Afraid

While Mike Nichols' 1966 film of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? gets more frightening every time you watch it, Alexander North's score to the same film gets more consoling every time you hear it. Nichols' film, particularly the performances by Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, has scenes of terrific intensity, but North's score, though faithful to what's on screen, has a tenderness, even a sweetness, that transforms the ultimate meaning of the film. Part of it is North's characteristically evocative orchestration with some cues delicately scored for guitar, celesta, bass clarinet, harpsichord, and a pair of harps, while others are scored for spare almost spooky winds arrayed against soothing strings. But most of it is North's soaring melodies and brooding harmonies – and especially his big-hearted main theme. By prefiguring the film's reconciliatory ending, the solace offered by North's score transfigures all the horrors enacted between Taylor and Burton.

4CD/Blu-ray Deluxe Edition of the band’s acclaimed eight studio album includes new mixes, unheard studio outtakes, unreleased live tracks, plus a new documentary and interviews with the band about the album. The collection opens with a new version of the album that was remixed by Michael Hunter. It also includes the original mix by the album's producer Dave Meegan, a live recording of Marillion performing at the Rotterdam Ahoy arena on September 29, 1995 during the group's tour supporting Afraid of Sunlight.

Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass (2006) {Matador OLE 692-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 521 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 183 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 33 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2006 Matador Records | OLE 692-2
Rock / Indie Rock / Alternative / Dream Pop

After the elegant, introspective romantic narratives of And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out and the beautifully crafted but restrained pop textures of Summer Sun, it was hard not to wonder if Yo La Tengo was ever going to turn up the amps and let Ira Kaplan go nuts on guitar again. For more than a few fans "Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind," the opening cut from YLT's 2006 album I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, will feel like the reassuring sound of a homecoming – ten minutes of noisy six-string freak-out, with James McNew's thick, malleable basslines and Georgia Hubley's simple but subtly funky drumming providing a rock-solid framework for Kaplan's enthusiastic fret abuse.