Big 1986

Pinetop Perkins played piano until he was 97 years old, so this previously unreleased set featuring Perkins relaxed and nimble in both solo and small-combo studio sessions in 1986, when he was a young 73 years old, is really just a drop in the bucket of his long career (which began in 1969 when he replaced Otis Spann as Muddy Waters' piano player). But it is indeed a heavenly drop at that, since Perkins is so obviously comfortable here. Among the highlights are versions of "Sitting on Top of the World," with longtime friend Willie "Big Eyes" Smith on vocals, and "Since I Fell for You," featuring the soulful voice of Otis Clay.

One of the most glorious launches in history, the title track for the thrice-platinum The Final Countdown is so bombastically brilliant, such glorious garbage, that this nuclear hair assault could only spew from the vacuous '80s. But the full-tilt follow-up "Rock the Night" rules also: "You know it ain't easy/Running out of thrills." "Carrie" comes off a consummate butane ballad. Meanwhile, the rest of the disc packs so much power that Swedish superheroes Europe get away with all the processed pretension. In fact, the lofty ambition of "Danger on the Track," "Ninja," and "Cherokee" (each as tasty as its title) combines with heated drive and hot delivery to meld The Final Countdown into a unique portrait of propulsive prog and a worthy addition to any hard rock collection.

One of the most glorious launches in history, the title track for the thrice-platinum The Final Countdown is so bombastically brilliant, such glorious garbage, that this nuclear hair assault could only spew from the vacuous '80s. But the full-tilt follow-up "Rock the Night" rules also: "You know it ain't easy/Running out of thrills." "Carrie" comes off a consummate butane ballad. Meanwhile, the rest of the disc packs so much power that Swedish superheroes Europe get away with all the processed pretension. In fact, the lofty ambition of "Danger on the Track," "Ninja," and "Cherokee" (each as tasty as its title) combines with heated drive and hot delivery to meld The Final Countdown into a unique portrait of propulsive prog and a worthy addition to any hard rock collection.

Gil Evans & Laurent Cugny Big Band Lumiere - Golden Hair (1989) {EmArcy 838 773-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 317 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 139 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 11 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1989 EmArcy / PolyGram | 838 773-2
Jazz / Modern Big Band / Progressive Jazz / Post Bop / Contemporary Jazz

The second of two album to come out of the Nov 1987 sessions featuring the great Gil Evans with Laurent Cugny's Big Band Lumiere. The first album is RHYTHM-A-NING. Laurent Cugny was born in 1955, he is one of the best French jazz musician and known as a specialist of Gil Evans' music. Laurent wears two hats: he is, on one side, a musician and, on the other, a musicologist and a professor at the Paris-Sorbonne University. Self-taught musician, he started playing the piano when he was ten and played in amateur groups at the age of eighteen. He created several groups while he was studying economics and film studies. In 1979, he created the Big Band Lumiere and won the same year the third prize of piano at the National Jazz Competition in La Defense. In 1980, he also received prizes for its compositions and for the Big Band Lumiere.

Recorded live at Roppongi PIT INN, Tokyo, Japan, April 21, 1986.
The Manhattan Jazz Quintet was an unusual group in that they very rarely performed as a unit in the United States (much less Manhattan) but were a major hit in Japan, both for their recordings and occasional tours. Comprised of leader-pianist David Matthews, trumpeter Lew Soloff, tenor-saxophonist George Young, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Steve Gadd, the band (which emphasized straightahead hard bop swinging) first came together in 1983 at the suggestion of the King label and the top Japanese jazz magazine Swing Journal. To everyone's surprise, its first recording (simply called Manhattan Jazz Quintet) became such a big seller that it was awarded Swing Journal's annual 1984 Gold Disk Award as the #1 album in Japan…

The Wham! collection The Final stands as the most accurate compilation of the duo's hits, even including the correct single versions of hits that were not available on their respective albums. From the early bubblegum silliness of "Bad Boys," "Wham! Rap," and "Young Guns" to the singles that made them an international pop phenomenon ("Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," "Everything She Wants," "Careless Whisper," and "I'm Your Man"), the hits are all here. "Everything She Wants" and "Freedom" are included in their single versions which did not appear on the multimillion-selling Make It Big. Also included is George Michael's first true solo hit, "A Different Corner," which, along with "Careless Whisper," hints at the later, more sophisticated styles of music that would further propel him into international superstar status.

1986's Home of the Brave is the soundtrack to a film consisting of live pieces debuted during Laurie Anderson's first world tour, promoting 1984's Mister Heartbreak. Only one song from that album, a radically reworked version of the William S. Burroughs cameo "Sharkey's Night," appears here; the rest of the album is something of a return to the performance art basis of Anderson's earlier work like Big Science and United States I-IV. As a result, Home of the Brave has an oddly reheated quality to it, as if Anderson is merely going through the motions of what had gone before while incorporating snatches of the new, more musical direction she had begun exploring with Mister Heartbreak. (Even the title is a self-conscious echo of United States I-IV.) There are some successes here - "Language Is a Virus" is probably the closest Anderson ever came to a real rock song, and it was a minor dancefloor and college radio hit…