Al Kooper - Act Like Nothing's Wrong (1976) Remastered Reissue 2008

Kooper's seventh solo album (I Stand Alone, You Never Know Who Your Friends Are, Easy Does It, New York City, A Possible Projection of the Future, Naked Songs …not including duet, live albums, or albums as part of a group) continues his characteristic exquisite sound. The cover has his head on "her" body on the front, her head on his body on the back (remember to Act Like Nothing's Wrong) in the same vein as the cover of BS&T's Child is Father to the Man. The songs are often accompanied by little sound-bytes to keep the listening experience personable and enjoyable. This last aspect may be what seemingly prohibited radio stations from giving Kooper airplay. How does a disk-jockey play a track from an album, ending it before the sound-byte. or before the track blends into the next track?

1. The first track, Is We on the Downbeat? is one such sound-byte. It is a bit of chatter that helps make you feel like you are in the studio while the album is being recorded.
2. This Diamond Ring is Kooper's cover of a song that he co-wrote, that was ultimately thrust into the Top 10 by Gary Lewis and the Playboys in the sixties. Kooper never liked their cover of the song, so after over a decade, Kooper finally shows us how he wanted it done! Kooper plays clavinet, guitar and all keyboards on this track.
3. She Don't Ever Lose Her Groove is a wonderful soul/funk song that starts with a momentary sound-byte, presumably the engineer saying "Play that som-bitch" followed by a momentary chuckle by Kooper. The song also showcases some slide guitar work by Kooper, along with the piano. Note: He was originally a guitarist before he "accidentally" was thrust into famed-obscurity as the Hammond B3 organ player on Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone".
4. I Forgot to Be Your Lover is a ballad that shows another side of Kooper's guitar work, again with Kooper on piano.
5. Missing You includes Kooper doing some very enjoyable work on twin pianos, clavinet and synthesizer.
6. Out of Left Field has Kooper on acoustic guitar, piano, organ, mellotron, and synthesizer.
7. (Please Not) One More Time starts with the studio count-off. Kooper plays piano and clavinet, along with Leslie vocals. The credits include Nomis Nhoj on Noissucrep (John Simon on percussion - backwards). It also ends with a short studio sound-byte.
8. In My Own Sweet Way begins with a studio voice-over "funny intro with a balloon nose". Kooper plays acoustic guitar, piano, electric rhythm guitar, and synthesizer. It also features some fine slide guitar work by Steve Gibson.
9. Turn My Head Toward Home has Kooper on electric piano, electric guitar and sitar.
10. A Visit to the Rainbow Bar and Grill is a short sound collage akin to restaurant chatter with an amusing voice-over, as though the restaurant has a maitre d' who has difficulty maintaining his composure.
11. Hollywood Vampire is the biggest production number on the album. Kooper plays piano, pipe organ, orchestral bells, electric guitars (including solos), and synthesizers. The track also includes Joe Walsh on slide guitar.

Review by A. Peters, Amazon.com

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 6. June 2016, 1:41

Al Kooper / Act Like Nothing's Wrong

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GH24NS90 Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\FLAC\metaflac.exe
Additional command line options : -8


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 0:36.26 | 0 | 2725
2 | 0:36.26 | 4:13.24 | 2726 | 21724
3 | 4:49.50 | 3:47.55 | 21725 | 38804
4 | 8:37.30 | 2:58.62 | 38805 | 52216
5 | 11:36.17 | 3:38.42 | 52217 | 68608
6 | 15:14.59 | 5:11.05 | 68609 | 91938
7 | 20:25.64 | 3:33.59 | 91939 | 107972
8 | 23:59.48 | 2:42.24 | 107973 | 120146
9 | 26:41.72 | 4:35.68 | 120147 | 140839
10 | 31:17.65 | 0:40.65 | 140840 | 143904
11 | 31:58.55 | 6:49.36 | 143905 | 174615


Track 1

Filename C:\Exact Audio Copy\Al Kooper\Act Like Nothing's Wrong\01. Is We on the Downbeat.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 15.3 %
Extraction speed 0.5 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 47CC2B63
Copy CRC 47CC2B63
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [6A85399A] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 2

