Minnie Riperton - Come To My Garden (1970) [1996, Japan]

Posted By: BlondStyle

Date: Aug. 17, 2018

"Come to My Garden" is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Minnie Riperton which was produced, arranged and orchestrated by Charles Stepney and released in November 1970 under GRT Records. It was re-released in 1974 on the Janus label. The album peaked at #160 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart in 1974. Although commercially unsuccessful, "Come to My Garden" is considered a masterpiece by critics. "Les Fleur" is probably the album's best known song, and "Expecting" remains a favourite among fans. The heavy rock aspect of Riperton's band Rotary Connection is absent here, replaced by lush orchestrations and a jazzy soft-pop feel that complements Riperton's multi-octave voice. The songs, mostly by Stepney and Riperton's husband Richard Rudolph, are mostly minor-key ballads, with alternately sorrowful and poetic lyrics. The singer-songwriter-y results recall early albums by Roberta Flack as well as the contemporary work by Riperton's future employer/mentor Stevie Wonder.

~Wikipedia

Minnie Riperton's solo debut is in many respects her finest hour devoid of the overly syrupy production that hampers her later work, Come to My Garden instead couches her miraculous voice in the elegant arrangements of the great Charles Stepney, striking a perfect balance between romantic melodrama and sensual nuance. Call Stepney's singular approach "chamber soul" the nimble melodies and insistent grooves swell with orchestral flourishes, while the jazz-inspired rhythms (courtesy of Ramsey Lewis' group) at times evoke Van Morrison's masterpiece Astral Weeks. Stepney creates the ideal backdrop for Riperton's soaring vocals, which reveal a subtlety and restraint absent from the glass-shattering bombast of her subsequent performances -- the opening "Les Fleurs" (covered decades later by 4Hero) crystallizes the entire record, embracing both intimacy and majesty to haunting effect.

~Review by Jason Ankeny

Release of this album: 1970, November [LP GRT Records, Cat.# GRT 30001, USA]
Release of this CD: 1996, April, 1 [CD Janus Records/Flavour Of Sound Ltd. (Japan), Cat.# TFCK-87512, UPC: 4988061875125]
℗ 1969 Original Janus Records
℗ 1996 Flavour Of Sound Ltd.
Manufactured by Flavour Of Sound Ltd., Japan

Credits:

Backing Vocals – Elsa Harris, Kitty Hayward, Minnie Riperton
Bass [Uncredited] – Cleveland Eaton
Design Concept – Dick Fowler
Drums [Uncredited] – Maurice White
Engineer – Gary Starr, Stu Black
Guitar [Uncredited] – Phil Upchurch
Liner Notes – Morry Roth
Photography By – Harold Johnson
Piano, Leader – Ramsey Lewis
Producer, Arranged By – Charles Stepney
Recording Supervisor – Dick LaPalm
Vocals – Minnie Riperton

Tracklist:

01. Les Fleur (03:19)
02. Completeness (03:27)
03. Come To My Garden (03:16)
04. Memory Band (04:07)
05. Rainy Day In Centerville (05:21)
06. Close Your Eyes And Remember (03:40)
07. Oh, By The Way (03:03)
08. Expecting (03:55)
09. Only When I'm Dreaming (03:27)
10. Whenever, Wherever (03:32)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008

EAC extraction logfile from 14. November 2009, 8:43

Minnie Riperton / Come to My Garden

Used drive : _NEC DVD+-RW ND-3530A Adapter: 0 ID: 1

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

Read offset correction : 48
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

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:18.42 | 0 | 14891
2 | 3:18.42 | 3:27.03 | 14892 | 30419
3 | 6:45.45 | 3:16.30 | 30420 | 45149
4 | 10:02.00 | 4:06.67 | 45150 | 63666
5 | 14:08.67 | 5:21.25 | 63667 | 87766
6 | 19:30.17 | 3:40.33 | 87767 | 104299
7 | 23:10.50 | 3:03.00 | 104300 | 118024
8 | 26:13.50 | 3:54.45 | 118025 | 135619
9 | 30:08.20 | 3:26.42 | 135620 | 151111
10 | 33:34.62 | 3:31.50 | 151112 | 166986

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\My Music\Minnie Riperton - Come to My Garden.wav

Peak level 99.2 %
Range quality 99.9 %
Copy CRC 0FBBCD7C
Copy OK

No errors occurred

AccurateRip summary

Track 1 not present in database
Track 2 not present in database
Track 3 not present in database
Track 4 not present in database
Track 5 not present in database
Track 6 not present in database
Track 7 not present in database
Track 8 not present in database
Track 9 not present in database
Track 10 not present in database

None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database

End of status report

Dynamic Range Meter log

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Minnie Riperton / Come to My Garden
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR11 -0.07 dB -14.70 dB 3:19 01-Fleur
DR11 -0.07 dB -14.13 dB 3:27 02-Completeness
DR10 -0.07 dB -13.98 dB 3:16 03-Come to My Garden
DR12 -0.07 dB -15.06 dB 4:07 04-Memory Band
DR13 -0.10 dB -16.68 dB 5:21 05-Rainy Day in Centerville
DR11 -1.52 dB -16.33 dB 3:40 06-Close Your Eyes and Remember
DR12 -0.07 dB -14.70 dB 3:03 07-Oh, by the Way
DR11 -2.11 dB -17.17 dB 3:55 08-Expecting
DR12 -1.14 dB -16.12 dB 3:27 09-Only When I'm Dreaming
DR12 -0.07 dB -15.51 dB 3:32 10-Whenever, Wherever
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 10
Official DR value: DR11

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 749 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

Thanks to original releaser

password: BlondStyle

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