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SACD

James Gang – The Best Of The James Gang (1973) [Analogue Productions 2019] [SACD / Analogue Productions – CAPP 120 SA]

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Title: James Gang – The Best Of The James Gang (1973) [Analogue Productions 2019]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

The James Gang was an American rock band formed in Kent, Ohio in 1966. The band went through a variety of line-up changes until they recorded their first album as a power trio consisting of Joe Walsh (guitars, lead vocals), Tom Kriss (bass) and Jim Fox (drums). Dale Peters replaced Kriss on bass for the band’s second and third albums. The band had two hit songs, “Funk #49” and “Walk Away”, which continue to be popular on classic rock and AOR stations. In 1972, Walsh left to pursue a solo career and would later join the Eagles. The band continued on with a variety of other guitarists and lead singers to replace Walsh, but failed to produce a hit song over the course of six more studio albums and broke up in 1977. Various incarnations have reformed for several reunions since then.

On this compilation you’ll hear James Gang favorites including the FM radio staple “Funk #49,” – kick-started by the outspoken declaration “I sleep all day, out all nightI know where you’re goin'” – the sexual thrust of the head-bobbing “Woman,” and proto-metal slash of the multi-part “The Bomber.” The rest of the track list is just as steeped in psychedelic-and-blues-leaning discourse. “Midnight Man,” “Stop,” “Yadig?” “Take A Look Around,” “Funk #48,” “Walk Away” and the Jack Nitzsche-orchestrated “Ashes the Rain and I” are rounded out by Walsh’s Echoplex-equipped slide guitar, and his trio-mates, band founder Jim Fox on drums, piano and vocals, and bassist Tom Kriss, later replaced by Dale Peters. The James Gang burning on stage with the audience getting higher and higher. Listen — this is American music — strong, inventive and clean.

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2 min read

SACD

James Gang – James Gang Rides Again (1970) [MFSL 2017] [SACD / Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2195]

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Title: James Gang – James Gang Rides Again (1970) [MFSL 2017]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

With their second album Rides Again, the James Gang came into their own. Under the direction of guitarist Joe Walsh, the group – now featuring bassist Dale Peters – began incorporating keyboards into their hard rock, which helped open up their musical horizons. For much of the first side of Rides Again, the group tear through a bunch of boogie numbers, most notably the heavy groove of “Funk #49.” On the second side, the James Gang departs from their trademark sound, adding keyboard flourishes and elements of country-rock to their hard rock. Walsh’s songwriting had improved, giving the band solid support for their stylistic experiments. What ties the two sides of the record together is the strength of the band’s musicianship, which burns brightly and powerfully on the hardest rockers, as well as on the sensitive ballads.

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1 min read

SACD

James Carter – Gardenias For Lady Day (2003) [SACD / Columbia – CH 89032]

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Title: James Carter – Gardenias For Lady Day (2003)
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

As James Carter’s career has progressed he’s always attempted something new, never just producing an album without building on the previous one. On this album of Billy Holiday tracks he not only places himself within the confines of what could seen as an album of covers,(relatively well known tunes as well) but also chooses to add strings to the mix, as well as three tracks with vocalist Miche Braden. That it works so well and so effectively is a tribute to both Carter and his arrangers Greg Cohen and Cassius Richmond.

Following up his 2000 tribute to guitarist Django Reinhardt, Chasin’ the Gypsy, saxophonist James Carter pays homage to iconic jazz singer Billie Holiday on Gardenias for Lady Day. Perhaps never before has the jazz iconoclast balanced so perfectly his “big top” avant-garde leanings with his more pinstriped traditionalist aesthetic. This is a beautiful album that revels as much in classic melody as it does in Carter’s most torrid saxophone “skronk.” Although the album largely succeeds on Carter’s virtuosic performance, it gains most of its character from the deft and unpredictable orchestral arrangements of Greg Cohen and fellow Detroiter Cassius Richmond. In particular, Richmond brings a cinematic quality to the album with his treatments of “Sunset,” “I Wonder Where Our Love Is Gone,” and “Gloria” that breathe and swell, rubbing dramatically against Carter’s muscular sound. Similarly, Cohen — who has worked with such N.Y.C. downtown scenesters as John Zorn, David Byrne, and Tom Waits — brings a quirky and epic quality to his tracks. Featuring a very Nina Simone-esque performance by vocalist Miche Braden, Holiday’s most famous number, “Strange Fruit,” is magnified by Cohen into a brooding film noir that ultimately descends into an apocalyptic barrage of screams and wails, with Carter and Braden manifesting all the anguish and anger the song implies. It is unclear if the orchestra and band recorded at the same time, but even if they did not, Carter’s stellar rhythm section featuring pianist John Hicks, drummer Victor Lewis, and bassist Peter Washington lends an organic quality to the proceedings that feels natural and lithe. Continuing to display a unique and singular vision, Carter has crafted a fittingly urbane, elegant, and unnerving album that celebrates both Holiday’s haunting spirituality and earthy sexuality.

