Blood, Sweat and Tears: Blood, Sweat & Tears
Mobile Fidelity UDSDACD 2009
Format: Hybrid Stereo SACD

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This new SACD reissue of Blood, Sweat and Tears’ nearly eponymous second album, by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs, is the first hi-rez re-reissue of it I’ve seen. Its release raises a question: What inducement could there be to buy it again if you already own the first SACD version, on Sony? Simple answer: the sound quality, and the fact that this one’s a hybrid disc. MoFi’s mastering tech, Shawn Britton, claims that these tapes were in such good shape that he was able to do an almost flat transfer, which has translated into sound that’s about as good as it can be. Each instrument -- there are at least nine -- pops out of the soundstage in a more tonally and spatially accurate manner than it does from Sony’s SACD. For those unfamiliar with the album, it spawned the band’s defining hits: "Spinning Wheel," "And When I Die," and "You’ve Made Me So Very Happy." It runs the gamut of rock/pop/jazz/classical in a manner that sounds as fresh today as when it was recorded in 1969. Worth it? Oh yeah….John Crossett

Paul Kelly and the Stormwater Boys: Foggy Highway
Cooking Vinyl/Gawd Aggie CKV-CD-357
Format: CD

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Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly is one of the greats, a poet with a strong sense of melody and a voice at once rough-hewn and beautiful. In Australia, Kelly sells many records, but he’s never gotten much traction here in the US. It’s our loss, but his following here is large enough to have gotten him a contract with an American label, Cooking Vinyl (home to Richard Thompson, another great singer-songwriter). Kelly recorded the bluegrass-style Smoke in 1999, and he decided to come back to that sound for Foggy Highway. He chose some of the best country and bluegrass musicians in Australia to form the Stormwater Boys, and their accompaniment is emotionally engaging and technically impressive. Kelly’s songs often have the depth and resonance of a good short story, as in "They Thought I Was Asleep," in which a little boy in the back seat of a car overhears his parents fighting. He also has a smart sense of humor -- "If I had the balls I’d wrap this thing up in plastic and call it art," he sings on "Stumbling Block." Well-recorded and stunningly played, Foggy Highway is your chance to discover Paul Kelly’s unique and moving talents….Joseph Taylor

John Coltrane: One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note
Impulse! B0002380-02
Format: CD

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Originally recorded for radio broadcast and long available as bootlegs, these are the first official releases of two performances from early 1965 by the classic John Coltrane Quartet, presented complete with Alan Grant’s introductions and announcements to the radio audience. The performances are outstanding, the highlight being the 28-minute title track. The other three tracks, "Afro-Blue," "Song of Praise," and "My Favorite Things," also reward careful listening. At this time in the history of the quartet -- McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones -- the music was evolving toward the freedom Coltrane would soon find but had not yet abandoned its earlier history. Those new to Coltrane might do better to start with some of the studio albums, but these two CDs contain essential music for jazz aficionados. There are noticeable audio problems on disc 1 that may be jarring at first (they’re not mentioned in the liner notes), but the music easily transcends these technical glitches. Essays by Ashley Kahn and Coltrane’s son, Ravi, are informative and nicely complement the music….Eric Hetherington

Poetics
Steven Bryant: Stampede
Franco Cesarini: Poema Alpestre
Michael Gandolfi: Vientos y Tangos
Joseph Schwantner: Percussion Concerto
North Texas Wind Symphony; Christopher Deane, percussion; Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor.
Klavier K 11153
Format: CD

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There is no doubt about it: Klavier’s Wind Project series, helmed by conductor Eugene Migliaro Corporon, is the most distinguished continuing set of band-music recordings going. The discs are now recorded with the North Texas Wind Symphony at the University of North Texas College of Music, where Corporon is Regents Professor. The man is a wonder, a musician of the highest order who should be mentioned when we speak of Claudio Abbado and Michael Tilson and many other great conductors, but those who devote themselves to works written for wind instruments seem doomed to be relegated to the class of "band director," no matter how talented they are. This disc presents a typical Corporon program. Stephen Bryant’s Stampede is a witty extension of the Western idioms established by Aaron Copland. The reading has bite and zing. Franco Cesarini’s Poema Alpestre paints a romantic musical portrait of the Alps, complete with wind machines that will remind you that Richard Strauss did the same thing some time ago. Michael Gandolfi’s music is sinewy and voluptuous, and Corporon totally grasps its subtle rhythms. Joseph Schwantner’s Percussion Concerto is a tour de force played to the hilt by percussionist Christopher Deane and the ensemble. The sound is awesome, accurately presenting every passage, from pianissimo woodwinds to the bombast of the full band. The percussion instruments have wonderful presence, and the brass sound rich and full. This demonstration-caliber recording highlights some very musical performances of exceptionally colorful compositions….Rad Bennett

Brahms: String Quartet No.3 in B-flat Major, Piano Quintet in F Minor
Ivan Klánský, piano; Pražák Quartet.
Praga Digitals 250 220
Format: Hybrid Multichannel SACD

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When people claim they don’t like chamber music because it is too dainty, small, prissy, or some other such nonsense, I play them the third movement of Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F Minor. With its striding melody and rhythmic underpinnings, it makes a group of five players sound like a symphony orchestra. That is the case here, where it is played with controlled, rhythmically precise abandon. The other movements are played just as well, as is the arch-romantic String Quartet No.3. The Pražák Quartet, which has made a number of recordings for Praga Digitals, has emerged as one of the best chamber ensembles in the business, and recorded the first complete cycle of Beethoven’s string quartets to be released on SACD [Praga Digitals 350 013]. Those readings are sturdy, dynamic, and agreeable -- not quite as dramatic as the Brahms, but competitive nonetheless. Praga Digitals provides warm, detailed sound for both releases, particularly the Brahms, on which the piano and strings are perfectly balanced and the high-resolution sound allows every nuance to be heard clearly. These discs are real winners….Rad Bennett