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SACD

Blood, Sweat & Tears – Blood, Sweat & Tears (1968) [MFSL 2005] [SACD / Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2009]

adminAugust 21, 2025 320 Views

Title: Blood, Sweat & Tears – Blood, Sweat & Tears (1968) [MFSL 2005]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Blood, Sweat & Tears is the second album by the band Blood, Sweat & Tears, released in 1968. It was a huge commercial success, rising to the top of the U.S. charts for seven weeks and yielding three successive Top 5 singles. It received a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1970 and has been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA with sales of more than four million units in the U.S. The album was selected for the 2006 book “1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die”.
This was Blood, Sweat & Tears’ apex, and a testimony to the best of the jazz/rock movement. Created by the legendary Al Kooper, the band was one of the major movers in the late-1960s rock scene. Though Kooper had departed after the debut album, this follow-up is bold, brassy, and adventurous, and the arrival of David Clayton-Thomas gave the band a strong singer and focal point. Eclecticism abounds, as an interpretation of an Eric Satie composition is followed by a version of Traffic’s “Smiling Phases.” Hit singles galore were culled from this record–“Spinning Wheel,” “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” and “And When I Die,”–not to mention a superb rendition of Billie Holiday’s “God Bless The Child.”

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2 min read

SACD

Blood, Sweat & Tears – Blood, Sweat & Tears (1968) [Audio Fidelity 2015] [SACD / Audio Fidelity – AFZ5 198]

adminAugust 21, 2025 377 Views

Title: Blood, Sweat & Tears – Blood, Sweat & Tears (1968) [Audio Fidelity 2015]
Genre: Rock
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

The difference between Blood, Sweat & Tears and the group’s preceding long-player, Child Is Father to the Man, is the difference between a monumental seller and a record that was “merely” a huge critical success. Arguably, the Blood, Sweat & Tears that made this self-titled second album — consisting of five of the eight original members and four newcomers, including singer David Clayton-Thomas — was really a different group from the one that made Child Is Father to the Man, which was done largely under the direction of singer/songwriter/keyboard player/arranger Al Kooper. They had certain similarities to the original: the musical mixture of classical, jazz, and rock elements was still apparent, and the interplay between the horns and the keyboards was still occurring, even if those instruments were being played by different people. Kooper was even still present as an arranger on two tracks, notably the initial hit “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy.” But the second BS&T, under the aegis of producer James William Guercio, was a less adventurous unit, and, as fronted by Clayton-Thomas, a far more commercial one. Not only did the album contain three songs that neared the top of the charts as singles — “Happy,” “Spinning Wheel,” and “And When I Die” — but the whole album, including an arrangement of “God Bless the Child” and the radical rewrite of Traffic’s “Smiling Phases,” was wonderfully accessible. It was a repertoire to build a career on, and Blood, Sweat & Tears did exactly that, although they never came close to equaling this album.

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2 min read

SACD

Blood, Sweat & Tears – Bloodlines (APO Remaster 2017) [4 SACD Box Set] [SACD / Analogue Productions – CAPP BSTBOX SA]

adminAugust 21, 2025 311 Views

Title: Blood, Sweat & Tears – Bloodlines (APO Remaster 2017) [4 SACD Box Set]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Hybrid Stereo 4-SACD Box Set! Mastering By Ryan smith at Sterling Sound from Original Analog Master Tapes! Includes Blood, Sweat & Tears’ first four studio albums! Child Is Father To The Man (5.1 Surround mix by Al Kooper) Blood, Sweat & Tears Self-Titled (4.0 Quadraphonic) Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 Blood, Sweat & Tears 4 4 Hybrid Stereo SACD box set plus booklet and features exclusive liner notes from David Clayton-Thomas plus archival photos from Sony Music Entertainment. “Horn bands” were scarce when in October 1968 their self-titled album launched Blood, Sweat & Tears into the music stratosphere, becoming the No. 1 album in the world. An unorthodox mixture of rock, jazz and classically trained musicians — ranging from hardcore blues artists such as David Clayton-Thomas, to conservatory master’s graduates like Dick Halligan and Berklee-educated jazz musicians like Fred Lipsius, together with the powerful Broadway lead trumpet of Lew Soloff — defined the sound of the band in its groundbreaking years, 1968 through 1972. “This was big city music, hard charging and fierce. When BS&T hit the stage, it was about as subtle as a punch in the solar plexus,” Clayton-Thomas remembers. Bloodlines, a Hybrid Stereo 4 disc box set produced by Analogue Productions, packs a heavyweight wallop that’s a knockout for audiophiles! The legendary band’s first four studio albums have been remastered by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound from the original analog master tapes. You get their self-titled second album with its three gold-selling Top 10 singles: “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” “Spinning Wheel,” and “And When I Die” as well as BS&T’s iconic album debut: Child Is Father To The Man, their third album Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 and lastly, the Top 10 chart smash Blood, Sweat & Tears 4.
The band’s Grammy-winning self-titled second album disc is multichannel (4.0 Quadraphonic) and Child Is The Father To The Man is also multichannel (5.1 Surround mix by Al Kooper). The transfers for the Hybrid Stereo SACD box set were authored by Gus Skinas at the Super Audio Center in Boulder, Colo. For a brief period at the end of the 1960s and the start of the ’70s, Blood, Sweat & Tears, which fused a rock ‘n’ roll rhythm section to a horn section, held out the promise of a jazz-rock fusion that could storm the pop charts. The band was organized in New York in 1967 out of the remnants of the Blues Project by keyboard player/singer Al Kooper and guitarist Steve Katz of that group, and saxophonist Fred Lipsius. The rhythm section consisted of bassist Jim Fielder and drummer Bobby Colomby, and the horn section was filled out by trumpeters Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss and trombonist Dick Halligan. This eight-piece band signed to Columbia Records and recorded Blood, Sweat & Tears’ debut album, Child Is Father To The Man, which was released in February 1968. Cofounder Kooper then departed, and the group was reorganized. Singer David Clayton-Thomas was added, Halligan moved to the keyboards, and trumpeters Chuck Winfield and Lew Soloff replaced Brecker and Weiss, with Jerry Hyman being added on trombone. This nine-piece unit, working with producer James William Guercio, made Blood, Sweat & Tears’ self-titled second album, released in October 1968. Blood, Sweat & Tears was a runaway hit, spawning three gold-selling Top 10 singles, “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” “Spinning Wheel,” and “And When I Die,” selling 3 million copies and winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. It was also Blood, Sweat & Tears’ highwater mark. Guercio left to work on a similar concept with Chicago Transit Authority, and Blood, Sweat & Tears increasingly became a backup group for Clayton-Thomas. Nevertheless, the third album, Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 (1970), and the fourth, Blood, Sweat & Tears 4 (1971), were substantial hits. Kooper’s contributions to Child Is Father To The Man are numerous — he played the piano and various other keyboards, and also composed almost all the numbers and made the arrangements for the string ensemble. Bluesy pieces such as “I Love You More…” and “I Can’t Quit Her” and the vocals from Kooper are truly gems. Blood, Sweat & Tears 3 yielded two hit singles: a cover of Carole King’s “Hi-De-Ho,” and “Lucretia MacEvil.” Blood, Sweat & Tears 4 was a Top 10 gold-selling album featuring the hard rockin’ smash “Go Down Gamblin'” and the Top 40 classic “Lisa Listen to Me.” David Clayton Thomas’ voice was thrilling, the horns meshed with rock and roll, and Bobby Colomby’s power drumming, fusing with Steve Katz’s amazing guitar work, all made the B, S&T 4 album soar. Features: • 4-SACD Box Set plus booklet • Self-titled Album: 4.0 quadrophonic • Child Is Father To Man – 5.1 Surround mix by Al Kooper • Super Audio CD • SACD Stereo SACD Layer • This Hybrid SACD contains a ‘Red Book’ Stereo CD Layer which is playable on most conventional CD Players! • Mastering by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound from Original Analog Master Tapes • Exclusive liner notes from David Clayton-Thomas • Archival photos from Sony Music Entertainment

