|
SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2005
|
|||||||
DAVE MASON |
BRIAN ENO |
YES |
JOHN WILLIAMS |
|||||
CHUCK BERRY Gold (Chess / Geffen / UME) The influence that Chuck Berry had on all the great early 60s pop bandsfrom Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys to The Beatles, Stones and beyondis still the stuff of legends. Long time fans and newcomers to the Berry phenomenon will marvel at the track by track greatness of his 2005 double CD Chuck Berry Gold collection from Universal. Like most of the Gold compilations from Universal, the tracks here represent the cream of the crop when it comes to Berrys smash hits. Following a string of unimaginable successesstarting out in 1955 with the release of Maybelline through to the 1961 release of Come OnChuck Berry was actually put in jail by American officials on, of all things, a morals charge. While Chuck tried to kick things back up with early 64 hits like Nadine (Is It You?), You Never Can Tell and Promised Land, little did he know the stage was being set for the British Invasion of mid 64. How ironic is it that while The Beatles and Stones were peppering their 64 invasion with various Berry classics, old Chuck was just getting out of the slammer. By then, much of the magic was gonedespite his 1972 one-off slapstick number one hit My Ding-A-Ling. That said, Golds 50 song classics, tracks that reigned supreme by 1960, place Berry in that rare echelon of the 20th centurys greatest rockers. Or as John Lennon put it, Dont give me any sophisticated crap, give me Chuck Berry. As is the case with all of Universals Gold series, Chuck Berry Gold features top liner notes, killer photos and track by track listing of these fabled Chicago recording dates and session personnel. www.universalchronicles.com
|
||||||||
EMERSON LAKE & PALMER Beyond The Beginning (Sanctuary) Following their respective departures from King Crimson and The Nice, bassist Greg Lake and keyboard wiz Keith Emerson formed Emerson Lake & Palmer with drummer Carl Palmer. The 70s heyday of this first ever progressive rock supergroup is fondly remembered on a 2005 double DVD set on Sanctuary entitled Beyond The Beginning. In addition to ELPs 44 minute headlining performance (on Disc 2) at the 1975 California Jam, the DVD set also includes the full length version of the groups history entitled Beyond The Beginning and loads of assorted rare and spectacular footage. Disc 1 collects a revealing array of ELP related footage including early 70s clips from Beat Club, a clip from the 1970 Isle Of Wight, promo clips of I Believe In Father Christmas, live clips from their 92 and 97 comebacks, as well as three amazing 1969 clips of Lake with King Crimson, Emerson with The Nice and Palmer drumming on the legendary Fire video from Arthur Brown. Add in unseen rehearsal footage from 1973, a documentary on those famous ELP album covers, a 24 page color booklet and a recent video interview with the late great Bob Moog discussing the impact his early synthesizers had on Keith Emerson and you come away with the definitive DVD on prog-rocks most colorful, flamboyant virtuosos. www.emersonlakepalmer.com
|
||||||||
DAVE
MASON
|
||||||||
BRIAN
ENO Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks (Astralwerks) Having
earned his reputation as a producer (David Bowie, U2), rock icon (Roxy
Music) and New Age pioneer, back in 1983 Brian Eno joined forces with
his brother Roger Eno and fellow producer Daniel Lanois for
an album that stands out as one of his finest. In the spirit of his
late 70s masterpiece, Music For Airports, Apollo: Atmospheres
& Soundtracks made for a truly essential masterwork of
electronic sounds. Enos incredible ambient genius was equally
matched with the pedal steel guitar sounds of Dan Lanois, so much so
that some compared the albums weightless, airy sound to that of
Dead guitarist Jerry Garcias desert-hued sonic paintings. Perhaps
the greatest thing about this 2005 Apollo remaster on Astralwerks
/ Virgin is the greatly detailed and distortion free Direct Stream Digital
sound quality. An audiophile nightmare when it was first released as
a ticking, popping cluster bomb black vinyl Lp over twenty years ago,
the veil has been lifted on this 12 track Apollo CD remaster,
justly placing it up among the greatest sounding ambient CDs albums
of all time. In 2005 Astralwerks has also reissued Enos 1985 hour
long single disc, one piece holographic soundscape entitled
Thursday Afternoon. Also out in 2005 on Astralwerks
is a never before released CD collection from Eno entitled More
Music For Films. Consisting of 21 tracks recorded between
1976 and 1983, More Music For Films features six previously unreleased
tracks as well as four unreleased, alternate tracks from the ground-breaking
Apollo album. www.enoshop.co.uk
|
||||||||
YES Yes: Greatest Video Hits (WSM / Rhino)
This
first ever release of Yes: Greatest Video Hits can
be described as a musical arm wrestle of sorts. There are two main theories
of Yes music here: the 70s Yes represented by seasoned videos
for Wondrous Stories, Dont Kill The Whale
and Madrigal (all featuring guitarist Steve Howe)
and video clips of the 80s and early 90s Yes with guitarist
Trevor Rabin, including their now famous made for MTV videos
for Owner Of A Lonely Heart Leave It and Rhythm
Of Love. Keeping the cord in tact are Yes founders Chris Squire
and Jon Anderson, who appears in all the videos except for
two rarely scene videos depicting the 1980 Drama lineup of Squire,
Howe, White and The Buggles (Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes).
Howes work with Yes on Tormato is well represented here
with a killer concept video of their 78 single Dont
Kill The Whale while the 12 track DVD splits the difference with
Owner Of Lonely Heart and other, now nostalgic made for
MTV videos from the crazy 80s. Underscoring the value of these
three distinct lineups and interspersed throughout are track by track
video commentaries from Howe, Rabin, Squire, Alan White along with the
stand-up comedics of Rick Wakeman. www.nfte.org
|
||||||||
JOHN
WILLIAMS The Ultimate Guitar Collection (Sony Music) On
his recent CD releases, classical guitar favorite John Williams has
featured African music (on 2001s The Magic Box) and traditional
Venezuelan music (on his 2004 CD El Diablo Suelto). A 2004, 41
track double CD set looking back at some of Williams finest recordings
over the past twenty years, John Williams The Ultimate Guitar
Collection collects further proof of the maestros
sheer guitar mastery. Since his early years studying with Andres Segovia
and recording with Julian Bream, Williams has displayed a knack not
only for playing the guitar but also for adapting and redefining on
guitar some of the greatest classical melodies of all time. The Ultimate
Guitar Collection is filled with a slew of indelible Williams adaptations
of classical titans like Bach, Scarlati, Handel, Elgar, Vivaldi and
Eric Satie, modern soundtrack masters such as Ennio Morricone, Stanley
Myers and Nino Rota along with classical guitar icons such as Isaac
Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, Agustin Barrios, Manuel Ponce
and Leo Brouwer. Underscoring his unique status as the most accomplished
classical guitarist of the 20th Century, Williams has also chosen to
include his version of The Entertainer, (originally from
Williams 1996 album John Williams Plays The Movies) written by
Scott Joplin along with a three piece number written by Charlie Byrd
entitled 3 Blues For Classic Guitar (from Williams
1988 album The Spirit Of The Guitar). As The Ultimate Guitar
Collection points out, whatever genre or era of the guitar Williams
chooses to interpret he always does it with the utmost in respect, taste
and fretboard finesse. www.johnwilliamsguitar.com
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
CD Reviews | Feature | Reviews & Features Archive | Photo Archive | Contact | MWE3 Home |
Email: rss54@mwe3.com |
Copyright ©2000-2005 MWE3.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved |