November 04, 2023

Enigma - MCMXC a.D. (Limited Edition) (1991)

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posted by all-musicrecords

MCMXC a.D. is the debut studio album by the German musical project Enigma, led by Romanian-German musician Michael Cretu. 

It was released in Europe by Virgin Records on 3 December 1990, and in the United States by Charisma Records on 12 February 1991. 
Cretu became fascinated with mixing archaic sounds with modern music after producing German pop singer Sandra's song "Everlasting Love", for which he experimented with Gregorian chant. 
Following Michael Cretu and Sandra's marriage in 1988, Michael developed the idea of the musical project Enigma and recorded the album over the course of eight months in 1990 at A.R.T. Studios.
MCMXC a.D. combines new-age music with dance rhythms, as well as combining themes of religion and Gregorian chant with sexuality, for which the album received generally positive reviews from music critics. 
The Gregorian chant was taken from recordings by Capella Antiqua München, which resulted in the Munich-based choir's label, Polydor Germany suing Cretu and Virgin Records for infringing on its "right of personality". The case was dropped after Cretu agreed to pay compensation. 

Songs
"The Voice of Enigma" was written solely by Cretu, and starts with a foghorn sound that is known as the "Enigma horn". 
After the foghorn, Louisa Stanley (an executive at Virgin Records at the time) starts talking and invites the listener to relax and take a deep breath, while an environmental soundscape plays in the background. 
"The Principles of Lust" track employs a drumbeat throughout similar to the R&B 1989 song "Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)" by Soul II Soul, flute synth lines, and Cretu's whispers and "orgasmic breathing" that mark the song breaks. 
The first part, "Sadeness", includes a Gregorian chant taken from the track "Procedamus in pace!" from the 1976 album Paschale Mysterium by Capella Antiqua München. 
It also includes contributions from Fabrice Cuitad and Peterson. 
The song's French lyrics are a quizzical look at, and defense of, the 18th-century writer Marquis de Sade, who was notorious for writing literature delving into themes of sexual violence and domination.

"Callas Went Away" was written solely by Michael Cretu, and samples Maria Callas's singing. "Mea Culpa" was written by Cretu and Fabrice Cuitad and is a follow-up to "Sadeness". Like "Sadeness", "Mea Culpa" samples Gregorian chant from the Capella Antiqua München and thus evokes the same atmosphere. 
The song's theme "centers around guilt", according to the official Enigma website. "The Voice & the Snake", written by Cretu and Peterson, is based on the Book of Revelation.
"Knocking on Forbidden Doors" was written solely by Cretu. The "Back to the Rivers of Belief" track's three songs were mainly written by Cretu, with the song "The Rivers of Belief"—which centers around the Indian river Ganges and differs from the other songs in being more soulful—including contributions from Fabrice Cuitad.

The bonus remixes are a bit of a mixed bag. The remixes of the better tracks on the album, "Sadeness" and "Mea Culpa", are both great: the former is a Chillout interpretation of the reprise found earlier, minus the monks' samples; the latter also suffers from a lack of Gregorain goodness, but almost compensates with an eclectic mix of pan-flutes, varying beats and extra vocals from Sandra Cretu (the wife of Michael). 
The remixes of "Principles of Lust" and "The Rivers of Belief" are both inferior takes on the originals, the former being a Carbon copy with a slightly different beat superimposed while the latter is an interesting combination of the title track, "Callas Went Away" and "The Voice and the Snake", introduced by an excerpt from "Toccatta and Fugue"!


1990 original version

1.  The Voice of Enigma - 2:21
2.  Principles of Lust - 11:43
     a. Sadeness
     b. Find Love
     c. Sadeness (Reprise)
3.  Callas Went Away - 4:27
4.  Mea Culpa - 5:03
5.  The Voice & the Snake - 1:39
6.  Knocking on Forbidden Doors - 4:31
7.  Back to the Rivers of Belief - 10:32
     a. Way to Eternity
     b. Hallelujah
     c. The Rivers of Belief

1991 The Limited Edition

8.  Sadeness (Meditation) - 2:43
9.  Mea Culpa (Fading Shades) - 6:04
10.  Principles of Lust (Everlasting Lust) - 4:50
11.  The Rivers of Belief (The Returning Silence) - 7:04


Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of MCMXC a.D.

  • Michael Cretu (credited as "Curly M.C.") (all tracks)
  • Frank Peterson (credited as "F. Gregorian") (tracks 2a, 2c, and 5)
  • Fabrice Cuitad (credited as "David Fairstein") (tracks 2a, 2c, 4, and 7c)
  • Sandra Cretu (uncredited) (tracks 1, 2a, 2c, and 4)

Companies, etc.

