SIDified versions of the songs from the Manhattan Transfer’s 1983 album Bodies and Souls. Clicking on any song title will open an mp3 player for that song.
1. Spice of Life – Unfinished
2. This Independence
3. Mystery
4. American Pop – Unfinished
5. Soldier of Fortune – Unfinsihed
6. Code of Ethics – Unfinsihed
7. Malaise en Malaisie
8. Down South Camp Meetin’
9. Why Not! (Manhattan Carnival)
10. Goodbye Love
11. The Night that Monk Returned to Heaven – Not included
Trying to translate a band that makes it’s name on four-part jazz inspired harmonies if quite difficult when you only have three monophonic voices to work with. I think that is why I decided to tackle this album. I believe that the inherent character of the SID chip is what allows these songs to work as well as they do. It’s almost as if the SID chip knows the missing notes of a chord and uses it minor instability to fill the chord out.
These songs were worked on between 1989 and 1992. The high point of this set of SID covers would be Mystery which I feel really conveys the sultry quality of Janis Seigel’s voice. Mystery also contains one of my few forays into the noise waveform of the SID chip.
The songs listed as unfinished are just that, unfinished. Before abandoning the Commodore 64 for the new and exciting world of MODtrackers on early PCs, I had intended on finishing all of these songs. I’ve included the unfinished pieces because I felt that all contained some interesting SID bits here and there. Monk never made it past the early beginnings of transcription, and frankly may not have ever been finished due to the intricate nature of the harmonies and chord progressions.
Cheers!
If you like what you’ve heard here, I highly recommend you pick up the original Bodies and Soul from Amazon. This is a truly beautiful album of jazz infused R&B from one of the greatest vocal quartets of the past three decades.
View from My Eyes
