Qmd! From 28 June 2014

Sílvia Pérez Cruz & Raül Fernandez Miró - Granada (2014) {Universal Music Spain 0602537822270}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 250 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 126 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 28 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2014 Universal Music Spain | 0602537822270
Jazz / Flamenco / Contemporary Flamenco / World Music / Acoustic Guitar / Vocals

Make a cover album is always a risky exercise. I would say more extreme: play with material already walking the recesses of the brain of the listener can pave the way or condemn a brainy game outright rejection revision. Over eighteen years ago, one of the greatest singers of all time was a machete forget to Cohen and raised the maximum voltage level one piece, coated vocals and layers, would rock the annals of the twentieth century: "Little Viennese waltz" became "Omega", thanks to the duo Enrique Morente and Largatija Nick, untouchable, sacred. Until now.

This 2014 Hyperion collection of 22 hymns sung by the Choir of Westminster Abbey is a straightforward presentation of familiar versions for choir and organ. For the most part, the arrangements are conventional four-part settings, with occasional interpolations of seldom-heard harmonizations and descants, and the performances by the men and boys are appropriately reverent and joyous. The majority of selections are hymns of praise, including Praise, my soul, the king of heaven; Thine be the glory; and Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, though Drop, drop slow tears; I bind unto myself today; and Let all mortal flesh keep silence bring a more somber and penitential mood to the program. The recordings were made in late 2012 and early 2013 in Westminster Abbey, so the sound of the album is typically resonant and spacious, and the choir has a well-blended tone, though the trade-off for the glorious acoustics is a loss of clarity in some of the words.

There are concessions that must be made on Keith Emerson and Greg Lake’s Live from Manticore Hall, starting with the absence of Carl Palmer - and then the occasional use of loops.
Too, the conversational aspect of the evening certainly works on its first listen, bringing us in with a confidential closeness. (Emerson, in an impish moment, recalls people asking questions about his pre-Emerson Lake and Palmer band: "The Nice what?") But once that context is understood, these lengthy segments quickly become extraneous detours away from what is often a adventurously re-imagined journey through some peak moments for both…

This live double album features Coco Montoya and his band on the Road, as part of a RUF records series of on The Road albums delivered from their catalogue of blues artists. The opening track I Got A Mind To Travel, is an apt starting point and introduces us to the full band of musicians Coco Montoya uses to augment his vocal and guitar skills the use of Hammond Organ delivered with panache by Brant Leeper who also adds to the vocals. Throughout the album there are glimpses of Coco Montoya’s exceptional musical career especially the influence he certainly gives the feel of movement and the guitar sound is an homage to his old boss Albert Collins while playing the guitar left-handed and upside down like the other Albert King! Coco’s playing is instinctive full of fluidity. The whole album is easy on your ear and an enjoyable listening experience BUT at times you want Coco to let loose and really show us what he is capable of. On Love Jail his guitar takes on the shape and form of Albert Collins and all the better for it, even his vocals strengthen as the beat picks up, this is a stylish ten minute track. This album has fourteen tracks where Coco and his band just want to please as they play for the length of time need ( Never less than 5 minutes and up to a mighty 15 minutes) to explore all the alleyways and nooks and crannies they feel the music is taking them on their journey of discovery with you, there is freedom of expression that only live music free from the constrains of a studio walls and mixing desk.

"Swedish ambient/downtempo pioneer Magnus Birgersson, better known by his stage name Solar Fields, is the first artist to release material under the newborn Sidereal label. The music chosen is a collection of pieces which have never been available on any physical format, albeit released digitally in 2014. Birgersson presents RGB as follows: ?During the last 13 years I have been composing a lot of music for different compilations around the world. I felt that today most of those tracks have fallen into shadow. I decided to collect some of the tracks, make up-to-date mixes and give them a fresh mastering to bring them back to life again. The outcome is 3 albums that are called Red, Green and Blue - the RGB collection."

The "5" Royales - Soul & Swagger: The Complete "5" Royales 1951-1967 (2014) {5CD Set RockBeat Records ROC-CD 3101}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.58 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 888 Mb
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© 1951-67, 2014 S'more Ent. / RockBeat Records ROC-CD 3101
Rhythm & Blues / Rock & Roll / Soul / Gospel / Early R&B / Doo Wop / Jump Blues

One of the finest and most influential rhythm & blues acts of the '50s, the "5" Royales began their career as a gospel group called the Royal Sons Quintet before crossing over to secular music in 1952. The "5" Royales initially recorded for Apollo Records, where they scored hits like "Baby Don't Do It" and "Laundromat Blues," but they enjoyed greater success when they signed with King Records in 1954 and stormed the R&B charts with tunes like "Monkey Hips and Rice," "Think" (later covered by James Brown and Aretha Franklin), and "Dedicated to the One I Love" (which both the Shirelles and the Mamas & the Papas took to the upper reaches of the pop charts).

Excellent 60 track music compilation. The music on it is a brilliant choice and not a usual 80s Compilation..