Credits

Notes
Released: 1 991
Recorded:  1990-1991 Studio A.R.T. (Ibiza, Spain) 
Genre:  New-age, worldbeat 
Length:  1:00:28
Producer:  Michael Cretu 

Label - Virgin Records 

November 03, 2023

Herman Brood & His Wild Romance - Freeze (1990)

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posted by all-musicrecords

Freeze is the tenth studio album by Dutch rock and roll and blues group Herman Brood & His Wild Romance. 
The album reached No. 63 on the Dutch album chart on 3 November 1990, and stayed on the chart for 5 weeks. 

In the summer of 1979, Brood tried to enter the American market, with support from Ariola's US division, which was attempting to expand into rock music. 
Following on the success of Shpritsz, the band was booked as a support act for The Kinks and The Cars, playing in auditoriums; "Herman Brood and His Wild Romance Tour Cha Cha '79" headlined in New York's (Bottom Line) and Los Angeles' (Roxy). 
A re-recorded version of "Saturday Night" peaked at number 35 in the Billboard Hot 100,[9] but the big break Brood hoped for didn't happen. 
When he returned to the Netherlands in October 1979, his band had begun to fall apart, and soon his popularity went downhill. 
Go Nutz, the album Brood had recorded while in the States, and the movie Cha-Cha, which finally premiered in December 1979, were considered artistic failures, even though Go Nutz produced three charting singles in the Netherlands and the Cha Cha soundtrack attained platinum status. 
The 1980 album Wait a Minute... was a minor success, but the follow-up albums Modern Times Revive (1981) and Frisz & Sympatisz (1982) failed to make the Dutch album charts. 

Brood continued to record throughout the 1980s and had a few hits—a top-10 single, "Als Je Wint" with Henny Vrienten, and a minor hit with a reggae song, "Tattoo Song," but he spent more and more time on his art work. At the end of the '80s he made a comeback of sorts; Yada Yada (1988), produced by George Kooymans, was well-received, and he toured Germany with a renewed Wild Romance (which saw the return of Dany Lademacher).

Brood wins the BV Pop Prize 1989. With the assistance of Clarence Clemons, the saxophonist from Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, and the famous Tex Mex accordionist Flaco Jiminez, Brood records the album Freeze.
If success is not forthcoming, Brood announces that he will stop performing. His work as a painter begins to become more and more successful and lucrative.


Track listing

1.  Blue Ice Moon - 3:31 
2.  Crackin' Up - 4:26 
3.  The Talkin' - 3:59 
4.  Break Away - 4:29 
5.  Lie & Cheat - 2:17 
6.  Boys in Black - 1:02 
7.  Beefin' It Up - 4:21 
8.  Cat Smoke - 2:13 
9.  Legal in Amsterdam - 4:05 
10.  Johnny - 1:19 
11.  He'll Have to Go - 1:01 
12.  Cripple (Without You) - 2:49 
13.  On Top of You - 2:27 
14.  Forever - 2:07 
15.  Blue Moon - 1:00 
16.  It Ain't the Gun - 5:09 


Herman Brood and his Wild Romance
  • Herman Brood – piano, keyboards, vocals
  • Roy Bakkers – drums
  • Ivo Severijns – bass
  • David Hollestelle Jr. – guitar

with:

Technical
  • Koos van Dijk – executive producer
  • John Tilly – engineer
  • Herman Brood – design
  • Alex de Groot – photography

Notes
Released: 1989 
Recorded:  Studio Friends Studio, Amsterdam 
Genre:  Rock and roll, blues 
Length:  46:20
Producer:  The Wild Romance

Label - CBS Records

November 02, 2023

Chris Rea - The Road To Hell (1989)

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posted by all-musicrecords

The Road to Hell is the tenth studio album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1989. Coming on the back of several strongly performing releases, it is Rea's most successful studio album, and topped the UK Albums Chart for three weeks. 
Hailed as a "modern masterpiece", it was certified 6× Platinum by BPI in 2004. 

The album demonstrates a thematic cohesion previously absent from Rea's work, with the majority of the tracks containing strong elements of social commentary, addressing alienation, violence and redemption. 
The second part of the two-part title track, "The Road to Hell (Pt.2) ", is one of Rea's most famous songs, and his only single to reach the UK Top 10.
Throughout the album there are repeated references to increasing societal dissolution and rising violence, including riots, murder and their irresponsible depiction on television news (You Must Be Evil), and "the perverted fear of violence" on city streets (The Road to Hell (Part 2)), where "it's all gone crazy" amid fears that "someone's gonna get killed out there" (Texas). 

Rea also targets industrial polluters' destruction of rivers (which "boil" with "poison"), and Thatcherism (which he also criticised on Shamrock Diaries' Steel River), dismissing notions of an "upwardly mobile freeway", or that promises will be delivered on (That's What They Always Say). 
A sense of suffocating doom suffuses the title track. Rea cries "We gotta get outta here!" (Texas) and "I'm getting out!" (That's What They Always Say), and struggles to find an escape in Texas and Looking for a Rainbow. 
A prominent theme is the impact all of this is having on his daughter, who was six at the time (You Must Be Evil, Tell Me There's a Heaven).


Track listing

1.  The Road to Hell (Part 1) - 4:52 
2.  The Road to Hell (Part 2) - 4:32 
3.  You Must Be Evil - 4:23
4.  Texas - 5:12 
5.  Looking for a Rainbow - 8:02 
6.  Your Warm and Tender Love - 4:33 
7.  Daytona - 5:07 
8.  That's What They Always Say - 4:29 
9.  I Just Wanna Be with You - 3:41 
10.  Tell Me There's a Heaven - 6:06 

All tracks are written by Chris Rea


Personnel
  • Chris Rea – lead and backing vocals, keyboards, guitars
  • Kevin Leach – keyboards,
  • Max Middleton – acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes, string arrangements
  • Robert Ahwai – guitars
  • Eoghan O'Neill – bass
  • Martin Ditcham – drums, percussion
  • Gavyn Wright – concertmaster and conductor
  • Karen Boddington – additional backing vocals
  • Carol Kenyon – additional backing vocals
  • Linda Taylor – additional backing vocals

Production
  • Chris Rea – producer
  • Jon Kelly – producer
  • Neil Amor – engineer
  • Diane BJ Koné – engineer
  • Willie Grimston – coordinator
  • The Leisure Process – artwork, sleeve design
  • Jim Beach – management
  • John Knowles – management
  • Paul Lilly – management

Companies, etc.

Notes
Released:  2 October 1989 
Recorded:  Miraval Studios, France 
Genre:  Blues rock, soft rock 
Length:  50:53 
Producer:  Jon Kelly, Chris Rea

Label - WEA Records

November 01, 2023

The Alan Parsons Project - Tales Of Mystery And Imagination (1987 Remix) (1987)

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posted by all-musicrecords

Tales of Mystery and Imagination (Edgar Allan Poe) is the debut studio album by British rock band The Alan Parsons Project. 
It was released on 25 June 1976 in the United Kingdom by Charisma Records. 
The lyrical and musical themes of the album, which are retellings of horror stories and poetry by Edgar Allan Poe, attracted a cult audience. 
The title of the album is taken from the title of a collection of Poe's macabre stories of the same name.
Musicians featured on the album include vocalists Arthur Brown of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown on "The Tell Tale Heart", John Miles on "The Cask of Amontillado" and "(The System of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether", and Terry Sylvester of The Hollies on "To One in Paradise". 
The complete line-up of bands Ambrosia and Pilot play on the record, along with keyboardist Francis Monkman of Curved Air and Sky. 

"The Raven" features actor Leonard Whiting on lead vocals, with Alan Parsons performing vocals through an EMI vocoder. According to the album's liner notes, "The Raven" was the first rock song to feature a digital vocoder. 
The prelude section of "The Fall of the House of Usher", although uncredited, is taken verbatim from the opera fragment "La chute de la maison Usher" by Claude Debussy which was composed between 1908 and 1917. 
"The Fall of the House of Usher" is an instrumental suite that runs more than 15 minutes and takes up most of Side 2 of the recording.

In 1987, Parsons completely remixed the album, including additional keyboard and guitar passages and narration (by Orson Welles) as well as updating the production style to include heavy reverb and the gated reverb snare drum sound, which was popular in the 1980s. 
He also made the end of side A segue into the start of side B due to the remix of the album being released when CD's were commercially available, thus no need to stop playback to change sides. 
The CD notes that Welles never met Parsons or Eric Woolfson, but sent a tape to them of the performance shortly after the album was manufactured in 1976.

The first passage narrated by Welles on the 1987 remix (which comes before the first track, "A Dream Within a Dream") is sourced from an obscure nonfiction piece by Poe – No XVI of his Marginalia (from 1845 to 1849 Edgar Allan Poe titled some of his reflections and fragmentary material "Marginalia.") The second passage Welles reads (which comes before "The Fall of the House of Usher" (Prelude), seems to be a partial paraphrase or composite from nonfiction by Poe, chiefly from a collection of poems titled "Poems of Youth" by Poe (contained in "Introduction to Poems – 1831" in a section titled "Letter to Mr. B-----------"; the "Shadows of shadows passing" part of the quote comes from the Marginalia.


