The Beautiful Game (album)

Infobox Album | Name = The Beautiful Game
Type = Album
Artist = Acoustic Alchemy


Released = 2000
Recorded = 2000 at:
Coast Recorders, San Francisco, U.S.
Tiny Telephone, San Francisco, U.S.
Higher Ground Studios, London, UK
Hansa Haus Studios, Bonn, Germany

Genre = Smooth Jazz
Length = 62:48
Label = Higher Octave Music
48946
Producer = Richard Bull
Greg Carmichael
Miles Gilderdale
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:bceq97iakrdt link]

Last album = 10th
"Positive Thinking..."
(1998)
This album = 11th
"The Beautiful Game"
(2000)
Next album = 12th
"AArt"
(2001) |

"The Beautiful Game" was the tenth full-length album by Acoustic Alchemy, and marked a turning point in the career of guitarist Greg Carmichael.

This album was the first without founding member Nick Webb, who had died two years previous to pancreatic cancer; duties on steel string guitar were now filled by understudy Miles Gilderdale, who remains in the post to this day.

The album came as a stark change to fans of the group. Glossy production and radically different songwriting brought about a new 21st century sound, completely adverse to the style built up over a decade and a half up until this point.

Experimentation was certainly a prominent factor in "The Beautiful Game". Tracks like "The Last Flamenco" brought drum and bass style synthesised loops, whilst "Kidstuff" employed a repeated sample of a baby giggling.

One of the band's longer efforts, the album lasts over an hour including two bonus tracks, featuring Greg Carmichael and John Parsons re-recording two of the tracks with a country and western style backing.

Track listing