TRIO is a varied and balanced program of material. Grant, like so many of the better musicians of his generation, has a knack for resurrecting jazz compositions from the ‘50s and ‘60s that are overlooked gems. Freddie Redd’s typically sunny “A Time To Smile” from “The Connection” cover that territory here. “Everything I Love” is medium-up but joyous and swinging with a delightful danceable groove that Phil lays down on the ride cymbal. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s “Is That All There Is” is their 1969 ode to ennui in a bid to be seen as more than R & B songwriters. It was recorded in “grande dame” style by Peggy Lee and became a big hit. Here the trio mercifully leaves the drama on the theatre stage and fashions the great melody in an easy, cool swing much the way Sonny Rollins made cowboy songs sound hip on “Way Out West.”…

When Aussie blues legend Matt Taylor departed from Australia’s premier blues rock band Chain in 1971 he went off to live on a farm in Beechworth (Victoria) where he began writing songs about nature and the search for a more spiritual existence. He released his first solo album Straight As A Die in August 1973, which had been recorded in an open paddock at Kingston Park Farm, hit the Top Ten in Melbourne. Note that his single "I Remember When I Was Young" didn't actually appear on the vinyl release in 1973, but was included on the CD release in 1997.

Emmylou Harris - Hard Bargain (2011) [CD+DVD] {Nonesuch Records Deluxe Edition}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 340 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 127 Mb
DVD5 -> 1.75 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 16:9 | Dolby AC3, 2 ch | ~ 29m | ISO Image
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 23 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2011 Nonesuch Records / Warner | 7599-79767-8
Country / Contemporary Country / Progressive Country / Alt-Country

Emmlyou Harris's Hard Bargain was released April 26, 2011, on Nonesuch Records. The album follows Harris’s acclaimed 2008 release, All I Intended to Be, which received widespread acclaim—Newsweek called it an album that “shows that Harris is still the stalwart songbird at the top of the roost.” Hard Bargain, which comprises 11 new songs by Harris as well as two covers, was produced by Jay Joyce (Cage the Elephant, Patty Griffin). A deluxe edition of the album includes a DVD featuring six performances interspersed with interviews.

Marcel Dupré - Ben van Oosten - Organ Works Vol. 6
Casavant-Organ, Église Saint-Jean-Bapstiste, Montréal
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 196 MB | Full Artwork: 109 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Gold" # 316 1288-2 | Country/Year: Germany 2004
Genre: Classical | Style: 20th Century, Organ

"…In many ways Dupré may be viewed as a 'Paganini' of the organ - being a virtuoso of the highest order, he contributed extensively to the development of technique (both in his organ music and in his pedagogical works) although, like Paganini, his music is relatively unknown to musicians other than those who play the instrument for which the music was written. A fair and objective critique of his music should take into account the fact that, occasionally, the emphasis on virtuosity and technique can be detrimental to the musical content and substance. However, his more successful works combine this virtuosity with a high degree of musical integrity, qualities found in works such as the Symphonie-Passion, the Chemin de la Croix, the Preludes and Fugues, the Esquisses and Évocation, and the Cortège et Litanie…" ~wikipedia

The second full lenght CD of the Spanish band Mass Burial will be a must for the lovers of the old school death metal in the vein of bands as Nihilist, Entombed, Carnage… with the amazing art of Juanjo Castellano.

Sir Andrew Davis and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra perform in this release which celebrates the relationship of Delius with his spiritual home, Norway. It features works inspired by the country’s landscape and culture, many bearing the influence of Delius’s great friend and mentor Edvard Grieg. Delius first performed Sleigh Ride on the piano to a close group of friends, including Grieg. Orchestrated later under the title Winter Night, it went on to become Delius’s most popular miniature. The Norwegian Suite was commissioned as incidental music to the satirical play Folkeraadet. Delius’s clever use of the Norwegian national anthem throughout the score, however skilful, was seen as an insult to national sensibilities and uproar ensued, eventually forcing Delius to withdraw the music. Eventyr, translated as ‘Tales of Adventure’, evokes the spirit of Norwegian folk-tales. Delius applies some of his most imaginative orchestral strokes as he portrays a supernatural world of trolls, giants, demons, and pixies. Despite its brevity, On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring is one of Delius’s sublime achievements, a perfect translation of nature and mood into music. Norwegian soprano Ann-Helen Moen joins the orchestral forces in Two Songs from the Norwegian.

IN THE LAST DECADES of the fourteenth century, composers working in the French tradition were sometimes musicians of profligate imagination. In addition to polyrhythms, extravagant melodic sequences and sudden dissonances, they sometimes created a sense of forward momentum in their compositions by sheer crowding of the texture, a legacy reaching back to the leading composer of the French Ars nova, Guillaume de Machaut (d1377). The music of Machaut, represented here by the exotic four-part ballade, Il m’est avis, was still being enjoyed in Italy around 1430 according to the theorist Ugolino of Orvieto, and even the most flamboyant aspects of late fourteenth-century style, fostered by Machaut’s successors, did not perish entirely in the 1400s.

This is the second instalment in our series devoted to Tchaikovsky’s three great ballets. The first recording, of The Sleeping Beauty, was praised upon its release, described by a reviewer in American Record Guide as ‘one of the finest I’ve heard’. Here Neeme Järvi and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra present the complete version of Swan Lake, with the pre-eminent James Ehnes lending his magic to the violin solos. This was Tchaikovsky’s first full-length ballet, but its premiere in 1877, staged at Moscow’s Bolshoy Theatre, was by no means a resounding success. According to most accounts, the choreography was inept, the shabby sets and costumes were borrowed from other productions, and the orchestral playing was poor. Most ballet companies today base their productions on the 1895 revival by the distinguished choreographer Marius Petipa. Although this revival has been seen as more ‘danceable’, one may argue that the overall cuts and reordering ultimately destroyed Tchaikovsky’s ground plan of drama and tonality. Here we present Tchaikovsky’s original Bolshoy score of twenty-nine numbers across four acts, along with two supplementary numbers which Tchaikovsky provided not long after the premiere.

Omni was founded in the late 80's, by three core members: Mike Starry (lead guitar), Salvador Velez (rhythm guitar) and Jose Luis Alagaba (bass). New drummer Ismael Colon entered the band in September 2001. Their progressive style is fed from the symphonic parameters of Camel and Genesis, incorporating clear ethnic cut environments and Spanish folklore. "Tras El Puente" is actually a selection of demos recorded between 1990 and 1993. Lots of good jams, reminding of some of the late 70's German bands. With "El Vals De Los Duendes" (2002), their second album seem to be more focused and a bit more developed, and they are still firmly rooted in the 70's classically-oriented style (with Spanish folk influences)…