14 Numara Number 14 (1985) [repost]

Whitney Houston is the eponymous debut album of American R&B and pop singer Whitney Houston. It was released on February 14, 1985, by Arista Records. The album initially had a slow commercial response, but began getting more popular in the summer of 1985, and it eventually topped the Billboard 200 for 14 weeks in 1986, generated three number-one singles — "Saving All My Love for You", "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love of All". The album in these very rare cases, it began to enjoyed the global success by a new black female artist, topping the albums chart in many countries such as Canada, Australia, Norway and Sweden, peaking at number 2 in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Switzerland. The album was certified diamond for shipments of 10 million units or more on March 16, 1999, and later 13× platinum in America on July 29, 1999, making it one of the top 100 best-selling albums in the United States. It has sold over 30 million copies worldwide. In 2003, the album was ranked number 254 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Many of the Manhattan Transfer's recordings up to the point of Vocalese showed off their diversity and covered a wide variety of music, including jazz. This set was quite a bit different, for it is dedicated to the vocalese of the great Jon Hendricks. The Manhattan Transfer (singers Cheryl Bentyne, Tim Hauser, Alan Paul and Janis Siegel) perform a dozen songs using Hendricks' lyrics, including "That's Killer Joe," "Rambo," "Ray's Rockhouse" and "Sing Joy Spring." Utilizing their regular band of the period (which includes guitarist Wayne Johnson), the Count Basie Orchestra (directed at the time by Thad Jones), the Four Freshmen (on "To You"), tenorman James Moody, Bobby McFerrin (guesting on "Night in Tunisia"), McCoy Tyner, Dizzy Gillespie (on "Sing Joy Spring"), altoist Richie Cole, and Hendricks himself, among many others, the Transfer give these boppish tunes definitive vocal treatments. This is one of their finest jazz recordings and a classic of its kind.

Haze was formed in 1978 by brothers Chris and Paul McMahon and were one of a handful of groups in the late 70's/early 80's who embraced progressive rock and formed the neo-prog movement in the UK.
Despite the release of their first ever LP and the relatively good success many UK Neo Prog bands were tasting in mid-80's, Haze still struggled to come on the surface regarding their promotion, remaining a pretty underground band yet with a solid fan base. However they toured the whole UK, gigging endlessly and in 1985 another one of the many cassette releases of Haze entitled "The Cellar Replay" sees the light…

Maestro Dutoit and his orchestra really make Berlioz' orchestral showpiece glow in all of its colorful splendour, but with enough tenderness and warm lyricism in the more reflective, dreamy parts. But 'Un bal' really sways and swaggers with appropriate grandiloquence. The 'Scene aux champs' is played wonderfully poised and concentrated, but with a lot of warmth as well, helped of course by the mellifluous, wonderfully blended tone of the orchestra.

French synthesizer guru Jean-Michel Jarre brought progressive electronic music to the mainstream, releasing several best-selling albums that helped pave the way for synth pop, new age, and trance, in addition to performing extravagant, record-breaking concerts. He became a household name following the release of 1976's Oxygène, a home-recorded synth odyssey that eventually sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. Following its success, he began staging large-scale outdoor concerts featuring laser displays and fireworks, breaking the world record for concert attendance three times. He became the first Western artist to perform in China, and the events were documented on the 1982 release The Concerts in China…

The set of Inventions being reviewed here doesn’t suffer from any of these flaws – they are refined and musical and sound like Schiff is enjoying himself while playing them. The 2nd of the Three-Part Inventions is a sad, reflective piece in C minor and Schiff executes it with sensitivity and finesse, with a careful ear for the balance of the voices , with the upward and downward scale that Bach includes inserted into the texture with elegance. The next Invention, in D major, is completely different in feeling and Schiff makes it dance.