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5 min read

SACD

Blood, Sweat And Tears – Greatest Hits (1972) [Audio Fidelity 2016] [SACD / Audio Fidelity – AFZ 241]

adminAugust 21, 2025 366 Views

Title: Blood, Sweat And Tears – Greatest Hits (1972) [Audio Fidelity 2016]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Sometimes, a greatest-hits set is timed perfectly to gather together a group’s most successful and familiar performances just at the point when that group has passed the point of their maximum exposure to the public, but before the public memory has had a chance to fade. That was the case when Columbia Records assembled this compilation for release in early 1972. At that point, Blood, Sweat & Tears had released four albums and scored six Top 40 hits, each of which is heard here. But lead singer David Clayton-Thomas had just quit the group, so that the unit that recorded songs like “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” was not working together anymore. And even when Clayton-Thomas returned, the band would continue to decline commercially. As such, BS&T’s Greatest Hits captures the band’s peak in 11 selections–seven singles chart entries, plus two album tracks from the celebrated debut album when Al Kooper helmed the group, and two more from the Grammy-winning multi-platinum second album. Using the short singles edits of songs like “And When I Die” emphasizes their radio-ready punch over the more extended suitelike arrangements on the albums, but this selection gains in focus what it lacks in ambition. For the millions who learned to love BS&T in 1969 when they were all over AM radio, this is the ideal selection of their most accessible material.

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2 min read

SACD

Björk – Vespertine (2001) [SACD Reissue 2004] [SACD / Polydor – 0602498159071]

adminAugust 21, 2025 357 Views

Title: Björk – Vespertine (2001) [SACD Reissue 2004]
Genre: Electronic, Pop
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Vespertine is the fifth studio album by the Icelandic recording artist Björk. On this album, Björk creates a quiet, introverted world of microbeats and personal lyrics. On the cover she can be seen wearing the swan dress (designed by Marjan Pejoski) that caused a stir at the 2001 Academy Awards.
After cathartic statements like Homogenic, the role of Selma in Dancer in the Dark, and the film’s somber companion piece, Selmasongs, it’s not surprising that Björk’s first album in four years is less emotionally wrenching. But Vespertine isn’t so much a departure from her previous work as a culmination of the musical distance she’s traveled; within songs like the subtly sensual “Hidden Place” and “Undo” are traces of Debut and Post’s gentle loveliness, as well as Homogenic and Selmasongs’ reflective, searching moments. Described by Björk as “about being on your own in your house with your laptop and whispering for a year and just writing a very peaceful song that tiptoes,” Vespertine’s vocals seldom rise above a whisper, the rhythms mimic heartbeats and breathing, and a pristine, music-box delicacy unites the album into a deceptively fragile, hypnotic whole. Even relatively immediate, accessible songs such as “It’s Not Up to You,” “Pagan Poetry,” and “Unison” share a spacious serenity with the album’s quietest moments. Indeed, the most intimate songs are among the most varied, from the seductively alien “Cocoon” to the dark, obsessive “An Echo, A Stain” to the fairy tale-like instrumental “Frosti.” The beauty of Vespertine’s subtlety may be lost on Björk fans demanding another leap like the one she made between Post and Homogenic, but like the rest of the album, its innovations are intimate and intricate. Collaborators like Matmos — who, along with their own A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure, appear on two of 2001’s best works — contribute appropriately restrained beats crafted from shuffled cards, cracking ice, and the snap-crackle-pop of Rice Krispies; harpist Zeena Parkins’ melodic and rhythmic playing adds to the postmodernly angelic air. An album singing the praises of peace and quiet, Vespertine isn’t merely lovely; it proves that in Björk’s hands, intimacy can be just as compelling as louder emotions.

