Hi-Res Downloads

Ralph Towner with Glen Moore
Trios/Solos (96kHz/24-bit, FLAC; WAV)
www.ecmrecords.com; ECM 1025

This 1972 album is unmistakably a period piece, with more than one lapse into ‘of its time’ self-indulgent noodlage, but it still sounds superb in this ECM transfer from analogue tape to 96kHz/24-bit files. In fact, this was the now-84-year-old guitarist’s debut for the label, partnered with the members of his band – oboist Paul McCandless and tabla player Colin Walcott appear here and there, but bassist Glen Moore is an omnipresent driving force. For every dreamy head-swayer there’s a more direct track such as ‘1x12’, while the cover of Bill Evans’s ‘Re: Person I Knew’, with Towner on both guitar and piano and deft bass from Moore, is simply gorgeous. Yes, it’s probably what many would describe as a ‘very ECM album’, but it’s hard to argue with the musicianship on display here, or the sheer quality of the recording, allowing all concerned to shine and producing truly demo-worthy sonics. AE

Sound Quality: 90%

Lab Report
This 1972 analogue recording, digitised at 96kHz/24-bit via a Studer A820, has peaks ranging from –6.8dB to –1.0dB and a far wider dynamic range than most new digital recordings we see! The ~20kHz bandwidth is set by the master tape. PM

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Skinny Lister
Shanty Punk (96kHz/24-bit, WAV)
www.xtramilerecordings.com; Xtra Mile Recordings XMR184

For reasons far too complex to go into here, I’ve been listening to plenty of shanties of late, and while I’m neither a piscatoris amicus nor a habitual gansey-wearer, I admit to considerable enjoyment of this album. It’s the sixth by London band Skinny Lister, formed after meeting at a folk club in Greenwich almost 15 years ago. Despite being a polished product, Shanty Punk has all the vitality of the second set of the evening, when a band wants to get the audience up and joining in. All 11 tracks are originals, but sound like they should be standards everyone will know, and have just the right raucous energy to come up fresh on repeated listening. Fisherman’s Friends it isn’t, and shanty purists may not approve, but having recently encountered another shanty outfit offering covers of ‘Uptown Funk’ and ‘Wannabe’ in its set, clearly anything goes – and this one is a blast. AE

Sound Quality: 85%

Lab Report
Receiving a ‘mastering polish’ at Abbey Road Studios this folk/punk set punches its way to peaks of –0.3dBFs on all tracks. Dynamic range is squeezed and while the final file is at 96kHz, the 28kHz response hints at some analogue intervention. PM

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Jeff Babko, Tim Lefebvre, Mark Guiliana
Clam City (96kHz/24-bit, WAV)*
www.samfirstrecords.com; Sam First Records SFR-004

While this set, recorded by pianist Babko, drummer Guiliana and bassist Lefebvre live at LA’s Sam First cocktail lounge/jazz club/recording studio, certainly swings, it seems to have something of an identity crisis. Five of the eight tracks are from an album called Clam City, three have no title metadata, and the info sheet from the label is entitled Clam City but refers to the title as Calm City. Anyway, despite PM’s surprise at the midstream change in sampling rate and bit depth [see Lab section, below], this set has an immediacy to its sound that’s hard not to like, opening gently with ‘The Church Of Bill Hilton’ on piano before the rhythm section kicks down a gear and drives harder, a trick the trio employs on more than one further occasion. This isn’t the most demanding jazz album you’ll ever hear, but the time passes agreeably enough. AE

Sound Quality: 80%

Lab Report
Recorded live at Sam First, the first three tracks here are at 96kHz/24-bit while trks 4-8 [black spectrum] are at 44.1kHz/16-bit (CD). Peaks are typically at or below –1dBFs while the CD files have slightly better dynamic range. PM

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Notilus
II (44.1kHz/24-bit, WAV)
www.denovali.com; Denovali DEN378

Quite possibly not named after the way their countrymen pronounce the name of Captain Nemo’s submarine, French quintet Notilus is one of those outfits whose sound defies simplistic classification. One minute it’s woozy brass, the next – or more often than not, at the same time – it’s a dubstep beat or other echo of dance culture. Then there’s the phasey production and grinding synth-bass lines not so far from Kraftwerk’s evocation of passing traffic, all adding up to an album where every turn is a surprise. The big centrepiece is ‘Dool’, epic in scale – and in length at 8:37 – yet driven by a dubby beat that holds the attention. And then, just when you think you’ve got the mark of this outfit, it throws a metaphorical ‘bof’, no doubt with a shrug, and wanders off into the ambient ‘Descent-Memories-Ascent’ sequence that closes the album. It’s all a little bit odd, but really rather wonderful. AE

Sound Quality: 80%

Lab Report
Although this is a 24-bit recording – the 20kHz response limited by the 44.1kHz sample rate – all tracks show peaks above –1dB. Moreover, with peak-to-RMS ratios of between 8-10dB, the available dynamic range is not well used. PM

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Hilary Gardner
On The Trail With The Lonesome Pines (48kHz/24-bit, WAV)
www.anzicrecords.com; Anzic Records ANZ–0089–02

If you find yourself putting your tongue up into the roof of your mouth and making the ‘clip clop’ sound of a faithful nag treading the long path while listening to this album, don’t be surprised – Gardner’s lockdown project was this collection of ‘trail songs’. Canyons call, the moonlight plays on the river at night, and yes there are the inevitable ‘’lil dawgies’ in there somewhere as the album meanders through the nostalgia of its lonesome dozen tracks, complete with reverberant guitars, brushed skins, and the whole shebang. It’s all very what Americana was before it was a thing, but in creating its artificially aged sound, the production seems to have paid tribute to the deficiencies of old recordings: there’s distortion rather than those archetypal soft guitars, and Gardener’s voice is curiously recessed at times. Pity, that... AE

Sound Quality: 75%

Lab Report
Every track on this 48kHz release is normalised to a high –0.4dB and while dynamic range is adequate there’s compression on Hilary’s vocal. Given the nature of this ‘historical document’ this might be deliberate scene setting! PM