As I sit here listening to Peter Gabriel’s latest release, New Blood, I can’t help but think that either Peter or his record label got it right. In this age of digital downloads and disappearing CDs, it is nice to have alternatives. New Blood was released on standard CD, but was also released in a very nice two-LP gatefold package, with a 7″ bonus picture disc containing “Solsbury Hill”. The part that “gets it right” for me is that the album not only comes with a download–that download is for a choice of MP3 file or high-resolution digital, which you can then burn to an audio DVD that will play back in any standard DVD player in high resolution, or store on a music server to play back on something like a Squeezebox.
This is how music should be released today. CDs and downloads may still be today’s standard, but for those of us who want a more deluxe package and prefer vinyl, offering a high-resolution download is a very nice bonus.
Now, for a quick look at the album itself. The concept was to give a new lease on life to Peter’s back catalog of music. This is not a new idea: even a hack like Sting attempted to set music to strings, only Sting’s project (Symphonicities) was such an epic failure due to both the source material (you can’t “symphonize” something like “Next To You”, one of the best tracks from the first Police album, without it becoming an embarassment to listen to), and due to overall poor string arrangements.
Gabriel’s album actually works, and works quite well. His music is not your ordinary pop music. If one had noticed the broad hints of cinematic sweep in his original recordings, they become even more obvious in this project. These renditions could serve as a soundtrack to some as-yet unfilmed picture, with the originals sitting in nicely beside them at dramatic points in the film. As “San Jacinto” spins right now, slowly uncoiling at the end, you can almost visualize some vast landscape receding in the distance at the end of a scene in a movie.
That quality is present through the best songs on this album, such as “Intruder,” “Darkness” and “The Rhythm Of The Heat” (which is as dynamic in its own way as the original from his fourth album). Others, like “Solsbury Hill,” don’t quite work as well, but are still converted quite nicely to a symphonic presentation. This is where New Blood succeeds where something like Symphonicities fails: the latter merely sets exiting music to string arrangements (sometimes clumsily), whereas New Blood almost re-composes the songs into something new while still retaining the feel of the originals. “Wallflower” is a good example of how well Gabriel’s concept works: the emotion and cinematic scope of the original is preserved, even accentuated, thanks to the new presentation.
For a digital recording, it has transferred well to vinyl. The mastering is quite nice, and the sound is full bodied and dynamic, the vinyl adding some subtle warmth to the proceedings. There is almost no background noise from the vinyl, although there are some clicks and crackle throughout that sound like a bit of dirt remaining in the grooves. The 7″ picture disc does not fare as well–it has the same sound, but has a constant “shhh” background noise thanks to the vinyl. It’s a clever disc for sure, but I would have preferred to keep it on quieter black vinyl.
This one is a winner if you can find it on vinyl…and be sure to “cash in” the enclosed card to download the high-resolution version of the album online, as it’s only good for a year.
OK, so it may not be a profound musical masterpiece, and not everyone may have heard it or own it (unlike the iconic Whipped Cream and Other Delights album, which everyone’s dad seemed to own), but it was not Christmas at our house unless the Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass Christmas Album was spinning on the Magnavox console several times through December. Even to this day, not a year goes by that I don’t at least play it once.
While Brian Setzer has gone on to record another album of Christmas tunes (Dig That Crazy Christmas) and release an album of his fantastic live Christmas show (Christmas Comes Alive!), this is the album that started it all. Boogie Woogie Christmas set Setzer’s rockabilly guitar stylings up against his full big band unit, and put out a rockin’ set of holiday favorites that breathed some life into a lot of overworn chestnuts. “Jingle Bells” busts out of the gate with some blistering Gretsch guitar, and the album doesn’t let up until the end.
One could argue that the Carpenters’ career had already crested, and that they were not at the top of their game when this album was recorded. But that would overlook the fact that this album, Christmas Portrait, not only remains one of the best they would produce, it is also one of the best holiday albums of its kind. It shines due to the total album being greater than the sum of its parts. Karen Carpenter’s vocal talents are without question–expressive, pitch-perfect and tonally rich. While Richard Carpenter’s contribution was more as a producer (rather than arranger and composer…and even pianist), his own touch is also evident throughout.
At the time I first purchased this disc, I was really into the “GRP sound” at the time. GRP Records was known for slickly-produced contemporary jazz that for the most part avoided the triteness of what would eventually become Smooth Jazz. It was no stretch for me to pick A GRP Christmas Collection up, as it had a few of my favorite artists on it (David Benoit, Kevin Eubanks, Chick Corea, etc.), and yet served as a sampler for other GRP artists I was not familiar with. Their “bait” worked, as I would end up buying discs from a few more artists I found on this album, such as Special EFX, Yutaka, Daryl Stuermer and Dave Valentin. Due to the “family” sound of the label, most of the tracks sit very well together.