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SACD

Guitar Shorty – My Way Or The Highway (1991) [Reissue 2004] [SACD / JSP Records – JSP5107]

adminJanuary 27, 2026 94 Views

Title: Guitar Shorty – My Way Or The Highway (1991) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Blues
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Here we have a team; Shorty with his prodigious talents was the perfect centerpiece, Otis Grand with his guitar playing and production and band leading skills is simply beyond ‘world class’. Add a superb band and a really good studio and you’re in business. The album won a Handy Award. Further JSP collaborations with Otis Grand followed, resulting in stone classic albums with Phillip Walker, Joe Louis Walker and Joe Houston.

Until he joined forces with British guitarist Otis Grand’s band and waxed this very credible comeback set, David “Guitar Shorty” Kearney’s legacy was largely limited to a solitary single for Cobra and a handful of great but legendarily obscure followups for Los Angeles-based Pull Records during the late ’50s. The acrobatic guitarist informed everyone he was alive and lively with this one, exhibiting his Guitar Slim roots on “Down Thru the Years” and slashing with a vengeance on “No Educated Woman” and the title cut (but shouldn’t it have read “or the highway?”).

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1 min read

SACD

Edward Gardner, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Choirs, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet – Grieg: Piano Concerto & Incidental Music to ‘Peer Gynt’ (2018) [SACD / Chandos – CHSA 5190]

adminJanuary 27, 2026 92 Views

Title: Edward Gardner, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Choirs, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet – Grieg: Piano Concerto & Incidental Music to ‘Peer Gynt’ (2018)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO

This much awaited recording offers keenly idiomatic performances of the most famous works by Grieg, played by the composer’s own orchestra, the Bergen Philharmonic, and its Chief Conductor, Edward Gardner. The drama and passion of such favourite pieces as the incidental music to Peer Gynt and the Piano Concerto are superbly captured in surround-sound with exemplary Chandos sound quality. Unlike most existing recordings, offering only the orchestral suites, this disc presents numerous extra excerpts from Peer Gynt, which follow the sequence of Henrik Ibsen‘s dramatic poem, including sections for the unique Norwegian ‘Hardanger Fiddle’. Having collaborated with the orchestra on several occasions, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is the soloist in the Piano Concerto, a piece that stands out as a shining example of a single great thought captured and expressed in music. The power of this conception is evident throughout the concerto in the pianist’s faithful, yet highly romantic interpretation.

Gardner is certainly alive to the drama of the tale and his ‘Hall of the Mountain King’ is superbly caught by Chandos’s engineers…while the ‘Morning Mood’ that opens Act 4 attains a refreshing simplicity hard to achieve in such well-known music…In the Piano Concerto, Gardner brings to the table flair, drive and an almost Tchaikovskian lushness to the string sound, which matches well Bavouzet’s commanding manner in the piano’s opening flourish. – Gramophone Magazine, January 2018

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2 min read

SACD

Grateful Dead – Workingman’s Dead (1970) [MFSL 2014] [SACD / Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2137]

adminJanuary 27, 2026 73 Views

Title: Grateful Dead – Workingman’s Dead (1970) [MFSL 2014]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

As the ’60s drew to a close, it was a heavy time for the quickly crumbling hippie movement that had reached its apex just a few years earlier in 1967’s Summer of Love. Death and violence were pervasive in the form of the Manson murders, fatalities at the Altamont concert, and the ongoing loss of young lives in Vietnam despite the best efforts of anti-war activists and peace-seeking protesters. Difficult times were also upon the Grateful Dead, unofficial house band of San Francisco’s Summer of Love festivities and outspoken advocates of psychedelic experimentation both musical and chemical. The excessive studio experimentation that resulted in their trippy but disorienting third album, Aoxomoxoa, had left the band in considerable debt to their record label, and their stress wasn’t helped at all by a drug bust that had members of the band facing jail time. The rough road the Dead were traveling down seemed congruent with the hard changes faced by the youth counterculture that birthed them. Fourth studio album Workingman’s Dead reflects both the looming darkness of its time, and the endless hope and openness to possibility that would become emblematic of the Dead as their legacy grew. For a group already established as exploratory free-form rockers of the highest acclaim, Workingman’s Dead’s eight tunes threw off almost all improvisatory tendencies in favor of spare, thoughtful looks at folk, country, and American roots music with more subdued sounds than the band had managed up until then. The songs also focused more than ever before on singing and vocal harmonies, influenced in no small way by a growing friendship with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. The band embraced complex vocal arrangements with campfire-suited folk on “Uncle John’s Band” and the psychedelic cowboy blues of “High Time”.

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2 min read

SACD

Grateful Dead – American Beauty (1970) [MFSL 2014] [SACD / Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2138]

adminJanuary 27, 2026 76 Views

Title: Grateful Dead – American Beauty (1970) [MFSL 2014]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

With 1970’s Workingman’s Dead, the Grateful Dead went through an overnight metamorphosis, turning abruptly from tripped-out free-form rock toward sublime acoustic folk and Americana. Taking notes on vocal harmonies from friends Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Dead used the softer statements of their fourth studio album as a subtle but moving reflection on the turmoil, heaviness, and hope America’s youth was facing as the idealistic ’60s ended. American Beauty was recorded just a few months after its predecessor, both expanding and improving on the bluegrass, folk, and psychedelic country explorations of Workingman’s Dead with some of the band’s most brilliant compositions. The songs here have a noticeably more relaxed and joyous feel. Having dived headfirst into this new sound with the previous album, the bandmembers found the summit of their collaborative powers here, with lyricist Robert Hunter penning some of his most poetic work, Jerry Garcia focusing more on gliding pedal steel than his regular electric lead guitar work, and standout lead vocal performances coming from Bob Weir (on the anthem to hippie love “Sugar Magnolia”), Ron “Pigpen” McKernan (on the husky blues of “Operator”), and Phil Lesh (on the near-perfect opening tune, “Box of Rain”). This album also marked the beginning of what would become a long musical friendship between Garcia and Dave Grisman, whose mandolin playing adds depth and flavor to tracks like the outlaw country-folk of “Friend of the Devil” and the gorgeously devotional “Ripple.” American Beauty eventually spawned the band’s highest charting single — “Truckin’,” the greasy blues-rock tribute to nomadic counterculture — but it also contained some of their most spiritual and open-hearted sentiments ever, their newfound love of intricate vocal arrangements finding pristine expression on the lamenting “Brokedown Palace” and the heavenly nostalgia and gratitude of “Attics of My Life.” While the Dead eventually amassed a following so devoted that following the band from city to city became the center of many people’s lives, the majority of the band’s magic came in the boundless heights it reached in its live sets but rarely managed to capture in the studio setting. American Beauty is a categorical exception to this, offering a look at the Dead transcending even their own exploratory heights and making some of their most powerful music by examining their most gentle and restrained impulses. It’s easily the masterwork of their studio output, and a strong contender for the best music the band ever made, even including the countless hours of live shows captured on tape in the decades that followed.

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3 min read

SACD

Grant-Lee Phillips – Mobilize (2001) [SACD / Zoë Records – SACD 01143-1021-6]

adminJanuary 27, 2026 85 Views

Title: Grant-Lee Phillips – Mobilize (2001)
Genre: Alternative Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Grant-Lee Phillips is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for his versatile voice, intense lyrical narratives and dexterity on the acoustic twelve-string guitar, a style that often sees him compared to Neil Young, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. “Mobilize” is his second solo album.
Some records defy explanation and rise above any praise or criticism. They exist in a realm of their own creation and definition, undeserving of attempts to categorize or humanize their artistic achievement. Words cannot capture their essence, and probably should not even try. With Mobilize, Grant Lee Phillips has set forth such a work. Superficially speaking, it offers 12 magically brilliant pieces, each and every one able to stand alone, comparable to the finest moments of U2, David Gray, R.E.M., and Radiohead. Collectively, they comprise true art, pure genius. Phillips has a superb, if not slightly altered, sense of melody and rhythm. The beats of his phrases play off of the percussive undercurrents of instruments and programming, winding the long way around when necessary to get his point across. The intimacy of each song is astounding, almost more so in the realization that Phillips wrote and performed every note himself, though assisted in production by Carmen Rizzo. Mobilize is certainly full of complex arrangements, sublime lyrical references, and intriguing instrumentation, but the overall impression is somehow much simpler. That’s not to say that you’ll be whistling these tunes after one listen, although a couple lend themselves to that reasonably well. It’s more that one listen is so immediately enjoyable it will leave you wanting another and another, allowing the dedicated seeker to discover the secrets hidden in the layers. And of those, there are many.

