"keyed Shaft"

Starting as a five-piece folk-band, Dando Shaft initiated a completely unique mixture of acoustic folk with driving rhythms and impeccable inventive musicianship. The lyrics are largely concerned with the relationship between man and nature. They marvel in complicated structures and textures and are able to weave very intricate patterns, especially between mandolin (played in a highly original manner), guitar and violin. Very characteristic is also the combination of hand-beaten percussion and double-bass. After a change of label they acquired the services of a female singer, Polly Bolton, who had a pure and very expressive voice.

High quality all acoustic folk is what we find on Dando Shaft's 1971 release. The complicated rhythmic fabrics - woven together by intricate guitar, mandolin and violin, and joined by the expressive vocals of Polly Bolton - create unique progressive folk atmospheres that are definitely some of the best of the period. This reissue also features four bonus tracks, including the original demo for 'Spring Clog Dance', 'Lullabyl', 'Thruxton' & 'Sun Clog Dance'.

Väsen - Keyed Up (2004) {NorthSide NSD6080}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 394 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 130 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 68 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2004 NorthSide / Väsen and East Side | NSD6080
Folk / Nordic Folk / Sweden / Acoustic

Credit Väsen with the urge to keep their music fresh. This time around they entered the studio without much preparation, only brief rehearsals to familiarize themselves with the tunes – all originals for this outing. The arrangements they'd worked out were rudimentary at best. Instead, they chose to rely on spontaneity and an empathy built from years of playing to create an intricate sound. Recording live with just one or two takes for each tune, the group made a gamble that paid off in full. A single listen to a piece like "Glada Polsken" is evidence that they're all musicians of great technique and inspiration, able to weave lines around each other as if it had all been carefully worked out to the last note. And there's a palpable joy for them in walking this knife edge.

2014 release, the fourth solo album from the British keyboardist. Airey has been a member of Deep Purple since 2002 but has also worked with a long list of other artists including Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Whitesnake, Saxon, Wishbone Ash, Steve Vai, Michael Schenker, Rainbow, Thin Lizzy, Brian May and many others. The album features many of Dons friends and peers and, sadly, represents one of the very last times that Gary Moore recorded a guitar part. He features on Adagio and also on Mini Suite, which is dedicated to his memory.

Of the many wonderful blaxploitation soundtracks to emerge during the early '70s, Shaft certainly deserves mention as not only one of the most lasting but also one of the most successful. Isaac Hayes was undoubtedly one of the era's most accomplished soul artists, having helped elevate Stax to its esteemed status; therefore, his being chosen to score such a high-profile major-studio film shouldn't seem like a surprise. And with "Theme from Shaft," he delivered an anthem just as ambitious and revered as the film itself, a song that has only grown more treasured over the years, after having been an enormously popular hit at the time of its release. Besides this song, though, there aren't too many more radio-targeted moments here. "Soulsville" operates effectively as the sort of downtempo ballad Hayes was most known for, just as the almost 20-minute "Do Your Thing" showcased just how impressive the Bar-Kays had become, stretching the song to unseen limits with their inventive, funky jamming.