Udsacd 7001

George Duke - Brazilian Fusion (2013) {Wounded Bird Records WOU 7001 rec 1977-1984}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 541 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 172 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 13 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1977-84, 2013 Wounded Bird Records / Heads Up / Epic | WOU 7001
Jazz / Fusion / Jazz Funk

A dream of a set – at least to our Brazilian-loving ears – a special package that brings together all the best Brazilian-flavored cuts from George Duke's late 70s run on Epic Records! The package is filled with wonderfully sunny grooves throughout – tunes that sparkle and soar with mighty nice rhythms – topped with loads of keyboards from George, and vocals that often have a scatting, breezy style that's plenty sweet – American soul influenced by Brazilian grooves, in a sound that's a bit like the feel of Earth Wind & Fire's "Brazilian Rhyme".

Various Artists - Mexican-American Border Music - An Introduction, 1928-1958 (1994) {Arhoolie CD-7001}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 251 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 171 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 36 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1994 Arhoolie | CD-7001
Latin / Tejano / Corrido / Mexican Traditions / Norteno / Tex-Mex

The first album in Arhoolie's superb Tex-Mex series, this traces the roots of the modern norteño-Tejano-conjunto sound. We hear the early accordion players and duet singers, then see them come together in the 1930s and '40s, forming the heart of the style as it has existed ever since. All the key names are here, from the blind fiddler El Ciego Melquiades to the magnificent Texan diva Lydia Mendoza, accordion pioneers Santiago Jiménez and Narciso Martinez, and the trend-setting Alegres de Teran. A 36-page booklet puts the music in context and makes this an essential purchase for anyone interested in border music.

Simon & Garfunkel's first masterpiece, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme was also the first album on which the duo, in tandem with engineer Roy Halee, exerted total control from beginning to end, right down to the mixing, and it is an achievement akin to the Beatles' Revolver or the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album, and just as personal and pointed as either of those records at their respective bests. After the frantic rush to put together an LP in just three weeks that characterized the Sounds of Silence album early in 1966, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme came together over a longer gestation period of about three months, an uncommonly extended period of recording in those days, but it gave the duo a chance to develop and shape the songs the way they wanted them.

Alan Parsons delivered a detailed blueprint for his Project on their 1975 debut, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, but it was on its 1977 follow-up, I Robot, that the outfit reached its true potential. Borrowing not just its title but its concept from Isaac Asimov's classic sci-fi Robot trilogy, this album explores many of the philosophies regarding artificial intelligence – will it overtake man? What does it mean to be man? What responsibilities do mechanical beings have to their creators? And so on and so forth – with enough knotty intelligence to make it a seminal text of late-'70s geeks, and while it is also true that appreciating I Robot does require a love of either sci-fi or art rock, it is also true that sci-fi art rock never came any better than this.

The other side of Bob Dylan referred to in the title is presumably his romantic, absurdist, and whimsical one – anything that wasn't featured on the staunchly folky, protest-heavy Times They Are a-Changin', really. Because of this, Another Side of Bob Dylan is a more varied record and it's more successful, too, since it captures Dylan expanding his music, turning in imaginative, poetic performances on love songs and protest tunes alike. This has an equal number of classics to its predecessor, actually, with "All I Really Want to Do," "Chimes of Freedom," "My Back Pages," "I Don't' Believe You," and "It Ain't Me Babe" standing among his standards, but the key to the record's success is the album tracks, which are graceful, poetic, and layered.