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2 min read

SACD

Grant Green – Idle Moments (1965) [Analogue Productions 2010] [SACD / Analogue Productions – CBNJ 84154 SA]

adminJanuary 27, 2026 85 Views

Title: Grant Green – Idle Moments (1965) [Analogue Productions 2010]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

This languid, seductive gem may well be Grant Green’s greatest moment on record. Right from the opening bars of the classic title cut, Idle Moments is immediately ingratiating and accessible, featuring some of Green’s most stylish straight jazz playing. Whether he’s running warm (pianist Duke Pearson’s “Idle Moments”), cool (the Modern Jazz Quartet’s “Django”), or a bit more up-tempo (Pearson’s “Nomad,” his own “Jean de Fleur”), Green treats the material with the graceful elegance that was the hallmark of his best hard bop sessions, and that quality achieves its fullest expression here. He’s helped by an ensemble that, as a sextet, is slightly larger and fuller-sounding than usual, and there’s plenty of room for solo explorations on the four extended pieces. Pearson’s touch on the piano is typically warm, while two players best known on Blue Note for their modernist dates mellow out a bit — the cool shimmer of Bobby Hutcherson’s vibes is a marvelously effective addition to the atmosphere, while Joe Henderson plays with a husky, almost Ike Quebec-like breathiness. That cushion of support helps spur Green to some of the loveliest, most intimate performances of his career — no matter what the tempo, it’s as if his guitar is whispering secrets in your ear. It’s especially true on the dreamy title track, though: a gorgeous, caressing, near-15-minute excursion that drifts softly along like a warm, starry summer night. Even more than the two-disc set The Complete Quartets With Sonny Clark, Idle Moments is the essential first Green purchase, and some of the finest guitar jazz of the hard bop era.

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2 min read

SACD

Grant Green – Green Street (1961) [Analogue Productions Remaster 2010] [SACD / Analogue Productions – CBNJ 84071 SA]

adminJanuary 27, 2026 85 Views

Title: Grant Green – Green Street (1961) [Analogue Productions Remaster 2010]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

As a trio, this edition of guitarist Grant Green’s many ensembles has to rank with the best he had ever fronted. Recorded on April Fool’s Day of 1961, the band and music are no joke, as bassist Ben Tucker and drummer Dave Bailey understand in the most innate sense how to support Green, lay back when needed, or strut their own stuff when called upon. Still emerging as an individualist, Green takes further steps ahead, without a pianist, saxophonist, or — most importantly — an organist. His willpower drives this music forward in a refined approach that definitely marks him as a distinctive, immediately recognizable player. It is also a session done in a period when Green was reeling in popular demand, as this remarkably is one of six recordings he cut for Blue Note as a leader in 1961, not to mention other projects as a sideman. To say his star was rising would be an understatement. The lean meatiness of this group allows all three musicians to play with little hesitation, no wasted notes, and plenty of soul. Another aspect of this studio date is the stereo separation of Green’s guitar in one speaker, perhaps not prevalent in modern recordings, but very much in use then. Check out the atypical (for Green) ballad “‘Round About Midnight,” as the guitarist trims back embellishments to play this famous melody straight, with a slight vibrato, occasional trills, and a shuffled bridge. The trio cops an attitude similar to Dizzy Gillespie for the introduction to “Alone Together,” with clipped melody notes and a bass filler from Tucker. Three of Green’s originals stamp his personal mark on rising original soulful post-bop sounds, as “No. 1 Green Street” has basic B-flat, easy-grooving tenets similar to his previously recorded tune “Miss Ann’s Tempo.” Two interesting key changes and chord accents identify the outstanding “Grant’s Dimensions” beyond its core bop bridge and jam configuration — not the least of which contains a hefty bass solo from the criminally underrated Tucker and Bailey trading fours. “Green with Envy” should be familiar to fans of Horace Silver, as it is almost identically based on the changes of “Nica’s Dream,” a neat adaptation full of stop-starts and stretched-out improvising over ten minutes. (The alternate take of this one on the expanded CD reissue is a full two minutes shorter.) If this is not a definitive jazz guitar trio, they have not yet been born, and Green Street stands as one of Grant Green’s best recordings of many he produced in the ten prolific years he was with the Blue Note label.

