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SACD

Carly Simon – Hotcakes (1974) [MFSL 2016] [SACD / Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2168]

adminSeptember 2, 2025 369 Views

Title: Carly Simon – Hotcakes (1974) [MFSL 2016]
Genre: Pop, Rock
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

A glowing, pregnant Carly Simon smiles out from the cover of Hotcakes, one of her biggest selling albums, which featured the gold single “Mockingbird,” a duet with her husband James Taylor that effectively remade the old Inez and Charlie Foxx hit and bested it on the charts. The album also included another hit, “Haven’t Got Time For The Pain,” as well as “Misfit,” in which a wife implores her carousing husband to come home, and “Think I’m Gonna Have A Baby,” which celebrated the joys of same. With such tracks, Hotcakes was an autobiographical concept album that defined domestic bliss at a time when Simon’s listeners also were catching their breath and turning inward.

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1 min read

SACD

Carly Simon – Carly Simon (1971) [MSFL 2015] [SACD / Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2165]

adminSeptember 2, 2025 361 Views

Title: Carly Simon – Carly Simon (1971) [MSFL 2015]
Genre: Pop, Rock
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

“That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be,” the leadoff track of Carly Simon’s first album and a Top Ten hit, in which the singer expresses reservations about getting married, benefited from a sense of role reversal – it’s such a guy sentiment, but sung by a woman in 1971, it came across as a feminist statement, consistent with the overall disillusionment so prevalent then. Nothing on the rest of the album was quite as pointed, though the other songs maintained the same ambivalence toward romance. The one other standout track, “Dan, My Fling,” in which the singer tries to rekindle a relationship with a man she has discarded, was, like the single, co-written by Jacob Brackman (in this case, with Fred Gardner, not Simon), suggesting that the real creative talent here was him and not her (especially since the writing credits also featured another four names). And since Simon, with her plaintive, proper, and relatively inexpressive voice, was such an unremarkable performer, her debut seemed less auspicious than the attention it attracted might have implied.

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2 min read

SACD

Carly Simon – Anticipation (1971) [MFSL 2016] [SACD / Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2166]

adminSeptember 2, 2025 463 Views

Title: Carly Simon – Anticipation (1971) [MFSL 2016]
Genre: Pop, Rock
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Carly Simon’s second album found her extending the gutsy persona she had established on her debut album, notably on the title track and “Legend in Your Own Time” (both of them hit singles), and “I’ve Got to Have You.” The latter especially suggested a frankly passionate person whose vulnerability was a source of strength, not weakness, a valuable feminist trait and one Simon would pursue in her later work.

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1 min read

SACD

Carl Cleves & Parissa Bouas – Out Of Australia (2010) [SACD / Stockfisch Records – SFR 357.4060.2]

adminSeptember 2, 2025 334 Views

Title: Carl Cleves & Parissa Bouas – Out Of Australia (2010)
Genre: Country, Folk, World
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Musical travelogue is distinguished by stunning vocals and unique instrumentation. Flemish born singer/songwriter Carl Cleves and Greek-Australian vocalist Parissa Bouas have captured the hearts of folk enthusiasts in Australia. They are celebrated for their unique acuity for global storytelling, reflected in relevant social and political narratives. Together since 1991, as members of the Cleves-formed band, The Hottentots, the duo continue to perform and record together. In the tradition of authentic folk music, they travel extensively, integrating different cultures and auditory influences into original compositions. Cleves, who holds degrees in Law, African Music and Contemporary Composition, inhabits the aura of an international beat poet. Influenced by a collage of inspirational artists like Bob Marley, Abdullah Ibrahim, Arthur Rimbaud, Townes Van Zandt, and Kurt Weill, passion and conscience become recurrent contexts.
Out Of Australia, consisting of twelve original songs, is a ruminating perspective on worldwide society. Coalesced by folk-based guitar constructs and emotional vocals, each track has a unique feel. A centerpiece, “The Bethlehem Bell Ringer” examines the plight of innocent victims in the Palestinian struggle. Parissa Bousa’s incandescent voice is heartfelt, and the hymnal chorus, no less than exultant. The use of a tambura (string drone instrument) adds a somber Middle Eastern tone. The plights of diamond mine workers (“Way Down In The Mines”) in Johannesburg, and ethnic genocide (The Coniston Massacre”), are recounted without overindulgence. Framed by the steady guitar of Cleves, and his idiosyncratic baritone (not unlike Scottish troubadour Donovan), there is a consistent lyrical aesthetic. Not all of the serious minded themes find a proper elucidation. “Graceful” attempts to juxtapose a breezy tenor and HIV reference, with incongruous results. African spirit is rendered with joyous abandon on the folk chant “Mother’s Song”. Backup singer Lea Morris blends with Bouas in perfect harmony. “Sharpening A Knife”, an adaptation of a poem by Nanao Sakaki has a Gaelic cadence, with chorus repetition and a soaring lead vocal. In addition to the milieu of international social mores and politics, there is a sensitive coloration by various Middle Eastern and African instruments. This nomadic anthology captures the pathos of the human condition with originality and verve. Multichannel SACD is an ideal medium for this music. The understated nuances of the various stringed instruments are reproduced with clear acoustics, whether it’s a prominent rhythm guitar, or delicate lute. Tonal quality of the voices is flawless. The depth and texture of the vocals (in particular the ensembles) refine the musical eminence. Audiophile Audition Carl und Parissa sind ein Duo, das in seiner australischen Heimat beträchtliche Popularität genießt. Dass man beim Plattentitel Out Of Australia unwillkürlich an Out Of Africa denken muss, ist wohl mehr als Zufall. Scheint doch in Out of eine tiefe emotionale Verbundenheit mit einem Land, seiner Natur und Kultur zum Ausdruck zu kommen. Eine Vermutung, die sich zur Gewissheit steigert, wenn dieses Album sich mit jedem Stück weiter entwickelt. Parissas glockenreine Stimme mutet an wie eine Einladung der Baumgeister und Flussnymphen, scheint einem Traumpfad zu folgen. Carls warme Stimme und sein Gitarrenspiel erden diesen Gesang, halten ihn auf einem Teppich dezent keltischer Melodielinien, in dem die poetische Auseinandersetzung mit der Welt eingewirkt ist zwischen Freudentanz und lebensweisem Annehmen der Schattenbereiche. Ein Vegemite-Sandwich mit Lebensthemen, Ätherisches über der heißen Erde des Kontinents Down Under: Hörer, kommst Du zum Folk, so sage, Du habest uns hier singen hören wie das Land es befahl. in-akustic

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4 min read

SACD

Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin – Love Devotion Surrender (1973) [MFSL SACD 2011] [SACD / Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2080]

adminSeptember 2, 2025 334 Views

Title: Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin – Love Devotion Surrender (1973) [MFSL SACD 2011]
Genre: Rock, Jazz Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

A hopelessly misunderstood record in its time by Santana fans — they were still reeling from the radical direction shift toward jazz on Caravanserai and praying it was an aberration — it was greeted by Santana devotees with hostility, contrasted with kindness from major-league critics like Robert Palmer. To hear this recording in the context of not only Carlos Santana’s development as a guitarist, but as the logical extension of the music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis influencing rock musicians — McLaughlin, of course, was a former Davis sideman — this extension makes perfect sense in the post-Sonic Youth, post-rock era. With the exception of Coltrane’s “Naima” and McLaughlin’s “Meditation,” this album consists of merely three extended guitar jams played on the spiritual ecstasy tip — both men were devotees of guru Shri Chinmoy at the time. The assembled band included members of Santana’s band and the Mahavishnu Orchestra in Michael Shrieve, Billy Cobham, Doug Rauch, Armando Peraza, Jan Hammer (playing drums!), and Don Alias. But it is the presence of the revolutionary jazz organist Larry Young — a colleague of McLaughlin’s in Tony Williams’ Lifetime band — that makes the entire project gel. He stands as the great communicator harmonically between the two very different guitarists whose ideas contrasted enough to complement one another in the context of Young’s aggressive approach to keep the entire proceeding in the air. In the acknowledgement section of Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” which opens the album, Young creates a channel between Santana’s riotous, transcendent, melodic runs and McLaughlin’s rapid-fire machine-gun riffing. Young’ double-handed striated chord voicings offered enough for both men to chew on, leaving free-ranging territory for percussive effects to drive the tracks from underneath. Check “Let Us Go Into the House of the Lord,” which was musically inspired by Bobby Womack’s “Breezing” and dynamically foreshadowed by Pharoah Sanders’ read of it, or the insanely knotty yet intervallically transcendent “The Life Divine,” for the manner in which Young’s organ actually speaks both languages simultaneously. Young is the person who makes the room for the deep spirituality inherent in these sessions to be grasped for what it is: the interplay of two men who were not merely paying tribute to Coltrane, but trying to take his ideas about going beyond the realm of Western music to communicate with the language of the heart as it united with the cosmos. After three decades, Love Devotion Surrender still sounds completely radical and stunningly, movingly beautiful.

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3 min read

SACD

Carlos Heredia – Gypsy Flamenco (1996) [Reissue 2004] [SACD / Chesky Records – SACD 266]

adminSeptember 2, 2025 321 Views

Title: Carlos Heredia – Gypsy Flamenco (1996) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Latin
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Renown in his community in Sevilla, Spain, Carlos Heredia is the consummate Flamenco guitarist and his ensemble of traditional musicians, including palmas and singers, invigorate the recording with a rich history. This is authentic flamenco – raw and intense.