Track listing

1.  A Dream Within a Dream (Instrumental) - 4:13 
2.  The Raven   (Vocals: Alan Parsons, Leonard Whiting) - 3:57 
3.  The Tell-Tale Heart  (Vocals: Arthur Brown, additional vocals: Jack Harris) - 4:39 
4.  The Cask of Amontillado  (Vocals: John Miles, additional vocals: Terry Sylvester) - 4:33 
5.  (The System of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether  (Vocals: John Miles, additional vocals: Jack Harris) - 4:21 
6.  The Fall of the House of Usher (Instrumental) - 15:02 
      Prelude - 7:01  
      Arrival - 2:34
      Intermezzo - 0:59
      Pavane - 4:36
      Fall - 0:51
7.  To One in Paradise  (Vocals: Terry Sylvester, additional vocals: Eric Woolfson, Alan Parsons) - 4:44
8.  Eric´s Guide Vocal Medley - 9:23
9.  Orson Welles Dialogue - 3:05
10.  Sea Lions In The Departure Lounge - Sound Effects and Experiments - 2:38
11.  GBH Mix - Unreleased Experiments - 5:22 

Personnel
  • Alan Parsons – EMI vocoder (2), Projectron synthesizer (3, 7, 10), recorder (5), additional vocals (11), synthesizer (3-4 on 1987 remix), cathedral organ (5 on 1987 remix) producer, engineer
  • Eric Woolfson – keyboards (1-3, 5, 7), backing vocals (2, 4), harpsichord (4), organ (7), additional vocals (11), synthesizer (9 on 1987 remix) executive producer
  • Andrew Powell – orchestral arrangement (2-4, 6, 8, 10), orchestral conductor (2-4, 6, 8, 10), keyboards (7), organ (9)
  • Francis Monkman – organ (7), harpsichord (9)
  • Billy Lyall – keyboards (1, 3), recorder (1), piano (4-5), Fender Rhodes electric piano (11), glockenspiel (11)
  • Christopher North – keyboards (2)
  • Orson Welles – narration (1 and 6 on 1987 remix)
  • Leonard Whiting – lead vocals (2), narration (11)
  • Arthur Brown – lead vocals (3)
  • John Miles – lead vocals (4-5), electric guitar (5)
  • Jack Harris – additional vocals (3, 5)
  • Terry Sylvester – additional vocals (4), lead vocals (11)
  • Jane Powell – backing vocals (11)
  • Smokey Parsons – vocals
  • Bob Howes & the English Chorale – choir (2-4)
  • Westminster City School Boys Choir – choir (11)
  • David Paton – acoustic guitar (1, 11), backing vocals (1), bass guitar (3-5, 7, 11)
  • Kevin Peek – acoustic guitar (9)
  • Laurence Juber – acoustic guitar (9)
  • Ian Bairnson – electric guitar (1, 3-5, 7, 11, 2 on 1987 remix), acoustic guitar (1, 11)
  • David Pack – electric guitar (2)
  • Joe Puerta – bass guitar (1-2)
  • Les Hurdle – bass guitar (6)
  • Daryl Runswick – double bass (9)
  • David Katz – violin, orchestra leader (6, 8, 10), orchestra contractor
  • Jack Rothstein – orchestra leader (6, 8, 10)
  • David Snell – harp (9)
  • Hugo D'Alton – mandolin (9)
  • Stuart Tosh – drums (1-5, 7, 9, 11), timpani (3), backwards cymbals (3)
  • Burleigh Drummond – drums (2)
  • John Leach – cimbalom (9), kantele (9)
  • Dennis Clarke - saxophone, clarinet

Production 

  • Gordon Parry – engineer
  • Tony Richards – assistant engineer
  • Chris Blair – assistant engineer
  • Tom Trefethen – assistant engineer
  • Pat Stapley – assistant engineer
  • Peter Christopherson – photography
  • Aubrey Powell – photography
  • Storm Thorgerson – photography
  • Sam Emerson – photography
  • Hipgnosis – design, cover art
  • Colin Elgie – artwork, graphic design, layout design

Notes
Released: 1987
Genre:  Progressive rock, symphonic rock
Length:  42:38 (1987) 
Producer:  Alan Parsons

Label - Charisma, 20th Century Fox

October 29, 2023

Henny Vrienten - Tussen de regels (2019)

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posted  by all-musicrecords

En Toch… (2014) en Alles Is Anders (2015) werden in een tijdsbestek van nog geen elf maanden uitgebracht. 
Het drieluik zou gecompleteerd worden met Tussen De Regels, zo was de boodschap. Henny Vrienten liet zijn solowerk echter even liggen om weer met Doe Maar de podia te bestijgen. 
Ook kreeg het project Vreemde Kostgangers met Boudewijn de Groot en George Kooymans voorrang. Nu, vier jaar na Alles Is Anders, wordt de trilogie dan eindelijk gecomplementeerd.

