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Claudio Monteverdi – Vespers of 1610 – The Sixteen, Harry Christophers (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:46:02 minutes | 1,76 GB | Genre: Classical, Baroque, Choral
Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | © Coro/The Sixteen Productions Ltd.
Recorded: St Augustine’s Church, Kilburn, London, 31 March – 3 April 2014
Following the success of their Monteverdi Selva morale e spirituale recordings, The Sixteen and Harry Christophers release a work often classed as one of the most significant collections of sacred music ever written: Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. It is a work grand in conception and structure; revolutionary techniques established in his secular music, such as recitar cantando – speak through singing – are brought to the church platform with stunning effect.
Harry writes: ‘Its variety alone makes it unique – thrilling psalm settings with virtuosic writing for both multi-part choir and instrumentalists to exotic and sensual settings of texts from the Song of Songs for solo voices. Every movement is full of luscious harmonies, drama and an evocative musical language which is so beautifully constructed for all concerned.’
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DTS Blu-ray Music Demo Disc 16 2013 1080i Blu-ray AVC DTS-HD MA 5.1
Reference quality 5.1/7.1 Dolby TrueHD Music Demo Disc (compatible with normal Dolby Digital, too)
Great for testing your surround system, with this demo you really see how good your system can be! Even low budget systems sounds good with these tracks!
BDMV and Certificate folders for burning on BD-25,or for playing with for example Arcsoft Total Media Theatre or other BD PC players. VLC Player also plays individual tracks in BDMV/STREAM folder.
Without any copy or regional protection. With Title Menu and Auto-Loop function for In-store demo. Cover and Disc Label for printing included.
Oh, and the video is of course in Full HD 1080 uncompressed quality!
Includes some of the greatest 5.1 sounding live performances and 7.1 video clips:
Сomposer: Reinhold Moritsevich Glière (1875-1956)
Artist: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta
Title: Symphony No. 3 in B Minor, Op. 42, “Il’ya Muromets”
Genre: Classical
Label: © Naxos
Release Date: 2014
Recorded: Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, New York, USA, from 3rd to 5th May, 2013
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Length: 01:11:38
Video: MPEG-2 4742 kbps / 1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9
Audio: Russian DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 96 kHz / 5709 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio: Russian LPCM 2.0 / 96 kHz / 4608 kbps / 24-bit
Size: 8.09 GB
“The Glière Symphony No. 3 has always been a piece that shimmered on my horizon—a cult piece, in a way, renowned as the composer’s towering masterpiece but rarely played in concert. As long as a Mahler symphony and enormous in its instrumental requirements, it was a work that people spoke about reverently but almost never heard live. The recording was an adventure that changed our orchestra, strengthened us, and became an artistic benchmark for our musicians. We revelled in the gorgeous landscape of the Symphony—from mysterious bass murmurings to crushing walls of brass fortissimo to breathtaking impressionistic renderings of forests and birds. We performed and recorded this massive work uncut to preserve Glière’s extraordinary architecture. This work is a cathedral in sound that unfolds in breathtaking swashes of colour, poetry and monumental climaxes.” – JoAnn Falletta (more…)
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Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien
Label: Relativity/88561-8193-1 | Release: 1987 | Genre: Hard-Rock
Mastered By Bernie Grundman
Vinyl | LP Cover (1:1) | FLAC | 24bit/96kHz | 890 MB
Surfing with the Alien belongs to its era like Are You Experienced? belongs to its own — perhaps it doesn’t transcend its time the way the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s 1967 debut does, but Joe Satriani’s 1987 breakthrough can be seen as the gold standard for guitar playing of the mid- to late ’80s, an album that captures everything that was good about the glory days of shred. Certainly, Satriani was unique among his peers in that his playing was so fluid that his technical skills never seemed like showboating — something that was somewhat true of his 1986 debut, Not of This Earth, but on Surfing with the Alien he married this dexterity to a true sense of melodic songcraft, a gift that helped him be that rare thing: a guitar virtuoso who ordinary listeners enjoyed.
Nowhere is this more true than on “Always with Me, Always with You,” a genuine ballad — not beefed up with muscular power chords but rather sighing gently with its melody — but this knack was also evident on the ZZ Top homage “Satch Boogie” and the title track itself, both of which turned into rock radio hits. This melodic facility, plus his fondness for a good old-fashioned three-chord rock, separated Satriani from his shredding peers in 1987, many of whom were quite literally his students. But he was no throwback: he equaled his former students Steve Vai and Kirk Hammett in sweep picking and fretboard acrobatics and he had a sparkling, spacy quality to some of his songs — particularly the closing stretch of the Middle Eastern-flavored “Lords of Karma,” the twinkling “Midnight,” and “Echo” — that was thoroughly modern for 1987. The production of Surfing with the Alien is also thoroughly of its year — stiff drumbeats, sparkling productions — so much so that it can seem a bit like a relic from another era, but it’s fine that it doesn’t transcend its time: it captures the best of its era and is still impressive in that regard.
Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic.com
Title: Vincenzo Bellini – I Capuleti e I Montecchi
Release Date: 2014
Genre: Classical, Opera
Director: Vincent Boussard
Conductor: Riccardo Frizza
Artist: Joyce DiDonato (Romeo), Nicole Cabell (Giulietta), Saimir Pirgu (Tebaldo), Eric Owens (Capellio), Ao Li (Lorenzo), San Francisco Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Production/Label: EuroArts
Duration: 02:15:10
Quality: Blu-ray
Container: BDMV
Video codec: AVC
Audio codec: DTS, PCM
Video: MPEG-4 AV 26500 kbps / 1920*1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: Italian DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 96 kHz / 6763 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 6.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: Italian LPCM 2.0 / 96 kHz / 4608 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles: English, German, French, Italian
Size: 37.76 GB
The tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet inspired some of Shakespeare’s finest verse—and some of Bellini’s most beautiful melodies. “An opera of definite dramatic appeal” (The New York Times) awash in “music of extraordinary grace” (All Music Guide), this bel canto masterpiece features international stars Joyce DiDonato, a singer of “glamour, charisma, intelligence, grace and remarkable talent,” and Nicole Cabell, who “wields her radiant lyric soprano like a silken lasso” (The New York Times). Saimir Pirgu, praised by Opera News as “a tenor to watch,” brings his “honeyed tenor” (The New York Times) to his debut role as Tebaldo. Costumes are by world-renowned fashion designer Christian Lacroix; set designer Vincent Lemaire has created “dramatically powerful visual statements” (Opera Today) for the production; director Vincent Boussard “effectively underscores the claustrophobic, helpless situation of both lovers” (Opera News). Riccardo Frizza, praised by The New Yorker for his “crisp and idiomatic conducting,” leads the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus. (more…)
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Сomposer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), György Kurtág (b.1926)
Artist: Márta and György Kurtág
Film Director: Isabelle Soulard
Title: In memoriam Haydée: Játékok – Games And Transcriptions For Piano Solo And Four Hands
Genre: Classical, Piano
Label: © ECM Records GmbH | ECM New Series 5508 | LGM Télévision
Release Date: 2015
Recorded: September 22, 2012 at Cité de la musique, Paris.
Quality: Blu-ray
Length: 1:22:34
Video: MPEG-4 AVC / 21997 kbps / 1920*1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: German LPCM 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Size: 15.24 GB
Subtitled Játékok – Games and Transcriptions for piano solo and four hands, this is a film, directed by Isabelle Soulard, of a Kurtág concert at Paris’s Cité de la Musique. The duo performances of Márta and György Kurtág are distinguished by tough new music precision, underpinned by a quality of affection (“What playing!” raved the New Yorker of a Játékok concert. “Notes were placed with surgical care; inner voices gleamed in crystalline patterns; elusive emotional states were painted with quick, light strokes.”) Játékok has become a compendium of tiny homages, jewelled miniatures dedicated to composers from Scarlatti to Stravinsky and tributes to colleagues and influences. In this special case the whole programme is dedicated to the memory of the Kurtágs’ good friend, musicologist Haydée Charbagi (1979-2008). Interspersed amongst the Játékok pieces are György Kurtág’s Bach transcriptions. The whole programme closes with a beautiful version of Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit.
Untertitelt Játékok – Games and Transcriptions for piano solo and four hands, zeigt diese DVD/Blu-ray disc einen Film, den die Regisseurin Isabelle Soulard von einem Kurtág-Konzert in der Cité de la Musique in Paris drehte. Die Duo-Auftritte von Márta und György Kurtág zeichnen sich durch straffe Neue-Musik-Präzision aus, die durch aufmerksame Zuwendung grundiert wird („Was für ein Spiel!“ jubelte der ‚New Yorker‘ über ein Játékok-Konzert. „Die Töne wurden mit chirurgischer Sorgfalt gesetzt, innere Stimmen funkelten in kristallinen Mustern, schwer fassbare Seelenzustände wurden mit schnellen, leichten Strichen skizziert“). Játékok ist ein Kompendium kleiner Hommagen, brilliant schillernder Miniaturen, gewidmet Komponisten von Scarlatti bis Stravinsky, und Tribute an Kollegen und Einflüsse geworden. In diesem besonderen Fall ist das gesamte Programm der Erinnerung an einen guten Freund der Kurtágs, der Musikwissenschaftlerin Haydée Charbagi (1979-2008) gewidmet. Zwischen die Játékok-Stücke sind György Kurtágs Bach-Transkriptionen eingestreut. Das Programm endet mit einer herrlichen Fassung von Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit.
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Сomposer: George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Artist: Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood
Title: Handel – Messiah, HWV 56 (Foundling Hospital Version 1754)
Genre: Classical, Oratorio
Label: © Decca Music Group | Editions de L’Oiseau-Lyre
Release Date: 1980/2015
Recording Location: St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, 1979
Remastered by Paschal Byrne at Audio Archiving Company
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Length: 02:15:42
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 1053 kbps / 1080p / 23,976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: English LPCM 2.0 / 96 kHz / 4608 kbps / 24-bit
Audio#2: English Dolby TrueHD 2.0 / 96 kHz / 2535 kbps / 24-bit (AC3 Embedded: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps)
Recordings like Christopher Hogwood’s Messiah are perfect vehicles for the debate of the authentic instrument movement in music. Especially here, since a work as well known to a wide general audience as the Messiah (the recordings of which number in the thousands) will get a number of varied reactions depending upon the performance.
Hogwood, although known to many as a “father” (of sorts) to the authentic movement in music, was actually the keyboardist in Neville Marriner’s Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields before leaving to form his own Academy of Ancient Music. He has done extensive scholarly research into the performance traditions of Baroque music, much of which has permanently altered many long-standing attitudes and traditions in music performance. The question remains, though: does all of this research and application contribute to a finished product that is communicative to an audience?
It seems likely, if based only on the impressive cast. Augmenting the Academy’s forces are tenor Paul Elliott, contralto Carolyn Watkinson, and sopranos Judy Nelson and Emma Kirkby. The Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford, is equally impressive. For this recording, as is indicated in his extensive and thorough liner notes, Hogwood utilizes the 1754 Foundling Hospital version. Although it may be a surprising change for some listeners accustomed to the more “standard” versions, the re-creation of this performance is important in a number of ways, historically and artistically.
But from the opening bars of the overture, the atmosphere feels rushed. Harmonies are not given enough space or time to be heard and to blossom, and the atmosphere feels thin, grainy, cold, and dry. This seems hardly conducive to the rapture, passion, and magnificence depicted in Handel’s score. Everything seems too perfect and too pure, too lifeless and too little energy. An additional annoyance is that the balance of the harpsichord seems far above the orchestra, in some cases (the “Glory of the Lord,” for instance) even covering the singers when they dip into the lower registers.
These complaints are now almost cliché for those who consistently complain of Hogwood’s performance style; for better or worse this recording could serve well as evidence. Looking past these issues, however, one can find a number of beautiful moments throughout. It is precisely due to his approach with this music that Hogwood is able to draw some extraordinary changes of color when and where he wants to. For example, the first bars of “and He Shall Purify” are breathtaking; the organ is significantly exposed here for the first time and finally he releases the music in a way that seems to let it unravel. The vocal solos are good throughout, and Kirkby’s performance is notable for its suppleness and grace.
