Records To Die For

Various: Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration
Music On Vinyl MOVLP1000 (4 LPs). 1993/2014. Jeff Kramer, Kevin Wall, Don DeVito, Jeff Rosen, prods.; David Hewitt, eng.

How many times have we seen the phrase "All-Star Cast" in ads for some performance? More than I can count. How many times does the live performance live up to that promise? None—until I heard this recording. The all-star cast includes Eric Clapton, Neil Young, George Harrison—and, of course, Bob Dylan. The list goes on, and everyone—as individuals and in ensemble—delivers on that promise. There are truly no low points, but the Mount Everest has to be "My Back Pages." My 180gm, remastered special edition from Music On Vinyl is awesome in every respect, but the CD is worth every penny as well.

Pink Floyd: The Wall
Harvest SHDW 411 (2 LPs). 1979. Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour, James Guthrie, Roger Waters, prod.; James Guthrie, eng.

A case can be made for a few albums as genuine rock masterpieces. The Wall is one. I won't try to add anything new to the collected wisdom within the 41,700,000 hits on Google (as of this writing), but I will say that I've listened to a lot of releases of The Wall, both analog and digital, and I keep returning to the original UK release. It's not the best-sounding one, but it's the one that sounds right.

Michel Legrand: Les Demoiselles de Rochefort
Music by Michel Legrand, lyrics by Jacques Demy
Philips 558 408-2 CD. 1967/1998.

Les Demoiselles de Rochefort may not be a "serious" movie, but I find it irresistible. The same movie without Michel Legrand's music would not be worth discussing. But that music! Heavily jazz-influenced, Legrand's music is unfailingly melodic, delivered here with great panache by the ensemble cast (all dubbed, including Gene Kelly and George Chakiris). The song best-known in its English version as "You Must Believe in Spring" is lovely, but the English lyrics bear no resemblance to the French original. I love the movie, and the CD of its soundtrack is a Record To Die For.

Andrew Lloyd Webber: The Phantom Of The Opera At The Royal Albert Hall (In Celebration of 25 Years)
Polydor/Really Useful Records (2 CDs). 2011. Anthony Inglis, cond.; Cameron Mackintosh, prod.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera is the longest-running musical on Broadway; Lloyd Webber and his collaborators are obviously doing something right. Putting aside the spectacle, listening to the CD of Phantom's 25th Anniversary production reveals a skillfully crafted work combining memorable music with lyrics that pack an emotional punch. Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess deliver beautifully sung performances in the leading roles. The recording of the original West End cast is a classic, and I have a fondness for the Canadian cast recording, but this new recording of Phantom at Royal Albert Hall is now my favorite.

Ray Barretto: Acid
Ray Barretto, congas; Orestes Vilató, timbales; René López/Roberto Rodríguez Jr., trumpets; Louie Cruz, piano; Bobby Rodriguez, bass; Adalberto Santiago/Pete Bonet, vocals/percussion
Fania SLP 346, 1968 (LP or streaming). Harvey Averne/Jerry Masucci, prods.

Ray Barretto took the gritty New York City boogaloo on a new trip through the boogie-down Bronx with this penultimate Latin Soul platter. The music shimmies, shakes, dips, and jumps. It even rocks, without the sound of electric guitar anywhere in the grooves. The sound is percussion-forward, bright and sassy, with minimalist ensemble arrangements and flashy solos. Favorite cuts: the title track and "The Soul Drummers." Reissues have been a mixed bag, so seek out an original LP, ideally a copy that was loved gently.

Fela Ransome-Kuti and The Africa'70 with Ginger Baker: Live!
Fela Ransome-Kuti, vocals/keyboards/sax; Ginger Baker/Tony Allen, drums; Akwesi Korranting/Friday Jumbo/Henry Koffi, congas; Isaac Olaleye/Tony Abayomi, percussion; Maurice Ekpo, bass; Lekan Animashaun, baritone sax; Igo Chiko, tenor sax; Eddie Faychum/Tunde Williams, trumpets; Peter Animashaun, rhythm guitar
Knitting Factory KFR-1003, 1971/2010 (CD or streaming). Jeff Jarratt, prod.

Giants of the deep groove (the musical kind, not the LP-collector-speak kind) walked the earth and were recorded live here: Fela Kuti, the mad musical/political revolutionary of Nigeria, meets the mad drummer of Cream. One can feel the steamy African night, danger never far away, the music providing a frenzy of tension and release. Note how easily Baker slips into the Afro-pop beat, anchored by Tony Allen and the massive percussion corps. These giants have now moved on to the next dimension, but luckily for us, EMI ran tape one night when the spirits danced. The original Atlantic/Signpost US LP can be costly, and this CD reissue includes a Baker-Allen "drum battle" recorded at the Berlin Jazz Festival in 1978.

