Record Reviews

BRIAN AUGER ~ AUGER INCORPORATED SOUL BANK 009 (Barcode: 4062548057089) ~ UK ~ Jazz-Pop Fusion Recorded: 1965 - 2000 Released: 2023 This is a collection album by the great British keyboardist / composer / bandleader Brian AugerFind albums by this artist. The 2CD album presents twenty-five tracks, which span Auger’s entire career and include rarities and previously unreleased material. The tracks are presented in chronological order and include some early Jazz acoustic piano material, The SteampacketFind albums by this artist, The TrinityFind albums by this artist, Oblivion ExpressFind albums by this artist and more recent solo material. I have been a faithful admirer of Auger since the mid-1960s, when I first heard him play live, and my fascination never weakened throughout the years. I closely followed his career and fanatically obtained every recording he took part in, including the reissues of his albums, which periodically appeared on the market since the concept of reissues was born. I have always considered him as one of the most talented and inventive musicians, with a chameleonic ability to sound just right in every musical environment. His Hammond work is absolutely second to none and his revolutionary recordings with Julie Driscoll rank among the best music ever created on this planet. Therefore, the music on these two CDs is absolutely divine and it is a great pleasure to listen to this collection, even if I consider collections as a bad idea in principle. Having said all that, the history of Auger’s material being repeatedly reissued by different labels over time presents a grim picture is mismanagement and market misunderstanding, of which this album is a classic example. I am sure that the true fans would prefer a single CD collection of previously unissued material than a mixture of released (which everybody owns already) and unreleased material. From the production / discographical point of view this collection is a disaster, since there is absolutely no information as to the recording dates and lineups of the individual tracks, no information as to where the previously released tracks originate from, etc. In short this is one gigantic blunder. So, my dear Brian, you should really be more careful before you approve releases like this one, as they damage your reputation rather than pay a tribute you really deserve. Overall, this is a collection full of great music, but suffering from unforgivable production blunders, which don’t hurt the music per se, but seriously question the purpose of it all. Love you anyway ;) and hope for some new music coming our way!

Updated: 10/09/2023Posted: 10/09/2023

CD 2 Remastered Recommend To A Friend