Marty Bracey
Mystic Heart
Agharta (Japan) 1980
C25A0097 (LP) w/insert.
sleeve : VG+(SRW, SOC, TEOC, some wear on edge and corner)
media : EX-/EX-(some light noise. side A has three hairlines that does not affect to sounds)
Released in 1980, this is the only album by Marty Bracey, the drummer born in Cleveland, Ohio, who became active as a session musician in the Japanese music scene from the 1970s onward and played on numerous recordings including Izumi Kobayashi’s Sea Flight and Junko Ohashi’s Full House. Co-produced with Yasuaki Shimizu, who also contributes compositions and arrangements, the album features both Bracey and Shimizu alongside members of Mariah such as Morio Watanabe on bass and Takayuki Hijikata on guitar. Much of the album centers on technical fusion colored by Shimizu’s sensibility of the period, but the major standout is the title track B4, placed at the very end of the album. Built around Bracey’s aggressive drum solo with voice layered on top, it is an astonishingly groovy track worth hearing for this piece alone. B3, a jazz-funk number driven by a funky rhythm section and highlighted by Shimizu’s saxophone, is also highly recommended.
B3: Our Love is Getting Better
B4: Mystic Heart