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1 min read

SACD

Carlos Franzetti – The Jazz Kamerata (2005) [SACD / Chesky Records – SACD287 ]

adminSeptember 2, 2025 285 Views

Title: Carlos Franzetti – The Jazz Kamerata (2005)
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

A set of songs written by jazz musicians were arranged for this project by pianist Carlos Franzetti for piano, sax, bass, flute, clarinet, and a string quartet. The results are pleasing if not overly memorable. While the selections are often challenging, the interpretations are more middle-of-the-road and fairly accessible due to the strings. Franzetti and saxophonist Lawrence Feldman take most of the solos and their improvisations are excellent, although the utilization of strings and woodwinds smoothes over some of the rough edges of the compositions, making the results fairly safe if occasionally unpredictable.

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1 min read

SACD

Carlo Maria Giulini, Wiener Philharmoniker – Bruckner: Symphonie No.9 (1989) [Japan 2019] [SACD / Esoteric Company – ESSG-90195]

adminSeptember 2, 2025 321 Views

Title: Carlo Maria Giulini, Wiener Philharmoniker – Bruckner: Symphonie No.9 (1989) [Japan 2019]
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

The Viena Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini performing Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor. The reissue of classical music masterpieces by Esoteric has attracted a lot of attention, both for its uncompromising commitment to recreating the original master sound. This series marks the first hybrid SACD release of historical recording selections. These new audio versions feature Esoteric’s proprietary re-mastering process to achieve the highest level of sound quality.

Carlo Maria Giulini recorded Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Angel in 1976, and that album has long been considered a superb achievement and difficult to surpass. Yet Giulini’s 1988 performance with the Vienna Philharmonic matches the older recording in every important detail and exceeds expectations by sounding richer in the digital format. As wonderful as Chicago’s sound was, the Vienna Philharmonic offers more varied and subtle timbres, a result of its long history of Bruckner performances. Using the Nowak edition, Giulini takes this unfinished symphony into dark places, making it the full realization of the Romantic idea of Sturm und Drang. The opening movement is one of Bruckner’s most commanding essays in sonata form. Through its explicit parallels with Beethoven’s Ninth, Bruckner clearly points to his source of inspiration. The terrifying Scherzo, with its stacked dissonances and pounding rhythms, creates a mood of violence and instability that the nervous Trio does little to alleviate. Resolution – indeed, an apotheosis – comes in the glorious Adagio. Giulini elicits the most sumptuous sounds from the orchestra, particularly in the ecstatic opening measures. After hearing this movement, any thought of adding a finale must seem pointless, for this is a sublime valedictory and nothing more is needed.

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2 min read

SACD

Carlo Maria Giulini, Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Mahler: Symphony No.1 (1971) [Japan 2016] [SACD / Warner Classics – WPCS-13534]

adminSeptember 2, 2025 312 Views

Title: Carlo Maria Giulini, Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Mahler: Symphony No.1 (1971) [Japan 2016]
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Carlo Maria Giulini conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a Grammy winning performance of Gustav Mahler’s four-movement Symphony No. 1 in D. If you want a Mahler First above all for beauty of tone and phrasing and precision of ensemble, then this is a plain first choice. In addition Giulini’s qualities suit this work. For all the orchestral sophistication, he has a transparent honesty which accords well with Mahler in ‘Wayfaring Lad’ mood. Nor does he use the Chicago orchestra’s virtuosity to whip up excitement in fast tempo.

Having long ago firmly establishing itself as one of the world’s greatest orchestras, the Chicago Symphony has also played host to some of the world’s preeminent conductors, both as guests and artistic directors. Over the past several decades, many of these conductors have produced countless recordings with the CSO. Perhaps second in quantity only to Beethoven, the CSO has churned out a staggering number of recordings of Mahler symphonies, almost assuring that one interpretation or another is likely to find its way onto the shelves of listeners. This EMI recording of Mahler’s First Symphony with Carlo Maria Giulini was recorded in 1971 and originally released along with the Fourth Symphony. Sound quality, precision strings, impressively powerful brass, and warm, rich tone are all present, as would be expected. What distinguishes one CSO Mahler recording from another is of course the subtle differences in interpretation of the conductor. Giulini’s reading of Mahler is a somewhat conservative one. This is not to say it is safe, lackluster, or unenergetic. But compared to more lively readings (such as Solti’s, for example), Giulini is more subtle in the differences he makes to the countless tempo and character markings Mahler provides throughout the score; dynamic changes are also less grandiose. Individual listeners must decide for themselves which type of interpretation best suits their tastes, but they can almost universally be sure of a superior execution with the CSO.

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2 min read

SACD

Carel Kraayenhof – Tango Royal (2002) [SACD / PentaTone classics – PTC 5186 008]

adminSeptember 2, 2025 368 Views

Title: Carel Kraayenhof – Tango Royal (2002)
Genre: Latin, Tango, Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO

This album features a selection of tangos by Piazzolla and others arranged for bandoneón player Carel Kraayenhof and his own sextet, together with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra. Kraayenhof is considered to be one of the worlds finest bandoneón players and has worked with Piazzola.

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1 min read