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Yakov Kreizberg, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Amsterdam – Dvorak: Symphony 7 & Zlaty kolovrat (2009)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 65:40 minutes | Digital Booklet | 3,22 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Digital Booklet | 1,25 GB
Features Stereo and Multichannel Surround Sound | Pentatone # PTC 5186 082
Russian-born conductor Yakov Kreizberg and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra Amsterdam continue their successful survey of the late, great symphonies of Antonin Dvorák on the PentaTone label. As with other volumes, this installment includes representatives from Dvorák’s output that seem to be at odds with one another. For starters, we have the magnificent, dramatic Seventh Symphony, written very much in the more conservative, Germanic style. This is followed by one of Dvorák’s symphonic poems – The Golden Spinning Wheel, Op. 109 – which some felt contradicted the traditionalist approach of Brahms in favor of more a “programmatic” approach. In truth, listeners will notice a rather dramatic difference between these two works, but this speaks only of Dvorák’s immense flexibility. In both cases, Kreizberg and orchestra do a masterful job of capturing the unique characteristics of both compositions. The Seventh Symphony is played powerfully and with immense drive without seeming exaggerated. Balance within the orchestra is exceptionally well-controlled, allowing the important inner voices to be heard clearly even during full tutti fortissimos. The Golden Spinning Wheel finds Kreizberg delivering fine attention to detail, bringing forth the subtle nuances of the score that are integral to its relationship to the original folk story. PentaTone’s sound is clear, present, and vigorous; listeners using the multichannel SACD track will be further treated to an all-encompassing sound that puts them in the center of the orchestra.
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Yoshiko Goto – Day Dream (1975) [Japan 2006]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 42:38 minutes | Front/Rear Covers | 1,72 GB
or FLAC (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Front/Rear Covers | 944 MB
When this album was recorded in 1975, Yoshiko Goto had been singing for 20 years. As is always the case, she could have made more money singing pops, but she would rather not sing at all if she was not singing jazz. In this, another memorable vocal album from Three Blind Mice, Goto is paired wih a quartet led by bassist Takashi Mizuhashi, with young pianist Junichiro Ohashi (this was his recording debut) and alto saxophonist Yoshio Otomo providing romantic solos and counterpoints.
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Yoshio Kimura – Umibe No Sketch (1978) [Reissue 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 44:09 minutes | Scans included | 804 MB
or FLAC (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/44,1 kHz | Scans included | 501 MB
New Century Workshop # NCSKA203
The virtuoso Japanese guitarist, Yoshio Kimura has the skilled performance techniques but never show off it on purpose, manifesting the charm of one generation master. The sound of guitar is profound, giving you a sense of dreamlike and wonderful listening feelings, which can be regarded as an example recording for other guitar performances. This album (with Japanese titles, means “Seaside Sketch”) features New Age/Easy Listening instrumental music.
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Yoshio Kimura – Takahara No Sketch (1978) [Reissue 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 43:25 minutes | Scans included | 752 MB
or FLAC (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/44,1 kHz | Scans included | 519 MB
New Century Workshop # NCSKA204
The virtuoso Japanese guitarist, Yoshio Kimura has the skilled performance techniques but never show off it on purpose, manifesting the charm of one generation master. The sound of guitar is profound, giving you a sense of dreamlike and wonderful listening feelings, which can be regarded as an example recording for other guitar performances. This album (with Japanese titles, means “Highland sketch”) features New Age/Easy Listening instrumental music.
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Yoshio Kimura – Romance D’Amour (1978) [Reissue 2016]
Guitarist Yoshio Kimura was the pride of Japanese music circles, for his consummate performance techniques, unique arrangement skill and giving the audiences extraordinary sense of hearing, and known as the Japanese guitar Emperor’s virtuoso. He applied the crafted skills to turn traditional pieces into unique style and exciting songs, created a wonderful guitar world with his hands and wisdom.