Kenny Dorham: Quiet Kenny
Electric Recording Company/New Jazz ERC042S/NJLP 8225 (180gm LP). 1960/2018. Bob Weinstock, prod.; Rudy Van Gelder, eng.

Original pressings of Quiet Kenny have quietly become costly jazz collectibles, fetching upward of $1500. The Electric Recording Company's limited-to-150-copies stereo reissue—a separate, mono issue was also produced—sourced from the master tapes and cut on its fully restored all-tube Lyrec/Ortofon mastering system, produces involuntary gasps from listeners when the trumpeter plays his first solo: He sounds as if he's standing in the room just behind the left speaker. The collection of mostly standards plus a few Dorham originals couldn't be more different in intent and execution than Miles's contemporaneous classic Kind of Blue, but it's no less vital. This tube cut complements the recording well. The also-outstanding Analogue Productions version, cut by Kevin Gray, is awaiting a repress.

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
Miles Davis, trumpet; John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, saxophones; Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Jimmy Cobb, drums
Columbia/Analogue Productions AUHQR 0004/CS 8163 (LP). 1959/2021. Irving Townsend, Teo Macero, prods.; Fred Plaut, eng.; Bernie Grundman, remastering.

Sixty-plus years after its 1959 release, Miles's modal KoB remains an enduring popular classic, with reach well beyond the ever-diminishing core jazz audience. There's a good chance that it will still be so 100 years from now. If that happens, there likely will still be no better-sounding, more detail-revealing version than this limited-to-25,000-copies UHQR release, which uses lacquers that Bernie Grundman cut in 1997 directly from the three-track original master tapes that have supposedly since deteriorated. Grizzled KoB vets (myself included) agree that this 200gm Clarity Vinyl UHQR pressing delivers more musical detail than any previous release.

Jeanne Demessieux: The Decca Legacy
Works by Bach, Mendelssohn, Widor, Franck, Liszt, Mozart, Clarke, et al.
Jeanne Demessieux, organ
Eloquence/Decca 4841424 (8 CDs). 2021. Mark Obert-Thorn and Chris Bernauer, audio restoration/ remastering.

I rushed to order this eight-CD boxed set of Jeanne Demessieux's pipe organ recordings on Eloquence Classics/Decca as soon as its release was announced in The New York Times on November 3, 2021. This centennial release includes the complete Decca library of her taped recordings on CD for the first time. Described as a "shy, workaholic, perfectionist prodigy," she was praised during her 47-year life by Marcel Dupré as "the greatest organist of all generations." On these CDs, Demessieux plays familiar masterpieces with clarity, technical mastery, and ease that equals or exceeds that of the six previous R2D4 pipe organ recordings I've written about over the past seven years. Her Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (BWV 565) has a deft, gentle touch that's powerful and majestic. The Toccata from Widor's fifth Organ Symphony is light, sparkling, and full of joy. Clarke's Trumpet Tune conveys the same happiness, rhythmic certainty, and lightness of touch rarely heard in pipe organ recitals. These recordings are magical.

Steely Dan: Aja
MCA Records VIM-4039 (LP). 1977/1980. Gary Katz, prod.; Al Schmidt, Bill Schnee, engs.

This 1977 studio LP catapulted American jazz-rock band Steely Dan to platinum status and sold more than 5 million copies. Released 45 years ago on ABC Records, it has been reissued on vinyl, CD, and SACD by ABC Records, Cisco, Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs, MCA Records, Simply Vinyl, Geffen, Classic Albums, and PGP RTB. (My Japanese pressing, which I bought used, sounds great, but I don't know if it sounds better than the other available pressings.) The three tracks on side 1 feature rich, lustrous, sumptuous sound, subtle rhythms, and powerful rhythmic drive. "Black Cow" is a cocktail of sophistication, anger, sadness, and rejection of lost love. The 8-minute title track combines jazz fusion and progressive rock. Depicting the inner thoughts of a narrator who longs for Aja, its music and lyrics evoke the California coast's cold, sunny beauty, where one runs to find or to lose oneself. "Aja" ends with Steve Gadd's drums and cymbal providing a foundation for Wayne's Shorter's wailing, sad soprano sax improvisation. I run to this album when my dime-dancing is through.