Yellowjackets Feat Mike Stern – Lifecycle (2008)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 01:02:40 minutes | 4.03 GB
Genre: Fusion, Smooth Jazz | Publisher (label): Heads Up International – HUSA 9139
The new recording by the Yellowjackets, two-time GRAMMY winners and cutting-edge purveyors of innovative and eclectic jazz for more than 25 years, features Mike Stern, the virtuoso guitarist who has established himself as the premier jazz and jazz-fusion guitarist of his generation.
This project was inspired by Yellowjackets’ appearance as guest musicians during Stern’s performance at the Montreal Jazz Festival in the summer of 2007. The studio recording showcases all five musicians’ individual and collective virtuosity as instrumentalists and songwriters and is the first Yellowjackets recording in 15 years to feature a guitar player. ‘Lifecycle’ illustrates the kind of energy and creative brilliance that results when five talented players pool their individual talents as songwriters and musicians and merge into an entity that’s far greater than the sum of its parts.
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The Legendary Son House – Father Of Folk Blues (Analogue Productions 2016) (1965/2016)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 49:41 minutes | Full Scans included | 2,01 GB
Genre: Blues, Delta Blues | Publisher (label): Analogue Productions CAPB 092 SA
Hybrid Stereo SACD
Mastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound from the master tape
Mississippi’s Son House was already legendary for a small collection of live field recordings made by folklorist Alan Lomax in 1941 and 1942, and for having taught some important licks to both Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters before he was rediscovered by a new generation of college-age fans in 1964.
The “Father of the Delta Blues” recorded this namesake album for Columbia Records a year later in 1965. It’s become, in the words of Living Blues magazine — “Essential recordings by one of the greatest bluesmen ever.” And now, Analogue Productions presents a reissue unmatched in sonic quality and luxury presentation. For our version we turned to Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound to remaster the recording from the original master tapes. The Hybrid Stereo SACD version was authored for SACD by Gus Skinas at the Super Audio Center in Boulder, Colo.
Son was born Eddie James House, Jr., on March 21, 1902, in Riverton, Miss. By the age of 15, he was preaching the gospel in various Baptist churches as the family seemingly wandered from one plantation to the next. He didn’t even bother picking up a guitar until he turned 25; to quote House, “I didn’t like no guitar when I first heard it; oh gee, I couldn’t stand a guy playin’ a guitar. I didn’t like none of it.” But if his ambivalence to the instrument was obvious, even more obvious was the simple fact that Son hated plantation labor even more and had developed a taste for corn whiskey. After drunkenly launching into a blues at a house frolic in Lyon, Miss., one night and picking up some coin for doing it, the die seemed to be cast; Son House may have been a preacher, but he was part of the blues world now.
Now, sit back and enjoy one of the genere’s greatest, on a reissue that’s the best that’s been made to date. So authentic, so real — that’s the Analogue Productions difference.
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Bill Withers – Still Bill (2023 MFSL UltraDisc UHR SACD) (1972/2023)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 36:29 minutes | Full Scans included | 1,53 GB
Genre: Funk, Soul, R&B | Publisher (label): Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2268
More than 50 years after its original release, Bill Withers’ Still Bill remains true to its title – and stands as the greatest male-fronted soul album not made by a singer named Marvin, Al, Sam, James, or Ray. Though the saying “keeping it real” did not exist in popular parlance when Withers released his sophomore effort on Sussex Records, no words better capture the music’s approach, mindset, and value. Every facet of Still Bill radiates honesty, truth, and emotion. These characteristics – along with Withers’ strong singing, hybrid arrangements, and deceptively simple songwriting – have allowed the album to endure to the point where it sounds as fresh today as in 1972.
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