Wednesday 7 October 2009

Al Di Meola - Live At Montreux 1986/1993 (2006) DVD9



DVD-9 | PAL | VOB | 67 min | All Regions | 4.46 GB | Scans | 13 MB
English | Color | Dolby Digital 2.0 | Dolby Digital 5.1 | DTS 5.1 | RAR 3% | FF,RS

Genre: Jazz-rock
Release Date: Nov 16, 2004.
Al Di Meola has been a contrast in terms of music. He has taken his guitar into various streams with different levels of success. His playing has been marked with a gentle lyrical air just as it has been infiltrated with an abundance of technique; the latter at times at the expense of an emotional connect. The two performances captured here show both sides. The first is a solo acoustic set, the second finds him with Chris Carrington on guitar and Arto Tuncboyacian on percussion and vocals, the trio known as World Sinfonia.
Di Meola stamps his signature runs and clarion clean notes with "Shadow Vertigo" churning little eddies that never swirl out of context. The medley however, is a mixed bag. There are moments that elevate but there are also lengthy progressions that do little in the way of communication. Art is limited if it does not stoke a responsive chord. He gets back on track with "Etude" with its gentle musings. Overall, though, there is little passion triggered in the listener. The photography of this set is to be commended. There are effective long shots and some excellent super impositions.
The second concert does little to enhance involvement. The trio is tight-knit and the music evolves seamlessly but the rainbow of colours is a pretty artefact that does not leave an indelible impress. Even Astor Piazzolla's "Tango Suite" goes nowhere with its bland incantation. The one strong presence is Arto Tuncboyacian with his vocals that add a stimulating dimension.

Tracklist:

1986:
1. Introduction by Claude Nobs
2. Vertigo shadow
3. Medley:
Orient blue suite
Passion, grace & fire
Atavism of twilight
Enigma of
Cielo e terra
4. Etude
5. Capoiera

1993:
6. Introduction by Claude Nobs
7. Indigo
8. No mystery
9. Tango suite

See links in commentary


Friday 12 June 2009

Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live (1977)

Genre: Jazz Fusion, Rock
Format: FLAC / MP3 320 CBR
Total Time: 44:31
Size: 282 MB / 108 MB

Over thirty years after its release this still is a great record. its amazing it hasnt been remastered yet. why? if yer a guitar fan you gotta get this one with the exception of a boogie track its timeless...

Tracklist:

1. Freeway Jam
2. Earth (Still Our Only Home)
3. She's a Woman
4. Full Moon Boogie
5. Darkness/Earth in Search of a Sun
6. Scatterbrain
7. Blue Wind

Dave Greenslade - The Pentateuch of The Cosmogony (1994)

Year : 1994
Genre: New Age
Format: FLAC / mp3 Bitrate: 320 CBR kbits
Total Time: 78:09
Size: 421 MB / 188 MB

Conceived, written and illustrated by fantasy artist and writer Patrick Woodroffe, The Pentateuch was his first fully-fledged art-book combined with Dave Greenslade's second solo album, released at a time when the punk revolution had revised the outlook of many former Prog musicians!

The Book
The Pentateuch Of The Cosmogony [literally meaning 'the 5 books of the origin of the universe'] is a fantasy 'creation myth-cycle' presented as a pseudo-scientific decipherment of an ancient document. Beginning with a description of how the document came to be found, it then details the ideographic 'language' employed [ideograms are like, for example, our modern road signs] before presenting a "suggested interpretation" which takes up the bulk of the work. The text is laid out as a series of 5 'books' each sub-divided into many 'verses' and extensively illustrated. Briefly, the story shows how a world was created, populated by deities and men, before being destroyed by the hateful vengeance of an overlooked deity called Ildrinn. Ildrinn subsequently took her hate, and her human followers, into a never ending journey through space, an endless search for contentment. It is of course based on known creation myth-cycles, but is also an allegorical look at the condition of humanity.
While the story may not be to everybody's taste, the colourful illustrations will attract more attention. Some are large-scale paintings covering a whole page or more, while others are smaller details which accompany the text. All are rendered in Woodroffe's highly imaginative style, depicting a world full of strange mutated beings, like an evil flying spider with eagle's wings and beak, or an underwater fairy with a fish-like body. One or two of the set-piece paintings are simply stunning: for example 'Peace - The Happy Savage' is a skillful evocation of a pastoral heavenly innocence with a wealth of fine detail.

The Music
Let's face it, the music was never going to win any awards for originality! Somewhat different from the varied mixture of his first solo album, this is an all keyboard affair, with occasional assistance from drums and vocoded vocals - oh yes, and his 2 year old daughter urging us to "come and play". Aside from that it was all down to Dave and his large assortment of keyboard based instruments, including Mellotron, church organ, piano, tubular bells and the much-loved voices of a host of classic vintage synths.
Greenslade's music is light of hand and fleet of foot. It cheerily skips and jumps over fat bouncy bass lines. It meanders dreamily among slowly evolving ambient textures. It beguiles with charmingly simple melodies. It is intimate and airy in nature, yet satisfyingly warm and organic. It is instrumentally sparse and concise. It maintains a consistency of 'soul' throughout. It trips along pleasantly without being at all demanding, and could easily be used as a background for a dinner party, or writing reviews on a PC! But above all, it is nice!
The music succeeds - and fails - in variable degrees as a tool to illustrate the story, partly depending on the imagination of the listener. Beltempest, for instance, a track depicting the Lord Of Air, successfully invokes the first living being floating on air and making the first sounds. Conversely, Forest Kingdom, a funked up piece with Phil Collins on drums, entirely fails to conjur a forest world full of magical and mysterious creatures. Then again, Mischief & War cleverly imply a build up of arms and division of kingdoms by the use of a marching motif with an increasing amount of dissonance and harmonic breakdown, ending on a simulated nuclear strike.
As with any interpretive music, its success is often dependant on the amount of effort the listener is prepared to put in. Taken on its own you will likely find the music bland, boring and uninspired but take time to study and absorb the music and story together and you will be rewarded. It becomes transformed beyond a merely OK piece of nostalgic electronica to a deeper and ultimately more satisfying experience, though hardly in the same league as Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony!

Summary
In 1994 BGO Records finally released Greenslade's music as a CD. They have made a fair enough stab at presenting as much of the original book as possible and reproducing it as a high quality booklet. Inevitably it suffers in comparison: those magnificent full size illustrations are now too small to fully appreciate the detail work, and text is now borderline for comfort, especially the ideogram chart for which a magnifying glass is essential. The music was remastered by Greenslade and sounds superb, with a crisp and clear soundstage.

Tracklist:
01. Introit (4:05)
02. Moondance (3:09)
03. Beltempest (2:41)
04. Glass (3:02)
05. Three Brides (5:56)
06. Birds & Bats & Dragonflies (3:48)
07. Nursery Hymn (3:32)
08. The Minstrel (2:42)
09. Fresco / Kashrinn (2:24)
10. Barcarole (3:51)
11. Dry Land (3:54)
12. Forest Kingdom (3:53)
13. Vivat Regina (3:44)
14. Scream But Not Heard (2:57)
15. Mischief (5:36)
16. War (3:06)
17. Lament For The Sea (3:08)
18. Miasma Generator (5:32)
19. Exile (2:33)
20. Jubilate (3:00)
21. The Tiger And The Dove (5:35)

Musicians:
Dave Greenslade - ARP Explorer, ARP Omni, CAT synthesizer, organ, Crumar Stringman, clavinet, Kitten synthesizer, Korg vocoder, Mellotron, Minimoog, Polymoog, Prophet 5, Roland R5202, SDS Drum synthesizer, Sennheiser Vocoder, Tubular Bells, Vibraphone, Yamaha synthesizer, piano
Kate Greenslade - child vocals (7)
Phil Collins - drums, percussion (5,12,17,18)
John Lingwood - drums, percussion (6,8)

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