Kong Audio

Popularity seems to rest as much on chance as on merit, for it is difficult to understand why the Turandot Suite has never become a popular repertory piece. It has all the qualities of melodic appeal (its fifth movement quotes Greensleeves), resourceful invention and brilliant orchestral colour that should ensure its popularity. The two Studies, the Sarabande and Cortège, written in preparation for his opera, Doktor Faust, remain the composer’s masterpiece, highly searching and imaginative music that can claim to be profound, as, indeed, can the Berceuse élégiaque. Both performances and recording are very good, and this disc serves as an admirable and inexpensive introduction to a fascinating and underrated master.

The Soundboard Series focuses on the last three decades of concerts around the world. While some of the shows were previously available as rare and limited fan club editions, others are concerts from the artist archive, mixed and mastered for the occasion. In both cases, great care is spent to achieve the best audio quality. “Live In Hong Kong 2001” features Deep Purple on top of their game, in the midst of their Asia Tour in 2001. On March 20st, they took to the stage in Hong Kong’s Coliseum, the city’s largest concert hall at the time. Here, we see Purple as a raw and immediate live-act, without background singers, guest vocals, added string quartets or any other bells and whistles. It’s rock’n’roll in its purest form –and we like it.

Frank Zappa - Meat Light: The Uncle Meat Project/Object Audio Documentary (2016) {3CD Set Zappa Records ZR 20024}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.23 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 491 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 880 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1968, 2016 Zappa Records / ZFT / Universal | ZR 20024
Rock / Experimental Rock / Avant-Garde / Jazz Rock

Official Release #107. Uncle Meat gets the deluxe treatment in this three CD Project/Object Audio Documentary. Included is the original 1969 vinyl mix (restored, remastered and available digitally for the first time), an original sequence that includes unique source material and bonus vault tracks mostly compiled from the recording sessions at Apostolic Studios in NYC between 1967 and 1969.

Jean-Luc Ponty - King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa (1970) {Blue Note}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 294 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 105 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 164 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1970, 1993 Capitol / Blue Note | CDP 0777 7 89539 2 0
Jazz / Post Bop / Fusion / Violin

Not just an album of interpretations, King Kong: Jean-Luc Ponty Plays the Music of Frank Zappa was an active collaboration; Frank Zappa arranged all of the selections, played guitar on one, and contributed a new, nearly 20-minute orchestral composition for the occasion. Made in the wake of Ponty's appearance on Zappa's jazz-rock masterpiece Hot Rats, these 1969 recordings were significant developments in both musicians' careers. In terms of jazz-rock fusion, Zappa was one of the few musicians from the rock side of the equation who captured the complexity – not just the feel – of jazz, and this project was an indicator of his growing credibility as a composer. For Ponty's part, King Kong marked the first time he had recorded as a leader in a fusion-oriented milieu (though Zappa's brand of experimentalism didn't really foreshadow Ponty's own subsequent work).