CD Reviews

[Sarong1]

Are you a classical fanatic or jazzy lover? Regardless, have you listened to a fusion of classic and jazz then?

 

I have just last Friday night attended a jazz trio performing "Play Bach", their debut performance in Singapore at The Esplanade. They were simply musically naughty, classical pieces like Antonio Vivaldi and Debussy were actually replicated into jazz flavour.

 

This is my first encounter of a classical and jazz fusion and I enjoyed the performance thoroughly. There was a standing ovation at the end of their one hour performance.

 

Now, I am not sure if anyone of you have attended their performance, even if you have missed the show, despair not. What I have gotten here, is an album of Jacques Loussier Trio's Play Bach. Not an exact record of their live performance definitely but is similarly intriguing.

 

A bit of introduction from his not so new Play Bach album.

 

"Loussier is the man who has brought Bach and jazz together better and for longer than anyone in history. His original Play Bach Trio, which he founded in 1959 and which sold over 6 million albums until it broke up in 1978..."

 

"Loussier's familiar themes in a chamber jazz setting just as enthusiatically as it did to the gentle counterpoint of the Modern Jazz Quartet..."

 

Ok now, come back to the listing in the Play Bach album. Total of 11 tracks playing Bach's famous titles produced under the Telarc Jazz label (Telarc Jazz CD-83411). This included,

 

Track 1. Fugue No.5 in D Major

 

Track 5. Pastorale in C Minor

 

Track 6. Air on G String (my all time classical favourite but this one is simply superb)

 

Track 8. Gavotte in D Major (which also appeared in the IASCA Competition CD).

 

Recording wise, thumbs up for Telarc, which has always been one of my favourite label. The percussion, double bass and piano (Steinway & Son) studio recording have been remarkably archived into this CD. This album is just as enjoying as the performance, in the car and at home.

 

He has some other albums under Telarc as well, do some shopping if you like them.

Edited October 23, 2006 by Sarong1

[Sarong1]

No MO so far...viewers to this thread will normally buy on their own, I will normally share where are the good places to buy.

[Godspeedyou]

Thanks for sharing on the good places to stock up nice cds. Not as pro as Sarong bro, but sharing what I use for sampling on soundsystems. Still a newbie on this area.

 

Oliver Shanti and Friends - Circle of Life

Personally liked track 1 and 4. A pity the current ones being sold is from a different pressing, looks suspiciously MIC. But track 1 is real good to test if your low frequency can make it anot. Not properly tuned can end up with overly boomy bass, over shadowing the intruments.

 

Faye Wong - Tian Kong (XRCD)

Try track 4, its really good to test your mid. Clean sound. If not can just stick to track 1 Tian Kong.

 

Ultimate Demonstration Disc by Chesky Records

Track 3, Spanish Harlem by Rebecca Pidgeon. The 1st few seconds intro before the vocal comes in is good to test the bass, wrongly tuned will end up the low frequency will over power her vocals. Good for testing on your high and mid levels too. Treble flat to gauge how good your tweeter is. Overall this cd is a test cd, actually explains what to look out for before very song.

 

Nicholas Gunn - Crossroads

Track 1, 2, 4, 6. Recommended for those who like flute, with a mixture of acoustic guitar, piano, violin, synthesizers. Very old album, but never get bored of his flute.

 

Jennifer Warnes - The Hunter

Track 1 and 8. Good for high and mid testing.

 

Ottmar Liebert - Nouveau Flamenco 1990-2000 Special 10th Anniversary Edition

Like the entire album, prefered tracks is 1, 4, 9, 15.

 

Gipsy Kings - Best Of

Track 1 and 3. overall good album rating.

[Godspeedyou]

Michelle Xie Qiao Dan - Michelle

Track 1 (Ai De Gen Yuan),if I'm not wrong originally sung by Alan Tam?

Track 2 (Yue Ban Wan), OA should be Jacky Cheung.

Overall her rendition is very clean, though some might still prefer the original singers but her vocals is crisp, something refreshing for a change.

 

High Society Collection;

Shang Kwan Ping - Night Queen

Track 1 - Ye Shang Hai, Track 2 - Rose Rose I Love You, Track 3 - Ye Lai Xiang,

Almost the whole album is good,lazy to type all especially in hanyun pinyin. Oldies with a touch of jazz, so different from the original versions.But can get overly boomy also especially the bass part.

 

Shanghai Divas

Also under High Society collection, couldn't get the names of the 3 different singers inside. But once you listen to the song Huang Hun, you will proceed to finish the entire cd. Good cd for testing out ICE.

 

Michelle Xie Qiao Dan - Ye Ban Qing Si Yu

Track 10(Ban Meng Ban Xing), 11(Jin Shen Jin Shi), 12(Zhui) is the prefered songs. Would not consider this as a demo cd, but good for chilling out. Especially for cantonese lovers.

 

Ian Widgery - The Original Shanghai Divas Collection Redefined

Songs from Bai Kwong, Li Xiang Lan, Chow Hsuan, Chang Loo given a breath of fresh air by Ian. Looking at the singers, its really out of our generation. But the tracks haven been remixed to give you that cool factor. Guess even your mom or dad will be surprised to hear this cd.

 

Mimi Lo - This Song Is For You (SACD)

No need to intro which tracks, whole album is good. If not opting for SACD, can opt for the normal press which costs lesser.

