Flawless.2007

Fearsomely talented Swedish clarinetist Martin Fröst continues his conquest of the major concerto repertoire for his instrument with this recording of Carl Nielsen's 1928 Clarinet Concerto, paired with a new concerto by Finland's Kalevi Aho. The Nielsen concerto is a dense work in which the clarinet and the orchestra spend a lot of time going their separate ways, with the path of the clarinet being very twisted indeed.

Here it is, the unholy quartet back in all its glorious ugliness with the name it should have had all along. Heaven & Hell are comprised of guitarist Tony Iommi, fuzz and buzz bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Vinny Appice, and vocalist Ronnie James Dio. The former pair were founding members of doom metal lords Black Sabbath, of course. Dio is best known as the lead singer of Elf, and then Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, and Vinny Appice was Rick Derringer's drummer before joining these three lads in a new version of Sabbath after Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward left. This quartet issued a total of three recordings together, Heaven & Hell (1980), Mob Rules (1981), and Dehumanizer (1992).

Fearsomely talented Swedish clarinetist Martin Fröst continues his conquest of the major concerto repertoire for his instrument with this recording of Carl Nielsen's 1928 Clarinet Concerto, paired with a new concerto by Finland's Kalevi Aho. The Nielsen concerto is a dense work in which the clarinet and the orchestra spend a lot of time going their separate ways, with the path of the clarinet being very twisted indeed. Difficult arabesques on the clarinet are interrupted without warning by heraldic blasts from the orchestral horns. The concerto was greeted by early reviewers as a radical modern work, and an instrumentalist wanting to push the clarinet into uncomfortable territory can still make it sound that way.

Since they started their own KML label, the Labèque sisters have turned in one superb recording after another. First came a brilliant all-Ravel disc, then an incandescent disc of Debussy and Stravinsky, and now a disc combining Schubert and Mozart: the former with his colossal Fantasy in F minor, D. 940, plus the melancholy Andantino varié in B minor, D. 823, and the latter, with his monumental Sonata in D major, D. 448. In all three works, the Labèques are magnificent, but very different.

Coming off a Best New Artist Award at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, the members of Avenged Sevenfold returned to the studio, ambitious to create an exciting follow-up to City of Evil - perhaps overly so, as their self-titled release focuses entirely too hard on pushing the songs into non-metal territory. Their signature, blistering Yngwie Malmsteen guitar arpeggios and lightning fast double-kick drums are still evident, but the overall heavy metal thunder is diluted by their everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach. Left alone in the studio to record the album on their own, AS show their unbridled enthusiasm to be as inventive as possible as they run through a staggering amount of production enhancements: four songs have string arrangements; violinists, pianists, and vocalists make guest appearances here and there…

Record dates made by American jazz musicians for the Japanese jazz market are often a bit different in their approach. These 2006 sessions, recorded by Ken Peplowski over two days with pianist Ted Rosenthal, bassist Gary Mazzaroppi, and drummer Jeff Brillinger, are unusual in that ten standards (all ballads) are featured, though with the leader playing one version on tenor sax, then immediately following it with another on clarinet. The players are capable enough in varying the approach to each tune with the different instrumentation, with Peplowski's smoky tenor and lyrical clarinet satisfying the listener each time. But one would bet that most listeners would rather have this two-CD set programmed with one disc devoted to each instrument, rather than hearing each song twice in a row…

Various Artists - The Rubble Collection, Volumes 01-10 (2007) {10 CD Box Set - Fallout FALLBOX001 rec 1960s-1970s}
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© 2007 Fallout | FALLBOX001
Rock / Psychedelic Rock / Acid Rock / Freakbeat / Garage Rock / Mod

Originally appearing on LP from the Bam Caruso label in the 1980s, and then on CD on the Past & Present imprint in 2003, these first ten volumes (boxed) in the Rubble Collection were conceived and collected by Phil Smee. For fans of the Nuggets series, both the two American volumes and the British Nuggets, you won't find a lot of overlap. The Nuggets comps were and are for people who want what was at least the stuff of legend, if not readily available. The collection here digs deep and are, for the most part, flawless in what they present. This set, and its companion volumes 11-20 (a separate box), are very different creatures. For starters, they dig a lot deeper into the hopelessly obscure 45s and tapes of Brit psychedelia, freakbeat, Mod, and pop.

Before the review proper, a few caveats are in order. First, half of this disc was filmed in stark and slightly grainy black and white. Second, the sound for those black and white performances is hard and a bit glassy in loud passages. But, if viewers/listeners can get past those limitations, or even if they'd just prefer to skip ahead to the full color, stereo sound second half of the program, this disc dedicated to the great Italian pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli will be a marvel and a wonder. The first half includes two Scarlatti sonatas (the C minor Kk. 11 and the C major Kk. 159), two Chopin mazurkas (the G sharp minor Op. 33/1 and the B minor Op. 33/4), and one piece from Debussy's Images Set I (Hommage à Rameau) filmed in Paris in 1965. The second half consists of all 12 of Debussy's Preludes Book I filmed in Paris in 1978. And in both halves, Michelangeli is, to put it simply, perfect. His articulation is flawless, his technique effortless, his control limitless, his tone endless, and his interpretations essentially definitive. But while the pianist's admirers have always known this, they will still be amazed and astounded to watch him actually achieve this perfection. The ineffable grace and incandescent agility of his playing is breathtaking, the power and elegance of his interpretations are awe-inspiring. Seemingly without exerting himself, Michelangeli creates performances that defy space, time, and gravity. (James Leonard)