martes, 21 de septiembre de 2010

Vota por tu sintonía favorita de la Vuelta Ciclista a España

No hay duda de que a lo largo de la historia de las retransmisiones por Televisión Española de la Vuelta Ciclista a España algunas de sus sintonías, a lo largo de los años, han calado hondo entre los aficionados al ciclismo. Por supuesto, tengo mis querencias y abogo por los temas de Azul Y Negro que marcaron diferencia tanto con "Me Estoy Volviendo Loco" en 1982 como con "No Tengo Tiempo (Con Los Dedos De Una Mano)" en 1983, siendo estas dos las que más me han cautivado desde entonces, sin olvidarme de otro tema de estos genios del tecno-pop, "Two Pa Ka".

Pero no quiero influiros en vuestro voto. Podéis todavía elegir vuestra canción de las mostradas en la página de RTVE.es que os muestro a continuación.

http://www.rtve.es/deportes/encuesta/20100917/cual-tu-cancion-favorita-vuelta/resultado-22911.shtml

Green Carnation - Light Of Day, Day Of Darkness (2001)

Green Carnation is a project with its roots in Norweigian black/doom metal, but on Light of Day, Day of Darkness it sounds much more like a prog-metal group than anything else. Any prog-metal album which has the gall to consist of only one song is probably going to get compared to Fates Warning's A Pleasant Shade of Gray, so let's get that out of the way first. These two groups are quite dissimilar in sound and approach, but the important point is this: while A Pleasant Shade of Gray made pretensions towards being one hour-long song, it failed, coming off more like twelve separate songs tied together by a loose thematic framework. On the other hand, Light of Day... actually succeeds pretty well in seeming like a unified composition; different sections flow together nicely and logically, and some themes are shared throughout.

The basic idea here is doom and gloom: this is a very somber album, lyrically and musically, similar in mood to, say, the softer side of Opeth. The music alternates, again much like Opeth, between soft passages characterized by lots of acoustic guitar and keys and heavier, more conventionally "metal" electric guitar-led parts. Almost all vocals are clean, with very little death-style growling to be found. There are a couple of interesting sections that differ substantially from the rest: for instance, halfway through there's a fairly lengthy section that consists almost entirely of wordless female vocals accompanied only by saxophone; and near the end there's a faux-ethnic passage complete with sitar and very Eastern melodies.

For the most part, though, think mid-tempo, melodic, gloomy prog-metal, and you've got the right idea. I'm suitably impressed with how well the composition hangs together; while the basic formula of alternating soft and loud sections is adhered to fairly closely, the melodies and orchestration are generally interesting enough to keep things from getting dull. And I have no nitpicks to make regarding the performances, even the English-language vocals, which are more than adequate. My only real complaint is superficial; I wish there were some track indexes. A 60-minute song is all well and good, but it's a pain in the ass when I want to hear, say, the section starting at minute 37. I'd say there are enough clear transitions between themes that the album could be fairly easily divided into 6-8 parts. Why not?

I find it curious that this album seems to be known pretty well in the black/doom/death metal scene, but not much at all in the prog-metal scene. To my ears, which admittedly are still fairly inexperienced when it comes to metal, Light of Day, Day of Darkness is prog-metal through and through; and categorizations aside, it's damn good prog-metal at that.

(C) Ground And Sky review

Tracklist:

1. Light of Day, Day of Darkness (60:06)

Line-up / Musicians

- Christine Albert / choir and chorus
- Eugen 'd Albert / choir and chorus
- Kobro / drums
- Kristoffer Knoff Aamot / choir and chorus
- Karoline Knoff Aamot / choir and chorus
- Endre Kirkesola / bass
- Kjetil Nordhus / vocals and tenor (vocal)

Releases information

The End (TE024)

Enjoy it listening via Spotify (wherever it's available).

sábado, 18 de septiembre de 2010

Röyksopp - Senior (2010)

Röyksopp is a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø, formed in 1998. Since their inception, the band's line-up has included Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland. Röyksopp has been nominated for one Grammy Award, seven Spellemannprisen awards, performed worldwide tours, and produced albums topping the charts in several countries.

Röyksopp emerged from the Tromsø techno scene and Bergen Wave after experimenting with different genres of electronic music. The band solidified their place in the electronic music scene with their 2001 debut album, Melody A.M., released on Wall of Sound. Since then, the band has consistently experimented with various genres pertaining to electronica, gaining critical acclaim and success around the world.

On March 23, 2009, Röyksopp's third studio album Junior was released, with positive reactions from the press and fans.

