Plangent

Bruce Springsteen - The Album Collection Vol.1, 1973-1984 {8CD Box Set Columbia 88875014142 rel 2014}
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© 1973-84, 2014 Columbia / Legacy / Sony Music / BS | 88875014142
Rock / Contemporary Rock / Heartland Rock

Today, Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings released Bruce Springsteen: The Album Collection Vol. 1 1973-1984, a boxed set comprised of remastered editions of the first seven albums recorded and released by Bruce Springsteen for Columbia Records between 1973 and 1984. All of the albums are newly remastered (five for the first time ever on CD) and all seven are making their remastered debut on vinyl. The seven albums are recreations of their original packaging and the set is accompanied by a 60-page book featuring rarely-seen photos, memorabilia and original press clippings from Springsteen’s first decade as a recording artist. Acclaimed engineer Bob Ludwig, working with Springsteen and longtime engineer Toby Scott, has remastered these albums, all newly transferred from the original analogue masters using the Plangent Process playback system.

'Born In The U.S.A.' features some of the most radio-friendly performances in Springsteen's entire discography, which brilliantly disguise much of the emotional turmoil simmering underneath (case in point: the anthemic title track, a harrowing tale of a Vietnam veteran that Ronald Reagan attempted to co-opt for his presidential re-election campaign).

Pires is a superb pianist, and I am a huge fan of virtually every recording she has produced…until this one. Mind you, this is not a "bad" recording. Rather, it just did not move me the way that nearly all of her other recordings have. By way of example, I think her recordings of the Schubert Impromptus are the kind one would wish to have on that proverbial desert isle.
One other complaint is against the experimental packaging. It was exceptionally flimsy. One must hope that we are not viewing the future of CD packaging.

Douglas Riva is an American pianist and a scholar of Spanish music. He studied with with Alicia de Larrocha and worked with her in producing a complete edition of Granados' works. Ms. de Larrocha is a master of this music, and her CDs are available on more expensive record labels. But Mr. Riva plays beautifully, with virtuosic technique, and with sensitivity to this highly-charged romantic score.

Officer! was founded by Londoner Mick Hobbs. His roots were in the Rock In Opposition scene of the late 70s and early 80s. Initially he worked as guitarist in The Work, subsequently he became closely associated with This Heat and their Cold Storage Studio in Brixton, working with artists like Family Fodder, Catherine Jauniaux or Zeena Parkins. The band's forst album 8 New Songs By Mick Hobbs came out in 1982 on casette only. It was followed by the second album, Ossification. The third album, Cough was recorded and released in France in 1985. It is often overlooked in the band's discography, a fate that many cassette releases share. 8 New Songs By Mick Hobbs and Cough have been collected to form the CD Earlier Music. Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes was the band's fourth album and came out as a vinyl LP in 1988, released by the band themselves. It was recorded in France and England between 1986 and 1988. Performing on the album are Antoine Gindt, Bill Gilonis, Claudia Schmid, Daniel Koskowitz, Felix Fiedorowicz, Keisuke Matsui and of course Mick Hobbs.

Gardiner’s interpretation of Schubert’s great, often visionary A flat Mass, the work that absorbed him longer than any other, stands somewhere between the generously moulded, romantically inclined Sawallisch and the fresh, guileless reading from Bruno Weil using an all-male choir and boy soloists. Where Gardiner immediately scores is in the sheer poise and refinement of his performance: neither of the other choirs sings with such effortless blend, such perfect dynamic control or such precise intonation – a crucial advantage in, say, the tortuous chromaticism of the ‘Crucifixus’. Equally predictably, the orchestral playing is superb, with a ravishing contribution from the woodwind, who throughout the Mass are favoured with some of Schubert’s most poetic writing.