Manson (1973) [limited Edition] [re Up]

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is the seventh studio album by Elton John, released in 1973. It is regarded as one of his best and most popular, in addition to being his first double album. It was recorded at the Château d'Hérouville after problems recording at the intended location of Jamaica. Among the 17 tracks, the album contains the hits "Candle in the Wind", "Bennie and the Jets", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" plus "Funeral for a Friend" and "Harmony". In 2003, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The album was ranked number 91 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and number 59 in Channel 4's 2009 list of 100 Greatest Albums. The album has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.

This 1973 Paris studio session first appeared on the European label America as The Giant, but there has been some confusion as various combinations of songs have appeared under the same album title with Dizzy Gillespie's name over the years. Although rather brief in length with just five tracks and clocking in at under 34 minutes, this lively date has some strengths. The trumpeter turns over the solo spotlight to the extraordinary bassist Niels Pedersen and pianist Kenny Drew, prior to featuring himself in brief spurts with drum breaks by Kenny Clarke. Pedersen's fine arco technique introduces the brief ballad "I Waited for You," in which Gillespie is clearly at the top of his game. His muted horn saunters over Clarke's crisp brushwork during "Girl of My Dreams," although the overlong Latin original "Fiesta Mojo" quickly grows tiresome, in spite of a guest appearance by tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin…

Stomu Yamashta is a master percussionist who studied Jazz drumming at Berklee School of Jazz. In the 1970’s he recorded a string of innovative albums for Island records fusing his percussion talents with jazz, electronic and classical music. "Freedom Is Frightening" features a fine band, including Soft Machine bass guitarist Hugh Hopper and guitarist Gary Boyle. It was a fine achievement which propelled Yamashta to a wider audience which would eventually lead to his acclaimed Go albums featuring collaborators Steve Winwood, Michael Shrieve, Klaus Schulze. Never before released on CD, this Esoteric reissue has been re-mastered from the original master tapes and fully restores the original vinyl artwork and continues Esoteric's series of Yamashta’s work for Island Records.

This reissue drags Jean Cohen-Solal's two solo albums out of oblivion in style. It puts both his 1971 LP, Flûtes Libres, and his 1973 LP, Captain Tarthopom, on a single CD, adding a brand new seven-minute piece ('Quelqu'un 2003') to round things up. The music belongs to the more experimental end of early progressive rock, drawing from classical and psychedelic music, with hints of Krautrock. Then again, much like other French artists from that period like Jacques Berrocal or Fille Qui Mousse, Cohen-Solal's music defies categorization. Friendlier than those artists' because of its heavier reliance on melody, it gets its uniqueness from the instrumentation. Besides being a skilled flutist, Cohen-Solal also plays organ, piano, and double bass…