"Smackwater Jack" is one of the most enjoyable of Quincy Jones's many albums, offering a kaleidoscope of styles and moods, and performances by top jazz and session musicians. The Japanese SHM-CD release being discussed here offers clear, full-bodied sound, and the charm of duplicating, as much as possible, the look and feel of the 1971 vinyl LP release, down to the tan A&M label on the CD. The effect of all this evident care is spoiled by the very first track on the disc, which is not the same as that found on the original album release.
It seems that more than one vocal performance was recorded for the title track of the album, and an alternate version is clearly used here. When this album appeared in the Universal Music Originals series a few years back, I gave it high marks. Yes, I noticed the mistake on the very first selection, but everything else sounded right and I was happy to see a U.S. release of one of my favorite albums after decades of waiting. The Originals disc was fairly inexpensive and sounds nearly as good as the SHM-CD, and therein lies the problem. Japanese releases such as the one reviewed here sell from well over thirty dollars to breathtakingly high amounts--as I write this, "Smackwater Jack" is listed at above $200 from some sources. One should be able to expect an expensive premium album release to be without flaws and mistakes, and this one is not.
In summary, if you own the UMG Originals CD of "Smackwater Jack", hold onto it. If you want to hear this album as it was originally released, there are two earlier CDs which were done correctly, both from the 1990s: a Mobile Fidelity disc with fine sound, and a slightly faded-sounding import from Germany, both still available from second-hand dealers. Copies of the vinyl LP are also to be had. Were it not for the prohibitive price of the Universal SHM-CD, creating expectations of an ideal release, I would probably once again overlook the tape archive or mastering error involved here. But since the altered program on this album now seems to be the "official" version, one simply should not pay large sums of money for it.
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