Junior was a success around the world. The album peaked at number one in Norway, the band's third consecutive album to do so. The album also peaked at number 21 on the UK Albums Chart. In addition, the album also charted on many Billboard charts, including the Billboard 200 - the first Röyksopp album to do so - where it peaked at number 126. The album also peaked at number 4 on the Top Electronic Albums chart and number 3 on the Top Heatseekers chart.

Junior was followed by Senior, a counterpart to Junior, which is quiet, "withdrawn and introspective" and "create an atmosphere and an ambience". The album is comprised of entirely instrumental songs. The first single, "The Drug" was released on August 9, 2010, and the album has been just released few days ago (September 13, 2010).

(C) Wikipedia

Tracklist:

1. ...And The Forest Began To Sing
2. Tricky Two
3. The Alcoholic
4. Senior Living
5. The Drug
6. Forsaken Cowboy
7. The Fear
8. Coming Home
9. A Long, Long Way

Official website shopping center

viernes, 17 de septiembre de 2010

Mr. Bloe - 71-75 New Oxford Street (1971, DJM)

Mr. Bloe was an alias used by the DJM record label producer/arranger and multi-instrumentalist, Zack Laurence.

"Groovin' With Mr Bloe", written by Bo Gentry, Bernard Cochrane, Paul Naumann and Kenny Laguna, featuring Harry Pitch on harmonica, and Zack Laurence on piano, entered the UK Singles Chart on 9 May 1970, peaking at Number 2. It was denied the number one spot by "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry. In total "Groovin' With Mr Bloe" spent 18 weeks in the chart.

A follow up single, "Curried Soul", failed to chart, and an album, also entitled "Groovin' with Mr. Bloe", was released in 1970 but flopped, leaving the act with the one-hit wonder tag. However, Laurence's contributions to the Roger Whittaker worldwide hit single "The Last Farewell", included arranging the music to the song when it initially appeared on Whittaker's radio programme in the UK in 1971, as well as arranging the instrumental to the subsequent hit song in 1975.

"Groovin' With Mr Bloe" is also a lyric in the song, "I Was a Mod Before You Was Mod", by the band, Television Personalities. The b-side to Madness' "Our House" single was "Walking With Mr Wheeze", another instrumental with occasional scratch mix effects. The tune's title was an asthmatic play on "Groovin' With Mr Bloe". The song was partly recorded by The Fall in 2003, for a Peel session as the beginning of their song, "Green Eyed Loco Man".

"Groovin' With Mr Bloe" was used as the theme music to the 2009 BBC TV series, Oz and James Drink to Britain.

© Wikipedia

---

However, I thought it could be interesting to know about other of Mr. Bloe's releases, nevertheless if it is a complete flop, though I wouldn't say that. I owned this single a long time ago and it was just in these noon hours when, after a quite long search around the net, I found it again and actually between my hands.

Of course, unless Sir Elton John features this track as composer and possibly piano player, I don't care of him. :P







Artist: Mr. Bloe
Single: 71-75 New Oxford Street / Get Out of This Town
Label: DJM
Year of release: 1971
Genre: Pop-rock, instrumental
Country: Spain (preferently)

jueves, 16 de septiembre de 2010

David Bedford - The Odyssey (Live at Royal Albert Hall, 25th January 1977)

DAVID BEDFORD " The Odyssey" (Live)

1977 January 25th, Royal Albert Hall, London, UK, Radio Broadcast (?)

Line-up:

David Bedford, Mike Ratledge, Jon Lord - Synthesizers
Peter Lerner, Dave Simmonds - String synthesizers
Dave Stewart - Grand Piano
Brian Gaskow - Electric piano
Dave Morson - Clavely ?
Neil Ardley - organ ?
Stewart Bedford - Grand organ
Mike Oldfield - Guitar
Murray Barr - Timpani ?
Sophie Dickson - solo vocal
Mary ??? - Recorders
Elly Lemos - Cymbal, gong
Queen's College Choir - Choir

Audio quality (radio broadcast): very good
Running time: 52:20
Files: FLAC + covers
Type archive: RAR

PART 1
PART 2
PART 3

jueves, 9 de septiembre de 2010

El cambio físico de Walter a Wendy Carlos

Todo se resume en una serie de fotografías. Voy a intentar mantener un orden cronológico en la publicación de las varias fotos encontradas a través de Internet y debidamente escogidas para esta ocasión:


Diferentes tomas sacadas en los años de su famoso álbum "Switched-On Bach"



Fotos sacadas del reportaje de la BBC 4 "Synth Britannia", en unas tomas realizadas en el tiempo de la creación de la música para la controvertida película de Stanley Kubrick "A Clockwork Orange" (La Naranja Mecánica), hacia 1972.


