Epic (2013)

Even though he had been suffering from hearing and sight impairments, Prefab Sprout man Paddy McAloon actually picked up the pace with the release of Crimson/Red, an album that follows Let's Change the World with Music by four years, halving the eight-year wait after 2001's The Gunman and Other Stories. It's also interesting that songs like "Mysterious" (an appreciation of Bob Dylan) and "The Songs of Danny Galway" (a lush love letter to the work of Jimmy Webb) cover the same ground as Let's Change the World's numerous odes to the power of pop music, but that album was arguably "tricky," because with the Sprout, overly smart and overly ambitious are the delicious pratfalls fans still savor.

Due to Paddy McAloon's obsessive perfectionism, Andromeda Heights was the first Prefab Sprout album in seven years. Of course, it was greeted with anticipation, but the album doesn't quite fulfill the hopes of the group's fervent followers. On one hand, it doesn't deliver enough after the sweeping Jordan: The Comeback, since it is just a collection of 12 well-crafted songs. On the other hand, the sound of Andromeda Heights is so similar to all of Prefab Sprout's previous albums, it's hard to believe that it took McAloon so long to write the album. Even with these faults, Andromeda Heights is a solid Prefab Sprout record, filled with elegant melodies, wry lyrics and immaculate production, but after seven years, that nevertheless ranks as a disappointment.

Digitally remastered two-fer containing a pair of albums from the Southern Rock band: Manorisms (1978) and Which One's Willie? (1979). Both recordings made the US Top 200 with the singles 'Weekend' and 'Street Corner Serenade' making the Top 30.

Daughter - If You Leave (2013) {4AD CAD3301CD}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 233 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 109 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 65 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2013 4AD | CAD 3301CD
Rock / Indie / Dream Pop / Pop Folk / Indie Pop

Given its beginnings as Elena Tonra's solo project, it would be easy to assume that Daughter is just another singer/songwriter act with a couple of supporting musicians. However, over the course of If You Leave, Tonra, guitarist Igor Haefeli, and drummer Remi Aguilella make it clear that this is the work of a band. Together, they swing between moments of close-up intimacy and widescreen majesty, often during the course of one song. These songs have so many ebbs and flows that they're practically tidal: "Lifeforms" swells from spiraling guitars that recall the xx in their moody simplicity into towering rock that makes the most of Haefeli's amps and Aguilella's kit.

“Love Vibes Too” is a follow up collection of 17 upbeat, feel good soulful dance records from the post disco, pre-house days of the late 70s and early 80s. The artists in the main are well known, international hit makers, and again on this selection Expansion take a fresh look at their repertoire and makes some of it available on CD for the very first time. “Love Vibes Too” explores music from Motown, Capitol, MCA, Epic, Columbia, Atlantic, with productions by George Duke, Rene & Angela, The Isley Brothers, Leo Graham, Michael Stokes and Narada Michael Walden. Artists officially on CD for the first time from original masters include Klique, Peabo Bryson, Nolen & Crossley, Magic Lady, Wynd Chymes, Vicky Sue Robinson, Sidney Barnes and Muscle Shoals Horns. Ultimate music for a sunny day for soul fans!

Jordan: The Comeback is Prefab Sprout's largely successful attempt to embrace the breadth of popular music; wisely reuniting with producer Thomas Dolby, Paddy McAloon freely indulges his myriad ambitions and obsessions to weave a dense, finely textured tapestry closer in spirit and construction to a lavish Broadway musical than to the conventional rock concept LP. Over the course of no less than 19 tracks, McAloon chases his twin preoccupations of religion and celebrity, creating a loose thematic canvas perfect for his expanding musical palette; quickly dispensing with common pop idioms, the album moves from tracks like the samba-styled "Carnival 2000" to the self-explanatory "Jesse James Symphony" and its companion piece "Jesse James Bolero" with remarkable dexterity.

With 1971's Fragile having left Yes poised quivering on the brink of what friend and foe acknowledged was the peak of the band's achievement, Close to the Edge was never going to be an easy album to make. Drummer Bill Bruford was already shifting restlessly against Jon Anderson's increasingly mystic/mystifying lyricism, while contemporary reports of the recording sessions depicted bandmate Rick Wakeman, too, as little more than an observer to the vast tapestry that Anderson, Steve Howe, and Chris Squire were creating…

Live at the Bamboo Room album by Pat Travers was released Jun 04, 2013 on the Purple Pyramid label. Get down and dirty with a true blues rock legend Pat Travers on this epic live document recorded late last year and presented here on CD only. Includes performances of Travers best known tunes including Boom Boom Out Go The Lights, Snortin Whiskey, Crash And Burn and more! Special guest performance by Pete Mars Cowling who played on the original recording of Boom Boom!