Ripper Final

Orden Ogan prove once more that reaching the top of the power metal chain is a walk in the park for them. Being it with mighty, catchy choruses or well-constructed instrumental parts, the Teutonic powerhouse managed to create an equally great effort here as their marvelous previous works…

The Final Cut extends the autobiography of The Wall, concentrating on Roger Waters' pain when his father died in World War II. Waters spins this off into a treatise on the futility of war, concentrating on the Falkland Islands, setting his blistering condemnations and scathing anger to impossibly subdued music that demands full attention. This is more like a novel than a record, requiring total concentration since shifts in dynamics, orchestration, and instrumentation are used as effect…

Elmo Hope - The Final Sessions, Volume One (1966) {Specialty Records OJCCD-1765-2 rel 1991}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 293 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 141 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 13 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1966, 1991 Specialty Records / Fantasy | OJCCD-1765-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Piano

While there have been other items dubbed "final sessions," these tracks issued on Inner City Records – originally done for the Festival label – are truly Elmo Hope's parting-shot recordings, done in 1966 before his death in May of 1967. With bassist John Ore and either drummer Clifford Jarvis in the main or Philly Joe Jones on one cut, Hope's incredible virtuosity and individuality were with him right to the end. A disciple of Bud Powell with a touch of Thelonious Monk mixed in, Hope was definitely their equivalent as he matured and grew, with Herbie Nichols and Phineas Newborn as potential rival peer talents.

Elmo Hope - The Final Sessions, Volume Two (1966) {Specialty Records OJCCD-1766-2 rel 1991}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 320 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 149 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 13 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1966, 1991 Specialty Records / Fantasy | OJCCD-1766-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Post Bop / Piano

While there have been other items dubbed "final sessions," these tracks issued on Inner City Records – originally done for the Festival label – are truly Elmo Hope's parting-shot recordings, done in 1966 before his death in May of 1967. With bassist John Ore and either drummer Clifford Jarvis in the main or Philly Joe Jones on one cut, Hope's incredible virtuosity and individuality were with him right to the end. A disciple of Bud Powell with a touch of Thelonious Monk mixed in, Hope was definitely their equivalent as he matured and grew, with Herbie Nichols and Phineas Newborn as potential rival peer talents.

Grant Green - The Final Comedown (1971) {Blue Note Japan, Paper Sleeve, TOCJ-9522 rel 2003}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 237 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 87 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1971, 2003 Blue Note / Toshiba-EMI Japan | TOCJ-9522 | 24bit by RVG
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Soul Jazz / Guitar

The Final Comedown was Blue Note's first film soundtrack and a departure for both the label and Grant Green. True, many of Green's sessions from this period dipped into funk and R&B, but most of the tracks heard here are pensive mood pieces, conceived as the backing tracks to the blaxploitation film of the same name. As can be expected, there are a handful of cuts – "Past, Present and Future," "Slight Fear and Terror," "Battle Scene" – featuring things like staccato horn punches, dramatic tympani, and little in the way of instrumental soloing – standard fare for the genre.