Bruce,Neely / Electric Phoenix - Plague / Dream of the Other Dreamers - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

One of the most unique albums on the Strata East tag - and that's saying a heck of a lot, given the creative energies flowing through that legendary jazz outlet! Descendents Of Mike & Phoebe is a righteous little project put together by Spike Lee's father, Bill Lee, and his brothers and sisters (Cliff Lee, Grace Lee Mims, and Consuela Lee Moorhead) - working here in a group named after their slave ancestors, who are paid tribute in a beautifully flowing batch of tunes! Lee's round, warm bass tones are firmly at the head of the group on most numbers - recorded at a similar level to his excellent work with Clifford Jordan on Strata East during the same time - and other instrumentation includes piano from Consuela, flugelhorn from Cliff, and percussion from Sonny Brown and Billy Higgins - all used in a wonderfully evocative style that's even better than some of Lee's later soundtrack work. A few numbers feature vocals from Grace - singing wordlessly and with a really heavenly sort of quality - and together, the whole group have an undeniable sense of power and majesty, yet also one that's touched by a really personal sense of poetry too. Titles include a great version of Lee's InchColtraneInch, which was more famously recorded with Clifford Jordan.

Limited 11 box set containing all of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme's studio albums, plus two additional discs containing all the single edits, alternative mixes/versions and non-album tracks & extensive sleeve notes include an essay by biographer Liam Newton, plus intro from Kevin Godley. 'Parts Of The Process' is a 105 track celebration of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme's recordings between 1977 and 1988 and includes all seven of the duo's studio albums released in this period. As well as two additional discs featuring single edits, alternative mixes/versions and non-album tracks. As founding members of 10cc, Kevin and Lol wrote, produced and played on four Top 40 albums, and nine Top 40 singles between 1972 and 1976 (including two No. 1s) before branching out in 1977 to perfect 'The Gizmo', a guitar attachment they used to create the concept album 'Consequences', which is presented here in it's original three-disc form. A series of eclectic and innovative albums ensued, beginning with 'L' (1978), rapidly followed by 'Freeze Frame' (1979). It included contributions from Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera, backing vocals from Paul McCartney, and Ska legend Rico Rodriguez on 'An Englishman In New York'. In 1981 they released 'Ismism', which included the UK hit singles 'Under Your Thumb' (No. 3), and 'Wedding Bells' (No. 7). 1983 bought us 'Birds Of Prey', which included the singles 'Save A Mountain For Me', and 'Samson'. Their 1983 album 'History Mix Volume 1' marked 25 years of the duo working together, a groundbreaking re-working of their solo and 10cc output, that Lol described as Inchvinyl archaeologyInch. Their last collaboration was the critically acclaimed 1998 album 'Goodbye Blue Sky', which once again found a wider market in Europe, thanks to the single 'A Little Piece of Heaven'.

Nur zwei Mal hat der japanische Dirigent Seiji Ozawa (1935-2024) das Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Munchner Konzerten geleitet - doch beide Male wurde nichts weniger als Musikgeschichte geschrieben! I'm Juli 1983 dirigierte Ozawa i'm Herkulessaal der Munchner Residenz Strawinskys Le sacre du printemps und Beethovens Egmont-Ouverture sowie dessen Erstes Klavierkonzert mit Martha Argerich als Solistin, das als CD bereits erschienen ist (CD 900701). Und i'm Januar 1990 prasentierte er sich in der Philharmonie i'm Gasteig mit dem hier erstmals auf CD vorgelegten Programm - mit beispiellos beeindruckenden Interpretationen von Beethovens Funfter Symphonie und Strauss' Tondichtung Ein Heldenleben. In Beethovens funfter Symphonie bestaunte bereits der erste Rezensent E. T. A. Hoffmann das in jener Musik zum Ausdruck gebrachte dramatische Ringen des Menschen durch Nacht zum Licht', das auf rein musikalische Weise gestaltet ist, in struktureller Dichte und auerster Stringenz. Erst in der zweiten Halfte des 19. Jahrhunderts wurde das Werk dann zur Schicksalssymphonie', i'm Sinne jenes heroischen Bildes des Menschen und Kunstlers Ludwig van Beethoven, das sich mittlerweile eingeburgert hatte. Demnach sollte die Symphonie das Leiden und uberwinden des titanisch mit dem Schicksal ringenden Beethoven, insbesondere mit dem personlichen Schicksal seiner Ertaubung behandeln. Eine romantische Anschauung vom Kunstler als leidendem Auenseiter wurde nachtraglich dem Leben und Werk Beethovens aufgepfropft, vor allem seiner funften Symphonie. Um das Leben eines Helden geht es auch in Richard Strauss' Tondichtung, die entstand, als er das Amt des Berliner Hofkapellmeisters antrat. Auch mit diesem Werk wollte er (wie etliche seiner Zeitgenossen) an Beethoven oder die von jenem geschaffene musikalische Ausdruckskraft anknupfen - mit den Mitteln seiner Zeit. Die Tondichtung Ein