Angela
Bofill: Angie
(1978)/Angel Of The Night
(1989/Sony/Vocalion Hybrid Stereo Super Audio
CD/SACD/SA-CD)/Glastonbury
Fayre (1971/*Blu-ray)/Now
More Than Ever: The History Of Chicago
(2017/*Filmrise DVD)/Rolling
Stones: Beggars Banquet
(1968/ABKCO Hybrid Stereo Super Audio CD/SACD/SA-CD Set)/Sheryl
Crow: Live At The Capitol Theater 2017
(CD Set/*all MVD Visual)
Picture:
X/B-/C+/X/B Sound: B & B-/C+/C+/B & B-/C+ & B-
Extras: C-/B-/D/B/C+ Main Programs: B/B-/B/B/B-
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Angela
Bofill
Super Audio CD import is now only available from our friends at
Vocalion Records,
will play on all CD players and
can be ordered from the links below.
Up
next is classic music of all kinds, in more forms than you would
usually get, , but more than worth your time if you love music.
We
start with a double album release from one of the most underrated
vocalists of the last 50 years. Angela
Bofill: Angie
(1978)/Angel
Of The Night
(1989) are remarkable, underrated solo albums from the singer later
known for
The
great Vocalion label has licensed both albums and put them on a
single Hybrid Stereo Super Audio CD disc and I have never heard her
sound better. These are the tracks from each release....
Angie
LP
GRP 5000 (1978) STEREO
1:
UNDER THE MOON AND OVER THE SKY (Bofill)
2:
THIS TIME I'LL BE SWEETER (Guthrie; Grant)
3:
BABY, I NEED YOUR LOVE (Bofill)
4:
ROUGH TIMES (Ashford; Simpson)
5:
THE ONLY THING I WOULD WISH FOR (Bofill)
6:
SUMMER DAYS (Timothy)
7:
SHARE YOUR LOVE (Hoitsma)
8:
CHILDREN OF THE WORLD UNITED (Bofill)
Angel
of the Night
LP
GRP 5501 (1979) STEREO
9:
I TRY (Bofill)
10:
PEOPLE MAKE THE WORLD GO ROUND (Creed; Bell)
11:
ANGEL OF THE NIGHT (Hull; Devlin)
12:
RAINBOW CHILD (LITTLE PAS) (Bofill)
13:
WHAT I WOULDN'T DO (FOR THE LOVE OF YOU) (Perricone; Utt)
14:
THE FEELIN'S LOVE (Bofill)
15:
LOVE TO LAST (Madden)
16:
THE VOYAGE (Bofill)
These
are impressive, co-produced by Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen, they are
Jazz, Soul, Pop and even Dance offering something different and
lasting. Many will recognize Track 10 as a hit by The Stylistics,
but Bofill's version (which got radio play) speeds it up and the
uptempo spin actually works. These are her two big GRP Records
releases before she moved over to distributor Arista Records via
Clive Davis and joined their amazing line-up of female vocalists
including Aretha Franklin, Melissa Manchester, Dionne Warwick and the
up and coming Whitney Houston.
Both
of these albums were a major success, but many more will remember her
R&B 1980s Arista releases. They and everyone else should go out
of their ay to get these albums, especially if you can play them back
in the ultra high-definition audio this disc offers. More female
vocalists of the past deserve this audiophile treatment.
Excellent
liner notes are the only extra here in the illustrated booklet
included, but tell the rest of the main Bofill story to date
Nicolas
Roeg's Glastonbury
Fayre
(1971) is an unusual break from the challenging narrative films he
was making at the time, yet even making this Rockumentary about the
first of several counterculture Rock concerts (as this one was so
successful), he decided to focus on the attendees as much as any of
the music performers, who included Melanie, Traffic and Fairport
Convention.
This
key show form the U.K. gets lost in the shuffle of Woodstock and
Monterey Pop, but it shows that the counterculture phenomenon was not
just in the U.S., but in the U.K. and reaching the free world all the
way to Australia and New Zealand. Running 91 minutes, it has its
music moments as well as others of people acting wild, but is worth a
look and is a priceless historical document. It shows the U.K. had
more than one Rock Music event under it belt.
Extras
include a feature length audio commentary track by Roeg and a Making
Of featurette.
Peter
Pardini's Now
More Than Ever: The History Of Chicago
(2017) finally tells the story of one of the most successful bands of
all time. Touring and recoding now for over a half-century, their
origins are amazing, their work hugely successful on the charts and
tour and even with critics, they built a huge fan base and then found
out their producer had been ripping them off for eons! We also learn
about the individual members, those who have come and gone, one who
died too early and how the falling out with Peter Cetera happened.
We
also learn about many of the classic hits and all through stills,
great vintage clips, audio clips and new HD-Shot interviews. I
always knew there had to be a bog story about them and it had never
really been written. You could not even find much in newspaper and
magazine articles, so they did manage to keep much of this to
themselves, so here, they finally open up like never before.
The
result is so good, even non-fans will find it hard to stop watching.
There
are no extras.
Next
up is a 50th
Anniversary reissue of The
Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet,
their major 1968 album in a new special Limited Edition from ABKCO
that includes two Hybrid Stereo Super Audio CD/SACD/SA-CDs (the
second of extra material) and more extras. This is an upgrade after
the same disc of the album was released as part of a huge event of
all band's early albums restored and in the then-new, still-going
ultra high definition audio format. We were not able to cover all
those releases, but this album happened to be among them and you can
read more about ti, as well as see a picture of the new set, at this
link...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/403/Rolling+Stones+ABKCO+SACDs+(1963+-+71)
For
your reference, the album (SACD Disc One) includes the tracks: 1.
Sympathy For the Devil 2. No Expectations 3. Dear Doctor 4.
Parachute Woman 5. Jigsaw Puzzle 6. Street Fighting Man 7.
Prodigal Son 8. Stray Cat Blues 9. Factory Girl and 10. Salt of
the Earth.
Extras
(paraphrasing the press release) include the hybrid SACD package
designed to look like a miniaturized replica of the 12-inch gatefold
double-vinyl edition, sized to be a convenient 7-inch gatefold, and
contain the 2 hybrid SACDs on their own holder cards, a flexi disc
(plays on a turntable record machine) and expanded packaging elements
exclusive to this edition. Special elements of the package include:
replica packshots of two Japanese 7-inch single picture sleeves
(''Jumpin' Jack Flash'' and ''Street Fighting Man'') and both
versions of the Beggars Banquet sleeve art are included. Track
Listing for Disc: 2: 1. Sympathy For the Devil (mono) 2. Hello,
This is Mick Jagger! LONDON to TOKYO April 17, 1968 (interview)
Disc: 3 1. Hello, This is Mick Jagger! LONDON to TOKYO April 17,
1968 (interview) (flexi disc).
I
liked this and thought it was a smart idea, one ABKCO should do with
all the albums they have of the band. Hope this catches on.
Finally
we have Sheryl
Crow: Live At The Capitol Theater 2017,
the second full length concert from the enduring solo
singer/songwriter, following this show on Blu-ray we covered a few
years ago at this link...
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10971/The+Boomtown+Rats+Live+At+Hammersmith+Od
Far
from a legacy artist (one who nearly became part of Fleetwood Mac a
few years ago), she can still deliver the hits, connect with the
audience and come up with new material that is not bad, but I did not
find this much better or lesser than the other concert, though I
liked the playback performance of the older one a little better.
Crow is far from finished as a formidable music force and I hope she
had a comeback hit soon, but if not, her loyal following will support
her for years to come as this audience demonstrated making her one of
Rock Music's key survivors. This show is worth a look.
Outside
of the CDs, extras include an
illustrated booklet with some text.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Fayre
can show the age of the materials used, but this is far superior a
transfer to all previous releases of the film transferred nicely from
the original 16mm color elements. Unfortunately, some more
restoration work cold be used down the line for a potential 4K disc
release, but it looks as good as Rockumentaries of the time should
otherwise and be just fine.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the Sheryl
Crow
concert, recently shot on HD video, just passes it for overall
playback quality, though it has some flaws of its own.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on the Chicago
documentary also has its newer footage shot on HD, but also has
plenty of stills, vintage film and vintage video clips. I bet this
could look better on Blu-ray, but this is fine for now.
As
for sound, we have two Hybrid Super Audio CD releases that sound good
and are all in Stereo. The two Bofill albums are very
impressive in lossless DSD (Direct Stream Digital) 2.0 Stereo, with
the later album maybe a bit clearer, but her voice rules throughout
and impresses all the way. The musicians sound great too. The
Rolling Stones Banquet album sound like the same SA-CD we
reviewed 14 years ago, but that's a good thing. I just wish all the
stereo tracks on both releases were multi-channel as well. Perhaps
in the Stones case, ABKCO deemed the original master tapes (4 to 8
track, we gather) might not translate well into 4.0 or 5.1, but we'll
see if that changes down the line. It is impressive the work they
did on all the Stones early albums hold up so well all these years
later.
I
expected DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless sound of some type on the
Blu-rays here, but Fayre
is only here in PCM 2.0 Mono and Crow
in lossy Dolby Digital 5.1, the latter a bit of a disappointment,
especially when the CDs have a little more warmth in their old PCM
2.0 16/44.1 Stereo offerings. That makes it a sonic step backwards
from the previous Blu-ray release linked above.
That
leaves the Chicago DVD with lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo,
but some parts are monophonic, so you know what to expect.
You
can order the Angela
Bofill
Super Audio CD from Vocalion Records among other great exclusives at:
https://www.duttonvocalion.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CDSML8542
-
Nicholas Sheffo