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3 min read

SACD

Björk – Medulla (2004) [Japanese Edition] [SACD / Polydor – UIGP-1001]

adminAugust 21, 2025 337 Views

Title: Björk – Medulla (2004) [Japanese Edition]
Genre: Electronic, Pop
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Medúlla is the sixth studio album by Icelandic singer, songwriter, and musician Björk. The title derives from the Latin word for “marrow”. The album is almost entirely a cappella and constructed with human vocals. Medúlla received two Grammy Award nominations and reached number one in several record charts.
It’s hard to accuse Björk of making music influenced by commercial or critical expectations at any point in her career, but her post-Homogenic work is even more focused on following her bliss, whether that means acting and singing in Lars Von Trier’s grim musical Dancer in the Dark; crafting tiptoeing laptop lullabies on Vespertine; or, in the case of Medúlla, sculpting an album out of almost nothing but singing and vocal samples. The album’s title and concept refer to the purest essence of something, and Medúlla explores both the ritual power of the human voice and some of the most essential themes of Björk’s music in a way that’s both primal and elaborate. It took a large cast of characters to make the album’s seemingly organic sound, including vocalists ranging from Icelandic and British choirs to Inuit singers to Mike Patton and Robert Wyatt; programmers like Matmos, Mark Bell, and Mark “Spike” Stent; and beatboxers such as Rahzel and the onomatopoeically named Japanese artist Dokaka. Several songs are sung in Icelandic, which works especially well, not only because it ties in with Medúlla’s concept, but also because of the language’s sonic qualities: the rolling Rs, guttural stops, and elongated vowels reflect the alternately chopped and soaring arrangements behind them. Neopaganism and unfettered sensuality also wind through the album, particularly on “Mouth’s Cradle,” along with meditative, Vespertine-like pieces such as “Desired Constellation.” Medúlla is unusually intimate: Björk’s voice is miked very closely, and with the dense layers of vocals surrounding her, it often sounds as if you’re listening to the album from inside her larynx. Some of the heavy breathing, grunts, and ululating woven into the album come close to provoking physical reactions: the eerie sighs and throat singing on the feral “Ancestors” make the chest ache and suggest a particularly melodic pack of wolves. Meanwhile, there’s something simian about Dokaka’s gleeful babbling and beats on “Triumph of a Heart.” Despite its gentler moments, Medúlla’s raw rhythms and rarefied choral washes make it the most challenging work of Björk’s career. “Where Is the Line” is one of her tough, no-nonsense songs, and Rahzel’s hard-hitting beats make it starker than anything on Homogenic. Even relatively accessible songs, like the gone-native loveliness of “Who Is It (Carry My Joy on the Left, Carry My Pain on the Right)” and “Oceania,” which Björk wrote for the 2004 Athens Olympics, have an alien quality that is all the stranger considering that nearly all of their source material is human (except for the odd keyboard or two). Actually, fans of world, contemporary classical, or avant-garde music might find more to appreciate in Medúlla than anyone looking for a “Human Behaviour” or “It’s Oh So Quiet.” It’s not an immediate album, but it is a fascinating one, especially for anyone interested in the world’s oldest instrument being used in unexpected ways.

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4 min read

SACD

Bine Bryndorf – Carl Nielsen: The Organ Works (2017) [SACD / Dacapo – 6.220635]

adminAugust 21, 2025 356 Views

Title: Bine Bryndorf – Carl Nielsen: The Organ Works (2017)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Bine Bryndorf is one of the finest organists of our time. On this SACD professor Bine Bryndorf performs Nielsen’s organ works on the ideally suited organ at Nikolaj Kunsthal in Copenhagen, adding a selection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs with baritone Torsten Nielsen. This album is an indispensable introduction to Nielsen’s organ music. This stimulating survey of Carl Nielsen’s organ music, consists of the late-written 29 Little Preludes (1929) interspersed in four groups and Commotio (from a year later). These little and large pieces Commotio lasts over twenty minutes are unmistakably Nielsen in their harmonies and quirks, and the programme as a whole is made various thanks to the contrasting Hymns and Spiritual Songs that find the appropriately named baritone Torsten Nielsen singing (to organ accompaniment) as if gently preaching from a pulpit; it’s a consoling effect. There are a few other shorts, but the big piece, on track 40, is the amazing Commotio, which may be found daunting in its exploration and complexity, but Nielsen’s music is well-worth the effort, and Bine Bryndorf’s championing of it gets a warm embrace. Her musicianship is steadfast, the Copenhagen organ has authenticity on its side, and the recording and presentation are typically excellent of Dacapo.

