"First Course" by LEE RITENOUR – March 1976 US Debut Album on Epic Records featuring Harvey Mason on Drums, Louis Johnson (of The Brothers Johnson) on Bass, Dave Grusin. Patrice Rushen, Michael Omartian and Ian Underwood on Keyboards with Tom Scott and Chuck Findley on Horns (October 2014 UK Beat Goes On Records (BGO) CD Reissue and Remaster – Andrew Thompson Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…Sweet Syncopation…"

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" by LEE RITENOUR on Beat Goes On BGOCD 1163 (Barcode 5017261211637) is a straightforward CD Remaster of his 1976 Nine-Track Debut Album on Epic Records and breaks down as follows (41:37 minutes):

1. A Little Bit Of This And A Little Bit Of That [6:19 minutes] – Side 1
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] – Side 2
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 March 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 whizz-kid 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 that applauded the arrival of a virtuoso guitarist and still only in his mid-twenties. A particular favourite of mine is the slick and gritty "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 (once again) to England's BGO (Beat Goes on Records) for giving "First Course the belated credit this album was always due...