Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Dr Tree - s/t. 1976 New Zealand


Dr Tree's sole album is one of the hottest fusion albums of the 1970s. That's a pretty bold statement given the multitude of albums in the genre, but for those that know the album, it remains true. A 6 piece, with dual percussion, fiery guitar, Fender Rhodes, bass and.... trumpet. This latter element adds a unique dimension. And while you may be thinking this will put it in the Miles Davis camp, that wouldn't be right either. This isn't the heavy deep groove of Miles (which would have been fantastic as well), but more like the high energy of prime Return to Forever with trumpet as one of the lead instruments. Obviously plenty of room is also left for the guitarist to shred and the keyboardist to fly. The two percussionist's keep the tunes hopping throughout. Considered by fusion fans as a must own. Just be sure to get the only legit version as discussed above!

As an aside, you may be asking where the period is on Dr(.)? It doesn't appear anywhere on the album, though I do think it is meant to be short for Doctor - rather than just the Dr letters. (see comments for an explanation).

CD: 2007 EMI

If you're looking to obtain this title, be very careful. Most of the versions that are available here in the US are bootlegs, in one case a pirate attempt was released after this legit version. The CD I own is printed by EMI New Zealand and is pretty much a straight reissue, with unique liner notes about the band. Almost assuredly you will need to import this directly from New Zealand.

2 comments:

  1. I know nothing about NZ fusion, but I think I can shed a little light on the missing dot: Dr (without "."; also Mr) is the standard spelling in the UK and I assume NZ uses this spelling, too. Perhaps the US bootlegs have added the dot? ;-)

    Cheers, Bas

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ha! I'm sure you are most certainly right, Bas. I had no idea about that designtion. Thanks for the clarification!

    ReplyDelete

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