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2 min read

SACD

Billy Squier – Don’t Say No (1981) [Reissue 2018] [SACD / Intervention Records – IR-SCD7]

adminAugust 19, 2025 316 Views

Title: Billy Squier – Don’t Say No (1981) [Reissue 2018]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Billy Squier was all over the radio and MTV in 1981 with the classic rock anthem The Stroke from his breakthrough and most successful album Don’t Say No. The single was a top 20 hit while the album went top five, sold four million copies in the US and remained on the Billboard chart for over two years. Produced by Queen producer Mack who brought out the best of Squier’s brand of melodic rock.
After turning some heads with his debut, Billy Squier truly arrived with 1981’s Don’t Say No, which kicks off in spectacular fashion with the triple opening salvo of “In the Dark,” “The Stroke,” and “My Kinda Lover” – all of which become staples at rock radio. The album is a near-perfect example of early-’80s melodic hard rock, and even less enduring (but hardly inferior rockers) such as “You Know What I Like” and “Lonely Is the Night” keep up the intensity. And Squier also finds time for the occasional ballad, like the disarmingly gentle “Nobody Knows.” Completists may want to review his mid-’90s double-disc anthology, but as far as studio albums are concerned, Don’t Say No is undoubtedly his best.

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2 min read

SACD

Billy Paul – Live In Europe (1974) [Reissue 2018] [SACD / Vocalion – CDSML 8546]

adminAugust 19, 2025 352 Views

Title: Billy Paul – Live In Europe (1974) [Reissue 2018]
Genre: Soul
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

A really majestic live set from Billy Paul – recorded in the UK at the height of his greatest fame – but in a way that features plenty of longer tracks that really let Billy stretch out and do his thing! Given this expanded setting, there’s a surprisingly righteous feel to most numbers – a sound that continues the groove of Going East and War Of The Gods, and also features a bit more of Paul’s presence as an entertainer on the stage. The album’s a beautiful illustration of the fact that Billy was easily one of the hippest artists working for Philadelphia during the early days – and it offers up some tremendous transformations of the tunes “Thanks For Saving My Life”, “Your Song”, “Me & Mrs. Jones”, “War Of The Gods”, and “Brown Baby”.
Former jazz vocalist Billy Paul found R&B success in the ’70s on Philadelphia International doing a mix of anguished ballads, sophisticated originals, and reworked standards. But Paul was not a great live vocalist either as a jazz or soul singer, something that was evident on this mid-’70s set. No matter how polished or well-rehearsed the backing band, Paul’s flaws couldn’t be covered as smoothly in a concert setting, and they’re revealed along with his strengths – timing, a good delivery, and decent range and interpretative skills.

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2 min read

SACD

Billy Joel – The Nylon Curtain (1982) [MFSL 2012] [SACD / Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2093]

adminAugust 19, 2025 381 Views

Title: Billy Joel – The Nylon Curtain (1982) [MFSL 2012]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Billy Joel hit back as hard as he could with Glass Houses, his bid to prove that he could rock as hard as any of those new wave punks. He might not have proven himself a punk — for all of his claims of being a hard rocker, his work inevitably is pop because of his fondness for melody — but he proved to himself that he could still rock, even if the critics didn’t give him any credit for it. It was now time to mature, to move pop/rock into the middle age and, in the process, earn critical respect. In short, The Nylon Curtain is where Billy Joel went serious, consciously crafting a song cycle about Baby Boomers in the Reagan era. Since this was an album about Baby Boomers, he chose to base his music almost entirely on the Beatles, the pivotal rock band for his generation. Joel is naturally inclined to write big melodies like McCartney, but he idolizes Lennon, which makes The Nylon Curtain a fascinating cross between ear candy and social commentary. His desire to record a grand concept album is admirable, but his ever-present lyrical shortcomings mean that the songs paint a picture without arriving at any insights. He occasionally gets lost in his own ambition, as on the waterlogged second side, but the first half of the song suite — “Allentown,” “Laura,” “Pressure,” “Goodnight Saigon,” “She’s Right on Time” — is layered, successful, mature pop that brings Joel tantalizingly close to his ultimate goal of sophisticated pop/rock for mature audiences.

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2 min read