Chris Spheeris & Paul Voudouris Enchantment (1991) [repost]

Listening to Chris Spheeris' gently rhythmic but ultimately sleepy flamenco guitar based Eros, you might think you've stumbled upon outtakes from Jesse Cook or today's current master of easygoing pop flamenco, Ottmar Liebert. But those two usually have the keen sense to vary the tempo just enough to avoid each tune from bleeding into the next they'd never create a whole album of lullabies. A noted new age multi-instrumentalist who plays everything here himself, Spheeris' intention seems to be not to excite much passion, just to go with the flow and create some charming, acoustic guitar based bedroom music. An insert photo of him playing a secondary instrument, accordian, as a couple chats at an outdoor café bears this out…

In 1988 Paul Mauriat recorded a new versions of their famous tunes, using modern digital technologies and electronic musical instruments. At the same time not only were new shades of the famous sound of the orchestra, Paul Mauriat recorded new arrangements of the original beautiful and surprisingly harmonious music. Almost every track here is among the best from Paul Mauriat: Love Is Blue, Penelope, El Bimbo, Nocturne, Toccata, Song for Anna, La Reine de Saba, Minuetto, Last Summer Day, etc.

Palace Springs is a Hawkwind live/studio album taken from a 1989 performance at LA's Palace Theatre, preceded by two studio tracks recorded in a mobile studio at around the same time. In terms of its musical style, the studio material seems to be a continuation of the sound found on The Xenon Codex as well as showcasing the talents of new vocalist Bridgett Wishart; the same is true of the live set, which finds the band giving refreshing updates to a chunk of their old repertoire. There are really no weak cuts here, and it all flows very well, creating a rather fluid listening experience. The "Void of Golden Light"/"Lives of Great Men" set is particularly powerful.

This three-CD box set currently rates as the best - and most digestible - overview of Howlin' Wolf's career. Disc one starts with the Memphis sides that eventually brought him to the label, including hits like "How Many More Years," but also compiling unissued sides that had previously only been available on vinyl bootlegs of dubious origin and fidelity. The disc finishes with an excellent cross section of early Chicago sessions, including classic Wolf tracks like "Evil," "Forty Four," "I'll Be Around," and "Who Will Be Next?" Disc two picks it up from there, guiding listeners from mid- to late-'50s barnburners like "The Natchez Burning" and "I Better Go Now" to the bulk of the Willie Dixon classics. The final disc runs out the last of the Dixon sessions into mid-'60s classics like "Killing Floor," taking the listener to a nice selection of his final recordings…

Walker was hot enough over the course of a two-day stand at Slim's in San Francisco to warrant the issue of two full albums from the dates. The first is a sizzling combination of past triumphs, new items, and covers of Clifton Chenier's "Hot Tamale Baby," Junior Wells' "Little By Little" (with Huey Lewis, no less, on harp), and a saucy duet with Angela Strehli on the old Fontella Bass/Bobby McClure rocker "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing."

Paul Giger - Alpstein (1991) {ECM 1426]
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 292 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 146 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 74 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1991 ECM Records | ECM 1426
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Chamber Music / Folk Jazz / Violin

Violin virtuoso Paul Giger revisits his roots with this, his second solo recording, Alpstein, which features pieces for violin, saxophone, and percussion based on the folk traditions of the Alpstein region of Switzerland. Three pieces here are entitled "Zäuerli" – named after the sad majestic "natur yodel" tradition of the Outer Rhoden region. These are sweeping and majestic with high harmonic bowstrokes. This recording features the saxophone work of Jan Garbarek and the percussion of Pierre Favre. Both add an incredible warmth to the recording on the pieces they are featured on, most notably "Alpsegen" with its soaring sax lines and manic percussion. Also notable is "Chlauseschuppel," featuring the sounds of cowbells specific to that region. Informative booklet included.

The first two works are for viola and a battery of percussion instruments. Pourtinade, in nine sections with highly descriptive titles whose order is decided by the performers, elicits every possible sound and color effect from the viola, and an extraordinary range of blending and contrasting textural timbres from the instrumental combinations. "Redwood," inspired by Japanese woodcuts, uses the percussion as melody instruments; often it seems incredible that a single player can produce such a wealth of sounds. Opening softly and mysteriously, it becomes quite active, and then a beautiful viola solo fades away. The Shostakovich Sonata, written in the shadow of death, is heartbreakingly moving in its lamentatious mournfulness and turbulently desperate outbursts. The piano texture is pared down to skeletal spareness; the viola mourns in the dark low register and soars radiantly up high. The Scherzo is defiantly sardonic; the Finale, full of quotes from Beethoven, ends in resignation. The playing is beautiful and projects the changing moods with a riveting, inwardly experienced expressiveness.