[Sarong1]

Godspeedyou, thanks for the contribution, you are doing great. Looking forward to more contributions from you. That will mean you have to buy more CDs I suppose?

[Godspeedyou]

Hmm,

As long as I refrain from stepping into That CD shop or Gramophone then I will be safe, for awhile that is. After reading so many posts from all the bros here, so try to contribute abit.

 

For trance;

Sander van Doorn - Hes been pointed out by Tiesto as the next big thing, also a fellow Dutchman. Quite high NRG, good for torturing you woofers. He was showcased by Pete Tong on his Essential Mix program also.

 

DJ Shog - Discovered him on a Technics DJ compilation, high NRG too. Quite addictive

 

Armin van Buuren - His A State of Trance program gives you very good 2hr set each week, Thursdays if I'm not wrong. Can listen to his streaming live from www.di.fm. No need to subscribe, and they have proper track listings. This coming week should be episode 273.

 

DJ Dave 202 - Another guy to torture woofers.

 

Mauro Picotto - Also a lesser known Italian DJ, but his live sets will blow you away.

 

DJ Tiesto - Only his live sets is strongly recommended. Don't go for his Sunrise albums, too house. And his gig in Singapore was a disappointment.

 

M.I.K.E. - His albums can be found in MJ. Mostly in double CD. Strongly recommended by Armin van Buuren, he spinned very well on A State of Trance anniversary episode 250, which was an 8hr gig consisting or Armin, Rank1, John Askew, John Asteur, Menno de Jong.

 

DJ Menno de Jong - First heard him on ASOT episode 250. Good in mixing,very high BPM. Abit techno-trance.

 

Kyau and Albert - The next big thing too, all their singles was good. Recently launched their EP.

[Sarong1]

To help make the contributions better, you may want to consider attaching pictures of the albums to it so that fellow readers can better appreciate and buy with ease at respective good CD shops.

[Bobcatsysop]

Just bought this EMMA 2005/2006 CD from the Ultimate Sound Challenge Booth recently and found it to be better than IASCA 2005 especially the 2 technical tracks:

#11 - Tracking the Moving from Center to Left to Right - for Staging, Imaging, Depth and if there is any frequency loss along the way.

#16 - Piano 3-Keys (Low, Med and High) played at 5 positions for Soundstage accuracy. This one is extremely interesting to check if all 3 keys are played at the same position.

 

#18 to #20 - These 3 tracks are the same song played at 3 different volumes to check if played at low or med or high volume, if the sound is linear..

 

A majority of the songs there in this CD are specially recorded by EMMA except for a couple.

There are 5 tracks to test for Tonal Accuracy and Spectral Balance

and 4 tracks to test for Imaging, Staging and Soundstage.

 

A great CD to have.

 

Bro Sarong... perhaps you have input your reviews and make corrections to mine if my interpretation is not correct Thanks.

Edited November 8, 2006 by Bobcatsysop

[Kermit]

Yeah, this is a "killer" CD...very demanding...

[Muakmuak]

uncle bob, where can get this cd?

[Bobcatsysop]

Hi Bro,

This EMMA CD - SQ version is currently out of stock. They need to order up. You should call first to check if the stock has arrived before going down to buy. Contact is as follows:

 

EMMA 2005/2006 CD ($36.70 without rule book)

MPT Motor Trading (organizer of Ultimate Sound Challenge)

No. 53, Ubi Ave 1, #01-42,

Paya Ubi Industrial Park

Singapore 408934

Tel: 6447 4588 Mr. Koh or Kenny

[Headshok]

hey man,

 

just saw ur post.

 

u and i like the same kinda music.. heheh.

 

i guess tiesto had to spin to the 'local flavour' most of the local 'clubbers' don know the difference btw trance and techno. and they think house is trance.. haha..

 

aniway, i think mauro picotto is quite well known, but just not locally. heheh.. most local clubbers associate trance to the DJs that spin at zouk or zouk out.. heheh.

 

my all time fav is blank and jones.. heheh

 

actually, for trance, the good stuff is on vinyl(i use to spin), the bonzai collection is nice!

 

aniway, cheers to good recommendation man!

Edited November 8, 2006 by Headshok

[Hyun]

my current favourite is

Black Eyed Pearl feat. Lee H.S. singing Mai Hum(s)

dig the groove man ....

[Muakmuak]

Thanks much, Uncle Bob!

[Godspeedyou]

Hey HS!

 

Glad that you liked Picotto too! And the list goes on and on, especially if you hear those gigs at Godskitchen, Gatecrasher, Ibiza etc etc.

 

OT abit, no big names for coming ZoukOut besides Ferry Corsten. Good live sets at Zouk previously was Oakenfold, Nick Warren, Sasha, Tiesto, PVD(once at Far East Square). And I find the dutch really kick***.

 

No more spinning, turntable given to my friend. Reminds me of the days at VMP ravaging through their collection. Speedy J anyone?

[Sarong1]

Uncle Bob, yes you are right indeed. This EMMA CD in my opinion is much better than the IASCA one that seemed to evaluate more on creating theater and SPL effects over true SQ standards. The tracks that you have mentioned are good evaluation tracks that will drive some of the best system crazy...

 

If there are good responses, we can get approval from MCF for a MO.

[Ractis]

Can I check if the new EMMA cd came with any notes as to what to look out for in each evaluation track?

[Sarong1]

I think the description is printed on another booklet as part of the rulebook for the competition. There are some forummers here that have participated. I think we can ask for copies from them.