![Nektar - Remember The Future (Deluxe Edition) (1973/2023) [High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-Ray Disc]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2024/05/01/NjktMTk3MS5qcGVn.jpg)
Michel Petrucciani Trio – Estate (1982) [Reissue 2005]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 33:51 minutes | Scans included | 2,01 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Full Scans included | 771 MB
Features Stereo and Multichannel Surround Sound
Michel Petrucciani, although small in stature, was a giant in the jazz world. Stylistically, Petrucciani is most frequently compared to Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett for his lyricism and Oscar Peterson for his virtuosity. His playing was often quite dramatic; critics accuse him of over-indulgence and cheap showmanship, sometimes dismissing his music as being too accessible. The French born musician first recorded in 1980. This album is from early in his career (1982) and remains a musical insight into his early offerings before his career blossomed with multiple releases on Blue Note.
Read more
Michel Legrand – Twenty Songs Of The Century (1974) [Reissue 2016]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 71:34 minutes | Scans included | 3,05 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,39 GB
Features Stereo and Multichannel surround sound | Label: Vocalion # 4591 | Genre: Jazz, Easy Listening
Michel Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. He is best known for his often haunting, jazz-tinged film music. This is an unusual album for Michel Legrand – a suite of tracks based around 20th Century standards – starting with older evergreens, and moving into some very hip tunes from the 60s! The orchestrations are amazing – with tones, colors, and rhythmic approaches that surpass conventional expectations for many of the tunes – and which are handled in a mixture of lushness and loneliness that recalls Legrand’s strongest soundtrack work of the time.
Read more
Michel Camilo – Triangulo (2002)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 54:33 minutes | Scans included | 3,31 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,02 GB
Features 2.0 Stereo & 5.1 multichannel Surround sound | Telarc # SACD-63549
The latest album from Santa Dominican pianist Michel Camilo is somewhat of a departure from his previous release, Spain, which was an exploration of the many facets of Latin jazz performed in partnership with flamenco guitarist Tomatito. While there are still Latin rhythms underlying the performances on this release (such rhythmic qualities are likely part of Camilo’s genetic system), other styles are explored in combination with Caribbean and Latin harmonies. Another change is that for the first time since his 1994 release, One More Once, Camilo has made his own compositions part of the play list, making up six of the ten-tune program. While his playing is fiery and passionate, it is toned down somewhat on some cuts, showing a gentle, melodic side that perhaps may have been under-played on earlier releases. Joined by Anthony Jackson on bass and Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez on drums and other percussive instruments, the music presented on this release is inspiring, but accessible. Fortunately, Camilo leaves complex music to others. His presentations are straightforward so that the listener is kept informed of where he is coming from at any point during any of the compositions. There are friendly cuts that a couple could get up and dance to, such as “Mr. C. I.” Another of his works, “Afterthought,” is a lovely ballad which Camilo tenderly and pensively executes, with just a touch of the brushes by Hernandez to augment this offering. For a generally relaxed “Con Alma,” Camilo shows off dazzling technique and improvisational imagination as he explores the ins and outs of Dizzy Gillespie’s jazz classic, demonstrating that his credentials extend beyond the Latin arena. Triangulo is an ambitious undertaking which has spawned a highly riveting and enjoyable experience for the listener. Recommended.
Read more
Michel Camilo – Rhapsody In Blue (2005)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 55:50 minutes | Scans included | 3,31 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Scans included | 1,06 GB
Features Stereo and Multichannel Surround Sound | Telarc # SACD-63611
Dominican Jazz pianist Michel Camilo recorded “Rhapsody in Blue” with the 95-piece Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. You might expect his freewheeling, Latin-percussive style to bring a new heat and sparkle to the work. While Camilo, no stranger to classical music, provides an enjoyable ride through George Gershwin’s popular favorite, injecting some subtle swing touches, his treatment is otherwise pretty standard.
Read more
Michel Camilo – Live at the Blue Note (2x SACD, 2003)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 132:01 minutes | Scans included | 8,38 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 2,40 GB
Features 2.0 Stereo & 5.1 multichannel Surround sound | Telarc # 2SACD-63574
Recorded over four nights of a weeklong engagement at New York’s legendary Blue Note club, this double album is the first live recording by pianist Michel Camilo and includes a number of new compositions that had not been recorded (or even performed in public) before Camilo and his trio took over the Blue Note stage in March of 2003. This was his first recording with the rhythm section of bassist Charles Flores and drummer Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, but the trio sounds as if it has been playing together for a decade: Flores and Hernandez both follow Camilo faithfully and supportively, pushing him gently when he needs it and staying out of his way when he doesn’t. Camilo is at his most impressive on the ballads and mid-tempo numbers, on which his lines are delicate, almost lacy, but complex and powerful at the same time — note in particular the lovely “Twilight Glow” and the slightly more impressionistic “Dichotomy.” Few pianists could coax an elegant solo out of “Tequila,” but Camilo does so with apparent ease. On the more up-tempo numbers his soloing tends to be a bit blocky, but his take on the classic “Blue Bossa” features some amazing cross-rhythms in the piano solo, and his own “On the Other Hand” is a brilliant piece of modern jazz piano artistry that incorporated a sly tribute to Thelonious Monk. Some will feel that the album begins wearing a bit by the end of the second disc; others will wish there were a third. Recommended.
Read moreMichael Nyman – The Piano: Original Music From The Film (1993) [Reissue 2015] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
Michael Nyman – The Piano: Original Music From The Film (1993) [Reissue 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 59:57 minutes | Scans included | 2,44 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,1 GB
This crossover hit, the soundtrack to Jane Campion’s film, is subtle, pretty, and just a little bit bland. Nyman keeps the theatrics to a minimum, crafting an evocative work that manages to be both personal and universal. He also lets the music run its course, never pushing or cutting off a piece until it says what it needs to. A towering commercial achievement from a decidedly non-commercial artist.
Read more
Michael McDonald – Motown Two (2004)
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DST 64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 49:52 minutes | Scans included | 3,73 GB
or FLAC 2.0 (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,37 GB
One year later, McDonald again delves into the Motown bag to come up with another 14 selections from such giants as Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Smokey Robinson. McDonald is a distinctive enough vocalist to bring something to these classics, as tough as that task is. Unfortunately, the uninspired production and stilted musicianship keeps the likes of “I Was Made to Love Her,” “Tracks of My Tears,” and Nowhere to Run” from being anything more than dubious offerings to McDonald partisans. Motown became a hit factory as much on the strength of its foot soldiers as it did its commanding stars, but producer Simon Cline employs thin and lethargic backing tracks where some of the most inspired pop playing in history once stood. Return to the Motown source to hear inspired pop soul music.
Read more
Michael McDonald – Motown (2003)
PS3 Rip | ISO | DST 64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 56:15 minutes | Scans included | 4,04 GB
or FLAC 2.0 (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,31 GB
Blue-eyed soul crooner Michael McDonald gave his career a much-needed shot in the arm with 2003’s Motown, a commercially well-received collection that matched the one-time Doobie Brother and ’80s solo star’s rich vocals with songs from Hitsville’s peak. Fans of Motown, The Doobie Brothers, and of course, Michael McDonald will love, “Motown”.
Read more
Michael Jackson – Thriller (1982) [Reissue 1999]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 42:11 minutes | Scans included | 1,7 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 857 MB
Off the Wall was a massive success, spawning four Top Ten hits (two of them number ones), but nothing could have prepared Michael Jackson for Thriller. Nobody could have prepared anybody for the success of Thriller, since the magnitude of its success was simply unimaginable — an album that sold 40 million copies in its initial chart run, with seven of its nine tracks reaching the Top Ten (for the record, the terrific “Baby Be Mine” and the pretty good ballad “The Lady in My Life” are not like the others). This was a record that had something for everybody, building on the basic blueprint of Off the Wall by adding harder funk, hard rock, softer ballads, and smoother soul — expanding the approach to have something for every audience. That alone would have given the album a good shot at a huge audience, but it also arrived precisely when MTV was reaching its ascendancy, and Jackson helped the network by being not just its first superstar, but first black star as much as the network helped him. This all would have made it a success (and its success, in turn, served as a new standard for success), but it stayed on the charts, turning out singles, for nearly two years because it was really, really good. True, it wasn’t as tight as Off the Wall — and the ridiculous, late-night house-of-horrors title track is the prime culprit, arriving in the middle of the record and sucking out its momentum — but those one or two cuts don’t detract from a phenomenal set of music. It’s calculated, to be sure, but the chutzpah of those calculations (before this, nobody would even have thought to bring in metal virtuoso Eddie Van Halen to play on a disco cut) is outdone by their success. This is where a song as gentle and lovely as “Human Nature” coexists comfortably with the tough, scared “Beat It,” the sweet schmaltz of the Paul McCartney duet “The Girl Is Mine,” and the frizzy funk of “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing).” And, although this is an undeniably fun record, the paranoia is already creeping in, manifesting itself in the record’s two best songs: “Billie Jean,” where a woman claims Michael is the father of her child, and the delirious “Wanna Be Startin’ Something,” the freshest funk on the album, but the most claustrophobic, scariest track Jackson ever recorded. These give the record its anchor and are part of the reason why the record is more than just a phenomenon. The other reason, of course, is that much of this is just simply great music.
Read more
Michael Hill – Black Gold And Goddesses Bold (2005)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 51:13 minutes | Front/Rear Covers | 3,5 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Front/Rear Covers | 1,12 GB
Features Stereo & Multichannel Surround Sound / JSP Records # JSP5109 | Genre: Blues
This ballsy album by Michael Hill has as much ‘rock’ in its roll as it has the blues. At the time, it was a lonely but prescient insight into the world to come. The fiery guitarist and provocative songwriter has a singular formula: intense social commentary combined with expression of love for beautiful women and for New York. Included are a couple of forthright songs criticising America’s war in Iraq and George Bush in particular. Hill continues to produce blues for our times on this album. And the album’s celebration of the mighty Hubert Sumlin has one unique extra: Mr Hubert Sumlin himself.
