GZA
LIQUID SWORDS INSTRUMENTALS
PRESSED ON LIMITED EDITION
BLACK AND WHITE VINYL!
There are many reasons why Wu-Tang Clan rapper GZA's second
solo album Liquid Swords is considered one of the greatest
hip-hop records of all time. Critics and historians point to GZA's
raw, and starkly poetic lyrics which featured references to chess,
crime and philosophy, as well as superb guest performances from
his Wu-Tang Clan contemporaries. One can't comment on Liquid
Swords' brilliance however without touching upon the production,
courtesy of Wu-Tang's own mastermind RZA. Behind a hazy and
murky backdrop of rare samples and classic boom-bap beats, RZA
crafted a bleak atmosphere of urban dystopia for GZA's esoteric
rhymes to flourish in,cribbing from a wide panoply of sources
ranging from the dusty soul of The Bar-Kays and Ohio Players, the
nostalgic jazz of Cannonball Adderley and Willie Mitchell, and even
the experimental weirdness of Mothers Of Invention.
In a retrospective 5-star AllMusic.com review of Liquid Swords,
writer Steve Huey said of RZA's production: "The Genius' eerie
calm is a great match for RZA's atmospheric production, which is
tremendously effective in this context; the kung fu dialogue here is
among the creepiest he's put on record, and he experiments quite
a bit with stranger sounds and more layered tracks."
These instrumentals, peppered with frequent interludes of
dialogue from the classic samurai flick Shogun Assassin, became
the core of the GZA's acclaimed sophomore LP. The full Liquid
Swords instrumentals are now available in a white and black vinyl
pressing, a nod to the chessboard art synonymous with the
album's cover art. All tracks have been restored, with re-mastered
audio from the original source tapes. Available on 2-LP, with the
look of a silk-screened jacket we are excited to bring to you these
Liquid Swords Instrumentals.