Op Tussen De Regels maakt Henny Vrienten de reis terug naar het verleden. De zanger roept veel nostalgische gedachten op met zijn songs. 
Dat blijkt al direct op single en opener Karnemelk Met Bitterkoekjes, waar hij terugblikt op zijn jeugdjaren. Het nummer is vrijwel volledig in de tegenwoordige tijd geschreven, waardoor het een trendbreuk is met veel daaropvolgende tracks. 
Want er wordt veelvuldig in verleden tijd gezongen. De hang naar vroeger. Nostalgie. Dat ademt Tussen De Regels voornamelijk uit. Op Carnaval krijgt dat zelfs iets macabers: ‘Kom nu naar het carnaval/Van mijn feestelijk verval/Hef het glas op wie ik was/(…)/Geniet van mijn feest/Ik ben er geweest.’

Dat patroon zet zich door op Museum van Weemoed en Gemis. Titeltrack Tussen De Regels maakt het allemaal nog enger. 
‘Tussen de regels staat precies wat ik bedoel/Tussen de regels lees je mijn gevoel/Achter de woorden zie je staan/Het is gedaan.
’ Het geeft de indruk dat dit voor de 71-jarige Vrienten zijn allerlaatste album is en dat zou zonde zijn, want hij schrijft nog altijd zeer fraaie teksten. 
Melancholisch en donker, maar fraai. Puur qua zang en muzikale invulling zal je niet weggeblazen worden door Tussen De Regels, al is Blues van het Lege Bed – uiteraard een bluessong – een fijne verrassing. Toch gaat het voornamelijk om de verhalen die er verteld worden.

Gelukkig kan de donkere nostalgie ook lichter uitgelegd worden. Vrienten kondigde namelijk onlangsaan dat Doe Maar weer zal gaan toeren, wat ook weer het voorlopige eind van zijn solotijd zou betekenen. 
“Dat (de vorige optredens, red.) is ons zo goed bevallen, dat we onszelf afvroegen: ‘Waarom doen we dit niet nóg een keer?’. Dus dat gaan we doen.” De tweede helft van Tussen De Regels heeft qua tekst bovendien een veel warmere uitstraling. 
‘Niemand om hem heen/Voelt zich ooit alleen/Hij is tevreden.’ Zelfs liefdesliedjes komen voorbij, iets dat tijdens de eerste helft van het album onmogelijk leek. ‘Al ben je nog zo ver weg/Ik ben het liefst/Het allerliefst bij jou.’

Als je dan zowel het zware als het liefdesdeel hebt gehad, deelt Vrienten als slotakkoord nog zijn impasse. Op Dit Is De Tijd lijkt Vrienten op het ene moment vrede te hebben met de situatie: ‘Laat dit duizend jaar duren.’ 
Toch spreekt niet uit alles die voldoening. ‘Stil is de leegte/Waar niks bewegen wil.’ Tenzij stille leegtes helemaal zijn ding zijn natuurlijk.

Het is wat dat betreft de perfecte afronding van een opzettelijk licht verwarrend album. 
Op Tussen De Regels is er veel ruimte voor eigen interpretatie tussen de regels door, dus misschien is geen van de bovengenoemde veronderstellingen correct. 
Er ligt hoe dan ook een fraaie plaat van Henny Vrienten voor je klaar. Zelfs voor wie niet tussen de regels door probeert te luisteren.



1. Karnemelk Met Bitterkoekjes - 4:29
     Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, Organ [Yamaha CN-70] – HV
     Drums, Percussion – Dave Menkehorst
     Electric Piano [Wurlitzer], Organ [Phillicorda], Synthesizer [Moog] – Jasper Slijderink

  2. Paradijs Verloren - 3:46
        Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Vocals – HV
        Acoustic Guitar, Vocals – Diederik Nomden
        Dobro, Vocals – Bertolf Lentink
        Drums – Kees Schaper
        Featuring – Bertolf, Diederik Nomden

  3. De Een Is De Ander Niet - 3:40
      Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Glockenspiel, Keyboards, Choir – HV
        Drums, Percussion – Dave Menkehorst
        Electric Guitar – Jac Bico
        Electric Piano [Wurlitzer], Organ [Phillicorda] – Jasper Slijderink

  4. Carnaval - 4:01
        Accordion – Gert Wantenaar
        Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Whistle, Percussion, Choir – HV  
        Drums, Percussion – Martijn Bosman
       Technician [Drums] – Frans Hendrix

5. Lea - 5:30
    Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, Mandolin, Keyboards, Choir – HV
      Drums, Percussion – Dave Menkehorst
      Pedal Steel Guitar – Bertolf Lentink

 6. Het Museum Van Weemoed En Gemis - 3:39
       Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Glockenspiel, Choir – HV
       Drums – Kees Schaper
       Electric Guitar – Jac Bico
       Organ [Phillicorda], Synthesizer [Moog] – Jasper Slijderink
 7. Tussen De Regels - 3:29
       Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Grand Piano, Mellotron, Choir – HV
       Drums – Kees Schaper
       Electric Guitar – Jac Bico
       Electric Piano [Wurlitzer], Synthesizer [Moog] – Jasper Slijderink

 8. Liedje Van Verlangen - 4:41
       Acoustic Guitar, Grand Piano, Keyboards – HV
       Bandoneon, Accordion – Gert Wantenaar
       Contrabass – Reyer Zwart
       Featuring – Eefje de Visser
       Lyrics By – Henny Vrienten   
       Music By – Eefje de Visser, Henny Vrienten
       Pedal Steel Guitar – Bertolf Lentink
       Vocals, Synthesizer – Eefje de Visser
 9. Het Liefst Bij Jou - 3:30
       Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, Organ [Phillicorda], Synthesizer, Choir – HV
       Drums – Dave Menkehorst

10. De Blues Van Het Lege Bed - 2:55
        Acoustic Guitar, Grand Piano – HV
        Contrabass – Reyer Zwart
        Drums – Kees Schaper
        Slide Guitar – Bertolf Lentink

12. In Jouw Armen - 3:44
       Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Electric Piano [Wurlitzer], Organ [Hammond], Choir, Harmonica – HV
        Dobro, Electric Guitar – Bertolf Lentink
        Drums – Kees Schaper

13. Dit Is De Tijd - 4:41
        Acoustic Guitar, Acoustic Bass, Electric Piano [Wurlitzer], Guitar [Tremolo], Synthesizer, Choir – HV
        Drums – Dave Menkehorst
        Pedal Steel Guitar – Bertolf Lentink



Companies, etc.

Credits

Notes
Released: Sep 27, 2019 
Genre: Pop 
Tijdsduur: 
Label: Universal Music

https://mega.nz/file/goMhWJ7a#PWCsne---cn8WRUJCHcBvEGcH-lf6HrCDvQ1r2RYkaE


October 28, 2023

The Marcus King Band - Carolina Confessions (2018)

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posted by record facts

Marcus King is met zijn oude ziel, gouden strot en soulvolle Southern bluesrock helemaal hot en happening op dit moment. 
Hij is pas 22 jaar maar klinkt en maakt muziek als een doorgewinterde muzikant, een oude rot in het vak. 
Hij leerde de fijne kneepjes van het vak van niemand minder dan Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule, The Allman Brothers Band) en Derek Trucks (The Allman Brothers Band, Tedeschi Trucks Band) en schrijft teksten alsof hij alle leed en pijn van de wereld allemaal al heeft gezien, gevoeld en meegemaakt. 

Haynes was zelfs zo onder de indruk van de toen 19-jarige King dat hij zijn eerste album ‘Soul Insight’ uit 2015 releaste, hem een platencontract aanbood bij zijn label ‘Evil Teen’ en zijn tweede plaat ‘The Marcus King Band’ in 2016 produceerde.King’s nieuwste release, ‘Carolina Confessions’ werd geproduceerd en gemixt door Grammy Award winnaar Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, John Prine) en opgenomen in Nashville’s iconische RCA Studio A.