Yoshio Kimura liked music when he was a little child, and the beautiful music is his lifetime pursuit. In his early musical career, Kimura just played jazz. Because jazz is full of passion, dynamic and personality; Besides, the unique rhythm of jazz and close to the life improvisation is also popular with people, specially favored by active young people. But this kind of music is over passion and exposed personality, which is not in accord with the features of Japanese contained, introverted temperament. So later Kimura chose to play folk songs which were more suitable for the Japanese national character, and won the whole of Japan, Southeast Asia and even the people of the world’s favorite. Some people says: Kimura’s performances have become a common memory of the times. Yoshio Kimura is an outstanding performance artist, his works not only exist in the twentieth century Asian music, also will be like our country masterpiece “lofty mountains and flowing water”, as works of the European classical music Beethoven, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and other musicians, always exist in the eternal love of thousands of households.
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Yoshio Kimura & Enkakurabu – Showa No Meikyoku Collection, Vol. 2 (2017)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 44:03 minutes | Scans included | 725 MB
or FLAC (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/44,1 kHz | Scans included | 524 MB
New Century Workshop # NCCRYK 20818
Released 20 years after death of the virtuoso Japanese guitarist, Yoshio Kimura, “Yoshio Kimura’s Guitar Enka: Showa No Meikyoku masterpiece collection”, is a collection of familiar tunes performed by Yoshio Kinuma and Enka Club. This is the second volume of double set.
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Yoshio Kimura & Enkakurabu – Showa No Meikyoku Collection, Vol. 1 (2017)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 42:14 minutes | Scans included | 701 MB
or FLAC (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/44,1 kHz | Scans included | 509 MB
New Century Workshop # NCCRYK 20817
Released 20 years after death of the virtuoso Japanese guitarist, Yoshio Kimura, “Yoshio Kimura’s Guitar Enka: Showa No Meikyoku masterpiece collection”, is a collection of familiar tunes performed by Yoshio Kinuma and Enka Club. This is the first volume of double set.
没後20年を迎えるギターの名手・木村好夫の名演で聴く、懐かしの昭和演歌のヒット曲集。思わず口ずさんでしまうお馴染みの名曲ばかりを収録。 (C)RS
Read moreYoshio Kimura – A Time For Us: Movie Themes (1978) [Reissue 2017] SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC
Yoshio Kimura – A Time For Us: Movie Themes (1978) [Reissue 2017]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 52:20 minutes | 817 MB
DSD64 Stereo (tracks.dsf) 1 bit/2.8224 MHz | Front/Rear (small) | 1,29 GB
FLAC Stereo (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Front/Rear (small) covers | 1,13 GB
New Century Workshop # NCASYK16002
The virtuoso Japanese guitarist, Yoshio Kimura has the skilled performance techniques but never show off it on purpose, manifesting the charm of one generation master. The sound of guitar is profound, giving you a sense of dreamlike and wonderful listening feelings, which can be regarded as an example recording for other guitar performances. As title says, this album features the music from the movies performed in an juicy instrumental arrangements.
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Yes – High Vibration: SACD Box (2013) [Japanese 16 Discs Box Set]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 716:14 mins | Scans included | 29,7 GB
or FLAC 2.0 (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 15,9 GB
High Vibration is a limited edition 16 SACD box set, featuring the 13 albums released by English prog rock supergroup Yes, between 1968 and 1987, including live album “Yessongs”. A unique 12-track bonus SACD features rare selections such “Owner of a Lonely Heart (Move Yourself Mix)” from 1991 and 1972′s “Total Mass Retain (Single version)” is also included. Everything has been newly remastered in Japan by Isao Kikuchi, and comes with a 200-page book (mostly on japanese language). Albums includes: “Yes (1969)”, “Time and a Word (1970)”, “The Yes Album (1971)”, “Fragile (1971)”, “Close to the Edge (1972)”, “Yessongs (1973)”, “Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973)”, “Relayer (1974)”, “Going for the One (1977)”, “Tormato (1978)”, “Drama (1980)”, “90125 (1983)”, and “Big Generator (1987)”.
