First Course

I unwittingly sold my friend's gift LP to me along with all my LP's when I had to downsize. Now I wanted it back, and I was pleased I could get it in CD and Lee Ritenour's First Course is still the best!!! Thank you Amazon Music.

First Course took a little longer than i like but they personalized a hand signed thank you letter. Thought that was great.

excellent

Playing his first studio session for The Mama's & Papa's at the tender age of 15 in 1969 - you could say that Los Angelino LEE RITENOUR can handle the odd lick or two on a guitar. Amazingly - his funky-as-a-gnat's underpants debut album "First Course" has been off the digital circuit for decades. Well luckily for us along comes Beat Goes On of the UK with a fabulous new remaster of this forgotten Crusaders-like Seventies classic to rectify all that. Here are the fatback details...UK released October 2014 "First Course" on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1163 (Barcode 5017261211637) breaks down as follows (41:37 minutes):1. A Little Bit Of This And A Little Bit Of That [6:19 minutes]2. Sweet Syncopation [4:49 minutes]3. Theme From 'Three Days Of The Condor' [4:10 minutes]4. Fatback [4:21 minutes]5. Memories Past [1:54 minutes]6. Caterpillar [4:23 minutes]7. Canticle For The Universe [6:13 minutes]8. Wild Rice [5:35 minutes]9. Ohla Maria (Amparo) [3:51 minutes]Tracks 1 to 9 are his debut LP "First Course" released in early 1976 in the USA on Epic Records PE 33947 (No UK release).The outer card slipcase and the 12-page booklet with excellent CHARLES WARING liner notes give this reissue the usual BGO classy feel - but the big news for fans is a fantastic new remaster by England's ANDREW THOMPSON done at Sound Mastering in London. This album sounds almost audiophile - and it should. Recorded between September and December 1975 in Epic's Sound Labs studios in Hollywood and employing top session players of the time allied with the Production skills of SKIP DRINKWATER - this is a beautifully produced album - slick, expertly played and Steely Dan polished. The instrumentation sound on this is glorious.Excepting "Theme From 'Three Days Of The Condor'" and "Caterpillar" by DAVE GRUSIN and the cover version of Brazil's finest Antonio Jobim's "Ohla Maria (Amparo)" - all the others are Ritenour originals. The players are a who's who of quality - Harvey Mason on Drums, Louis Johnson (of The Brothers Johnson) on Bass, Dave Grusin on Keyboards, Michael Omartion on Clavinet with Tom Scott and Chuck Findley on Horns. You even get the genius Patrice Rushen on "Wild Rice" playing Clavinet and Synthesizer genius Ian Underwood underlying most tracks with Stevie Wonder type funkiness.Epic USA tried to edit the cool and catchy six-minute opener "A Little Bit Of This And A Little Bit of That" onto a three and a half minute 7" single in early 1976 (Epic 8-50250) - but neither it nor the LP bothered the charts. And yet listening back to "First Course" and its effortless cool now - it's hard to understand why the album didn't make bigger waves outside of musician circles who applauded the arrival of a virtuoso guitarist and still only in his mid-twenties. A particular favourite of mine is the slick "Fatback" and the pretty acoustic "Memories Past" that seems over too soon. The slow groove of "Caterpillar" mimics its name and it ends on the lovely Spanish acoustic guitar and mellowness of that Cobim cover - now sounding crystal clear.Genius reissue and well done to BGO for giving it the belated credit its always been due...

Enjoyable and just flat out tasty music and playing. Thanks to BGO for putting together a great package along with excellent sound on all fronts. However, a big shame on you to Sony for not having the taste to put this out themselves. That however is nothing new with the American labels as they basically have no respect for our/their music or musicians. Thank goodness again to BGO and the whole of Japan for releasing our catalog of music in great sound and for whom without my collection of music would not be as great.

Great grooving on this recording, the likes of which you rarely hear these days.Also a nice solo classical guitar tune. Lovely. Killer band, done up old-school in the days of TAPE. These boys could play. I agree with the previous reviewer; LR never approached this kind of snappy-happy-funk again. Something about this record always makes me feel good. Thanks for making this record Lee...years of joy from this one. p.s. It may sound a bit dated now to some ears out there, but this record has Soul. Serve it up!

very few jazz rock guitar album can rank with the majestic beauty of this first album ,,only heart string-earl klugh,,larry coryell-coryell,,inner mounting flame-john mclaughlin sleep walk-larry carlton,,blow by blow-jeff beck.if you have all these albums then you can comfortably watch the passing of time without being out of tune with the realms of modern jazz guitar.all praises to mr.ritenour for giving us a lifetime legacy thru this album.buy this album while it is still available thru amazon.

Very different from Lee's subsequent and later releases, First Course is the definitive '75 time capsule of the finest in west coast funk. Envelope filters, talk boxes, wahs, phasers, echoes, Clavs, Rhodes, Moogs, horns, and more abound - all played skillfully - making this one VERY funky record. I would have preferred another release or two in this style but alas, this vein tapped out quickly. He never again used several of his guitar trick sounds which many others copied. This is a 'go-to' record for mid-'70s, west coast, studio-pro funk.

From one of the pioneers of jazz fusion. Really good musicianship all round.

Ordered, Shipped Arrived Fast!!!! Already love the music!