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Eric Clapton : Old Sock
J. Ford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Sep 01, 2013
An appropriate title for this mish-mash of styles and songs, delivered perhaps too effortlessly by the venerable guitar god as he plucks well-ripened plums from his portfolio of styles. He Marley ups Taj Mahal’s ‘Further On Down The Road’ and carbon-copies Peter Tosh’s country-reggae crossover ‘Till Your Well Runs Dry’. Then he backs up to the 1930s for four tracks: a softly-softly ‘The Folks Who Live On The Hill’; a sloppy duet with Paul McCartney on ‘All of Me’; a slide-guitar moan through Lead Belly’s ‘Goodnight Irene’; and a downright dreary ‘Our Love Is Here To Stay’. There’s livelier stuff, including two original compositions, while the highlight is perhaps an unexpected cover of Gary Moore’s ‘Still Got The Blues’ with Stevie Winwood guest-grinding the Hammond organ.
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Pierre Amoyal & Camerata De Lausanne : Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante And Concertone
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Sep 01, 2013
The French violinist, now 64, has appeared on various record labels since his Erato debut in 1973; in 2002 he founded – and leads – the Camerata de Lausanne. Co-soloists here are viola player Yuko Shimizu (K364) and Ami Oike in the unfairly neglected Concertone for two violins (which also has important solo oboe and cello parts). These partnering string soloists are spaced not too far in from Amoyal: not in the right channel, thank goodness! The sound is generally vibrant and clear with plenty of ambience around the orchestra. One jarring entry, 2m 09s into track 2 warranted re-editing; and cadenzas were, I suspect, pasted in separately.
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Andrea Ottensamer : Portraits: The Clarinet Album
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Sep 01, 2013
A raucous Gershwin Prelude segues into Copland’s moody Concerto – one of his best pieces – then time-travels via Debussy (‘La fille aux cheveux de lin’) and Amy Beach (her romantic Berceuse) to 19th century concertos by Cimarosa and Spohr. Short transcriptions and concertos alternate in what may add up to a stylistically incoherent whole but one which affords the young Austrian Andreas Ottensamer, now principal clarinettist with the Berlin Philharmonic, a chance to illustrate his captivating skills in both jazzy and classical genres. His liquid sounds, wide colour palette and sense of timing sets this version of the Copland above any competition (even the recent Michael Collins/Chandos pales) and the Rotterdam Orchestra surprises in its exuberant embrace of the two American pieces. Bold, close-mic’d sound from De Doelen concert-hall.
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Huey And The New Yorkers : Say It To My Face
J. Ford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Sep 01, 2013
44. 1kHz/24-bit ALAC/FLAC/WAV, Naimcd180 (supplied by www. naimlabel. com) A fine example of how rock can benefit from retention rather than wholesale flattening of dynamics, Fun Lovin’ Criminals frontman, Radio 2 DJ, TV panellist, writer and former marine Huey Morgan pours his life experience into a rich album, not so much ‘solo’ as with a group of long-term friends (‘my gang’).
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Beth Orton : Sugaring Season
J. Ford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Aug 01, 2013
44. 1kHz/24-bit ALAC/FLAC/WAV, Anti-/Epitaph (supplied by www. hdtracks. co.
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Jonas Kaufmann : Wagner
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Aug 01, 2013
‘No Wagner tenor sings with such musicianship, colour and sensitivity… he sets a standard for our time’ [Sunday Times]. It was Kaufmann who gave the Abbado/DG Fidelio distinction [HFN Nov ’11]; and the German singer’s artistry at times reminds me of the young Fischer-Dieskau. Here we have excerpts from the Ring cycle (don’t be alarmed at Siegfried’s painful attempts to play the reed: track 2, 7m 44s!), Rienzi, Tannhäuser, Meistersinger and Lohengrin. Then, unusually for a man (as he explains in the booklet foreword), we have the lovely Wesendonck-Lieder, with its Tristan references in ‘Im Treibhaus’.
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Johnny Marr : The Messenger
J. Ford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Aug 01, 2013
44. 1KHZ/24-BIT ALAC/FLAC/WAV, Sire Records (supplied by www. hdtracks. co.
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Jean Efflam Bavouzet : Haydn: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 5
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Aug 01, 2013
96kHz/24-bit FLAC, Chandos CHAN 10763 (supplied by www. theclassicalshop. com) Recorded using a Yamaha CFX pianoforte at Potton Hall, Suffolk, last year, Vol. 5 in Bavouzet’s series offers six sonatas: Hob.
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Meatloaf : Bat Out Of Hell
J. Ford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Aug 01, 2013
96kHz/24-bit ALAC/FLAC/AIFF/WAV, Cleveland International/Epic/Legacy (supplied by www. hdtracks. com) Tempting though it may be to hit the ‘Buy’ button at the thought of Mr Meat’s finest hour in 24/96 glory, it’s not the revelation you might wish for, and the epic title track fares worst of the seven here, just too cluttered in its construction to allow individual elements to be teased forth. The bass is overwhelming, the whole painfully peaky in its most manic moments despite the magnificence of Steinman’s cod-Springsteen spread (authenticated by Bruce’s piano man Roy Bitten and drummer Max Weinberg).
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Donald Fagen : Morph The Cat
J. Ford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Jul 01, 2013
Check your levels before launching Morph – the opening kick-drum/bass note is pushed up to knock you down! The surround mix of this 2006 inter-Dan album from the funky-fingered Fagen won a Grammy, and the 24/96 stereo version remains a production showcase, laying fruity layers of backing vocals across crisp and cruisy grooves even when the matter under consideration is considerably grave – even the eponymous giant cat turns out to represent a growing brainwashed malaise hanging over America. This disquiet perhaps infuses a particularly pedestrian plod into several pieces, the groove pinched so anal tight as to squeeze out its swing. Elsewhere this could be Aja Dan: ‘Security Joan’, ‘Brite Nightgown’ and ‘H Gang’ are friction-free, while the hi-hat opening to ‘Mary Shut The Garden Door’ is breathtaking in both performance and portrayal. A semi-classic, in fine form.
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