Read more
MØ – Forever Neverland (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 44:55 minutes | 529 MB | Genre: Indie Pop, Dream Pop, Electronic
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chess Club – RCA Victor
Karen Marie Ørsted’s pop ascendance happened so fast, she could hardly catch her breath. A year after releasing her debut album, the Danish singer struck gold with a feature on Major Lazer’s “Lean On,” a global hit that broke streaming records and earned MØ collaborations with Justin Bieber, Snakehips, and Charli XCX. Despite pressure to release a follow-up, she wouldn’t be rushed. Instead, she left for Los Angeles to fulfill a lifelong dream of living in California. Her experience was bittersweet. On Forever Neverland a nod to Hollywood’s obsession with youth she serves up big, euphoric pop songs that are both soul-wrenching and sunny, and that wrestle to reconcile the city’s natural beauty (“Sun in Our Eyes,” featuring Diplo) with its superficiality (“California, you’re aware that everybody wants ya,” she sings on “Purple Like the Summer Rain”). The album’s lone interlude will resonate with anyone who’s spent time on Sunset Blvd.: “Right now all I want to do is call up my mom/And get my ass out of West Hollywood.”
Read more
MHL BIGBAND – Changing Times (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:13:13 minutes | 840 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chaos
How does big band jazz from Europe sound? From Germany? From Lübeck?
What happens in the “real” north of the republic? Actually a white spot on the jazz map and yet surprises the Musikhochschule Lübeck and the local jazz scene again and again by creative shocks received already the debut album “Timeless Changes – LübeckSounds” of the MHL Big Band of The enthusiastic resonances of his own compositions from Lübeck’s Big Band Composers’ Workshop have been enthusiastically received by both the trade press and the audience in 2014. The new album “Changing Times – LübeckSounds Vol. II” celebrates the diversity of their own language to extremes his different stylistics on the constant change: A change of the generations, the compositional techniques, the sound aesthetics, in the consciousness of its roots of expressionistic fanfare sounds to vintage swing, from fusion jazz to electronic club music.
MGMT – MGMT (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 44:15 minutes | 1019 MB | Genre: Pop Rock, Indie Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia
MGMT are back with their self-titled third studio album. The successor to 2008’s Oracular Spectacular and 2010 s Congratulations, MGMT finds Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser continuing to push themselves to expand the boundaries of modern pop music. Returning to Tarbox Road Studios to work with longtime collaborator Dave Fridmann (Co-producer and mixer of Oracular Spectacular and Congratulations, The Flaming Lips, Tame Impala), Andrew and Ben experimented with various in-studio writing processes, allowing the music to tell them where it wanted to go. The result is a diverse and powerful collection of 10 songs (including a cover of “Introspection” by 1960’s psych band Faine Jade) that directly mirrors the duo’s encompassing surrealist view of the everyday.
Read more
Mezza/Ginsburg Ensemble – Convergence (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:02:44 minutes | 1,19 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ozella
No Fear of Differences The shortest distance between two points, Archimedes wrote, is a straight line. Music, however, is rarely about finding the shortest distance. The curved and winding trajectories of Vittorio Mezza and Mark Ginsburg’s collaboration would certainly prove to be far more exciting and fruitful than any straight line ever could have been. For them, making music is about allowing contrasts to blend into something new, it is akin to two worlds slowly closing in on each other – occasionally clashing, at times overlapping. After a triumphant two-month tour through South Africa in 2016, Convergence marks the second milestone of the duo. It documents a long exchange between two personalities with highly individual backgrounds: Italian pianist Vittorio Mezza, an accomplished jazz performer with strong classical roots and a love for mediteranean life. And saxophonist Mark Ginsburg, who was exposed to ancient cantorial prayer modes in his youth alongside the rhythms and sounds of South Africa. These differences were undeniable. But Mezza and Ginsburg simply focused on what united, rather than what separated them: Their musical tastes, shared sense of beauty and the importance of family. Thanks to these ideals, this collection of ballads, slow-burning mood pieces and pulsating ensemble passages has turned out sounding remarkably unified. Distance is not for the fearful, it is for the bold., author Meghan Daum once wrote. And it certainly took a lot of faith and courage to pursue with the project. It goes without saying, then, that Convergence is much more than just a studio album. It is an ongoing exploration of what is possible in a collaboration and how to grow not just as musicians but human beings as well. This dialogue could potentially go on forever: Like an inspired conversation, the convergence of ideas never stops, becoming deeper and more intimate, forever expanding in scope and diversity.
Read more
Mew – + – (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 58:22 minutes | 664 MB | Genre: Alternative Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Play It Again Sam
Danish noisemeisters MEW emerge with “+ -” (pronounced: plus minus) , and it’s all skewed pop sensibility coupled with an ever expansive musical backdrop denoting the extremities of the band’s creative DNA. This shows once more a band treading their own unique path. Recorded in Copenhagen, produced by Michael Beinhorn and Mew with mixing duties undertaken by Rich Costey, the album features an appearance from Bloc Party guitarist Russell Lissack on ‘My Complications’ – a song he co-wrote which came to fruition having met Mew on a US tour some years ago.
Read more