It wouldn't be a surprise to find the glorious retro-soul CD Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite a fixture in Chris Standring's disc changer.
Velvet, the guitarist's first solo effort after the blazing funk effort by Solar System (led by Standring and this album's keyboardist/producer Rodney Lee), is full of glittery synth-created Hammond B-3 and Fender Rhodes flavors, hypnotic synth washes and gentle shuffling grooves, punchy wah-wah harmonies and dreamy, otherworldly effects.
If Maxwell could improvise like George Benson, this is what the hybrid might be.
Standring waits till the tenth track, "Victoria Road," before giving us a truly infectious electric guitar melody that stands apart from its rhythmic base and doesn't seep into the next song.
But the disc seems more about Standring's Benson-like precision and technique, and brilliant vibe-intensive production than just tunes.
On standout tracks like "Silhouette" and the sax accented "Sneaky," Standring and Lee effortlessly swirl the electric guitar melody with subtle acoustic harmonies, effective wah-wah kicks and some Crusaders flavored key improvisations.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SilhouetteRodney Lee, Chris Standring | Chris Standring | Play | 04:34 | 10 MB | 28 MB |
| 2 | SneakyRodney Lee, Chris Standring | Chris Standring | Play | 04:34 | 10 MB | 26 MB |
| 3 | West Coast ChangesRodney Lee | Chris Standring | Play | 04:32 | 10 MB | 24 MB |
| 4 | VelvetDino Soldo, Chris Standring | Chris Standring | Play | 05:44 | 13 MB | 37 MB |
| 5 | StevenChris Standring | Chris Standring | Play | 04:38 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 6 | ShakeRick Braun, Chris Standring | Chris Standring | Play | 04:26 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 7 | SolitaireChris Standring | Chris Standring | Play | 04:53 | 11 MB | 27 MB |
| 8 | 'Nuff SaidRodney Lee, Chris Standring | Chris Standring | Play | 05:31 | 12 MB | 34 MB |
| 9 | Victoria RoadChris Standring | Chris Standring | Play | 04:47 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 10 | Coll Shades | Chris Standring | Play | 04:38 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 11 | The Beautiful Woman of Scant Virture | Chris Standring | Play | 06:42 | 15 MB | 39 MB |
| 55 mins | 126 MB | |||||
| 55 mins | 332 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | André Berry | Bass |
| 2 | Rick Braun | Composer, Engineer, Flugelhorn, Guest Artist, Producer, Writer |
| 3 | Dave Karasony | Drums |
| 4 | Rodney Lee | Composer, Engineer, Keyboards, Producer, Programming |
| 5 | Dino Soldo | Composer, Engineer, Flute, Harmonica, Keyboards, Producer, Programming, Sax (Tenor) |
| 6 | Joel Soyffer | Mixing |
| 7 | Chris Standring | Composer, Guitar, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals |
| 8 | Kirk Whalum | Guest Artist, Sax (Tenor) |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |