LATEST ADDITIONS

A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Apr 13, 2016
Take an artist known for her velvety, soulful voice, add in some class musicians and acclaimed producer Larry Klein, who’s worked with the likes of Tracy Chapman, Madeleine Peyroux, Melody Gardot and Joni Mitchell, and you’re probably onto a winner. That’s exactly the case with this, Lizz Wright’s fifth album, mixing a number of self-composed numbers with two covers: a gospelled-up version of the Bee Gees hit ‘To Love Somebody’ and an unnerving take on Nick Drake’s ‘River Man’, accompanied by Till Brönner on flugelhorn. Wright’s classy, expressive vocals are well-served by Klein’s clean production, imbuing the set with a warm, generous sound. Musicians include Dean Parks and Klein on guitars, Pete Kuzma and Kenny Banks on keyboards, Dan Lutz on bass, and Vinnia Colaiuta and Pete Korpula on drums and percussion.
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Apr 13, 2016
OK, so Scott Oracle’s début album for the famous Blue Note jazz label lives up to its title by opening with drums, but this isn’t a typical drummer’s album, with the tub-thumping all but dominating the mix to the detriment of the other performers. Yes, there are the inevitable drum solos, but this is much more of an ensemble set, with Scott joined by saxophonist John Ellis, keyboardist Taylor Eigsti, guitarist Mike Moreno, and bassist Joe Sanders, along with vocalist Lizz Wright. Scott seemed happy to play his part in the band rather than being the star turn. As he puts it, ‘The accent is on “we” in the title.
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Apr 13, 2016
The Milanese Giovanni Antonini, like Frans Brüggen, came to conducting via the baroque recorder; he was also co-founder of Il Giardino Armonico. So it’s not surprising to find his Beethoven the very antithesis of Karajan’s: a dry attack with sharp dynamic differentiation. (Wonderful how the concerto steals in from nowhere!) Recorded in the modern Luxembourg Philharmonie, the players patently give their all for him. The two ‘serious’ overtures are the most satisfying tracks here, but that’s only because Sony has frequently given the soloists too much prominence in the Triple Concerto – Gabetta being one of its ‘star’ signings.
Steve Sutherland  |  Apr 01, 2016
Once a club hosting variety acts and darts championships, in the '80s it embraced the spirit of rock, bringing acts enjoying sudden fame in the London-centric music press to the ears of a music-loving Midlands crowd. Steve Sutherland has the story of Rock City

We've got to start somewhere so why not with Gaye Bykers On Acid? The Bykers were from Leicester, had a singer called Ian who called himself Mary and were members of what the music press back in the late 1980s called Grebo, which meant you came from the Midlands, had a thing for denim and leather and wore your hair in a mess of dreadlocks.

A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Mar 11, 2016
This album does just what it says on the tin – well, sort of. For while Elias did return to the country of her birth to rehearse and record this set, other elements were recorded in the USA and the UK, giving the whole thing a slightly ‘samba by the numbers’ feel. Yes, it’s desperately commercial, and focuses the attention on the obviously very talented pianist/vocalist. However, the over-lush strings, which swell and shimmer away in the background, and without which the sound would have lost very little, do give this set a bit too much of the ‘latin Diana Krall’ effect.
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Mar 11, 2016
In a lengthy booklet essay Manfred Honeck explains all his interpretative decisions: live recording, a large orchestra with divided violins, pizzicati continued right to the end of 7(ii) – as suggested to him by Kleiber when Honeck was an orchestral violinist – and various minutiae, with timing/bar reference details. He writes about changing styles since the very first recordings of No 5 in 1910/13. But – oh dear! – the motto theme in the first movement is slowed for every appearance: that’s a write-off for me, I’m afraid. There is also a distracting rhythmic pattern unearthed in the finale, 9m10s-9m 19s.
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Mar 11, 2016
Taking its title from the idea that ‘Music starts and then you have to broadcast, listen, share, make quick decisions… so as to turn this four-person adventure into one’, this album could so easily have become another one of those exercises in indulgent, meandering music. Fortunately, though, pianist Angelini has here partnered with some clearly very talented musicians – Régis Huby on violins and electronics, bassist Claude Tchamitchian and Edward Perraud on drums and percussion – to come up with a constantly interesting set of originals and homages to the likes of Wayne Shorter. Full of sonic light and shade, it was recorded with excellent clarity and powerful dynamics by Gérard de Haro at Studio La Buissonne, on whose house label it’s released, and yes, it delivers a very real sense of musical exploration to keep the listener hooked. AE Sound Quality: 80% Hi-Fi News Lab Report This is an 88.
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Mar 11, 2016
96kHz/24-bit & 16-bit, FLAC, Harmonia Mundi HMC 902181. 82 (supplied by www. eclassical. com) For these 2013 Freiburg Ensemblehaus recordings of the seven keyboard concertos with strings – BWV1057 more familiar as the Fourth Brandenburg, BWV1054 and 1058 derived from violin concertos – Staier has chosen a modern copy of a 1734 Hass instrument.
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Mar 11, 2016
Sounding much more like a Pink Floyd album than last year’s ‘Endless Album’ of cutting-room sweepings [Endless River; reviewed here], David Gilmour’s first solo outing for almost a decade has all the familiar traits and musical clues to keep the faithful more than happy. There’s the soaring guitar, and little things like the title track fading out into steam-hammer-like industrial sounds. Similarly, the track ‘Faces Of Stone’ might well have come from any Floyd album you care to mention. And Mrs Gilmour, Polly Samson, can write perfectly Floydesque lyrics! With exemplary production and sound, and a guest roster encompassing David Crosby and Graham Nash, Robert Wyatt and Jools Holland, this is just what you might expect from David Gilmour as he approaches the ripe age of 70 – although some might suggest that’s both its greatest strength and its major weakness.
Steve Sutherland  |  Mar 01, 2016
The Beatles' record-breaking appearance at a multi-purpose sports arena in one of the most densly populated boroughs of New York was to kick-start a revolution known as stadium rock. Steve Sutherland brings you the tale of Shea Stadium in Queens

Overpaid, oversexed and over here' – that's the phrase we Brits coined to describe the American servicemen who were fortunate enough to be stationed in the British Isles during World War II.

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