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Yes – Going For The One (1977) [Audio Fidelity ‘2013]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 38:48 minutes | 1,55 GB
or FLAC 2.0 (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | 724 MB
Audio Fidelity SACD #AFZ-157 | Mastered for this SACD by Steve Hoffman
Going for the One is perhaps the most overlooked item in the Yes catalog. It marked Rick Wakeman’s return to the band after a three-year absence, and also a return to shorter song forms after the experimentalism of Close to the Edge, Tales from Topographic Oceans, and Relayer. In many ways, this disc could be seen as the follow-up to Fragile. Its five tracks still retain mystical, abstract lyrical images, and the music is grand and melodic, the vocal harmonies perfectly balanced by the stinging guitar work of Steve Howe, Wakeman’s keyboards, and the solid rhythms of Alan White and Chris Squire. The title track features Howe on steel guitar (he’s the only prog rocker who bothers with the instrument). “Turn of the Century” and the album’s single, “Wonderous Stories,” are lovely ballads the way only Yes can do them. “Parallels” is the album’s big, pompous song, so well done that in later years the band opened concerts with it. Wakeman’s stately church organ, recorded at St. Martin’s Church, Vevey, Switzerland, sets the tone for this “Roundabout”-ish track. The concluding “Awaken” is the album’s nod to the extended suite. Again, the lyrics are spacy in the extreme, but Jon Anderson and Squire are dead-on vocally, and the addition of Anderson’s harp and White’s tuned percussion round out this evocative track.
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Yes – Fragile (1972) [Japanese SACD 2011]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 51:57 minutes | Scans included | 3,64 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,23 GB
Features Stereo and Multichannel Surround Sound | Warner Music Japan # WPCR-14167
Fragile was Yes’ breakthrough album, propelling them in a matter of weeks from a cult act to an international phenomenon; not coincidentally, it also marked the point where all of the elements of the music (and more) that would define their success for more than a decade fell into place fully formed. The science-fiction and fantasy elements that had driven the more successful songs on their preceding record, The Yes Album, were pushed much harder here, and not just in the music but in the packaging of the album:the Roger Dean-designed cover was itself a fascinating creation that seemed to relate to the music and drew the purchaser’s attention in a manner that few records since the heyday of the psychedelic era could match. Having thrown original keyboard player Tony Kaye overboard early in the sessions – principally over his refusal to accept the need for the Moog synthesizer in lieu of his preferred Hammond organ – the band welcomed Rick Wakeman into its ranks. His use of the Moog, among other instruments, coupled with an overall bolder and more aggressive style of playing, opened the way for a harder, hotter sound by the group as a whole; bassist Chris Squire sounds like he’s got his amp turned up to “12,” and Steve Howe’s electric guitars are not far behind, although the group also displayed subtlety where it was needed. The opening minute of “Roundabout,” the album opener – and the basis for the edited single that would reach number 13 on the Billboard charts and get the group onto AM radio in a way that most other prog rock outfits could only look upon with envy – was dominated by Howe’s acoustic guitar and Bill Bruford‘s drums, and only in the middle section did the band show some of what they could do with serious amperage. Elsewhere on the record, as on “South Side of the Sky,” they would sound as though they were ready to leave the ground (and the planet), between the volume and intensity of their playing. “Long Distance Runaround,” which also served as the B-side of the single, was probably the most accessible track here apart from “Roundabout,” but they were both ambitious enough to carry most listeners on to the heavier sides at the core of this long player. The solo tracks by the members were actually a necessity: they needed to get Fragile out in a hurry to cover the cost of the keyboards that Wakeman had added to the group’s sonic arsenal. But they ended up being more than filler. Each member, in effect, took a “bow” in mostly fairly serious settings, and Squire’s “The Fish” and Howe’s “Mood For a Day” pointed directly to future, more substantial projects as well as taking on a life of their own on-stage. If not exactly their peak, Fragile was as perfect a record as the group would ever make, and just as flawless in its timing as its content.
