"UFO consists of Tokyo' DJs Tadashi Yabe and Toshio Matsuura and Raphael Sebbag from France. They started off in 1990 and by now they are in the top being one of the most desired export articles of Japan. They are mixing together jazz, hip-hop and acid jazz; the outcome is something like you've never heard before. Or actually they are mixing together different subcultures of jazz - especially those of France and Japan (listen to the vocals). Their sound is raw and real enough to believe it, even a little bit too real sometimes, but that's not a problem, is it? Listening to their album with closed eyes will take you off to a smokey little dim bar at the end of the street in the cellar. This is the place where all the folks know each-other and a band plays to you from a tiny stage in one corner. You don't go there to dance or drink; you go there to enjoy yourself and the pleasant company of people who know something about this kinda music."
The first entry in a stellar jazz manifest...
Daly Mavorneen | Los Angeles, CA | 02/23/2004
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Gotta give it 3, cause they got room to grow here (and they did; their third disc, "3rd Perspective" is their all-time best). Having said that, they are no slouches in this traditional-jazz with a twist disc!"The Sixth Sense" is alive with fluttering sensuality; it's the best song to slowly wake up to since it's a paeon to the "funshine of morning...radio rumbles on the roof, a cat yawn...dawn pushes on to the back of another day." UFO have always been distinguished by their stirring lyrics, whether wacky or poetically contemplative, and "The Sixth Sense" is the first UFO offering to feature R. Gallagher, who will later pen the masterpiece "Friends (We'll Be) on "3rd Perspective."The next best cut is "Be Here Now," combining wah-wah old-time stripper music, with drowsy rap vocals. Kinda reminds me of Lee Morgan on a bender! And "On Est Ensembel Sans Se Parler - L.O.V.E." spins a GROOVY melody with funkified french-speak! I put this on repeat and head-bop all day long!UFO are in a pantheon of culture vultures like Transglobal Underground, Asian Dub Foundation and, yes, even the later recordings of Swing Out Sister ("Filth and Dreams" and "The Living Return"), who mix Eastern, Latin, and African styles, spoken-word performance pieces, rap, electronica, ancient instruments, ambient sounds and samples wtih traditional western music to create hypnotic hybrids. And all these bands stress ultra-positive messages of co-existence, political freedom and sacrificial love.You are in the pastiche parlour of the United Future Organization, where all sounds and cultures meet to create a new aural & moral life, baby!"
A must buy
Daly Mavorneen | 09/21/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)
"this cd is so melodic and flowy that when the bass spills from track six its like a caress from a beautiful woman, and produces the same chill. This album was my intro to acid jazz and remains one of my most favorite albums."
Excelent
Daly Mavorneen | 08/29/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"From Galliano's "Sixth Sense", through a great rendition of Sergio Mendes' "Upa Neguinho" and Jack Kerouac's ramblings and mumblings in "Poetry and all that Jazz" to the great vibes and brassy beats of "Off Road" this album glitters with good music and very very tasty jazz grooves."
A great album, even 5 years later!
Daly Mavorneen | 11/15/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The title says it all. The best track is 'Upa'. Please note from the previous reviewer: Mendez didn't originally do Upa. It was Edu Lobo. Thank You!"