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3 min read

SACD

James & Lucky Peterson – If You Can’t Fix It (2004) [SACD / JSP Records – JSP5100]

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Title: James & Lucky Peterson – If You Can’t Fix It (2004)
Genre: Blues
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Lucky Peterson is an American musician who plays contemporary blues, fusing soul, R&B, gospel and rock and roll. He plays guitar and keyboards. Music journalist Tony Russell, in his book The Blues – From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray has said, “he may be the only blues musician to have had national television exposure in short pants”. A rare new release from the folk and blues reissue specialist label JSP, James & Lucky Peterson’s If You Can’t Fix It is the first full-length collaboration by the father and son bluesmen. Neither man overshadows the other, as they take turns showcasing their own songs and each man’s uniformly fine guitar playing. The best track by far is James’ fiery “Cripple Man,” one of his most passionate and driven performances in years, on a song that has the potential to become a modern Chicago-style blues standard. Lucky’s standout is the epic “Too Young to Die,” which evolves into an extended guitar duel between father and son. In a rather unusual turn for traditional electric blues recordings, If You Can’t Fix It was released in the nascent SACD format before it was available as a standard compact disc.

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2 min read

SACD

Jakob Lindberg – John Dowland: The Complete Solo Lute Music (1994/2008) [SACD / BIS – BIS-SACD-1724]

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Title: Jakob Lindberg – John Dowland: The Complete Solo Lute Music (1994/2008)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO

NB Ultra Extended Playing Time – This product can only be played on a machine with SACD capability (super audio single layer). It cannot be played on a conventional CD player. This pioneering recording, which was first released in 1995 as a set of four conventional CDs, contains the complete solo lute pieces ascribed to John Dowland. As opposed to the composer’s lute songs and instrumental dances, which Dowland himself carefully prepared for publication, his lute solos have survived in much less reliable versions. Jakob Lindberg, lute professor at the Royal College of Music, brought all of his expertise to bear in preparing the scores and choosing among variant versions for his recordings, and also wrote the informative liner notes included in this edition. Dowland’s solo lute music is extraordinarily varied and ranges from light frivolous pieces to profound works expressing the darkest melancholy. It is characterized by an uncommon tunefulness and many of the pieces were given texts to become lute songs, one example being his famous pavan Lachrimæ which he also published as the song Flow my teares. This also applies to several of the many galliards – a genre which also shows a wonderful diversity: extrovert dances inspired by 16th-century ‘battle pieces’ but also sublime, introvert and sweet-sounding pieces such as the Melancholy Galliard. In order to perform these 92 pieces, Dowland’s testament to lutenists, Jakob Lindberg uses three different instruments, first and foremost an 8-course lute but also a 10-course lute and an 8-course orpharion.

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2 min read

SACD

Jacques Loussier Trio – The Best Of Play Bach (2004) [SACD / Telarc Surround – SACD-63590]

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Title: Jacques Loussier Trio – The Best Of Play Bach (2004)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Jacques Loussier came up with his Play Bach jazz conceptions while still in the conservatory around 1950. He started recording them in 1959, and he’s been at it ever since, adapting other classical composers along the way, but always returning to Bach. It made sense then, and it makes sense now, for Bach’s linear, continuo-driven, contrapuntal style has always implied a swinging pulse; even some inspired, if strictly score-bound classical recordings of Bach sound as if they are poised for takeoff. These recordings are not the originals, though; they are remakes made in France in the mid-’90s (from Plays Bach and The Bach Book) and compiled by Telarc a decade later to coincide with Loussier’s 70th birthday year. No real surprises here; the repertory is mostly basic-repertoire Bach favorites, which Loussier alternates straight classical playing with straight-ahead, elegant, rhythm-shifting jazz elaborations for jazz piano trio. The main difference between the 1990s Loussier and his best-sellers from decades before is his willingness to occasionally update his adaptations with newer rhythms that didn’t exist then (check out the playfully funky Gavotte in D from the Orchestral Suite No. 3). Nevertheless, listeners are so used to hearing Bach peddled in so many different idioms and wardrobes that it is impossible to hear anything radical in this concept anymore — and certainly not since fellow pianist Uri Caine’s wacky, eclectic Goldberg Variations raised the bar for outrageously entertaining Bach adaptations in 2000. Nothing much to report about the surround mix — basically room ambience in the rear channels. But the piano has an appealingly robust, full-bodied timbre in SACD, more like that of a live instrument than on the original CDs, though the drums register more clearly on CD. This was released only as a hybrid SACD disc — Telarc’s first experiment with a single inventory title — so don’t go hunting for a stereo CD-only version; it doesn’t exist.

