Music
- album_review-
Download Roundup - David Bowie: The Next Day
|You’ve got to love it when a brand new album is released for download at virtually the same time as other formats. In this instance we find David Bowie, after a lengthy hiatus, reuniting with ...read more -
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The Roys: New Day Dawning
|Following their 2011 breakout bluegrass hit Lonesome Whistle, the sibling duo of Lee and Elaine Roy probe deeper into their songs on New Day Dawning, and that’s saying something. Bridging country and bluegrass, The Roys ...read more -
Sam Rivers: Fucshia Swing Song
|Years ago I heard the Sam Rivers trio at a miniscule San Francisco jazz club; it remains one of the most memorable live music experiences of my life, even though until I’d heard the Mosaic ...read more -
Download Roundup - Paul Simon: Graceland
|Unlike the LP, the original CD of Paul Simon’s watershed meld of African rhythms and American folk sensibilities is not all that great sounding. Simon’s voice is full and natural, as are the other-worldly harmonies ...read more -
Download Roundup - Leon Russell
|From the meltingly beautiful “A Song for You” to the raucous closer “Roll Away the Stone,” this is an essential album from the master of Delta blues/ rock. I don’t own the original CD, but ...read more -
Elvis Costello: My Aim Is True
|Although little can or needs to be said about Elvis Costello’s superb 1977 debut, My Aim is True, there’s plenty to say about Mobile Fidelity’s breathtaking new 180-gram vinyl release. As mastered by MoFi vet ...read more -
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Download Roundup - Grand Funk Railroad: We're an American Band
|As a teenager I worshipped GFR even as the critics scorned them. Now I’m a critic and I see what my forerunners were talking about. So why did I reviews these downloads, especially as I ...read more -
Artie Shaw: Classic Bluebird and Victor Sessions
|Seventy years after the fact, the argument about whether Artie Shaw was a better clarinetist than his arch-rival Benny Goodman continues to smolder. Clarinetists themselves are often awe- struck by Shaw’s impeccable tone and control, ...read more -
Bernard Herrmann: Hangover Square & Citizen Kane
|Thirty-five years after his death, American composer Bernard Herrmann (1911-75) is finally getting the recognition he deserves, along with credit for the irreplaceable role his music played in some of the greatest films of the ...read more -
Download Roundup - Recital: James Welch. Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 10
|Wilson Audiophile Recordings—dormant all these years—has chosen well for its first HD downloads. Recital: James Welch is a stunning recording of a modest-sized Flentrop organ. The program is mostly Bach, with a few less familiar ...read more -
Rosanne Cash: The List
|The List is a collection of country music classics bequeathed to Rosanne Cash shortly after her high school graduation by her father, Johnny Cash, who feared his daughter was lacking basic education in roots Americana. ...read more -
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Download Roundup - Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited
|Highway 61 Revisited includes several of Dylan’s most famous songs, including “Like a Rolling Stone” and, of course, the title track. Unsurprisingly, given its status in rock’s pantheon, the album exists in a mind-numbing mélange ...read more -
Bud Powell: Live in Geneva, 1962
|Bud Powell is often described as the man who first adopted Charlie Parker’s style to the piano, but this is simplistic. Parker didn’t invent modern jazz on his own: he was, rather, the central figure ...read more -
Holst: The Planets; Britten: The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
|With its lush orchestration, wide dynamics, and powerful climaxes, Gustav Holst’s The Planets is a natural audiophile favorite. Zubin Mehta’s 1971 version with the L.A. Philharmonic [Decca/London] has long been on TAS founder Harry Pearson’s ...read more -
Mark O'Connor, Chris Thile, Frank Vignola, et al.: Jam Session
|“Wow!” is about the most restrained response to hearing these six take off on nine stringed-instrument excursions into melody and improvisational dialoge across a broad musical spectrum of bluegrass, gypsy jazz, jump blues, swing, even ...read more