Muziek maken zit King in het bloed. Zijn overgrootvader speelde viool, zijn opa was violist en gitarist en zijn vader, Marvin King, is zanger en gitarist en toerde in de jaren zeventig met verschillende artiesten, evenals met zijn eigen band; Marvin King & The Blues Revival. 
Voor Marcus is zijn vader zijn meest favoriete gitarist en grootste inspiratiebron. Bloed kruipt dus letterlijk waar het niet gaan kan. De jonge King schreef al liedjes en bestierde het podium vanaf zijn elfde en is inmiddels al tien jaar lang bandleider.
Zijn primaire gitaar op ‘Carolina Confessions’ is een Gibson 345 uit 1962 en was ooit van zijn opa. Je kunt wel stellen dat zijn familie erg belangrijk voor hem is en van grote invloed is geweest op zijn carrièrekeuze

Alle liedjes op deze nieuwste release schreef King zelf, behalve How Long, die hij samen schreef met Dan Auerbach van The Black Keys en liedjesschrijver Pat McLaughlin.
 Het is een sprankelend soul nummer en tevens, hoe kan het ook anders met de hulp van twee hitschrijvers, een echte meezinger. Ook op de rest van de plaat is de soul invloed goed te horen. Daarmee verschilt dit album met zijn twee voorgangers, die veel meer blues en Southern rock georiënteerd waren. 
Op ‘Carolina Confessions’ durft de eigenzinnige King naast blues, Sounthern rootsrock en Americana, ook uitstapjes te maken naar funk, soul en jazz. Hiermee krijg je automatisch een sound die een stuk minder gericht is op de gitaar, maar daarnaast veel ruimte biedt voor blazers en toetsen. Marcus’ geluid is volwassener geworden. 

Het spreekt meer. Het is sprankelend, levendig, energiek en bovendien zit er veel meer gevoel in. De band vormt echt een geheel en de leden tillen samen de plaat naar een hoger niveau. Ze spelen met verve en passie.
‘Carolina Confessions’ zou goed tot één van King’s betere werken kunnen gaan behoren. Het is in ieder geval zijn beste plaat tot nu toe.
Marcus King doet niet onder voor de groten. Sterker nog: ik denk dat menig artiest een puntje kan zuigen aan zijn expressieve gitaarspel, waanzinnige, vurige soulvolle zang en uitzonderlijk volwassen teksten. Hij is een bovennatuurlijk multi-talent. 
Een wonderkind. Niet voor niets wordt hij gezien als de vierde ‘King’ naast BB King, Freddie King en Albert King. 


Track listing

1.  Confessions - 5:23
2.  Where I'm Headed  (Backing Vocals – Kristen Rogers) - 4:53
3.  Homesick  (Backing Vocals – Kristen Rogers) - 5:22
4.  8 A.M.  (Backing Vocals – Kristen Rogers) - 3:38
5.  How Long - 4:40
6.  Remember - 4:01
7.  Side Door - 4:24
8.  Autumn Rains - 4:01
9.  Welcome 'Round Here - 4:21 
10.  Goodbye Carolina  (Backing Vocals – Kristen Rogers) - 6:15 


Companies, etc.

Credits

Notes
Released: Oct 5, 2018 
Recorded and mixed at:  RCA Studio A, Nashville, TN
Genre: Blues Rock 
Length: 47:08
Label - Fantasy Records 


July 02, 2023

The Bigger The God - Variety [1996]

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TBTG's debut effort throws you in at the deep end. Not everyone will warm to singer David Cowles-Hamar's heightened sense of drama or operatic inclinations. 
But if you get beyond that, songwriter and lyricist Ellis James composes songs that display a strong grasp of kitchen-sink aesthetics, mischief, and bad puns ("He Broke It Off"). 
The absurdity of modern life is a favorite topic, with lyrics sketched out in a manner that recalls (but by no means equals) Morrissey. 
The uncharacteristically rocky "Pentonville" and engagingly silly "Mum Steals Boyfriend" are probably the best cuts on this promising but uneven debut.
Oxford's The Bigger The God have laboured to make headway in the UK market after some encouraging early press. Thankfully the quartet of David Cowles-Hamar (vocals), Ellis James (guitar), Andy Smith (bass) and Steve Brownsill (drums) have persevered, despite operating increasingly at the margins of the record industry. 
The upside is that this has allowed them more creative freedom than those with record companies standing over them. After a quietly impressive start with Variety (1996) and attendant singles "Mum Steals Boyfriend" and "Miss Pritchard," the group moved on from their edgy, satirical pop to produce 1999's better realised though obtusely named . . . and the Ugly. 
They remain unlikely to win over the British 'inkies' at this stage in their career, particularly since they've abandoned most of their original pop elements. However, TBTG have managed to leave behind one of the best albums produced in Oxford in the 90s. And when you consider the competition


Track listing

1.  He Broke It Off - 3:06
2.  She's Coming Out - 2:36
3.  Pentonville - 3:23
4.  Shagged - 2:45
5.  Twice A Week - 2:06
6.  Cow - 2:15
7.  Three Of A Kind - 3:34
8.  Double Deckers - 4:34
9.  Miss Pritchard - 2:47
10.  Let's Pretend We Care - 1:27
11.  Mum Steals Boyfriend - 2:53
12.  Spiral - 2:55
13.  Front Page News - 5:37
14.  Tina's Haircut - 2:43
15.  Unbudgeable - 3:58



July 01, 2023

Bobbi Humphrey - Fancy Dancer [1975]

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Fancy Dancer is the fifth studio album by American jazz flautist Bobbi Humphrey, recorded in 1975 and released on the Blue Note label.

The third and final collaboration between flutist Bobbi Humphrey and Larry Mizell also marked the end of Humphrey's five-album run with Blue Note Records. 
Humphrey began recording with Larry and his brother Fonce (who provides arrangements and plays clavinet and trumpet here) in the aftermath of Donald Byrd's Black Byrd, the collaborative jazz-funk effort that resulted in a massively successful (and influential) commercial breakthrough for the trumpeter and the label. 
While not as well known as her Blacks and Blues album, her stellar debut with the pair from 1973, Fancy Dancer is every bit its aesthetic equal. The Mizells lined up a serious crew of studio aces for the date, including trumpeter Oscar Brashear; trombonist Julian Priester; Tyree and Roger Glenn on saxophone and piano, respectively; pianists Skip Scarborough and Jerry Peters (who were part of an army of them on this date); drummer Harvey Mason; bassist Chuck Rainey; and even the great Dorothy Ashby on harp. 
Recorded at their Sound Factory studio in Los Angeles, Fancy Dancer is a seamless collection of seven tracks that cruise the distance across soulful fusions of funk, Latin grooves, electric jazz, and gauzy vocal choruses that offer a hint as to what the underground dancefloor scenes of Los Angeles and New York were offering in at the predawn of the disco era. 
Humphrey's flute playing feels effortless as she hovers around and plays through the layers of spacy keyboards, shimmering rhythmic pulses, and seductive textures provided by lilting voices, hand percussion, and breaks. 
The set comes popping out of the gate with the glorious "Uno Esta," featuring bank upon bank of warm bubbling keyboards, roiling basslines, and hand drums courtesy of Mayuto Correa's congas. Craig McMullen and John Rowin contribute some bright chunky guitars, and Larry lays a fine horn chart in the cut as Humphrey begins the first of three solo breaks. 
When the chorus comes in, the rhythm shifts; the vibe get funkier but never loses the sheen and polish in the mix.

Following this is the stunning Chuck Davis number "The Trip." Commencing with a cut-time funk break, wah-wah guitars, and three different synth harmonic lines all painting a nocturnal spaced-out groove, Humphrey begins to play fills around and through them. 
A Rhodes enters and the drums become more pronounced in the mix, just as a guitar begins to play contrapuntal fills under her flute. 
This is one of the greatest tracks in her catalog because it is simultaneously dreamy and sensual and offers enough head-nodding funk to seduce an army. 
The title track feels more laid-back at first with its gentle chorus. But some flipped-out psychedelic soul finds its way through in waves of Latin percussion that build a shelf under Roger Glenn's vibes break, which in turn sets up Humphrey's burning flute solo prefiguring a salsa piano line and furious hand drumming in syncopated grooves. 
"Mestizo Eyes" is a steamy, lusty babymaker with simmering, ratcheted intensity as Rainey's fat-bottom electric Fender bassline belies the chunky wah-wah guitars and synth strings and Dorothy Ashby's harp floats through the center. 
A chorus of male voices softly chants the title and Humphrey goes to town, rhythmically undulating her solo through the entire mix. 
There isn't anything approaching a middling moment here -- this is all killer, no filler. Jazz critics may have had their troubles with this set, but no one cared; Humphrey and the Mizells were creating a new kind of largely instrumental funk that was inclusive of everything they could weave in from world music to soul-jazz to club music to pop -- and the public responded.


Track listing
  1. "Uno Esta"  (Larry Mizell) - 6:44
  2. "The Trip"  (Chuck Davis, Doug Jones) - 5:41
  3. "You Make Me Feel So Good"  (Larry Mizell, Fonce Mizell) - 6:16
  4. "Fancy Dancer" (Jerry Peters) - 5:46
  5. "Mestizo Eyes"  (Larry Mizell, Fonce Mizell, Warren Jordan) 4:52
  6. "Sweeter Than Sugar"  (Chuck Davis, Skip Scarborough) - 4:24
  7. "Please Set Me at Ease"  (Larry Mizell, Fonce Mizell, Ruby Mizell) - 6:09