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3 min read

SACD

Grant Green – Grantstand (1962) [APO Remaster 2011] [SACD / Analogue Productions – CBNJ 84086 SA]

adminJanuary 27, 2026 83 Views

Title: Grant Green – Grantstand (1962) [APO Remaster 2011]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Grant Green’s third album to be released, Grantstand teams the clear-toned guitarist with an unlikely backing group of musicians who rarely appeared with Blue Note otherwise: tenor saxophonist Yusef Lateef (who doubles on flute), organist Brother Jack McDuff, and drummer Al Harewood. Although Lateef was beginning to delve deeply into Eastern tonalities and instruments around the same time, his playing here is pretty straightforward and swinging, fitting the relaxed, bop-tinged soul-jazz that makes up most of the session. For his part, McDuff is mellower than his usual ferocious self, laying back and swinging with a blissful ease. Green contributes two bluesy originals, the nine-minute title track and the 15-minute “Blues in Maude’s Flat,” which are turned into loose, loping jams that rank as some of the best examples of Green’s ability to work an extended groove. (The CD bonus track, “Green’s Greenery,” is in much the same vein, though not as long.) Elsewhere, Green leads a delicate, sensitive exploration of “My Funny Valentine” that ended up as his greatest standard performance to date, setting the stage for a great deal more work in this vein that was soon to be forthcoming (including his brilliant sessions with Sonny Clark). Still, the groove is what reigns supreme for most of the album; if you’re looking for Green the soul-jazz groovemaster, Grantstand is an excellent place to find him.

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2 min read

SACD

Grand Funk – We’re An American Band (1973) [Japanese SHM-SACD 2014] [SACD / Capitol Records – TYGP-89001]

adminJanuary 27, 2026 82 Views

Title: Grand Funk – We’re An American Band (1973) [Japanese SHM-SACD 2014]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Having made several changes in their business and musical efforts in 1972, Grand Funk Railroad made even more extensive ones in 1973, beginning with their name, which was officially truncated to “Grand Funk.” And keyboardist Craig Frost, credited as a sideman on Phoenix, the previous album, was now a full-fledged bandmember, filling out the musical arrangements. The most notable change, however, came with the hiring of Todd Rundgren to produce the band’s eighth album. Rundgren, a pop/rock artist in his own right, was also known for his producing abilities, and he gave Grand Funk exactly what they were looking for: We’re an American Band sounded nothing like its muddy, plodding predecessors. Sonically, the record was sharp and detailed and the band’s playing was far tighter and more accomplished. Most important, someone, whether the band or Rundgren, decided that gruff-voiced drummer Don Brewer should be employed as a lead singer as often as guitarist Mark Farner. Brewer also contributed more as a songwriter, and the results were immediate. The album’s title song, an autobiographical account of life on the road written and sung by Brewer, was released in advance of the album and became a gold-selling number one hit, Grand Funk’s first really successful single. Despite the band’s previous popularity, for many, it must have been the first Grand Funk record they either heard or bought. Elsewhere on the album, Farner contributed his usual wailing vocals and guitar, singing of his heartfelt, if simpleminded, political concerns. But We’re an American Band really belonged to Brewer and Rundgren, and its success constituted a redefinition of Grand Funk that came just in time.

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2 min read

SACD

Grand Funk – Shinin’ On (1974) [Audio Fidelity 2017] [SACD / Audio Fidelity – AFZ 251]

adminJanuary 27, 2026 87 Views

Title: Grand Funk – Shinin’ On (1974) [Audio Fidelity 2017]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

After racking up their biggest success to date with We’re an American Band, Grand Funk Railroad decided to keep a good thing going by retaining Todd Rundgren as their producer and continuing to push their sound in a pop/rock direction. The end result has its moments but is not as strong as We’re an American Band. Although the songs are tight and benefit from a strong performance by the group, the material simply isn’t as inspired this time out: songs like “Please Me” and “Getting Over You” are energetic but lack the infectious hooks and clever arrangement touches that would make them stick in the listener’s memory. Shinin’ On’s best songs are the ones that became its single releases: the title track infuses its hard-driving, spacy rock groove with some surprisingly ethereal vocal harmonies and the cover of “The Loco Motion” turns this dance classic on its ear with a stomping beat and a screeching guitar lead from Mark Farner. Other tracks make up for their lack of hooks by experimenting with the group’s sound in interesting ways: “Mr. Pretty Boy” is a creepy slow blues that features an atmospheric Mellotron backing and “To Get Back In” is a full-fledged soul song built on thick combination of organ and horns. In the end, Shinin’ On is too unfocused and uneven to win over non-fans but Grand Funk Railroad fans will find plenty to enjoy on this album.

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2 min read