Filename C:\Exact Audio Copy\Al Kooper\Act Like Nothing's Wrong\02. This Diamond Ring.wav

Peak level 94.4 %
Extraction speed 0.9 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC C1BBE3CB
Copy CRC C1BBE3CB
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [A9C57188] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 3

Filename C:\Exact Audio Copy\Al Kooper\Act Like Nothing's Wrong\03. She Didn't Ever Lose Her Groove.wav

Peak level 95.8 %
Extraction speed 1.0 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC AB3E9507
Copy CRC AB3E9507
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [BF33EF63] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 4

Filename C:\Exact Audio Copy\Al Kooper\Act Like Nothing's Wrong\04. I Forgot To Be Your Lover.wav

Peak level 93.8 %
Extraction speed 1.2 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 475F5369
Copy CRC 475F5369
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [6C032F8A] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 5

Filename C:\Exact Audio Copy\Al Kooper\Act Like Nothing's Wrong\05. Missing You.wav

Peak level 92.8 %
Extraction speed 1.3 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C10EA0CD
Copy CRC C10EA0CD
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [D08C466F] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 6

Filename C:\Exact Audio Copy\Al Kooper\Act Like Nothing's Wrong\06. Out Of Left Field.wav

Peak level 91.9 %
Extraction speed 1.3 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC A110A983
Copy CRC A110A983
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [DF453097] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 7

Filename C:\Exact Audio Copy\Al Kooper\Act Like Nothing's Wrong\07. (Please Not) One More Time.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:01.73

Peak level 97.7 %
Extraction speed 1.3 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 906EE287
Copy CRC 906EE287
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [3799645D] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 8

Filename C:\Exact Audio Copy\Al Kooper\Act Like Nothing's Wrong\08. In My Own Sweet Way.wav

Peak level 97.8 %
Extraction speed 1.2 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC EAB4D8C0
Copy CRC EAB4D8C0
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [C7A6748E] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 9

Filename C:\Exact Audio Copy\Al Kooper\Act Like Nothing's Wrong\09. Turn My Head Towards Home.wav

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 1.5 X
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 7BBD161A
Copy CRC 7BBD161A
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [C75E9578] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 10

Filename C:\Exact Audio Copy\Al Kooper\Act Like Nothing's Wrong\10. A Visit To The Rainbow Bar And Grill.wav

Peak level 72.4 %
Extraction speed 1.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 9A0B1D58
Copy CRC 9A0B1D58
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [712D8D7C] (AR v2)
Copy OK

Track 11

Filename C:\Exact Audio Copy\Al Kooper\Act Like Nothing's Wrong\11. Hollywood Vampire.wav

Peak level 91.8 %
Extraction speed 1.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 45C0A7A2
Copy CRC 45C0A7A2
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [854A333F] (AR v2)
Copy OK


All tracks accurately ripped

No errors occurred

End of status report

==== Log checksum F0F8C99CC592BEC60E74A2E6ABB7141BAD3B3E646373C3068EC3E56FFE4439FE ====

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-06-24 19:30:30

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Al Kooper / Act Like Nothing's Wrong
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR16 -16.29 dB -44.06 dB 0:36 01-Is We on the Downbeat
DR11 -0.50 dB -14.16 dB 4:13 02-This Diamond Ring
DR10 -0.36 dB -13.98 dB 3:48 03-She Didn't Ever Lose Her Groove
DR11 -0.55 dB -15.16 dB 2:59 04-I Forgot To Be Your Lover
DR11 -0.65 dB -13.90 dB 3:39 05-Missing You
DR12 -0.73 dB -15.36 dB 5:11 06-Out Of Left Field
DR10 -0.20 dB -11.76 dB 3:34 07-(Please Not) One More Time
DR10 -0.19 dB -13.05 dB 2:42 08-In My Own Sweet Way
DR10 0.00 dB -12.80 dB 4:36 09-Turn My Head Towards Home
DR13 -2.80 dB -21.64 dB 0:41 10-A Visit To The Rainbow Bar And Grill
DR11 -0.74 dB -13.85 dB 6:49 11-Hollywood Vampire
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 11
Official DR value: DR11

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 859 kbps
Codec: FLAC
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