En 1975 se publica este álbum con la imagen de Walter Carlos (caricaturizado) en su portada y con su nombre original. Pese a ello, las futuras ediciones de este disco llevarán el nuevo nombre del músico y sintetista, tal como figura en la portada de la derecha. Es desde el año 1972 cuando Walter inicia su proceso de cambio de sexo que culminaría definitivamente en 1979 y es a partir de entonces cuando todos sus nuevos proyectos y su anterior discografía llevarían su nuevo nombre.


Fotografía tomada durante aquel periodo de transición.



Las siguiente fotos fueron realizadas durante estos últimos veinticinco años, siendo la última de ellas la que ofrece la imagen más reciente de una gran intérprete y sintesista como es Wendy Carlos en una faceta totalmente didáctica, según se desprende de su pose ante la cámara.





martes, 7 de septiembre de 2010

Azul Y Negro - Innovate (1998) (Reedición 2010, Vaso Music)

La remasterización del primer álbum grabado por Azul Y Negro en su nueva etapa, ya con Carlos Gª-Vaso en solitario pero adoptando como suyo el nombre del grupo, se halla disponible en su formato digital y también en CD.

Temas instrumentales al más puro estilo de AyN se mezclan junto con otros cantados por el propio Carlos Vaso, quien asímismo se encarga de toda la instrumentación y la producción en este álbum que lo dice todo.

Tracklist:

1. Romantic Warrior
2. Tema para una Madre
3. Una sonrisa, una caricia
4. Juego Limpio
5. Dulces Sombras
6. Kamasutra
7. Simple Man
8. Alas de Metal
9. No Face, No Name, No Number
10. Fantastic Girl

Todos los temas y canciones, han sido compuestos por Carlos García-Vaso, excepto:
"Una sonrisa, una carícia" (Carlos G.-Vaso / Carlos de la Encarnación)
"Simple Man" (Graham Nash)
"No Face, No Name, No Number" (Wínwood/Capaldí)

Dónde conseguirlo:

- Web oficial (Ir a Formulario de pedidos)
- Artist Camp
- iTunes Music Store
- Amazon.com

miércoles, 1 de septiembre de 2010

Tom Newman - Ozymandias (1996, Blueprint)

Hace poco más de un año, reseñé este disco del músico y productor inglés Tom Newman (ex-miembro del grupo de rock sicodélico July y conocido por sus producciones para diversos músicos e intérpretes durante los años 70, sobre todo para el celebérrimo Mike Oldfield) e indiqué el tracklist de una edición estándar del mismo hasta que ayer mismo recibí mi copia en CD (original por supuesto) pero con un contenido, en cuanto a pistas y metrajes se refiere, ligeramente distinto a aquél.

Si bien aquella otra referencia se hacía sobre la edición (supuestamente) inglesa, VP192CD, aquí tengo un lanzamiento publicado en la EU y con marchamo de haberse fabricado las obleas en Austria (en el label del disco figura "Made in Austria", obviously!!!). En el CD hay seis pistas separadas, en lugar de las siete de la otra edición y con el siguiente metraje cada una:

1. Track 1 (7.10)
2. Track 2 (14.03)
3. Track 3 (2.53)
4. Track 4 (4.49)
5. Track 5 (4.46)
6. Track 6 (2.48)

Por otra parte, los créditos solo figuran en la contraportada, mientras que la propia carátula no tiene nada destacable, solamente una poesía alusiva de Percy Bysshe Shelly en su interior y nada más.

Los temas incluidos son:

Dying Civilisation
Cycle For Moving Dunes
Ozymandias: The Song
The Cenotaph
The Song Abstracted
The Missing Peace
The Reprise


(7 temas en total)

Ahora bien, ¿cómo encajan estos temas dentro de las seis pistas del CD? La pregunta del millón.

Tal vez "The Cenotaph" y "The Song Abstracted" van unidos en una sola pista, la cuarta, si comparamos los tiempos de ésta con los correspondientes a ambos cortes de la otra edición.

Datos del CD:

Código de barras: 6 04388 10912 8
Made in EU (en el barcode box) / Made In Austria (en la oblea)
Cat. No. BP192CD
© 1996 Voiceprint (P) 1996 Voiceprint
Sello: Blueprint


Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells (50th Anniversary Edition)

"Tubular Bells (50th Anniversary Edition)" ya a la venta en 2xLP, CD, BluRay y también disponible en plataformas digitales como Am...