Cat Stevens
Vol. #24
-
Moonshadow
Trouble
Peace Train
Where Do The Children Play?
If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out
Morning Has Broken
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Jerry Garcia Band [LIVE]
(2 CD Set)
(August 27, 1991)
1. Stop That Train
2. Senor (Tales Of Yankee Power)
3. Evangeline
4. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
5. Don't Let Go
6. That Lucky Old Sun [(This is simply gorgeous
)]
7. Tangled Up In Blue
If the Grateful Dead was Garcia's day job, then his beloved Jerry Garcia Band was his robe and slippers. Without the "scene" swirling quite as much around the JGB, those shows took on a more informal, laid-back feel that was clearly liberating to Garcia, who with the JGB had the freedom to completely indulge his own tastes. The JGB of Garcia's last decade boasted terrific organist Melvin Seals as Garcia's chief improvisational sidekick, plus the background female soul singers Gloria Jones and Jackie LaBranch and Garcia's old buddy John Kahn on bass. Recorded in 1990 at San Francisco's Warfield Theater--which was nothing short of the JGB's home field--this double-disc set gives a clear idea of the ensemble's breadth: Dylan covers, Motown hits, and blues romps, as well as classic rock, gospel, and reggae numbers, and basically any song that Garcia loved. Of course, there's plenty of solo space provided to Garcia's spiraling guitar, but his passionate vocals on the ballads are also quite moving.
--Marc Greilsamer
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Dream Theater
Images And Words
(July 7, 1992)
1. Pull Me Under
2. Another Day
3. Take The Time
4. Surrounded
5. Metropolis- Part 1 'The Miracle And The Sleeper'
6. Under A Glass Moon
7. Wait For Sleep
8. Learning To Live
As bad a rap as I give Dream Theater for their more recent albums, this is where it all started, for me. Images and Words was the album that got me into the modern progressive rock scene, with its accessible melodies, slightly skewed rhythms, and a sound that, to my inexperienced ears, was like a fusion of the coolest elements of Rush and Metallica.
"Pull Me Under" starts it all off sounding pretty much entirely like Metallica, slicker and sans the growly vocals, with a heavy crunch that I found enthralling from the start. "Take the Time" and "Under a Glass Moon" are filled with instrumental parts featuring guitar riffing and keyboard soloing that are held down by an undeniably talented rhythm section, playing off-kilter rhythms that manage to sound great - and natural - in this band's hands. And then there's "Learning to Live", perhaps the best epic the band has ever done, and the song that got to me the most. It's just a very well-constructed, melodic piece, with a couple awesome instrumental sections where the band plays compellingly without descending into the showoffiness that so often damages their appeal. I thought then, and I still think now, that "Learning to Live" is melodic prog-metal at its best.
The years have dulled my enthusiasm for Dream Theater considerably, and for Images and Words in particular a bit. "Another Day" is a horribly cheesy ballad featuring an awful sappy sax solo that would make Kenny G proud. "Metropolis" - the album's other epic - is gimmicky and poorly put together. "Pull Me Under" is way longer than it needs to be, based on its limited content. And yet despite these obvious shortcomings, I still find myself enjoying Images and Words a lot. At this point in Dream Theater's career, the band was more interested in composing interesting songs than in composing pieces that gave them opportunities to show off their flashy and oh-so-fast playing. Catchy rhythms and melodies abound, and even James LaBrie's voice here is pretty good, only floating off into his incomprehensible screech once or twice on the album.
This is the album that put Dream Theater on the prog-metal map. Or, maybe better said, this is the album that put prog-metal on the map. It's got a deservedly enduring popularity, and despite its unevenness and shortcomings is a must-hear for anyone who counts themselves a fan of melodic prog-metal.
-- Brandon Wu — 3-15-04
Proof positive that one can be a virtuoso musician and also have heart, Dream Theater are in impressive form on this album, arguably their best. They do it by never allowing technical flash to overwhelm their songs; there's substance under the style, in the form of ear-catching riffs and aggressive rhythms. The opening "Pull Me Under" is, quite simply, a great song, from its sparse introduction to its heavy-duty main riff to its memorable lyrics. Dream Theater, as its name implies, is an introspective band, exploring the complexities of the human heart and bringing them to life with songs like "Learning to Live," "Take the Time," and "Wait for Sleep". Unlike many metal bands, they favor an optimistic outlook, as with "Another Day" and "Surrounded," and even the dazzlingly complex "Metropolis, Pt. 1" is an entertaining listen.
-- Genevieve Williams
[(Great test for "Tux The Mystical", here; Grade: A)]
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Year of the Horse [LIVE]
(June 17, 1997)
Neil Young, Crazy Horse
Disc: 1
1. When You Dance
2. Barstool Blues
3. When Your Lonely Heart Breaks
4. Mr. Soul
5. Big Time
6. Pocahontas
7. Human Highway
/ Concertgoer: "It all sounds the same"; Neil: "It's all one song"...LOL
* Noteworthy both on this recording, as well as last set lists "The Who's Live Isle of Wight" recording, is this systems ability to make them both very nicely listenable; Which is quite shocking for such a high resolution system, at least to my previous understanding and expectations, in terms of the potential effect upon this genre especially when recorded Live. I would attribuite this welcomed experience in good part to the so called, smoothness of the CDP as well as its ability to seperate and slightly spotlight (in effect), the actual musical passages, however technologically achieved. A good measure of credit might also be due the tube preamp of course, I'm sure, which adds so very much in general to this sonic signature, as well as a bit too given the Meier. This welcomed effect is as I described, in the systems supernatural (mystical?) ability to make sense of "busy mixes, without congestion", which certainly comes into appreciation on these "live" recordings. Remarkable achievement, Cambridge Audio !
Big thumbs up for "Tux The Mystical"
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Cats Under The Stars [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]
Jerry Garcia Band
1. Rubin and Cherise
2. Love in the Afternoon
3. Palm Sunday
4. Cats Under the Stars
5. Rhapsody in Red
6. Rain
7. Down Home
8. Gomorrah
9. Magnificent Sanctuary Band
10. I'll Be With Thee
11. Way You Do The Things You Do
12. Mighty High
13. Don't Let Go
14. Down Home
15. Palm Sunday
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Melissa Etheridge
The Road Less Traveled
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Ray Charles
Anthology
Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
Original Release Date: October 25, 1988
Label: Rhino / Wea
1. Hit The Road Jack
2. Georgia On My Mind
3. Let's Go Get Stoned
4. I Don't Need No Doctor
5. Hallelujah I Love Her So
6. One Mint Julep
7. That Lucky Old Sun
8. Unchain My Heart
9. Don't Set Me Free
10. I Can't Stop Loving You
11. Busted
12. Crying Time
13. Cry
14. What'd I Say
15. Here We Go Agian
16. I Gotta Woman
17. Eleanor Rigby
18. You Are My Sunshine
19. Born To Lose
20. America, The Beautiful
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The Art Of The Ballard
Best Of Mapleshade Vol. #1
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Jerry Garcia Band [LIVE]
(2 CD Set)
(August 27, 1991)
Disc: 1
1. The Way You Do The Things You Do
2. Waiting For A Miracle
3. Simple Twist Of Fate
4. Get Out Of My Life
5. My Sisters And Brothers
6. I Shall Be Released
7. Dear Prudence
8. Deal
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