Astor Piazzolla – The Rough Dancer And The Cyclical Night (Tango Apasionado) [1987] {Japan 2009} SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Astor Piazzolla – The Rough Dancer And The Cyclical Night (Tango Apasionado) [1987] {Japan 2009}
PS3 Rip | ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 40:44 minutes | Scans included | 1,29 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 802 MB

Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneon player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music.

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Astor Piazzolla – Tango: Zero Hour (1986) [Japan 2010] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Astor Piazzolla – Tango: Zero Hour (1986) [Japan 2010]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 46:18 minutes | Scans included | 1,87 GB
or FLAC (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Full Scans included | 986 MB

Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneon player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music.

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Astor Piazzolla – La Camorra (1989) [Japan 2010] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Astor Piazzolla – La Camorra (1989) [Japan 2010]
PS3 Rip | ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 48:02 minutes | Scans included | 1,95 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 934 MB

Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneon player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music.

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Asia – Astra (1985) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2014] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Asia – Astra (1985) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 44:55 minutes | Scans included | 1,81 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 893 MB

Released in 1985, Astra is Asia’s third studio album and first without guitarist Steve Howe. While somewhat unfairly regarded in comparison to Asia’s first two albums, Astra is nonetheless a solid prog rock outing that finds bassist/vocalist John Wetton, keyboardist Geoff Downes, drummer Carl Palmer, and replacement guitarist, Krokus’ Mandy Meyer, delivering a set of melodic and driving rock anthems. Admittedly, Astra came on the heels of a tumultuous period for the band that found Wetton unceremoniously booted and replaced by ELP singer Greg Lake right before the highly publicized 1983 live televised concert event Asia in Asia. By 1984, Wetton had been reinstated, but tensions remained and Howe eventually left the band early in the recording process for Astra. Featuring a slightly more arena rock and pop-metal sound, Astra featured two Top Ten singles in the epic “Go” and the dramatic “Too Late.” Elsewhere, there was a handful of similarly radio-ready cuts, including the sparkling George Harrison-sounding “Hard On Me,” the ’50s-influenced synth balladry of “Wishing,” and the grand and symphonic rock theatrics of the very Queen-esque “Rock and Roll Dream.” Certainly, while Asia is at its best with the original lineup, Astra is a truly underrated ’80s rock album and a must-hear for fans.

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Asia – Asia (1982) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2010] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Asia – Asia (1982) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2010]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 44:07 minutes | Scans included | 1,78 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 942 MB

Features the 2010 DSD mastering based on US original analog tape. Reissue features the high-fidelity SHM-SACD format (fully compatible with standard SACD player, but it does not play on standard CD players). DSD Transferred by Ellen Fitton.

This marriage of four players with impressive pedigrees proved to be the success story of 1982 when Asia’s debut lodged itself at the top of the U.S. album charts for two months. The album spawned a massive number four single in “Heat of the Moment,” a follow-up Top 20 hit in the sweeping “Only Time Will Tell,” and a handful of other tracks that received heavy radio play despite going against the grain of the new wave styling of the day. Produced by Mike Stone, Asia’s strengths were the powerful vocals of John Wetton, the nimble, classically tinged guitar work of Steve Howe, Geoffrey Downes’ majestic keyboard playing, and anchoring the band, Carl Palmer’s propulsive drumming. The lyrics are overwrought at moments, but there’s no denying the epic grandeur of the music, which provided some much-needed muscle to radio at the time, and did so with style.

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Asia – Alpha (1983) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2014] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Asia – Alpha (1983) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 50:05 minutes | Scans included | 2,02 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 996 MB

The eagerly awaited follow-up to the supergroup’s debut, Alpha landed with a resounding thud a year later. The album still managed to be a platinum-selling Top Ten hit, as did the leadoff single “Don’t Cry,” but where Asia managed to make old sounds fresh, Alpha fails miserably. Nothing on Alpha packs the sheer sonic force of the band’s debut. Instead, much of the record is lightweight both lyrically and musically, leaning heavier on keyboard-laden ballads like “The Smile Has Left Your Eyes,” which managed to scrape into the Top 40, and “My Own Time (I’ll Do What I Want).” The only real meat on the record comes during the last cut, “Open Your Eyes” (and only at the end of the song). Rumored creative differences, the album’s lukewarm reception, and flagging ticket sales for the ensuing tour led to lead singer John Wetton leaving the band before the year was out. Alpha is sorely disappointing, especially coming on the heels of a promising debut.

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Asia – Alpha (1983) [Audio Fidelity 2017] SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Asia – Alpha (1983) [Audio Fidelity 2017]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 42:25 minutes | Scans included | 1,7 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 881 MB
Mastered by Kevin Gray | Audio Fidelity # AFZ-263 | Genre: Rock

Alpha is the second studio album by British rock band Asia, released in 1983. It was certified platinum in the United States, eventually selling close to two million copies. Released one year before the departure of guitarist Steve Howe, Alpha was the last album with the band’s original line-up until 2008’s Phoenix, after the original members reunited in 2006, and the last album with Howe until Aqua in 1992.

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Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Wiener Symphoniker, Carlo Maria Giulini – Beethoven: Piano Concertos 1, 3 & 5 (Japan 2017) SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Wiener Symphoniker, Carlo Maria Giulini – Beethoven: Piano Concertos 1, 3 & 5 (Japan 2017)
SACD Rip | 2x SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 153:11 min | Front Cover + | 6,17 GB
or FLAC Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Front Cover + | 2,99 GB
Deutsche Grammophon/Tower Records Japan # PROC-2070~1

Considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century, the Italian classical pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli with Vienna Symphony Orchestra (Wiener Symphoniker), conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini, performs Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1, 3 & 5 and Piano Sonata No. 4 on this Japanese double-disc compilation. These famous performances come back to life with SACD format. Some of the recordings is the world’s first SACD premier. Features all new mastering in the home country from the original analog master.

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Angela Hewitt – Jean-Philippe Rameau: Keyboard Suites (2008) DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Angela Hewitt – Jean-Philippe Rameau: Keyboard Suites (2008)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 01:18:18 minutes | 3,08 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:18:18 minutes | 974 MB
Genre: Classical | Label: Hyperion | Source: SACD
~ Recorded in Das Kulturzentrum Grand Hotel, Dobbiaco, Italy, on 1-4 June 2006. ~

Hyperion’s Record of the Month for January takes multi-award-winning Baroque legend Angela Hewitt to the elegantly refined French court of the early eighteenth century.

Jean-Philippe Rameau topped the summit of the Musical Establishment—named Compositeur du Cabinet du Roi in 1745—yet his pedigree was hardly auspicious. For a time a travelling violinist, he held numerous undistinguished posts as provincial organist (rarely serving out his contract and on one occasion deliberately playing sufficiently badly to ensure his dismissal) before finally settling in Paris at the age of forty.

Something of a theorist—his treatise On the Technique of the Fingers on the Harpsichord makes for essential reading—Rameau’s intellectualism combines in his music to produce passion and tenderness, in his own words ‘true music … the language of the heart’. Some sixty keyboard works are known, gathered by key into five suites; Hewitt here performs three of them. Courtly dances (including the famous Tambourin) sit alongside more programmatic movements (such as Les sauvages—Rameau had just seen two Louisiana Indians performing at the theatre) in these engaging and deceptively catchy miniatures.

Admirers of Angela Hewitt’s acclaimed Bach and Couperin recordings will need no encouragement to sample these new delights.

Angela Hewitt was named Artist of the Year at the Gramophone Awards 2006, capping a year of unparalleled success and recognition.

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Art Pepper – The Intimate Art Pepper (1979/2003/2016) DSF DSD64

Art Pepper – The Intimate Art Pepper (1979/2003/2016)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 1:01:33 minutes | 2,45 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: AcousticSounds | Booklet, Front Cover | © Analogue Productions Revival

In 1979 Art Pepper was recorded at two sessions that yielded two fine albums, So In Love and The New York Album. There was more first-rate material recorded in those two sessions than would fit on two LPs so difficult choices had to be made as to what material not to include on the albums released at the time. Those choices were not necessarily made on the basis of the quality of the performances but with respect to such considerations as length and congruence of repertoire within an album.

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Art Pepper – So In Love (1980/2016) DSF DSD64

Art Pepper – So In Love (1980/2016)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 47:45 minutes | 1,90 GB | Genre: Jazz
Official Digital Download – Source: AcousticSounds | Digital Booklet | © Analogue Productions

This deluxe release from the classy (but long defunct) Artists House label, as with all of Art Pepper’s recordings of his comeback years, is easily recommended. Actually all of the music on So in Love has been reissued in greatly expanded form in Pepper’s massive 16-CD Galaxy box set. The original LP has lengthy versions of “So in Love,” “Stardust,” “Straight No Chaser” and two Pepper originals (“Diane” and “Blues for Blanche”). Assisted by two equally talented rhythm sections (pianists Hank Jones and George Cables, bassists Ron Carter and Charlie Haden, and drummers Al Foster and Billy Higgins), Pepper is in excellent form throughout the album, giving these songs heart-wrenching interpretations. ~~ AllMusic Review by Scott Yanow

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Art Pepper – New York Album (1979/2016) DSF DSD64

Art Pepper – New York Album (1979/2016)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 39:04 minutes | 1,59 GB | Genre: Jazz
Official Digital Download – Source: AcousticSounds | Digital Booklet | © Analogue Productions

New York Album is an album by saxophonist Art Pepper recorded in 1979 at the sessions that produced So in Love but not released on the Galaxy label until 1985.

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Art Lande – While She Sleeps: Piano Lullabies (2008) DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Art Lande – While She Sleeps: Piano Lullabies (2008)
DFF (DSD64) 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 45:56 minutes | Front Cover | 1,9 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000) 24bit/88.2 kHz | 796 MB
Piano, Jazz | Digital Download | Source: BlueCoastRecords.com

“This is truly a piano recording for piano lovers; I’m sure it’s going to get plenty of playing at CES and other audio shows. Even the standard CD layer sonics are exemplary”. — John Sunier, Audiophile Audition

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Art Farmer, Jim Hall – Big Blues (1978/2013) DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Art Farmer, Jim Hall – Big Blues (1978/2013)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 34:45 minutes | 1,37 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: e-Onkyo | Front Cover |  © CTI Records

Recorded at Electric Lady Studios in February 1978 and issued on the CTI label in 1978, Big Blues finds flugelhornist Art Farmer and guitarist Jim Hall pairing up for one of their first sessions together since their collaborations in the mid-60s and they literally don’t miss a beat. The unique quintet project is rounded out by Mike Mainieri (vibraphone), Michael Moore (bass) and Steve Gadd (drums) and the results are as relaxed as they are lyrical.

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Art Taylor – Taylor’s Wailers (1957) [Analogue Productions 2012] SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Art Taylor – Taylor’s Wailers (1957) [Analogue Productions 2012]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 Mono > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 40:49 minutes | Scans included | 1,65 GB
or DSD64 Mono (from SACD-ISO to Tracks.dsf) > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Basic Scans included | 1,62 GB
or FLAC 2.0 (carefully converted & encoded to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Basic Scans included | 897 MB

Taylor’s Wailers is the debut album by drummer Art Taylor, released in 1957 on Prestige. It features tracks recorded mainly on February 25, 1957 plus a track from a different session featuring John Coltrane.

Five of the six selections on this reissue feature drummer Art Taylor in an all-star sextet of mostly young players comprised of trumpeter Donald Byrd, altoist Jackie McLean, Charlie Rouse on tenor, pianist Ray Bryant, and bassist Wendell Marshall. Among the highpoints of the 1957 hard bop date are the original version of Bryant’s popular “Cubano Chant” and strong renditions of two Thelonious Monk tunes (“Off Minor” and “Well, You Needn’t”) cut just prior to the pianist/composer’s discovery by the jazz public. Bryant is the most mature of the soloists, but the three horn players were already starting to develop their own highly individual sounds. The remaining track (a version of Jimmy Heath’s “C.T.A.”) is played by the quartet of Taylor, tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, pianist Red Garland, and bassist Paul Chambers and is a leftover (although a good one) from another session.

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