Keep in mind that this is a re-creative performance, designed to emulate the conditions of the performance at the Foundling Hospital. Unfortunately, in this case it also means that while the sound quality is certainly good, even though the playing and singing are exceptional, the performance itself may not draw you in. Years after its first release, this recording still leaves one cold, and if you desire a warm, emotional, and intimate performance you may do well to look elsewhere. For those who prefer something more austere, though, look no further. –C. Ryan Hill, AllMusic
Justin Kauflin – Dedication (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz | Time – 01:00:44 minutes | 1,24 GB | Genre: Jazz
Official Digital Download – Source: Qobuz | © Qwest Records
Recorded: July 2014 at EastWest Studios, Hollywood, CA
Justin Kauflin is all the rage now. His precocious talent was discovered when he was just 2—yes 2—years old. When he was just 15 he performed with the Jae Sinnett trio and appeared on the Trio’s extraordinary 2010 record, Theatre. But it was a year later that he was propelled into a rarefied realm. Placing 4th in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition he came to the attention of critics and important music aficionados including Clark Terry. The 2013 film Keep On Keeping On is just one of the interesting documentations of the raw talent of Mr. Kauflin. The other, more recent document is the 2014 album Dedication produced by Quincy Jones, another admirer of the pianist. Naturally this would come with the special Q touch. But none of the production values would matter in the least bit if it were not for the exquisite nature of Justin Kauflin’s playing, so wise beyond his years and so wonderfully articulate that it is bordering on genius.
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Jeff Beck – Live In Tokyo (2014)
FLAC(tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 91:57 minutes | 1,93 GB
Blu-Ray Rip | Sourced Track – LPCM 2.0 Stereo | No Art
Jeff Beck is undeniably one of the world s greatest guitar players. Technically brilliant, he is renowned for pushing musical boundaries and has excelled across many different genres from rock and jazz to pop and blues. Live In Tokyo was recorded at the Tokyo Dome City Hall in Japan on April 9th this year. These Japanese dates were the first to feature Jeff Beck s new backing band of Jonathan Joseph (drums), Nicolas Meier (guitars) and Rhonda Smith (bass) and the setlist includes some material from his new, as yet unreleased, studio album. In contrast to Beck s previous visual releases, both filmed in small clubs, Live In Tokyo is filmed in a major concert arena and has a very different, more expansive feel. Jeff Beck is a true guitar legend and this show captures him at his very best. (more…)
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Frank Sinatra with Count Basie & The Orchestra – Sinatra At The Sands (1966/2003)
FLAC 2.0 Stereo (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 76:34 minutes | 2,98 GB
DVD-Audio to Hi-Res FLAC – Source: Reprise Records (2003) | Covers
In many ways, Sinatra at the Sands is the definitive portrait of Frank Sinatra in the ’60s. Recorded in April of 1966, At the Sands is the first commercially released live Frank Sinatra album, recorded at a relaxed Las Vegas club show. For these dates at the Sands, Sinatra worked with Count Basie and his orchestra, which was conducted by Quincy Jones. Like any of his concerts, the material was fairly predictable, with his standard show numbers punctuated by some nice surprises. Throughout the show, Sinatra is in fine voice, turning in a particularly affecting version of “Angel Eyes.” He is also in fine humor, constantly joking with the audience and the band, as well as delivering an entertaining, if rambling, monologue halfway through the album. Some of the humor has dated poorly, appearing insensitive, but that sentiment cannot be applied to the music. Basie and the orchestra are swinging and dynamic, inspiring a textured, dramatic, and thoroughly enjoyable performance from Sinatra. (more…)
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Frank Sinatra – Sinatra At the Sands
Artist: Frank Sinatra | Album: Sinatra At the Sands | Style: Jazz | Year: 2003 | Quality: DVD-Audio (MLP 5.1 96kHz/24Bit, MLP 2.0 192kHz/24Bit, Dolby AC3 5.1, Dolby AC3 2.0) | Bitrate: lossless | Tracks: 22 | Size: ~7.54 Gb | Recovery: 3% | Covers: in archive | Release: Reprise/ Warner / Rhino (8122 73777-9), 2003 | Note: Watermarked
Original Produced by Sonny Burke
Arranged by Quincy Jones
Surround Sound & Stereo Remix Produced, Engineered & Mixed by Elliot Mazer
Digital Editing & Mixing: Diana Haig
Surround Sound & Stereo Mastering: Jen Wyler at Sony Music Studios
Authoring: Craig Anderson, Spencer Chrislu & David Dieckmann
DVD-Audio Produced by Robin Hurley
Tracklist:
————————
01. Come Fly With Me (Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen) (03:45)
02. I’ve Got a Crush on You (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) (02:42)
03. I’ve Got You Under My Skin (Cole Porter) (03:43)
04. The Shadow of Your Smile (Johnny Mandel, Paul Francis Webster) (02:31)
05. Street of Dreams (Victor Young, Samuel Lewis) (02:16)
06. One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) (04:40)
07. Fly Me To The Moon (Bart Howard) (02:50)
08. One o’Clock Jump (Instrumental) (Count Basie) (00:53)
09. The Tea Break (Sinatra Monologue) (11:48)
10. You Make Me Feel So Young (Mack Gordon, Joe Myrow) (03:21)
11. All of Me (Gerald Marks, Seymour Simons) (02:56)
12. The September of My Years (Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen) (02:57)
13. Luck Be a Lady (Frank Loesser) (04:40)
14. Get Me to the Church on Time (Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner) (02:21)
15. It Was a Very Good Year (Ervin Drake) (04:01)
16. Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me (Rube Bloom, Ted Koehler) (03:18)
17. Makin’ Whoopee (Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn) (04:24)
18. Where or When (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) (02:46)
19. Angel Eyes (Earl Brent, Matt Dennis) (03:26)
20. My Kind of Town (Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen) (03:04)
21. A Few Last Words (Sinatra Monologue) (02:30)
22. My Kind of Town (Reprise) (Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen) (01:00) (more…)
The founding of the Berliner Philharmoniker on the first of May in 1882, is annually celebrated with a concert in a European city of cultural significance. For this newly released EUROPAKONZERT Blu-ray Disc all recordings were lovingly restored and converted to High Definition video. This EUROPAKONZERT showcases the virtuosity of violinist Sarah Chang, which wonderfully matches the Berliner Philharmonikers’ brlliant performance of these marvellous works for violin.
Recorded live from the Salone dei Cinquecento, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, 1995.
Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio Overture, Op. 72b
Boris Blacher: Orchestral Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 26
Niccolò Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 6, MS 21: I. Allegro maestoso
Igor Stravinsky: Petrushka
Antonin Dvořák: Slavonic Dance in G minor, Op. 46, No. 8, B. 83
Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 76:11 minutes | 1,66 GB
Blu-Ray Audio Rip | Sourced Track – LPCM 2.0 Stereo | Cover sleeve
It was designed to be a blockbuster and it was. Prior to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John had hits — his second album, Elton John, went Top 10 in the U.S. and U.K., and he had smash singles in “Crocodile Rock” and “Daniel” — but this 1973 album was a statement of purpose spilling over two LPs, which was all the better to showcase every element of John’s spangled personality. Opening with the 11-minute melodramatic exercise “Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding” — as prog as Elton ever got — Goodbye Yellow Brick Road immediately embraces excess but also tunefulness, as John immediately switches over to “Candle in the Wind” and “Bennie & the Jets,” two songs that form the core of his canon and go a long way toward explaining the over-stuffed appeal of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. This was truly the debut of Elton John the entertainer, the pro who knows how to satisfy every segment of his audience, and this eagerness to please means the record is giddy but also overwhelming, a rush of too much muchness. Still, taken a side at a time, or even a song a time, it is a thing of wonder, serving up such perfectly sculpted pop songs as “Grey Seal,” full-bore rockers as “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” and “Your Sister Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock & Roll),” cinematic ballads like “I’ve Seen That Movie Too,” throwbacks to the dusty conceptual sweep of Tumbleweed Connection in the form of “The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909-34),” and preposterous glam novelties, like “Jamaica Jerk-Off.” This touched on everything John did before, and suggested ways he’d move in the near-future, and that sprawl is always messy but usually delightful, a testament to Elton’s ’70s power as a star and a musician. (more…)
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Neil Young – Archives Volume I (1963-1972)
Genre: rock | Year: 2009 | Duration: 8:33:32 | Format: Blu-Ray mux format BD25
Audio Codec: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 – 24 bit 192 kHz | File Format: BDMV / AVCHD | Size: 21.49 GB