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Yes – Close To The Edge (1972) [Audio Fidelity SACD 2012]
PS3 SACD to ISO | DSD 1bit-2822,4kHz 2.0 | 2.12GB
24bit-88.2kHz FLAC-CUE 2CH only | DR11 (6.0dB Gain) | 765MB
Genre: Rock | Label: AudioFidelity | Catalog Number: AFZ 147
Mastered by Steve Hoffman at Stephen Marsh Studio
…Close to the Edge is pure progressive rock – thoughtful and intelligent compositions executed by the classic lineup of Chris Squire (bass, vocals); Rick Wakeman (mellotron, moog, Hammond organ, piano); Steve Howe (electric, acoustic guitars); Bill Bruford (drums and percussion); and Jon Anderson (vocals). All of the musicians in Yes are true virtuosos. The individual and group ensemble work on Close to the Edge is breathtakingly complex and the arrangements are incredible, everything flows flawlessly from one piece to the next.
There’s a spiritual influence introduced by Jon Anderson, in the music and lyrics of all three tracks on Close to the Edge. Renewal and repetition are other main themes. The album works incredibly well as a complete work that fuses music, lyrics and Roger Dean’s album cover art together in one seamless totality.
“Ranked No. 67 on the list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time.”
Guitar World
Zubin Mehta, Los Angeles Philharmonic – Holst: The Planets, John Williams: Star Wars Suite (1971/1978)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 79:47 minutes | Scans included | 3,24 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,38 GB
Uses 2012 DSD master based on the Decca’s original analog tape
Genre: Classical
Written by Gustav Holst over a three-year period in 1914, The Planets is a true masterpiece of classical music and features seven movements based on the planets in our own solar system excluding Pluto and the Earth itself. This world renowned piece, that has always overshadowed Holst’s other famous works of music, is conducted by Zubin Mehta and performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
Also, the disc includes Star Wars suite wriiten by John Williams.
Zebrahead – Playmate Of The Year (2000)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 50:01 minutes | Scans included | 2,02 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,01 GB
Genre: Punk
Having failed to score commercially with their debut album Waste of Mind, Zebrahead returns two years later with more of the same, which is to say fast-paced hard rock on which Justin Mauriello’s male adolescent musings are augmented by Ali Tabatabaee’s aggressive raps. At their best, on the title song (sort of a musical version of a Farrelly Brothers movie in under three minutes), the group approaches the sound of Cheap Trick, with their shimmering guitar lines, furious rhythm playing, and Mauriello’s self-deprecating, humorous lyrics. A few other songs, notably “The Hell That Is My Life” and “Wasted,” are almost as effective, but much of Zebrahead’s music is too busy for its own good, and when they attempt social commentary on “What’s Goin’ On?” (where have we seen that title before?) the results are embarrassing, while as a change of pace like “Livin’ Libido Loco” is more reminiscent of Barry Manilow than Ricky Martin. The hidden track at the end of the album is a prank call made by Mauriello to Sony Music in which he impersonates his mother and demands to know when he is going to start seeing some money from his record contract. It may indicate the band will pack it in unless Playmate of the Year breaks through, but even with a tie-in to Playboy magazine that still seems like a long shot.
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Zoot Sims – Zoot Sims and The Gershwin Brothers (1975) [Reissue 2003]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 49:42 minutes | Scans included | 2,02 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,01 GB
Along with his album with Count Basie (Basie and Zoot) during the same period, this is one of Sims’ most exciting recordings of his career. Greatly assisted by pianist Oscar Peterson, guitarist Joe Pass, bassist George Mraz, and drummer Grady Tate, he explores ten songs written by George and Ira Gershwin. Somehow the magic was definitely present and, whether it be stomps such as “The Man I Love,” “Lady Be Good,” and “I Got Rhythm” or warm ballads (including “I’ve Got a Crush on You” and “Embraceable You”), Zoot Sims is heard at the peak of his powers. A true gem.
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