Third Kind of Blue

Miles Davis - Sketches Of Spain (1960) {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition, SICP-1207}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 257 Mb| MP3 @320 -> 101 Mb | Artwork (web)
© 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1207 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc
Jazz / Cool / Modal Music / Trumpet

Along with Kind of Blue, In a Silent Way, and Round About Midnight, Sketches of Spain is one of Miles Davis' most enduring and innovative achievements. Recorded between November 1959 and March 1960 – after Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley had left the band – Davis teamed with Canadian arranger Gil Evans for the third time. Davis brought Evans the album's signature piece, "Concierto de Aranjuez," after hearing a classical version of it at bassist Joe Mondragon's house. Evans was as taken with it as Davis was, and set about to create an entire album of material around it. The result is a masterpiece of modern art.

Big Star - Complete Third (2016) {3CD Box Set Omnivore Recordings OVCD-192 rec 1974}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.28 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 485 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 562 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1974, 2016 Ardent Music / Omnivore Recordings | OVCD-192
Rock / Contemporary Pop/Rock / Power Pop / Proto-Punk

By all rights, the album that came to be known as Big Star's Third should have been a disaster. It was written and recorded in 1975, when Alex Chilton's brilliant but tragically overlooked band had all but broken up. As Chilton pondered his next move, he was drinking and drugging at a furious pace while writing a handful of striking tunes that were often beautiful but also reflected his bitterness and frustration with his career (and the music business in general). Production of the album wasn't completed so much as it simply stopped, and none of the major figures involved ever decided on a proper sequence for the finished songs, or even a title. (The album was also known as Sister Lovers and Beale Street Green at various times.) And yet, Third has won a passionate and richly deserved cult following over the years, drawn in by the emotional roller coaster ride of the songs, informed by equal parts love, loss, rage, fear, hope, and defeat.

Hank Mobley - The Complete Hank Mobley Blue Note Sessions 1963-1970 (2019) {8CD Box Set, Mosaic MD8-268}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 3.32 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.22 Gb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 199 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1963-70, 2019 Blue Note / Mosaic Records / UMG | MD8-268
Jazz / Hard Bop / Saxophone

An amazing run of music – some of our favorite albums ever recorded for the Blue Note label, and the legendary second chapter of the career of tenor genius Hank Mobley! Hank was already a hell of a tenor player when he came on the scene in the 50s – graced with this deeply soulful style that helped usher in a whole new generation of talents on the instrument – but during his final years at Blue Note, he really took off with amazing new ideas, unusual rhythms, mindblowing arrangements, and the kind of compositional skill she never showed at the start!

On Florence + The Machine’s third album, their focus is clear from the cover art. While the group's first two albums featured frontwoman Florence Welch posed in a theatrical side profile with her eyes closed, this one finds her eyes open for the first time—and staring straight into the camera. This sense of immediacy and alertness infuses the band’s most mature, cohesive album yet, starting with propulsive opener, “Ship to Wreck.” Lush arrangements combine a rock band, strings, and brass with Welch’s volcanic, soaring voice, serving high drama on tracks like the driving “What Kind of Man” and the transcendent “Mother.”