![Nektar - Remember The Future (Deluxe Edition) (1973/2023) [High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-Ray Disc]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2024/05/01/NjktMTk3MS5qcGVn.jpg)
Iggy And The Stooges – Raw Power (1973) (2012 Legacy Vinyl Reissue, 1997 Iggy remix) (24-Bit/96 Khz) (Vinyl Rip)
Vinyl rip @ 24/96 | FLAC | Scans | 723 MB | Label: Columbia
Genre: rock, proto-punk | RAR 5% | Rec. CAT #88691959351 | US pressing
In 1972, the Stooges were near the point of collapse when David Bowie’s management team, MainMan, took a chance on the band at Bowie’s behest. By this point, guitarist Ron Asheton and bassist Dave Alexander had been edged out of the picture, and James Williamson had signed on as Iggy’s new guitar mangler; Asheton rejoined the band shortly before recording commenced on Raw Power, but was forced to play second fiddle to Williamson as bassist. By most accounts, tensions were high during the recording of Raw Power, and the album sounds like the work of a band on its last legs — though rather than grinding to a halt, Iggy & the Stooges appeared ready to explode like an ammunition dump.
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Labyrinth – Soundtrack (1986)
vinyl rip in 24/96 | 928 MB | FLAC | no cue or log (vinyl)
DR Analysis | Full LP Artwork | First US Pressing
Genre: Soundtrack | EMI America Records ~ SV-17206
The Labyrinth soundtrack features original music by both David Bowie (the star of the film), and composer Trevor Jones. The album reached #68 on Billboard’s Top Pop Albums chart in 1986.
This soundtrack album features Trevor Jones’ score, which is split into six tracks for the soundtrack: “Into the Labyrinth”, “Sarah”, “Hallucination”, “The Goblin Battle”, “Thirteen O’Clock” and “Home at Last”.
Aki Takase Trio – Song for Hope (1982/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 43:00 minutes | 464 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BBE Music
BBE Music welcomes pianist Aki Takase to the J Jazz Masterclass reissue series, with her 1982 live album ‘Song for Hope’.
A musician of poise and precision who has been a noted composer, performer and recording artist for over 40 years, Takase’s ‘Song for Hope’ continues BBE Music’s exploration of Japanese modern jazz from a golden period spanning the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.
Read more![Peter Gabriel - Scratch My Back (2010) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2022/10/14/xpbpa7shbjldc_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Peter Gabriel – Scratch My Back (2010)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 53:18 minutes | 588 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Real World Records Ltd.
Considering the slow trickle of completed albums he has released since becoming a superstar in 1986 — just two albums of songs with vocals, paired with two albums of soundtracks and two live records — deliberate is expected from Peter Gabriel, so the slow, hushed crawl of Scratch My Back is no shock. What may be a shock is that Gabriel chose to follow 2002’s Up with a covers album but, like all of his work, this 2010 record is highly conceptual no matter how minimal the end result may be. Designed as the first half of a two-part project where Gabriel would cover 12 different artists who would then return the favor by recording their own versions of Gabriel’s compositions — the counterpart album naturally bearing the title I’ll Scratch Yours — Scratch My Back divides neatly between six songs from his peers (Bowie, Paul Simon, Randy Newman, Neil Young, Lou Reed, David Byrne) and six songs from younger artists (Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Stephin Merritt, Bon Iver, Elbow, Regina Spektor). Gabriel doesn’t dodge familiar tunes, choosing to sing “Heroes” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out),” but he twists each tune to his own needs, arranging everything with nothing more than piano and strings, a change that’s almost jarring on Simon’s “The Boy in the Bubble,” yet it stays true to the undercurrent of melancholy in the melody. Indeed, all of Scratch My Back is stark, sober, and spare, delving ever deeper inward, a triumph of intellect over emotion — a noted contrast to almost all cover albums that celebrate the visceral, not the cerebral. Immediate it may not be but fascinating it is, and after hearing Gabriel turn all 12 of these songs into something unmistakably his own, the appetite is surely whetted for its companion piece.
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Tonbruket – Nubium Swimtrip (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:01:43 minutes | 643 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
The zebra crossing outside the world famous Abbey Road Studios in London NW8 is a tourist hotspot, for Beatles fans especially. Far fewer get a taste of what the Fab Four and other legendary bands of the era actually experienced inside the studio. “That’s a dream come true for us,” says Dan Berglund, the most well-known member of the Swedish band Tonbruket, being the innovative ex-bassist of the hugely influential contemporary piano trio EST. “We talked a lot about it for a long time. If we could afford it we would do it.” With two successful recordings under their belt, Berglund alongside the lap and pedal steel guitar specialist Johan Lindström, keyboardist/violinist Martin Hederos and drummer Andreas Werliin lived the dream for three days during May this year in Abbey Road Studio 2. With their third album Nubium Swimtrip on the ACT label, Tonbruket reach dizzying new heights with a rich sonic soundscape that mixes the hypnotic textures and grooves of contemporary post-rock instrumentalism with elements from post-1970’s prog and space rock, all within the framework of their own lyrical, positively tuneful compositions.
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Robbie Williams – The Heavy Entertainment Show (Deluxe) (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:01:12 minutes | 737 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia
Establishing himself as the last of a particular breed, Robbie Williams makes his pop comeback on The Heavy Entertainment Show. Aptly titled, Williams is entertaining as ever, a consummate showman until the end. The album is a grab bag of ideas, darting here and there in its pursuit of a hit. However, this isn’t too much of a distraction. Mr. Entertainment and his bombast do not disappoint. The Heavy Entertainment Show is his most invigorated album in years, a truer return to the pop realm than 2012’s Take the Crown. Here, Williams dresses up his antics in expert production with plenty of cheekiness to spare. As the show begins, Williams announces “the charisma’s non-negotiable” and “I’m about to strip and you’re my pole.” He’s cocky, crass, and utterly engaging as a chorus of backup singers add, “He would sell his children for a hit in Belgium!” Few pop stars can pull this off, yet from Williams, it’s almost comforting to see him once again embrace his braggadocious ringmaster persona. Longtime producer Guy Chambers makes his return to Williams’ circus, along with a number of high-profile guests. The Killers-penned “Mixed Signals” is an open-road epic that sounds like a Battle Born castaway, while Ed Sheeran and Benny Blanco join forces for the stomp-twang Avicii-lite “Pretty Woman.” Rufus Wainwright contributes songwriting and his velvety voice to a trio of brassy tunes, kick-stepping alongside Williams on the aforementioned title track, as well as “Hotel Crazy” and the grand outro “Sensational.” “David’s Song” — penned by Jewel and Kara DioGuardi — is a heart-rending soft rock ballad that overwhelms with a powerful closing guitar solo and orchestral swell. However, it’s producer Stuart Price who proves most valuable. In addition to the Killers track, he injects the album with a pair of addictive standout synth numbers. Highlight “Bruce Lee” is a Bowie-stomping glam number that struts its way through the pack, while “Sensitive” amps up the sensuality with echoing synths, handclaps, and juicy bass. Elsewhere, there are a couple love-or-hate tracks that stick out. The Prokofiev-sampling lead single “Party Like a Russian” — which sounds like something Muse would use to dramatically start a show — is big on drama and creativity, but might rub some listeners the wrong way with its cultural generalities. Meanwhile, the boldly titled “Motherfucker” seems like it’s trying a little too hard to shock, yet it’s the finest example of Williams’ schtick. A heartwarming dedication to his young son, it is ridiculous yet completely uplifting. As it explodes into a guitar-drenched Oasis B-side, Williams recites a litany of family woes that could affect his offspring. It’ll make grandma blush, but at the heart of it all, he’s confident that his son will “break the chain” of sin. Despite that title and explicit lyrics, Williams allows some sincerity to shine through the sophomoric, remaining hilarious and full of heart. Eleven albums in and he’s still one of the most likable acts around, truly one of a kind.
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Eurythmics – Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (1984/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 42:38 minutes | 958 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Music CG
Two chords on the synthesiser and everything is said! More than enough to recognise the singular sound of Eurythmics, the emblematic band from the 1980s. The tandem of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart symbolises perfectly this new synth-pop wave (pop in essence, futuristic in form) so typical of this decade during which guitars had almost become personae non-gratae… And while the British duo topped the charts during the entire decade, Sweet Dreams remains their greatest work. On the partition, Dave Stewart dabbled in a darker new wave, a-la Bowie (Love Is A Stranger) and dared venturing into “krautrock” light (Sweet Dreams). He could go funky (I’ve Got An Angel) or even disco (Wrap It Up). On vocals, Annie Lennox is impressive, as always, switching from soul to a bleak singing voice at will. A true classic!
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Patricia Barber – Verse (2002) [MFSL 2005]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 51:29 minutes | Scans included | 2,08 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 981 MB
Pianist/vocalist Patricia Barber is the Alanis Morissette of the jazz world. Her serpentine, poetic songs teeter between deftly witty and awkwardly Latinate. Each album is more ambitious than the last, taking her deeper into avant-garde territory both lyrically and instrumentally. Verse is no exception. Case in point: “I Could Eat Your Words,” a canny bit of word play in the tradition of “Peel Me a Grape,” in which Barber barely gets away with words like “provocation” and “syllogistically,” only to sum things up with the devastating line, “sip the spit from your bittersweet rhyme.” The indelible track here, though, has to be “If I Were Blue,” featuring the line, “If I were blue, like David Hockney’s pool/Dive into me and glide under a California sky/Inside your mouth and nose and eyes am I.” It’s perhaps the best thing Barber has ever written — it could be considered serious modern poetry if only it didn’t rhyme. About the biggest complaint one can lodge against Barber is her insistent denial of melody. Her voice is soft, almost matter-of-fact, and she more or less hints at singing. Obviously, lyrical intent is more important to Barber than how she carries a tune, and her voice does seem more suited to whispering torch songs cabaret-style, such as on “Dansons la Gigue,” than delivering any vocal gymnastics. It’s just that sometimes her songs could be showcased better with a consistently delivered vocal melody. However, she makes up for her lack of sonorousness (to use a Barber kind of word) with intricate musical arrangements, this time around augmented by the Miles Davis-cum-Lester Bowie trumpet of Dave Douglas. Barber’s is a world of cloaked intentions, and Douglas’ playful vibrato works like the flame of a candle illuminating her soft, shadowy corners.
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Icehouse - Measure For Measure
Vinyl | LP Cover (1:1) | FLAC + cue | 24bit/96kHz | 963mb
Mastered At Sterling Sound
Label: Chrysalis/BFV 41527 | Release: 1986 | Genre: Pop-Rock
Based on the principles of balance, Measure for Measure is half-produced by David Lord, half by Rhett Davies. American and European editions benefit from a better track list, which opens with the Davies-produced “No Promises.” A little too close to Bowie and Metheny’s “This Is Not America,” perhaps, but very nice all the same. “Cross the Border” resembles and continues the close relationship with Simple Minds, and features a strong Brian Eno back vocal motif. Another of the RD-produced pieces, “The Flame,” although about the struggles in South Africa, opens with a watery, orient-like synth treatment before a strong beat, courtesy of Steve Jansen, and a Talk Talk-sounding synth take charge. Newer realms are visited by Spanish guitar on “Angel Street,” but the Bowie references can’t be shaken, with much of the later part relying on squally glam rock (“Regular Boys” and the career-reviving “Baby You’re So Strange”). Had the color of bonus CD cuts “Too Late Now” (a definitive Icehouse sound) and “Into the Wild” been included, how different things might have been. A few blocks up from the bland Sidewalk but a few buildings short of Man of Colours.
Review by Kelvin Hayes, allmusic.com (more…)
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