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30th Anniversary Edition' Cheap Trick (Epic/Legacy CD/DVD) Japanese TV footage of Cheap Trick playing Tokyo's Budokan theater in 1978 may have sat unwatched on a shelf for decades, but a film had been rolling in this fan's imagination since the age of 14. Finally having sights to match the long-running sounds in my head - now that a DVD of that footage has been released - is a rock'n'roll dream come true. Before its first Japanese tour, Cheap Trick was just a hard-touring Illinois power-pop band, opening for major arena acts and with a third album in the can - but no real hits yet from its mix of Beatles-worthy tunes, Who-like volume and a colorful, cartoony irreverence to rival the Ramones. The quartet won the lottery with 'Live at Budokan,' which made them stars as the LP became an iconic '70s album. The 30th anniversary 'Budokan!' Boxed set bottles the magic of the moment - and it's as fresh as ever.
Cheap Trick Live At Budokan 30th Anniversary
The class-act package includes a newly remastered version of the original live album - in the expanded edition that seemed like such a gift when it was released in 1998. This double-CD 'Complete Concert' - mixed from Cheap Trick's three-night stand in Tokyo (like the original LP, and with fewer touch-ups than most live albums of the day) - finally replicated the Budokan set list in full, revealing the heavier side of the band mostly pruned from the hit LP in favor of the pop side. The anniversary set also includes that 15-song DVD captured at a single Budokan show, plus a freshly mixed 19-track CD from the night. The previously unissued DVD and CD are rawer and more exciting than the original 'Budokan' mixes - more like the thrill ride of seeing Cheap Trick back in the day.
The frequency-filling metallic buzz of Tom Petersson's 12-string bass roars over the classic rock'n'roll drumming of Bun E. The scalding hooks from Rick Nielsen's guitar fly every which way; he goofily subverts the guitar-hero image even as he ups the ante with his riffing power chords, trademark glissandi and fretboard stunts. And Robin Zander's voice is one of rock's best ever, a pitch-perfect combination of Paul McCartney honey and John Lennon grit. Famously, the band speaks slowly between songs so that the Japanese fans can understand (not that anyone there could hear much over the girls' screams of 'Robin!' But the show pitches headlong from one melody-charged song to the next, the topics edgier than many remember. 'ELO Kiddies' includes teen-punk verities as bracing as any Clash song, while 'Downed' is the template for Nirvana in sound and sensibility. Along with such FM favorites as the megaton jam on 'Ain't That a Shame,' Cheap Trick plays a ferocious cover of 'Speak Now (or Forever Hold Your Peace)' by rock'n'roll ghost Terry Reid.
Some originals feel far better here than they did in the studio - the hormonal rocker 'Lookout,' the weird 'Need Your Love' - and some songs never surfaced from the studio at all, such as the bluesy 'Can't Hold On.' Then there are the deathless hits: the young-at-heart anthem 'Surrender,' the jaunty, career-making 'I Want You to Want Me.' It's great to be able to see Cheap Trick in its prime - visibly elated, and almost shocked, by the biggest crowd reaction of the band's early career. But the DVD also offers a heartwarming bonus - the group, in excellent musical shape, Zander's voice ageless - playing two post-Budokan favorites ('Voices' and 'If You Want My Love') back at the Budokan 30 years on. Download this: 'Downed' -Bradley Bambarger BRIDGES TO NOWHERE 'Cardinology' Ryan Adams & the Cardinals (Lost Highway) Ryan Adams' band the Cardinals has a great sound - lyrical, big-sky Americana rock, organic and steeped in '70s classicism, like an indie Eagles mixed with the Grateful Dead. But the songs just aren't there on 'Cardinology.'
There are a couple of half-winners - the sad-eyed, walking-the-Manhattan-streets tale of 'Cobwebs' and the achingly melodious 'Sink Ships,' which has a gorgeous bridge. Mostly, though, the album is a trial of mediocre pseudo-gospel ('Let Us Down Easy'), by-the-numbers country rock ('Natural Ghost,' 'Evergreen') and half-hearted turn-up-the-radio nostalgia ('Magick').
Adams is a talented singer, but his vocals have developed annoying tics, such as the little yelp when he wants to convey high emotion. Catch the Cardinals live, where the guitars ring out and Adams has rich catalog to draw from. But 'Cardinology' can be skipped by all but the most devoted. Download this: 'Sink Ships' HISTORICAL DOCUMENT 'Showtime at the Spotlite: 52nd Street, New York City, June 1946' Dizzy Gillespie Big Band (Uptown) Trumpeter and composer Dizzy Gillespie first formed a big band for a financially disappointing Southern U.S. Tour in 1945, disbanded, then reformed the band around April, 1946.
These recordings from the Spotlite, made on acetates by Jerry Herman, are the ensemble's first live recordings. The tracks have been released in bits and pieces over the years, but never with the stellar sonic clarity of this new 2-CD package. Listeners are treated to stirring renditions of such classics as 'Groovin' High' with brilliant-toned, fast-lined Gillespie, 'The Man I Love' with vibes innovator Milt Jackson, Thelonious Monk's ' 'Round Midnight,' with the innovative composer at the piano, the leader's 'Woody 'n' You' and forward-looking 'Things to Come,' and 20 more. The band, featuring masters-in-the-making tenorman James Moody, drummer Kenny Clarke, and bassist Ray Brown, handles the challenging charts with deft elan. Replete with a booklet boasting posters and photographs of the period, this is an essential bebop document. Best free pdf merge tool. Download this: 'Round Midnight: -Zan Stewart FRISKY FINNISH FOLK 'Economy Class' Frigg (NorthSide) Say 'Finnish folk music' and you immediately thing of.
Uh, well, er. The young ensemble Frigg is bringing the exuberant, fiddle-focused folk of Finland into the modern era, playing polskas and schottisches with conservatory-trained finesse, but reaching out to find common ground with other genres such as American bluegrass and Cajun. The members are the scions of traditional music families, but they honed their skills and opened their minds at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy.
The group's latest CD of mostly original tunes has the polish of chamber music, but still evokes the scent of dance-trampled hay at a country dance. Download this: 'Polka International de Louisiane' - Bradley Bambarger -Marty Lipp.
While their records were entertaining and full of skillful pop, it wasn't until that 's vision truly gelled. Many of these songs, like 'I Want You to Want Me' and 'Big Eyes,' were pleasant in their original form, but seemed more like sketches compared to the roaring versions on this album. With their ear-shatteringly loud guitars and sweet melodies, unwittingly paved the way for much of the hard rock of the next decade, as well as a surprising amount of alternative rock of the 1990s, and it was that captured the band in all of its power.
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