This is the first volume of the Neil Young Archives series of box sets, produced by Neil Young himself. This series is the definitive, comprehensive, chronological survey of his entire body of work. Volume I covers the period from his earliest recordings with the Squires in Winnipeg, 1963, through to his classic 1972 album, Harvest and beyond, including studio and live tracks with the legendary Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Neil Young with Crazy Horse. This Blu Ray disc edition contains 10 discs, each in its own custom sleeve. 9 of these discs hold a total of 128 tracks (12 hidden), all presented in ultra high resolution 24-bit/192 Khz stereo PCM state-of-the-art master quality sound, and featuring nearly 60 previously unreleased songs, versions, mixes, or rare tracks. Also found on these 9 multimedia discs are 20 special feature videos, film clips, and film trailers, an additional 55 audio tracks of rare interviews, radio spots, and concert raps, and an array of interactive features, including image galleries of archival photos, press, lyric manuscripts, documents, biographies, tour dates, and complete lyrics, as well as an interactive timeline feature which presents an in-depth overview of Young’s life and career. Each of the 10 Blu Ray discs feature 1920X1080 high definition picture quality. In addition, a Blu Ray disc of Young’s acclaimed first film, ‘Journey Through The Past’, available for the first time since its original theatrical release in 1973, is included, featuring pristine picture transfer, audio presented in both DTS 5.1 surround and stereo 24-bit/96 Khz PCM, plus archival materials. Included in the durable custom display box are a digital download card to access MP3 files of all 128 audio tracks, a lavish 236 page fullcolor hardbound book that features additional archival materials, tapes database, and detailed descriptions of the music and artwork, a foldout Archives poster, a custom keeper for the 10 sleeved discs, and more.
Transfer audio:
FLACs -> foobar2000 + eac3to -> single mono wavs for each album + cue -> DTS-HD Encoder Suite ->
DTS-HD MA (dtshd) -> multiAVCHD + cue -> BDMV (one title for each album)
Titus Groan – Titus Groan
Label: Get Back/Get 564 | Released: 1970/2000 | Genre: Progressive-Rock
Vinyl | LP Cover (1:1) | FLAC | 24bit/96kHz & 16bit/44kHz
Not quite a “masterpiece,” but almost. Titus Groan were an early (they formed sometime in 1969 and released their only album and single in 1970) art rock/ progressive band who sounded uncannilly like a cross between Czar without the mellotron and The Move circa Message From The Country with a bit of Jethro Tull thrown in for good measure. This means high energy melodic songs with lots of guitars. sax, vocal harmonies, and great percussion work/drumming. There’s occaisonal organ and electric piano, but mainly a much earlier guitar battling with flute, sax, and oboe sound. The first song “It Wasn’t For You” is very bluesy and grooves along with a restrained hard edge. The vocal sounds eerily like Ian Anderson and this is true for the lead vocals for the whole album. I have no idea which of the four band members took care of lead voice, but he has a great one and if you love Tull (I do) you’ll love this. The guitar, which is strong and confident, also brings to mind that group, while the bass and percussion have a jazzier approach like Cream or King Crimson. The hard hitting attack balanced with good melodies always reminded me of Czar on this album, and that can only be good. Every song is excellent, and there is no problem with any of the words or music here. The only problem is a “rushed” quality that leaves me salivating for more. It sounds like Titus Groan were a confident band who hurried into a studio and gave it their very best and suceeded in making a fantastic album, why wasn’t there a second one? My favourite tracks here are on Side Two, the dark and ominous turning into light and playful at the end epic “I Can’t Change” and Czar soundalike “Fuschia.” Play the two albums together and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Hey, I prefer Titus Groan to Blodwyn Pig- this is prime period Jethro Tull and NOT the much inferior first album with Mick Abrahams. There’s strong melodies here, and even at their most daringly progressive on “Hall Of Bright Carvings” these guys cook and are impressive singers and musicians. If you like early prog with lots of energy this album will knock you out. I don’t know why Titus G. have always been slammed by critics and dealers, I think this is a great album, in fact I know it is. The single wasn’t too good, though, so skip over that if you get the reissue with the 7 inch tracks. Same scenario as another band wonder who that is… Czar. Surprised? Well I’m not, like I said take out the mellotron and put in saxes and flutes, it’s the same great solid sound.
progarchives.com (more…)
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