Calling Cadence

Publisher: Horch House, HH01.00.203

Playing time: 47 min

Specifications: half track ¼", stereo, Horch House GM 468, CCIR, 510 nWb/m, 38 cm/s

Reel(s):               2 standard metal reels, with stickers

Packaging:         1 deluxe cardboard box

Inserts:                1 insert folder with 2 insert sheets and 7 photo prints

Homepage: https://www.horchhouse.com/

Translation of the German review:

When I saw the photos of the production master tapes sent to Europe from the Horch House label and read the comment: "The burner! 514 nWb/m, modulated with + 3db at 76 cm/s... the tape is boiling... you can't do more. No Dolby etc., pure analog gold", I was of course appropriately excited. It's a completely analog production using a Studer A827 on 2-inch magnetic tape, then mixed with a 1972 API console and recorded to an Ampex ATR 102.

Calling Cadence is a young band from the USA. The first thing I did was watch the videos on the internet. Content-wise, these are focused on naturalness or authenticity of the band. I find this kind of groundedness very up to date. The idea of playing American style crossover songs that work with borrowings from folk, rock, soul, country as well as a touch of funk, jazz and blues is not new, but the setup of this band has special features: There is a female vocalist, two male vocalists and a rich array of instruments.

There are twelve songs on the tape. "Throw My Body" stands out with a rolling sound with pleasantly audible bass. The alternating vocals of Oscar Jesus Buragin and Rae Cole open the approach to this album in a brilliant way. This song introduces the band's musical spectrum and becomes more complex towards the end. "Good Day" has plenty of drive and soul. The vocals are superbly delivered; with an excellent chorus and a snappily played guitar on the right channel. The musical content blends beautifully and carries the listener into the ending with spacey sounds. The singer throws himself into the song "Just The Way It Goes" with a danceable rhythm and celebrates it to the last beat with several short guitar solos. "Burn These Blues" features sensual moments based on a bouncy, earthy sound foundation. Rae Cole enters the tricky melody line very casually with her vocals on "California Bartender" and creates a magical mood with goosebumps factor. The fat, continuous sound doesn't let me go until the last second. "Took A Chance" is another one of those numbers, this time with mixed vocalists and lots of guitars. Representative of all the songs here is the excellently played bass and also the perfectly tuned drum work. The bass players and the drummer are always in the right place, never acting annoying and recorded tip top. The title "Dancin'" is program: snappy and ultimately a song without rough edges, with well-placed brass sections. "King" is an announcement of successful melody and rhythm. The quickly successive verses with the chorus hardly allow any breathing space - and yet this track is also rendered as relaxed as all the others on this album, which continues in the song "This Time". With "I Don't Know Why" the band impressively proves that they can also do ballads. With "Little Angel" the wonderful Rae Coal with her fluidly led vocals appears again, carried by the band with everything there is to offer musically. "Rosie" forms the conclusion of the album. When listening through, a mental cinema with "American moments" sets in, which reminds me of the vastness of the land of the USA and opens imaginary horizons.

It is the gentle pressure with the tough beats in the low frequencies, the energetic stability in the mids, the filigree treble range and the particularly well achieved balance between vocals and instruments that make the sound of this master tape copy extremely stimulating and touching. It has been a long time since I have heard a new production that is consistently conjured into the listening room with such overall flow and presence and energy. Since even the smallest nuances are reproduced by the tape, each track succeeds in providing a varied listening experience. For me, this works best at medium volume, when the sound "kicks" me a bit.

The following inserts are included as high quality prints in the Horch House tape deluxe box:

- 1 x information about the production

- 1 x information about tape handling

- 2 x photo record cover

- 2 x photo with Oscar Jesus Bugarin and Rae Cole

- 2 x lyrics

- 1 x production information with photos

The following formats are planned by Horch House:

- compact cassette in the format we know in Germany

- 8 track cassette, the popular format in the USA in the 1960s and 1970s

- Elcaset, the Japanese cassette format, introduced in 1976

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)