Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Re: Recommended Music

Just picked up the new CD by Warren Hayes called Man In Motion. The old Gibson guitar never sounded so good it's very good listen especially Track #7 Hattiesburg Hustle.


Todd

Just put this one in the basket...sounds good...thanks fellas.

The Bulgarian vol 1 and 2 sound very interesting too. Thanks. Have you given the Lisa Gerrard catalogue a go? If you like the hair on the back of your neck type female vocal the tracks like Sacrifice do for it me every time.

Have to check out Lisa Gerrard thanks Nick. Just got done listening to Mike Ness front man for Social Distortion solo alblum Cheating At Solitaire mix of country,blues,bluegrass and rockabilly. Very good mix of songs that will get your foot tappin

Todd

Just saw the latest ' supergroup' Black Country Communion and very impressed . Lineup is
Joe Bonamassa - Guitar. Glenn Hughes ( Deep Purple Mk2 ) - Bass Guitar.
Jason Bonham - Drums and Derek Sherinian ( Dream Theatre ) - Keys

Powerful Rock played by virtuosos out to have some fun .
They also have two CDs out : Black Country Communion and 2 .

Joe Bonamassa's favorite album ?
Rory Gallagher's Irish Tour

Recommended

M

'Buddy Guys' one of the best blues guitar players around (hard to believe he is 74) has a new CD 'Living Proof' has all the goods. If you are into blazing guitar chops and how about special appearances by BB King & Carlos Santana.

Enough said what else is there, Oh Yeah Guitar God Legends!!!

Todd

Just dusted off my old Jean-Michel Jarre CD's & have given them a whirl :-

Oxygene
Equinoxe
Magnetic Fields

Three classics that still stand the test of time IMHO....

Blu Ray Teatro Real production of Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera"

It has been awhile since delving into Bluray operas with all sorts of distractions such as feeding CDs into the Meridian Sooloos system etc etc. Anyway friends came over last night and we looked at this opera.

Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera" is one of his lesser known operas and does not contain often performed arias like those in "La Traviata" etc. And, in common with most operas the story line is utterly improbable, even up to the point of being nearly as ridiculous as that in "Il Travatore". That said, it is a tribute to Verdi's mastery of drama and music (and the artists in this production) that this contrived story ultimately becomes utterly engrossing. Act 1 is nice enough, Act 2 becomes more dramatic and Act 3 is a showstopper.

The audio quality via PCM 5.1 is first rate, complementing the excellent playing and singing of the Madrid Chorus & Orchestra conducted by Jesus Lopez Cobos. The two lead singers, Marcelo Alvarez and Violeta Urmana were unknown to us but their singing was glorious and backed up by other impressive artists. Elena Zarmba capably sung the role of Ulrico, the fortuneteller, but although her voice was suited to the role in timbre etc, she lacked power in that voice to be as convincing as possible so was a minor disappointment.

The settings were traditional and appropriate but the occasional reference to America in the libretto seemed totally out of place. The historical reason for that is originally Verdi encountered public outrage when his storyline centred around the real life assassination of Sweden's King Gustav III. The opera ran into such heavy censorial opposition that Verdi ended up suing the original theatre for whom the piece was originally written. What the libretto illustrated was just not politically correct involving as it did, regicide as subject matter. The legal suit was never pursued to the end and the compromise was to reset the locale to Boston and demote the King to that of Count.

Bottom line is that this Bluray production is a very worthwhile addition to the library. We thoroughly enjoyed it and would expect all Verdi opera lovers to do likewise.

John

Nice review. would take a modest amount of exception to the characterization of ballo as lesser known and not containing often performed arias. Ballo is great middle verdi, the equal of trovatore, traviata, rigoletto, and points the way towards the great works still to come. Eri Tu is one of the greatest baritone arias ever written. Riccardo/Gustavo's final scene, la rivedra nell estasi, is as great a tenor aria as verdi ever wrote, and Amelia has two fantastic arias.

There are great recordings w/ Domingo, Pavarotti, in the title role, i prefer the first of pavarotti's two recordings, with Milnes, and a somewhat squally Tebaldi. My favorite however is an older La Scala recording on DG, With Giannin Poggi, Bastianini, and Stella.

Great stuff, if a little raw by modern standards.

"The Huckleberries"

For many years I have enjoyed the music of this UK west country based busking band. Often seen at festivals, summer events, village halls and pub venues they are truly entertaining. These tallented and creative musicians take traditional rythms from around the world and produce tight performances, of unique and distinctive compositions.
They have produced three albums:
HUCK 001 CD Reelgrass 1996
HUCK 002 CD Jigweed 1998
HUCK 003 CD Incahoots 2005

Musicians featured on these albums are:
Dave Hum - 5 string banjo, mandolin and harmonica
Paul Sax - fiddle
Simon Ham - guitar
Ismael Sanchez - bass guitar
Neil Evans - drumms and percussion

The instrumental music connects your ears directly to your toes and sometimes to your emotions (Paul Sax fiddle on track 7 "Little Ash" on Incahoots.

Due to ill health the band are not gigging at the moment but they are planning a new album release around Christmas time.
If this is of the quality of the three above for me it's a must have.
This is different stuff, well recorded on a limited budget but the results are infectious and always leave me wanting more.

Great for M gear and wonderful in the car.
Give them a listen if you have not seen or heard them.
www.thehuckleberries.com
For those who make the effort to listen I hope you enjoy as much as I do.

Hi

I love old AAD CDs !

My love is : Chris Rea - The Road To Hell - (audiophil,dynamik...)

Peter

DVD-A transfers of analogue masters could be amazing, particularly the EMI clasiscal ones.

Still looking for the Giulini Bruckner DVD-A in case anyone has a copy...