Material

This record was greeted with mixed reviews upon its original release -- especially in contrast to the brilliant Memory Serves, which preceded it -- but it picked up steam with critics later because of its futuristic vision: One Down extended the possibilities for both funk and disco as they met the jazz vanguard tradition. Nona Hendryx from LaBelle is at her very best here, as is Nile Rodgers of Chic, and the wild "Memories," which pits a then unknown Whitney Houston against avant-garde saxophonist Archie Shepp, is nothing short of revelatory. Bill Laswell and Michael Beinhorn had lost Fred Maher by then, but the drummer's chair was filled by numerous hard-hitting guests including Tony Thompson, Yogi Horton, J.T. Lewis, and others -- Maher does appear on one cut, an amazing read of "Bustin' Out" that closes the disc. Other players who made a difference here include Oliver Lake, Fred Frith, Ronnie Drayton, Bernard Fowler, Thi-Linh Le, Daniel Ponce, Nicky Skopelitis, Jean Karakos, and B.J. Nelson, to name a few. Material's One Down sounded dated in 1998 when it was re-released on CD for the first time. In 2006 it sounds like a relic that needs a good dusting off to be realized at all. Celluloid has reissued it in 2006 without the benefit of a remaster, reducing what on LP was a dazzling treatise of in-your-face funky avant-garde disco to a tinny, flat artifact of what once was. This is a compelling if flawed recording, but its shoddy presentation in the 21st century makes this CD almost a throwaway -- seek out the LP instead. The marks are for the music, not this package. Celluloid should be ashamed of themselves. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide