Audiophile Digital

Stephen Stills
Stephen Stills
Atlantic/Analogue Productions CAPA074SA SACD

Stills’ eponymous, guest-laden debut from 1970 is, for my money, the finest of all the solo albums to come out of Buffalo Springfield or CSNY – yes, even above Neil Young’s output. Though now politically incorrect, the opening track ‘Love The One You’re With’ remains a true West Coast rock epic, while the then-25-year-old Stills was already a guitar virtuoso as evinced by ‘Black Queen’. Crosby and Nash, John Sebastian, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix – the cast list is peerless. This sublime SACD, from the Atlantic 75 series, has been remastered by Bernie Grundman, and I can only imagine that if you want better sound, you’ll need the 2LP release or – if you can find it – the pre-recorded reel-to-reel tape of 56 years’ vintage! KK

Sound Quality: 95%

Van Morrison
Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge
Orangefield EXILE0003CD CD

A happy-sounding Van Morrison? How can it be? His latest, 48th solo album and (I think) third consisting mainly of cover versions, gives you nearly 80 minutes of delightful reworkings of 16 blues/R&B gems and four originals. The material ranges from familiar classics to deeper cuts, eg, Fats Domino’s ‘Ain’t That A Shame’ and B.B. King’s ‘Rock Me Baby’ to John Lee Hooker’s ‘Deep Blue Sea’ and Lead Belly’s ‘On A Monday’. The guests feature A-list bluesmen Buddy Guy, Elvin Bishop and Taj Mahal, while the arrangements are majestic, including gorgeous backing vocals in a gospel vein. Forget Van trying to out-miserable Leonard Cohen, for this really is an absolute joy. KK

Sound Quality: 90%

Various Artists
Sound And Silence
Él Records ACME3CD381 (three discs)

If you like to file your discs according to genre, this 3CD set might confuse as it features ‘Four Pioneering Modernist Italian Composers’ but the works include soundtrack scores, opera, radio plays and even The Swingle Singers. Most familiar is Ennio Morricone of ‘Spaghetti Western’ fame, who fills CD1 while the other two include sessions from Luciano Berio, noted for electronic music, Bruno Maderna who worked in numerous genres, and Luigi Nono for avant-garde classical. Intriguingly for this scribe, a couple of the tracks are subtitled ‘For Magnetic Tape’, then possibly a buzz-word as these recordings date from the 1950s-1960s. KK

Sound Quality: 85%

Garret T. Willie
Bill’s Café
Gulf Coast Records GCRX9070CD CD

Like Kingfish [HFN Feb ’26], Garret is a twentysomething blues revivalist who belies his age by sounding like a 50-year-old on his third divorce. For his second album, the Canadian headed to Nashville, so the sound stands apart from Chicago or the Delta, with a hint of contemporary C&W. The title pays homage to his grandfather’s pool hall café in Alert Bay, British Columbia, so the vibe is ‘displaced juke joint’ and it works beautifully. The nine originals cover a few blues styles but in the main this is heavily rock-inflected (think ZZ Top). It’s produced by Grammy-winner Tom Hambridge, who worked with Buddy Guy, and, yes, Kingfish. Also on red vinyl [GCRX9070LP]. KK

Sound Quality: 90%