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2 min read

SACD

Jacques Loussier – Impressions On Chopin’s Nocturnes (2004) [SACD / Telarc – SACD-63602]

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Title: Jacques Loussier – Impressions On Chopin’s Nocturnes (2004)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Jacques Loussier has made a career out of playing classical themes in a jazz setting. Born in France in 1934, he came to fame in the late 1950s with his Play Bach Trio, a group that stayed together 20 years, transforming the themes of Bach into creative and melodic jazz. Since then he has put together another trio in which he interprets not just the music of Bach but Beethoven, Debussy, Ravel, Satie and other classical giants. This set (which is subtitled Impressions on Chopin’s Nocturnes) is a bit of a departure in that Loussier performs Frédéric Chopin’s 21 nocturnes as unaccompanied piano solos. Nocturne No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op, 9., No. 2 is the most famous of these melodies although a few of the other nocturnes may be familiar even to non-classical listeners. Generally Loussier states the right-hand melody while altering the patterns written for the left-hand, and then builds from there. The essence of Chopin’s music is retained while Loussier is free to improvise his own ideas based on the themes. Most of his interpretations are gentle and subtle while never neglecting the rich melodies, and the treatments are at times slightly reminiscent of early film music and ragtime. Classical purists may not love this approach but they should be thankful, for Jacques Loussier has consistently introduced the beauty of classical music to jazz listeners. This is a very enjoyable set.

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2 min read

SACD

Jacques Brel – Les Marquises (1977) [Reissue 2004] [SACD / Barclay – 981 897-2]

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Title: Jacques Brel – Les Marquises (1977) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Chanson, French Pop
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following, initially in Belgium and France, later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson. Les Marquises (English: The Marquesas) is Jacques Brel’s thirteenth and final album. This is a quirky, adventurous set to be sure, but it satisfies from top to bottom: Les Marquises is classic Brel.

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1 min read

SACD

Jacques Brel – Olympia 1961 (1962) [Reissue 2004] [SACD / Universal – 981 895-7]

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Title: Jacques Brel – Olympia 1961 (1962) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Chanson, French Pop
Format: MCH SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Jacques Romain Georges Brel was a Belgian singer, songwriter, actor and director who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following – initially in Belgium and France, later throughout the world. He is considered a master of the modern chanson. Enregistrement Public à l’Olympia 1961 is his first live album. Also known as A L’Olympia, the album was reissued in October 2003 under Jacques Brel’s reissue campaign, and year later as SACD.

The 1961 gig offers the premier recordings of “Madeleine” and “Les Bourgeois” in addition to 13 hits. Brel’s humor is sharp, like a stiletto. His reading of his hit “La Valse à Mille Temps” reveals him to be in great spirits and apparently included a bit of theater with a prop. In addition, the reading of his classic “Ne Me Quitte Pas” (Please Don’t Leave Me) is perhaps his finest on record. Accompanied by an accordionist and pianist as well as a drummer and a brass section, the sheer joie de vivre of this performance is over the top. This is a brilliant set, and a great place to start for anyone wishing to encounter the seductive and dark power of Brel for the first time.

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2 min read

SACD

Arthur Fiedler, Boston Pops Orchestra – Jacques Offenbach – Gaite Parisienne / Rossini, Respighi – La boutique fantasque (2004) [SACD / RCA Red Seal – 82876-66419-2]

adminApril 11, 2026 13 Views

Title: Arthur Fiedler, Boston Pops Orchestra – Jacques Offenbach – Gaite Parisienne / Rossini, Respighi – La boutique fantasque (2004)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Anyone who knows the history of this recording knows it ranks as one of the best, most beloved recordings in the Classical genre. It was so well recorded in 1954 that even the 1993 CD reissue could do it no harm. The 2002 JVC XRCD2 definitely & dramatically bested the ’93 reissue, & this SACD far surpasses the JVC undertaking. The effortlessness & naturalness of the sound contained on this SACD is astounding. The smoothness of the strings bounding in & out of the mix (not to mention the woodwinds & brass), the precisely placed percussion enhancing this lighthearted romp, the pacing & coherence of the entire score, & the refined & tight grip on the bass drums, bass viols & cellos, combine to make this far & away the best iteration of RCA Living Stereo’s Offenbach: Gaîté Parisienne in the digital domain. If you have either of the above reissue CDs, you will not be disappointed, or even pleasantly surprised, by this new SACD rendering of this monumental recording – you will be BLOWN AWAY!! This SACD reissue is a veritable time machine that transports you back to June 18, 1954, Symphony Hall in Boston, Orchestra Center, Row A, & leaves you wondering how your listening room grew so enormous (& how Arthur Fiedler still lives). This is a revolutionary reissue of THE revolutionary Classical recording that will leave you, your ears & your mind spinning in utter disbelief at its impeccable quality, dramatic dynamics, scintillating percussion & orchestra, & matchless realism. This is Living Stereo at its MOST ALIVE! You certainly cannot spend your musical entertainment dollars on anything better. and…. Not much to add to the other reviews. I am impressed how close this SACD comes to the original “Living Stereo” release. ~~ Amazon review by Richard Falgione

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2 min read