(Jazz Fusion, Progressive Bluegrass) Bela Fleck & The Flecktones - UFO TOFU - 1992, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

progarchives.com
Review by Tapfret
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars
Enigmatic/Eclectic Groove Band's Musical Pinnacle
Sub-genre: Jazz/Rock Fusion (.for hip hillbillies)
For Fans of: Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea Electric Band, any stylistic crossover based on solid groove. People who can't stand the rest of your collection will end up tapping their toes.
Vocal Style: none
Guitar Style: none
Keyboard Style: Primarily midi-piano with rare use of string synth patches and classic electric piano sounds
Percussion Style: Futureman's Synthaxe Drumitar, one of the trademarks of the band. Few can tell the percussion is from a source other than a traditional jazz/rock drum kit.
Bass Style: Slappy, tappy, abundantly groovy and soulful. A number of different electric basses are used, both fretted and fretless.
Other Instruments: Banjo! (electric and acoustic), harmonica, jew's harp, whistles.
Summary: Bela Flek is a banjo player who's fundamental influences and earlier works were primarily shaped by bluegrass. His band, The Flektones, peppers modern jazz writing, production value, and technicality with bluegrass folksy-isms. UFOTOFU represents, in this reviewer's opinion, the pinnacle of this artful blend. The first two works, the self-titled debut and Flight of the Cosmic Hippo were good albums, but lacked the full-flavored spirit of this album. The canvas was stroked with broader textures of the incorporated styles. Flek's banjo tore in with more edge, occasionally using distortion, dissonance and discordance to linger in territories rarely heard from the instrument. Flowing arpeggios backed by Howard Levy's eerie, echoing harmonica create an ambience that tempers the music's technicality with a deep soulfulness. He uses multiple harmonicas to accommodate the vast number of key changes in the music. The album would mark the multi-instrumentalist, Levy's, finale as a full-time member of the group. Victor Wooten, easily a top 5 bass talent in the Jazz/Rock community (and probably all of music, his work on Tribal Tech Tones with Scott Henderson and Steve Smith is highly recommended), mixes wicked funk slapping with warm walks and slides with a fretless bass, not to mention occasionally providing simultaneous bass and melody by playing 2 basses at once. His bass playing supplies an undeniable groove to the project. While his talent in previous albums is evident, it is broadcast in full force in UFOTOFU.
The album opens with a frantic arpeggio that fades into a subtle drum shuffle on The West County. The song is a perfect introduction as it exemplifies the unfamiliar yet comfortable stylistic blends of the album. The structure is so smooth that it is easy to forget how technically brilliant the playing is. The ambience is encountered in other similarly identified songs as True North and the spacey, melancholy closer After the Storm. Hard hitting funkiness breaks in with the second track Sex in a Pan as well as The Yee-Haw Factor, Scuttlebutt and the band's favorite song to display their soloing skills during live performances, Magic Fingers. More experimental musical territory can be found in Life Without Elvis, a somewhat psychotic sounding foray for the band. The technical highlight of the bands instrumental prowess, as well as ensemble cohesiveness is found in the title track, UFOTOFU written as a musical palindrome.
Final Score: An easy 5 stars. This kind of eclecticism is essential to any prog collection.

EAC extraction logfile from 29. April 2008, 14:56 for CD
Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones / UFO TOFU
Used drive  : PIONEER DVD-RW  DVR-K16   Adapter: 1  ID: 0
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 : FLAC 1.1.4   (User Defined Encoder)
                     128 kBit/s
                     Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s
Other options      :
    Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
    Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
    Installed external ASPI interface
Track  1
     Filename 01 - The West County.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.32
     Peak level 99.7 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC EC70EB28
     Copy CRC EC70EB28
     Copy OK
Track  2
     Filename 02 - Sex In A Pan.wav
     Peak level 99.8 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 7B67E70A
     Copy CRC 7B67E70A
     Copy OK
Track  3
     Filename 03 - Nemo's Dream.wav
     Peak level 100.0 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC AD278567
     Copy CRC AD278567
     Copy OK
Track  4
     Filename 04 - Bonnie & Slyde.wav
     Peak level 96.8 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 69E038FF
     Copy CRC 69E038FF
     Copy OK
Track  5
     Filename 05 - Scuttlebutt.wav
     Peak level 99.0 %
     Track quality 99.9 %
     Test CRC 0E77ED3E
     Copy CRC 0E77ED3E
     Copy OK
Track  6
     Filename 06 - UFO TOFU.wav
     Peak level 100.0 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 442C1034
     Copy CRC 442C1034
     Copy OK
Track  7
     Filename 07 - Magic Fingers.wav
     Peak level 99.8 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC AA11B43B
     Copy CRC AA11B43B
     Copy OK
Track  8
     Filename 08 - True North.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.33
     Peak level 98.6 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC A33ADF71
     Copy CRC A33ADF71
     Copy OK
Track  9
     Filename 09 - Life Without Elvis.wav
     Peak level 99.9 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC F4475E7D
     Copy CRC F4475E7D
     Copy OK
Track 10
     Filename 10 - Saresta.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:02.25
     Peak level 99.6 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 11B219E6
     Copy CRC 11B219E6
     Copy OK
Track 11
     Filename 11 - The Yee-haw Factor.wav
     Peak level 100.0 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC CF07E0B7
     Copy CRC CF07E0B7
     Copy OK
Track 12
     Filename 12 - After The Storm.wav
     Pre-gap length  0:00:01.40
     Peak level 96.8 %
     Track quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC 8C419299
     Copy CRC 8C419299
     Copy OK
No errors occured
End of status report

3348748087 47663324 01 - The West County.wav
3888901258 37497980 02 - Sex In A Pan.wav
4061863640 54241868 03 - Nemo's Dream.wav
2779617459 45671180 04 - Bonnie & Slyde.wav
2106978450 42877004 05 - Scuttlebutt.wav
1468349212 40136924 06 - UFO TOFU.wav
3470404072 55624844 07 - Magic Fingers.wav
801464939 51814604 08 - True North.wav
1413270775 54382988 09 - Life Without Elvis.wav
3268339140 38737484 10 - Saresta.wav
4084226829 73824620 11 - The Yee-haw Factor.wav
2381790979 40901324 12 - After The Storm.wav
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.
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [01 - The West County.wav]
------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [02 - Sex In A Pan.wav]
------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [03 - Nemo's Dream.wav]
------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [04 - Bonnie & Slyde.wav]
------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 99%
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [05 - Scuttlebutt.wav]
------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [06 - UFO TOFU.wav]
------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [07 - Magic Fingers.wav]
------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [08 - True North.wav]
------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [09 - Life Without Elvis.wav]
------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [10 - Saresta.wav]
------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [11 - The Yee-haw Factor.wav]
------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 99%
------------------------------------------------------------
Processing file: [12 - After The Storm.wav]
------------------------------------------------------------
This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%
------------------------------------------------------------
Final Conclusion:
------------------------------------------------------------
These tracks looks like CDDA with probability 100%

PERFORMER "Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones"
TITLE "UFO TOFU"
REM GENRE Jazz
REM DATE 1992
REM DISCID A40CEB0C
REM COMMENT "ExactAudioCopy v0.95b3"
CATALOG 0075994501628
FILE "01 - The West County.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 01 AUDIO
    TITLE "The West County"
    PERFORMER "Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones"
    PREGAP 00:00:32
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "02 - Sex In A Pan.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
    TITLE "Sex In A Pan"
    PERFORMER "Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "03 - Nemo's Dream.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
    TITLE "Nemo's Dream"
    PERFORMER "Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "04 - Bonnie & Slyde.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 04 AUDIO
    TITLE "Bonnie & Slyde"
    PERFORMER "Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "05 - Scuttlebutt.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 05 AUDIO
    TITLE "Scuttlebutt"
    PERFORMER "Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "06 - UFO TOFU.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 06 AUDIO
    TITLE "UFO TOFU"
    PERFORMER "Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "07 - Magic Fingers.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 07 AUDIO
    TITLE "Magic Fingers"
    PERFORMER "Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 08 AUDIO
    TITLE "True North"
    PERFORMER "Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones"
    INDEX 00 05:12:67
FILE "08 - True North.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "09 - Life Without Elvis.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 09 AUDIO
    TITLE "Life Without Elvis"
    PERFORMER "Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 10 AUDIO
    TITLE "Saresta"
    PERFORMER "Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones"
    INDEX 00 05:05:72
FILE "10 - Saresta.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "11 - The Yee-haw Factor.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 11 AUDIO
    TITLE "The Yee-haw Factor"
    PERFORMER "Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 12 AUDIO
    TITLE "After The Storm"
    PERFORMER "Bйla Fleck & The Flecktones"
    INDEX 00 06:56:73
FILE "12 - After The Storm.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00