph Towner - Sargasso Sea (1976)\06 - Stair Case.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.53
     Peak level 74.8 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 9BF88EBC
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     Accurately ripped (confidence 5)  [CACF5BBC]
     Copy OK
Track  7
     Filename C:\Users\123\Desktop\Мои документы\Musak\Abercrombie\John Abercrombie & Ralph Towner - Sargasso Sea (1976)\07 - Romantic Descension.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:03.06
     Peak level 75.0 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC CFB2CC4E
     Copy CRC CFB2CC4E
     Accurately ripped (confidence 5)  [D76010F9]
     Copy OK
Track  8
     Filename C:\Users\123\Desktop\Мои документы\Musak\Abercrombie\John Abercrombie & Ralph Towner - Sargasso Sea (1976)\08 - Parasol.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:03.70
     Peak level 67.8 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 93106BCA
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     Accurately ripped (confidence 5)  [E5400FDD]
     Copy OK
All tracks accurately ripped
No errors occurred
End of status report