Auto Express From 28 January 2015

Tears for Fears' biggest-selling album, Songs from the Big Chair is now available in its most spectacular format. This six disc edition of the album includes newly remastered versions of classics songs like 'Everybody Wants To Rule the World,' 'Mother's Talk,' 'Shout' and 'Head over Heels,' plus a multitude of remixes and B-sides, plus a disc of nine previously unreleased tracks and a 5.1 surround sound version of the album mixed by renowned musician and audio engineer Steven Wilson…

On Soli, Tamsin Waley-Cohen's 2015 release on Signum Classics, the violinist explores modernist repertoire composed between 1944 and 2005. Because these solo violin pieces by Béla Bartók, George Benjamin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Elliott Carter, and György Kurtág are challenging for both the player and the listener, one should approach this CD with some awareness that they reflect different phases of the avant-garde movement that dominated music in the last half of the 20th century.

The Vintage Caravan are a mystery. »Arrival«, the third full-length from this Icelandic trio implies a maturity worthy of any band that has been on the road for some decades and enjoyed their share of smoked-filled seedy backstage rooms reeking of stale beer. A relaxed rocker like ‘Winter Queen’, with its perfectly-timed build-up and meticulous solos speaks of a long-experienced songwriter worth his salt. The blues-soaked ‘Monolith’ is as cleverly assembled as the percussion-driven heavyweight ‘Last Day Of Light’ or the shapeshifting semi-ballad, half-groove monster ‘Eclipsed’, or the whirling psychedelic trip offered by ‘Babylon’. The hand of a masterful composer can clearly be seen at work in each and every of the diverse songs featured on »Arrival« combined with a rare musicality on the instrumental and vocal side that can easily match those rock giants of the 70's. Yet that hand belongs to a kid or rather kids barely out of their teens.

The Tirith are one of the new UK-based Progressive / Classic Rock Bands. The band has a long history stretching back to the 70s, the present band reformed in 2010 and have been playing festivals and select gigs since 2011. The band is known for playing a wide variety of music within the Progressive genre and beyond. “Tales From The Tower” is a rare album of real songs performed, interpreted and recorded in the modern progressive idiom, and features the songs of Tim Cox and Richard Cory. Most of the songs on this album are from the time of the first incarnation of The Tirith, they are the classic Tirith songs of our youth.

This aptly named set was recorded on November 28, 1972, in Barcelona, Spain. Although many of Ben Webster's European sessions suffered when compared to his American ones, this outing is one of the exceptions, due in no small part to the fluid piano work of Tete Montoliu. Supported by a rhythm section of Eric Peter on bass and Peer Wyboris on drums, both Webster and Montoliu have plenty of room to breathe, and the result is a wonderful and pleasant set highlighted by the opening track, "Ben's Blues," and an easy, elegant version of "Sweet Georgia Brown." Webster's trademark breathy tenor sax tone is in full supply here, but the real revelation is Montoliu, who proves to be a marvelous jazz pianist, making Gentle Ben somewhat of an overlooked gem.

Canned Heat are celebrating in 2015 their 50th birthday. Since 1967 Adolfo Fito de la Parra is the drummer and Larry The Mole Taylor on bass and guitar was in periods always in the line-up. Together they are the force and musicians who keep The Heat alive; on tour and by recordings…

Dave Douglas Quintet - Brazen Heart (2015) {Greenleaf Music GRE-CD-1044}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 403 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 155 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 9 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2015 Greenleaf Music | GRE-CD-1044
Jazz / Modern Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Creative / Trumpet

A few years ago the trumpeter-composer Dave Douglas released “Be Still,” a beautifully poignant album made in response to the loss of his mother. The album also formally unveiled his new band, a young quintet with the creative resources to hit the ground running. “Brazen Heart,” Mr. Douglas’s assured new release, showcases the same group at a more advanced stage in its evolution, as he again tries to transcend grief with art.

Jack DeJohnette - Made In Chicago (2015) {ECM 2392}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 379 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 186 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 78 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2015 ECM Records | ECM 2392
Jazz / Post Bop / Modern Creative / Drums

With Made In Chicago, an exhilarating live album, Jack DeJohnette celebrates a reunion with old friends. In 1962, DeJohnette, Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill were all classmates at Wilson Junior College on Chicago’s Southside, pooling energies and enthusiasms in jam sessions. Shortly thereafter Jack joined Muhal Richard Abrams’ Experimental Band, and Roscoe and Henry soon followed him. When Abrams cofounded the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians in 1965, DeJohnette, Mitchell and Threadgill were all deeply involved, presenting concerts and contributing to each other’s work under the AACM umbrella.