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Cream: The Concert at Albert Hall, May 2005. Great recording and performance.
Of course there were some great reissues this past year, but what <I>new</I> release would you say was the most significant in 2005? What is your choice for best new recording of 2005?
David Chesky: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra; The Girl from Guatemala and Concerto for Flute and Orchestra. Performed by Area 31. Chesky SACD 288. Wondeful catchy compositions and in SOTA SACD sonics. David Chesky is becoming one of the best composers of our century. Bravo!
This Godless Endeavor by the metal band Nevermore. Brilliant from front to back. A splendid musical journey in the true roots of progressive metal. It has set a new precedent this year for what all great metal albums have strived to be. Great title, too.
The Knitters: The Modern Sound of the Knitters; The White Stripes: Get Behind Me Satan; Mary Gauthier: Mercy Now; and Laura Cantrell: Humming By the Flowered Vine are the only new releases I remember buying this year. Everything else was back catalog, and vinyl when possible.
Richard Thompson: Front Parlor Ballads. I thought Old Kit Bag was a little weak, but Thompson's latest is absolutely stunning. He continues to invent new styles of guitar playing on every album, but on this one his song-writing is back at the top level. These are dark, twisted ballads about people with a 21st-century sensibility in a late 19th-century environment, wonderfully sinister and inventive. Available on vinyl, too.
That's an easy one! Paul Anka's Rock Swings. I recall Paul from the later 1950s as just a kid making a buck. What a difference a half century makes! Polished, seasoned, confidentyou name it, Anka's a pro. And his voice is better than ever. With this CD, Paul takes on 1980s rock and makes it swing baby, swing! And the recording quality is excellent!