Dvd The Trip

The act with the first arena-sized sound in the electronica movement, the Chemical Brothers united such varying influences as Public Enemy, Cabaret Voltaire, and My Bloody Valentine to create a dance-rock-rap fusion which rivaled the best old-school DJs on their own terms – keeping a crowd of people on the floor by working through any number of groove-oriented styles featuring unmissable samples, from familiar guitar riffs to vocal tags to various sound effects. And when the duo (Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons) decided to supplement their DJ careers by turning their bedrooms into recording studios, they pioneered a style of music (later termed big beat) remarkable for its lack of energy loss from the dancefloor to the radio. Chemical Brothers albums were less collections of songs and more hour-long journeys, chock-full of deep bomb-studded beats, percussive breakdowns, and effects borrowed from a host of sources. All in all, the duo proved one of the few exceptions to the rule that intelligent dance music could never be bombastic or truly satisfying to the seasoned rock fan; it's hardly surprising that they were one of the few dance acts to enjoy simultaneous success in the British/American mainstream and in critical quarters.

Here's a wonderful live set from the current incarnation of Renaissance, that lovely '70s prog band who so successfully merged classical with symphonic rock and medieval themes. Recorded at The Keswick Theatre in Glenside, Pennsylvania on September 23rd, 2011, the band thrilled the audience with a performance of both their classic albums, Turn of the Cards and Sheherazade and Other Stories in their entirety. Joining the 'classic line-up' members Annie Haslam and Michael Dunford are keyboard players Rave Cesar & Jason Hart, bassist David Keyes, and drummer Frank Pagano. If you got a chance to see Renaissance on either the 2011 tour or previously in 2009, you know that this line-up is red hot and does their vintage material justice.

I have never been much of a classical music fan (on recorded music anyway) but hearing this Fone recording it actually makes sense for the 1st time! Listening to the SACD layer the music has striking 3-dimentional naturality but more importantly, PASSION! I have never felt that classical music had passion in a CD recording, & I always felt vinyl had too low SNR for classical music. The difference between the SACD & CD layer is quite obvious, & not subtle like on some discs. Listening to the CD layer (which is very good for a CD) results in a massive loss of coherence & passion – just the reason I never enjoyed classical on CD.

What better way to celebrate their 30th Band anniversary as by diving deep into their own history, spanning three decades of an incomparable Metal career – from the humble beginnings in the early 1980s with their debut attempt »Prayers of Steel« and back then calling themselves AVENGER, through the flourishing 90s that peaked in their 1996 classic approach »Lingua Mortis«, all the way to the most recent years, which also featured RAGE coming in third at the “Bundesvision Songcontest” in 2009, carving a quarter of a century in stone even more so!..