US 4" 50 Mark 12 Submarine Gun Walk Around

Mark Sandman (Morphine) - Sandbox, The Music Of Mark Sandman (2004) {2 CD plus DVD5 NTSC, Hi-N-Dry Recordings 85524 00011}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 714 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 266 Mb
DVD5 -> 3.58 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 4:3 | Dolby AC3, 2 ch | ~ 197m | ISO Image
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 223 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2004 Hi-N-Dry Recordings | 85524 00011
Rock / Low Rock / Indie Rock / Jazz Noir

Morphine leader Mark Sandman was the inventor of a sound called "low rock" — the distinctive blend of sonorous saxophone, bass and deep grooves that, along with Mark’s lyric poetry, propelled Morphine to fame. But Mark created much more than the brilliant music of Morphine. He was a tireless musical experimenter who wrote and recorded constantly throughout his life. Although Morphine and the seminal swamp-blues quartet Treat Her Right became well known and successful, much of his work was never commercially released and remains unheard — except by his large circle of friends, who he regularly commandeered to critique his latest, usually over a bottle of Patron.

Recorded live at The Greek Theater Los Angeles, California, USA May 20, 2001. Audience recording Sailing To Philadelphia Tour 2001.

Shangri-La, Mark Knopfler's fourth solo release and his first since breaking his collarbone, shoulder, and seven ribs in a motorcycle crash in March 2003, finds the eternally laid-back Dire Straits frontman in familiar territory. Instead of constructing a song cycle about his brush with mortality – the wry "Don't Crash the Ambulance" aside – he uses his warm baritone and effortless guitar work to ruminate on everything from the plight of the modern fisherman – the beautiful and rustic "Trawlerman's Song" – to the entrepreneurial skills of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc ("Boom, Like That"). Knopfler has more or less abandoned the British folk and Celtic-influenced pop that began to surface on his previous two recordings, opting instead for a full-blown yet quiet and considerate collection of country-folk ballads and bluesy, midtempo dirges that revel in their uncharacteristic sparseness – one of the better examples of the latter is the gutsy, backwoods boxing tale "Song for Sonny Liston."

Mark is the new smooth king of "Love Pop", the german invention of the '80s. With his wonderful voice and tender ways of singing, Mark captures the hearts of millions of fans around the world.

Semiramide, based on a play by Voltaire about an ancient Assyrian queen, was Rossini's last Italian opera. Some five hours long in performance, it has always been subject to cuts from producers worried that it was a butt-breaker, but Rossini insisted that it be performed as written. He was right: its massive two acts have a logic and flow that do not flag. Despite its size and difficulty (check the hefty list of sponsors and patrons in the booklet), the opera is being revived increasingly often. The work has been called the last Baroque opera, with its tragic plot from antiquity encrusted with glittering, highly ornamented arias, and you might suppose that a performance stands or falls with the singers. This version certainly offers strong ones, including the superb pair of sopranos Albina Shagimuratova in the title role and Daniela Barcellona in the travesti or cross-dressing role of the commander Arsace.

In 2002, Mark Lanegan was looking to make some changes in how he approached his music – the Screaming Trees had finally collapsed at the end of the '90s, he'd found a new fan base as a frequent guest vocalist with Queens of the Stone Age, and the spare, blues-leaning solo efforts Lanegan cut for Sub Pop were no longer side projects but the first chapters of a new career. As Lanegan was strategizing his next move, he went to Houston, Texas and in five days recorded a dozen songs with a handful of talented local musicians, including guitarist Ian Moore and longtime Willie Nelson sideman Mickey Raphael on harmonica, with Justice Records founder Randall Jamail as producer. While the sessions were meant to be demos for a stack of songs Lanegan had written for Jamail's publishing house, the finished product sounded good enough to be an album, and in 2015 Lanegan finally released the material under the title Houston: Publishing Demos 2002. The jolly irony is that while these are supposed to be demos, in many respects the performances sound more polished and "commercial" than most of Lanegan's early solo efforts, capturing a laid-back but buoyant mood that's informed by country and blues as much as rock, and Lanegan seems comfortable singing with the group, rather than simply laying his vocals over the top.