Category: DVD-A

Published May 14, 2021

The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) [50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition, 6 Disc, 2017]

‘Sgt. Pepper’ Presented with New Mixes in Stereo and 5.1 Surround Audio; Expanded with Previously Unreleased Session Recordings, Video Features & Special Packaging

Previously Unreleased 1992 Documentary Film, ‘The Making of Sgt. Pepper,’ Restored for Anniversary Edition’s Super Deluxe Boxed Set

London – April 5, 2017 – It was 50 years ago this June 1st when The Beatles’ John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr astonished and delighted the world, ushering in the Summer of Love with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, a groundbreaking masterwork that became popular music’s most universally acclaimed album. To salute the occasion, The Beatles will release a suite of lavishly presented ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Anniversary Edition packages on May 26 (Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe). The album is newly mixed by Giles Martin and Sam Okell in stereo and 5.1 surround audio and expanded with early takes from the studio sessions, including no fewer than 34 previously unreleased recordings.

“It’s crazy to think that 50 years later we are looking back on this project with such fondness and a little bit of amazement at how four guys, a great producer and his engineers could make such a lasting piece of art,” says Paul McCartney in his newly-penned introduction for the ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Anniversary Edition.

“‘Sgt. Pepper’ seemed to capture the mood of that year, and it also allowed a lot of other people to kick off from there and to really go for it,” Ringo Starr recalls in the Anniversary Edition’s book.

For Record Store Day on April 22, Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe will release an exclusive, limited edition seven-inch vinyl single of The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane,” among the first songs recorded during the ‘Sgt. Pepper’ sessions, which began in November 1966. Rather than being held for inclusion on the album, the two songs were released as a double A-sided single in February 1967. Amidst intense media speculation about the band’s next move, the single bridged what was then considered a long gap between the Revolver album, released in August 1966, and ‘Sgt. Pepper,’ which followed 10 months later.

This is the first time Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band has been remixed and presented with additional session recordings, and it is the first Beatles album to be remixed and expanded since the 2003 release of Let It Be… Naked. To create the new stereo and 5.1 surround audio mixes for ‘Sgt. Pepper,’ producer Giles Martin and mix engineer Sam Okell worked with an expert team of engineers and audio restoration specialists at Abbey Road Studios in London. All of the Anniversary Edition releases include Martin’s new stereo mix of the album, which was sourced directly from the original four-track session tapes and guided by the original, Beatles-preferred mono mix produced by his father, George Martin.

Comments closed

Published January 21, 2020

The Fireman (Paul McCartney & Youth) – Electric Arguments (2008) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

The Fireman (Paul McCartney & Youth) – Electric Arguments (2008)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 68:58 minutes | 1,27 GB
DAD to Hi-Res FLAC – Source: MPL Communication 1003de | Full Artwork

Electric Arguments is the third album by The Fireman, an experimental music duo consisting of Paul McCartney and producer Youth (Martin Glover). It is the first Fireman release to be publicly acknowledged by McCartney, and the album cover features the names of both contributors.

Comments closed

Published December 9, 2019

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (2011) [DVD-Audio + Audio-DVD]

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
Artist: Pink Floyd | Album: Wish You Were Here | Style: Art Rock, Progressive Rock | Year: 2011 [1975 original] | Quality: DVD-Audio (MLP 5.1 96kHz/24Bit, MLP 4.0 96kHz/24Bit, MLP 2.0 96kHz/24Bit) + Audio-DVD (Dolby AC3 5.1, Dolby AC3 4.0 (~448 kbps, 640 kbps), LPCM 2.0 ~1536 kbps) | Bitrate: lossless | Tracks: 5 | Size: ~5.52 Gb + 2.15 Gb | Recovery: 3% | Covers: in srchive | Release: BluRay-rip (Immersion Box – Disc 5) © Pink Floyd Music Ltd. | EMI Records Ltd. (50999 029438 9 3) + original Audio-DVD (Immersion Box – Disc 3) | Note: Not Watermarked

Pink Floyd followed the commercial breakthrough of Dark Side of the Moon with Wish You Were Here, a loose concept album about and dedicated to their founding member Syd Barrett. The record unfolds gradually, as the jazzy textures of “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” reveal its melodic motif, and in its leisurely pace, the album shows itself to be a warmer record than its predecessor. Musically, it’s arguably even more impressive, showcasing the group’s interplay and David Gilmour’s solos in particular. And while it’s short on actual songs, the long, winding soundscapes are constantly enthralling.

Comments closed

Published October 30, 2019

Neil Young – Hawks & Doves (1980/2003) [DVD Audio to FLAC 24bit/176,4kHz]

Neil Young – Hawks & Doves (1980/2003)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/176.4kHz | Time – 00:30:33 minutes | 908 MB | Genre: Rock
Source: DVD-Audio (Watermarked!) | Front cover | © Reprise Records
Recorded: 1974–77, 1980 at Quadrafonic, Nashville; Village Recorders, LA; Indigo Recording Studio, Malibu; Triad Recording Studio, Ft. Lauderdale, FL and Gold Star Recording Studio, Hollywood, CA

Following the triumph of Rust Never Sleeps, Hawks & Doves benefited from the enormous critical goodwill Neil Young had amassed, though fans and critics nevertheless were baffled by its set of obscure acoustic and country-tinged songs. The seven-plus-minute “The Old Homestead” (copyright 1974) was interpreted by some as an allegory for Young’s relationship to CSNY, perhaps because that was the only way to make any sense of the most mysterious Young lyric since “The Last Trip to Tulsa.” In retrospect, now that it’s known Young was distracted by domestic medical concerns while working on the album, its theme of perseverance in the face of adversity, both in a personal context of family commitment (“Stayin’ Power,” “Coastline”), and in a national context of hard work and patriotism (“Union Man,” “Comin’ Apart at Every Nail,” “Hawks & Doves”) seems more apparent, as does the sense that Young may have been trying to fulfill his recording contract (even with the inclusion of trunk songs like “The Old Homestead,” the album runs less than half an hour) while devoting a bare minimum of his time and attention to the effort. The result is correspondingly slight. –William Ruhlmann

Comments closed

Published October 14, 2019

Kate Bush – Aerial (2005) [DVD-Audio ISO]

Fierce Kate Bush fans who are expecting revelation in Aerial, her first new work since The Red Shoes in 1993, will no doubt scour lyrics, instrumental trills, and interludes until they find them. For everyone else, those who purchased much of Bush’s earlier catalog because of its depth, quality, and vision, Aerial will sound exactly like what it is, a new Kate Bush record: full of her obsessions, lushly romantic paeans to things mundane and cosmic, and her ability to add dimension and transfer emotion though song. The set is spread over two discs. The first, A Sea of Honey, is a collection of songs, arranged for everything from full-on rock band to solo piano. The second, A Sky of Honey, is a conceptual suite. It was produced by Bush with engineering and mixing by longtime collaborator Del Palmer.

Comments closed

Published October 8, 2019

Blue Oyster Cult – A Long Day’s Night (2002) [DVD-Audio ISO]

Shortened by six songs from its accompanying video, Blue Öyster Cult’s fifth live release is a rugged and often exciting trawl through their 30-year career. Featuring songs from their debut like the inescapable “Cities on Flame” and even a few tracks from works such as 2001’s sadly underappreciated Curse of the Hidden Mirror, the album also serves as a reasonable career summation. Guitarist Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser’s chops are in fine form, as the six-and-a-half-minute “Buck’s Boogie” proves, and the band plays passionately throughout. Recorded at a single Chicago show in June of 2002, there seems to be few overdubs patching up this exuberant performance. Although only three of the original five bandmembers (Roeser, Allen Lanier, Eric Bloom) remain, there is no mistaking the sound. From dreamy to bone-crunching, Blue Öyster Cult retains a knack for melody, even on the newer tracks like Roeser’s “Harvest Moon” and “Dance on Stilts.” A ten-minute “Astronomy” highlights the band’s sci-fi origins and never gets boring. Nor do extended versions of the set-closers “Godzilla” and “Don’t Fear the Reaper.” Digging deep into their catalog, they emerge with “Perfect Water” and “Lips in the Hills” (from Club Ninja and Cultosaurus Erectus, respectively), two forgotten gems that sound just fine dusted off for this concert. Excepting a few crowd-pleasing, Spinal Tap-ish moments in the closing minutes of “Cities on Flame” and the lumbering bass and drum solos in “Godzilla,” Blue Öyster Cult remains one of the more enjoyable relics of a time when hard rock bands ruled the airwaves. Three decades of shows have only sharpened their attack..

Comments closed

Published August 6, 2019

Joni Mitchell – Both Sides Now (2000) [DVD-Audio to FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

Joni’s 2000 album, which won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album, finds the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and nine-time Grammy®-winner performing a stunning set of orchestral jazz. Mixing jazz standards like “Stormy Weather” and “At Last” with Mitchell’s own classic “A Case of You” and more in a band that includes jazz greats Herbie Hancock and Peter Erskin. Features orchestral arrangements by Vince Mendoza, who won a Grammy® for Best Instrumental Arrangement for his work on the album.

Comments closed

Published July 3, 2019

Blue Man Group – Audio (2000) [DVD-Audio + AUDIO-DVD]

Blue Man Group’s debut album, Audio, reflects over a decade’s worth of musical and theatrical innovation. While its whimsical, visually involving stage performances have been popular since the early ’90s, the group waited to make an album until it could find a recording space large enough to house its unique instruments, which include walls of drums, networks of plumbing pipe, and different lengths of vibrating fiberglass rods. Audio incorporates all of these instruments, along with baritone guitars, Hungarian cimbaloms (which are similar to dulcimers), and Chapman Sticks, into 14 eclectic instrumentals. These songs were written specifically for Audio and have never been performed at a Blue Man stage production. Though the spectacle of the group playing its sculptural, surreal-looking instruments is absent from the album, the complex, resonant sound of Audio is engaging enough on its own. In fact, the swooshing of the sword poles on “Utne Live Wire” and the fluttering angel poles on “Endless Column” sound even more alien without the visual accompaniment. Some of Audio’s pieces (“Drumbone,” “PVC IV”) spotlight a specific Blue Man-made instrument, while others (“TV Song,” “Club Nowhere”) display the group’s avant-garde pop sensibilities. “Rods and Cones,” “Cat Video,” and “Opening Mandelbrot” are other standout tracks from Audio, an album that proves the Blue Man Group is as innovative in the studio as it is onstage.

Comments closed

Published June 26, 2019

Lou Donaldson – Lou Takes Off (1957) [DAD Reissue 2001] [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Lou Donaldson – Lou Takes Off (1957) [DAD Reissue 2001]
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 38:36 minutes | 906 MB | Genre: Jazz
DAD to Hi-Res FLAC – Source: Classic Records’ DAD 1026 | No Artwork

The influence of Charlie Parker can be heard in virtually every modern jazz musician, particularly players of the alto saxophone. Although considered to be one of “Bird’s children,” Lou Donaldson absorbed and synthesized other pre-Parker influences, such as Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter. This recording marks a period in his development prior to a stylistic shift away from bop and toward a stronger rhythm and blues emphasis. Three up-tempo tunes are pure bebop; the remaining number is a medium blues in B flat, quite characteristic of the hard bop period. The front line on this set includes Donald Byrd and Curtis Fuller; the rhythm section is Sonny Clark, George Joyner, and Art Taylor. Overall, Lou Takes Off breaks no new musical ground, but it is a solid, swinging session of high-caliber playing.

Comments closed

Published June 10, 2019

The Alan Parsons Project – Eye In The Sky (1982) [DAD Reissue 2005] {FLAC 24bit/192khz}

The Alan Parsons Project – Eye In The Sky (1982) [Reissue 2005]
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 42:41 minutes | 1,62 GB | Genre: Rock
DAD to Hi-Res FLAC – Source: Classic Records’ HDAD 2011 | Cover

Eye in the Sky provided the Alan Parsons Project with their first Top Ten hit since 1977’s I Robot, and it’s hard not to feel that crossover success was one of the driving forces behind this album. The Project never shied away from hooks, whether it was on the tense white funk of “I Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You” or the gleaming pop hooks of “Games People Play,” but Eye in the Sky was soft and smooth, so smooth that it was easy to ignore that the narrator of the title track was an ominous omniscient who spied either on his lover or his populace, depending on how deeply you wanted to delve into the concepts of this album. And, unlike I Robot or The Turn of a Friendly Card, it is possible to listen to Eye in the Sky and not dwell on the larger themes, since they’re used as a foundation, not pushed to center stage. What does dominate is the lushness of sound, the sweetness of melody: this is a soft rock album through and through, one that’s about melodic hooks and texture. In the case of the spacy opening salvo “Sirius,” later heard on sports talk shows across America, or “Mammagamma,” it was all texture, as these instrumentals set the trippy yet warm mood that the pop songs sustained. And the real difference with Eye in the Sky is that, with the exception of those instrumentals and the galloping suite “Silence and I,” all the artiness was part of the idea of this album was pushed into the lyrics, so the album plays as soft pop album — and a very, very good one at that. Perhaps nothing is quite as exquisite as the title song, yet “Children of the Moon” has a sprightly gait (not all that dissimilar from Kenny Loggins’ “Heart to Heart”), “Psychobabble” has a bright propulsive edge (not all that dissimilar from 10cc), and “Gemini” is the project at its dreamiest. It all adds up to arguably the most consistent Alan Parsons Project album — perhaps not in terms of concept, but in terms of music they never were as satisfying as they were here.

Comments closed

Category: DVD-A

The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) [50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition, 6 Disc, 2017]

Like this:

The Fireman (Paul McCartney & Youth) – Electric Arguments (2008) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Like this:

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (2011) [DVD-Audio + Audio-DVD]

Like this:

Neil Young – Hawks & Doves (1980/2003) [DVD Audio to FLAC 24bit/176,4kHz]

Like this:

Kate Bush – Aerial (2005) [DVD-Audio ISO]

Like this:

Blue Oyster Cult – A Long Day’s Night (2002) [DVD-Audio ISO]

Like this:

Joni Mitchell – Both Sides Now (2000) [DVD-Audio to FLAC 24bit/192kHz]

Like this:

Blue Man Group – Audio (2000) [DVD-Audio + AUDIO-DVD]

Like this:

Lou Donaldson – Lou Takes Off (1957) [DAD Reissue 2001] [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Like this:

The Alan Parsons Project – Eye In The Sky (1982) [DAD Reissue 2005] {FLAC 24bit/192khz}

Like this:

Category: DVD-A

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: