Lurid Years

Cannibal Corpse will be releasing a box set to commemorate their 25th anniversary: Dead Human Collection: 25 Years of Death Metal. The box contains: all 12 full length studio albums in a 12 CD foldout case with new artwork, “Torturing and Eviscerating LIVE” on CD and LP Picture Disc recorded in Tampa, FL 2010 / Milwaukee, WI 2012, PLUS: NEW EXCLUSIVE images by VINCE LOCKE, 12"X12" graphic prints of all 13 original album covers, and a 2013 Cannibal Corpse Calendar.

To be sure, there are some great performances in this 10-disc set, André Previn: The Great Recordings. Previn's insouciant wit is evident in his effervescent reading of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, and there is deep affection in his sensuous account of highlights from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. His explosive rendering of Orff's Carmina Burana has barbaric splendor, and there is thrilling excitement in his orgasmic interpretation of Rachmaninov's Second Symphony. But it can't be denied that Previn's superficial readings of Holst's The Planets and Debussy's Images are little more than musical travelogs, and that his dreary accounts of Shostakovich's Eighth and Elgar's Enigma Variations are musty musical picture galleries. His extravagantly colorful renderings of Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony and Walton's Belshazzar's Feast come across as lurid musical history lessons.