Crusaders/Tokyo,Japan 1987 & more

This is a compilation of Crusaders’ live performances from the 1980s. Disc 1 is a live performance from the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 12, 1982, recorded with a wonderful soundboard recording that clearly separates the sounds. The highlight of this performance is Jimmy Cliff’s performance of the Stones’ “Satisfaction.” I would like to say that this dark performance is wonderful, but the sound is loose and Jimmy Cliff’s vocals are a bit drunk. However, if you listen to it in the middle of summer, especially in the space of the venerable Montreux Jazz Festival, you must have been moved. In 1982, they released a two-LP live album, “Royal Jam,” but the songs played are the same except for “Street Life.” BB King also guested on that album. It can be said that the Crusaders truly embodied the crossover between jazz and rock at that time. Their style of using vocalists as guests and getting excited together became one of their patterns in the 1980s. They are not such a weak band that they can’t get excited without a guest, but after this in 1983, the key member of funky, Stix Hooper, left the band and the band became more fluid, so I would like you to check out the last cool band ensemble just before that at this live performance. And at the JVC Jazz Festival, this was after Stix Hooper had left, but “The Way It Goes” with Nancy Wilson is a masterpiece. It’s like a live version of the Crusaders’ vocal album. Disc 2 is a stereo soundboard recording of a live performance at NHK Hall in Tokyo on July 17, 1987. Speaking of NHK Hall, it reminds me of the official live album “Live In Japan,” which was in 1981. This was when they came to Japan after Stix Hooper, the key member of funky, left the band and they were only functioning as a unit of Wilton Felder and Joe Sample, which honestly made me think that they had lost power. Three new songs from the new album “The Good And Bad Times” at the time, as well as classics such as “Chain Reaction” were played, and as expected of the Crusaders, it was a performance that never got boring. And above all, the fact that it was a performance in Japan made me feel like there was some kind of miracle there. We Japanese people recommend it, including for its memorial meaning. Disc 1 1.The Hustler 2.(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction 3.Street Life 4.Put It Where You Want It Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, Switzerland July 12, 1982 5.The Way It Goes 6.Chain Reactions JVC Jazz Festival 1986 Disc 1.Mischievous Ways 2.Chain Reaction 3.Blue Ballet 4.Good Times 5.Carmel 6.Burnin’ Up The Carnival 7.Street Life 8.Sometimes You Can Take Or Leave It Live at NHK Hall, Tokyo, Japan July 17, 1987