Dead Alive

Rodrigo Y Gabriela - 9 Dead Alive (2014) {CD+DVD5 NTSC Rubyworks RWXCD110}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 258 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 96 Mb
DVD5 -> 4.21 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 16:9 | Dolby AC3, 2 ch/6 ch / LPCM, 2 ch | ~ 85m | ISO Image
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 52 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2014 Rubyworks Ltd. | RWXCD110
Guitar Virtuoso / Contemporary Flamenco / Finger-Picked Guitar / Instrumental Rock / Latin Rock / Acoustic

Rodrigo y Gabriela's 9 Dead Alive is their first album of new material in five years. Written, arranged, and co-produced by the pair, they deliberately attempt to forgo the Latin influence in their music in favor of an all-rock (albeit still acoustic) approach – which marks a return to their pre-recording roots in heavy metal. (That they don't entirely succeed is part of what makes 9 Dead Alive so compelling.) Each tune was composed for a different inspiration: authors, philosophers, activists, scientists, and a queen. The set was exquisitely recorded in Mexico by Fermin Vasquez Llera. There isn't a dull moment in these 41 minutes. "The Soundmaker," for 19th century luthier and guitarist Antonio de Torres Jurado, commences with Rodrigo's knotty riff and Gabriela's chugging rhythmic vamp.

A British dance-pop group which found fame thanks to the antics of androgynous frontman Pete Burns, Dead or Alive formed in Liverpool in 1980. Burns first surfaced three years prior in the Mystery Girls, later heading the proto-goth rockers Nightmares in Wax; he founded Dead or Alive with keyboardist Marty Healey, guitarist Mitch, bassist Sue James, and drummer Joe Musker, debuting in 1980 with the Ian Broudie-produced Doors soundalike "I'm Falling." "Number Eleven" followed, but just as the group was gaining momentum, they were swept aside by the emergence of the New Romantic movement, with Burns subsequently charging that fellow androgyne Boy George of Culture Club had merely stolen his outrageous image.

That's the Way I Like It: The Best of Dead or Alive collects 18 tracks from the androgynous British dance-pop outfit responsible for one of the '80’s most enduring club hits, “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)”. Other highlights include a cover of KC & the Sunshine Band's disco classic "That's the Way (I Like It)," “Lover Come Back to Me," "In Too Deep," "My Heart Goes Bang,” and 1986's "Brand New Lover,” as well as the four extended/alternate mixes that populate the collections’ second half. Remastered from the original studio tapes, the anthology may not be exhaustive, but it’s solid enough for casual fans, and engaging enough to recommend to listeners with the false notion that Dead or Alive was a mere one-hit wonder.

Curated by frontman Pete Burns and drummer/keyboard player Steve Coy, the set comprises eight albums, three of which (Fan The Flame (Part 1), Nukleopatra and Fragile) receive their UK debut release via this set (with new cover art).The first four albums issued in the 1980s all feature here as two-CD sets, except 1985’s Stock Aitken Waterman produced Youthquake (which spawned the mega-hit You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) – which is a three-disc package. So this box delivers the original album track listings for each long-player, plus plenty of rarities, live recordings, alternate mixes and instrumental versions. In fact, it also contains 12 previously unreleased remixes and tracks from the band’s vaults. 1987 greatest hits album Rip It Up is also present and correct (as a two-CD set).