Kip Hanrahan ‎- Desire Develops An Edge (1983) [Japan 2007] {SACD ISO + FLAC 24bit/96kHz}

Desire Develops an Edge was originally released as a two-LP set in 1983. It consists primarily of compositions by Hanrahan, who does not play any of the instruments but avails himself of a kaleidoscopic group of studio musicans that includes Americans (Teo Macero, Arto Lindsay, Steve Swallow), Cubans (Puntilla Orlando Rios, Milton Cardona), and Haitians (Elysee Pyronneau, Jean Claude Jean), as well as one very prominent Briton – former Cream singer and bassist Jack Bruce.

As might be expected, there is quite a bit of complex and beautiful music on this album; highlights include the absolutely delightful “What Is This Dance, Anyway?” and “Don’t Complicate the Life.” But there’s also an awful lot of downright tiresome music. The main offenders are an assortment of meandering songs with embarrassing lyrics: For example, the awful “Two (Still in Half-Light)” (which does benefit from the interplay between bassists Jamaladeen Tacuma and Steve Swallow”) and the dumbly vulgar “Her Boyfriend Assesses His Value and Pleads His Case.” On tracks like these, the session players lay down intricate beds of rhythm while Bruce sings no discernible melody whatsoever, thus obscuring the only thing really worth hearing.

Tracklist:
01. Desire Develops an Edge
02. What Is This Dance, Anyway?
03. Two (Still in Half-Light)
04. Early Fall
05. Velasquez
06. (Don’t Complicate) The Life (la Vie)
07. The Edge You Always Loved in Me
08. Sara Wade
09. Far From Freetown
10. All Us Working Class Boys (for Jack Bruce)
11. Child Song
12. Nocturnal Heart (Coracao Noturno) (for John Stubblefield)
13. Meaning a Visa
14. Her Boyfriend Assesses His Value and Pleads His Case
15. Trust Me Yet?
16. Nancy (The Silence Focuses on You…)