When I was a kid everyone knew exactly what to get me for Christmas; AN ALBUM!
These are CDs and albums from my collection that I am very fond of and highly recommend!
...please allow a moment or two to download...
These 3D images are a bit larger than the other galleries. Let me know if you find them too large for comfort.
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FRAGILE YES --- This is such a YES classic! Is has such an urgent sound to it as well and very creative engineering from Eddie Offord at the mixing desk. It must have been a blast to have recorded Yes ..such a creative and innovative group with such great musicianship wanting to experiment with the shapes of sound. Roundabout as a pop song never caught my attention enough to sway my favor towards YES ...that took Close to the Edge. After I began to grow enchanted with the music, I found this album so utterly different than Close to the Edge but still very likable. I'd have to say that South Side of the Sky is my favorite track having all that innovative energy and a visual art to the way it was presented. I love the way Squires fuzz-tremolo bass joins with Brufords drum entry back into the verse after the mid section. This song was almost a kind of mini CTTE. With the wind sounds opening and closing the piece and a dramatic mid section. Heart Of The Sunrise also hit a Home Run although I always found the beginning to be a bit drawn out. Of all the YES songs Including Topographic Oceans ...this is the only song that I felt needed some editing.(gasp) This is a one-of-a-kind album that really has no equal in terms of layout and form. We Have Heaven!
YES archive of Letters and Memorabilia.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience/Electric LadyLand ::: This album was very inspiring to me as a kid. When I was about seven years old, my older sister Sandy had accidentally left one of the LPs of this two record-set behind when she left home. It was the one with '1983: A Merman I should turn to be'. In hindsight I can see that it made a serious impact on me. Not so much as a guitarist but as an experimentalist and composer. It had so many strange exotic moments that were very visual to me and made me feel things when I listened. That is exactly what I have found in my own music but I didn't realize where it came from until I got the Import CD of this when CDs first appeared in '85 or so. I was working at a beautiful Recording studio with very big, powerful and focused playback speakers. The record had me smiling all over again as I discovered all the wild 'out of phase' stuff in the mixes that never made it to the record ( for reasons of physics -You can't put out of phase info on an LP as it will cause the needle to jump out of the groove or not cut at all) 'And the Gods made Love' was spinning and passing through my ears like I had never heard on vinyl. All the wild tape flanging and echo trips coming up from behind my head- WOW! There was one part on 'House Burning Down' where Hendrix voice shoots up from behind the listener. It made me turn around in the studio to see if Jimi was there -very spooky but cool as I listened with the lights way down low. An awesome innovative and visual music for 1968! I added a little extra smoke to the picture above because I feel that Jimi would have wanted it that way.
GENESIS - Selling England By The Pound - This is My favorite Gabriel era Genesis album. Moonlit Knight is an epic piece of mood and vibes and the whole album (except for Phil Collins just had a fight with my girlfriend song) is really engaging from top to bottom. I originally found this on 8-track from Peaches Records and Tapes for $2.99 in the mid 70's. It was one of those rare finds when it actually was a great album in the cut out bin. I also picked up Foxtrot, Nursery Cryme and Live for $1.99 each as what I found out later to be stripped down pressings (pink Charisma label) all single sleeve with no lyrics and such. What a awesome find though! The music was totally innovative to my ears! This was right after my first real intro into Genesis via Trick of the Tale. I thought the singer must have had a cold on the earlier Genesis stuff. Hey I was 13 years old....what can you expect?
A special treat for fans of Gabriel era Genesis-
I've enjoyed rescuing two rare recordings and enhancing them digitally to
dramatically bring the feeling of the live experience back to the listener.
I've worked countless hours to give new life to what were once crappy boots.
They now shine and deliver a grand experience of these momentous tours.
::: 2 Digitally restored and enhanced rare Live soundboard recordings :::
Selling England By The Pound - Live 4/74
Includes almost all of this album in a truly spirited performance +
an excellent live version of Supper's Ready.
Polished to bring the illusion of the Live show back to reality.
+
Lamb Lies Down On Braodway / Live 1975
The entire performance brought back from a dusty old soundboard recording.
Captured at the start of the US tour in Early 1975.
Designed to evoke 5th row center. This restoration turned out great
and shows the band advancing their performance
of this one of a kind music adventure. Includes Peter Gabriel live narative of the Lamb story
and his many interesting vocal effects.
Both include customized graphics to enjoy.
email for info on acquisition :::
PINK FLOYD / WISH YOU WERE HERE ::: A fantastic example of what makes art great ...Sheer honesty!!!
After the Outrageous success of Dark side of the Moon, I can imagine all the corporate jackals that came to feed on the bands growing empire. "Come in here, dear boy ...have a cigar , you're going to go far" These money chasing hounds aghast and inspired Roger Waters to pen their existence in what was to be a Part 1 of a series expose' on the social creation and proliferation of the corporate dog. The dog is not interested in art or human progression ...he's completely apathetic to human struggle and integrity ..his only interest is in money and the illusion of power that it brings. Just like the ancient Vikings ... they often rape, loot and pillage all those around them in order that they may have more status and glory among their fellow dogs and allow their families to inherit all that they have killed their integrity for. Welcome to the Machine!
This is all a sad repercussion of the the viper capitalist, which just so happens, always seems to chew their way to the top of the power heap.To leave the rest of us trapped in its sewage. Dang!
Come on you miner of truth and delusion and shine!
The album cover tells it all in a ultimately brutal but clever way.
I have many different wild versions of this 3DCD that will make their way here ...stay tuned ...it will grow in complexity!
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YESSONGS is where I first heard the music from Fragile and The YES album after finding Close to the Edge. It was very strange to hear the studio versions later -very dry sounding. Yours Is No Disgrace really has a stunning array of energy as does most every other track. This is the definitive live YES album!!! Live CTTE came off brilliant! It was very bold for them to release a 3 record set with only three studio albums to draw from.(they ignored their first 2 like they never happened) But YES had a great way of breaking ...or just plain ignoring all the rules. More about this one and the Movie in the YES archive of Letters and Memorabilia.
I don't know how many people heard of this band ..but they had perfect timing with the release of this album! It came out right when YES were doing their solo albums in '76 and No one had heard a new YES album in a couple of years since Relayer in late '74. These guys had some of the YES charms honed in and even some of the chops. It was almost a bit disturbing and one wanted to yell plagiarism! But I got off on it as it did have some cool moods and filled the Gap between Yes albums for me quite well. I never heard any of their other albums. I know they did one with Roy Thomas Baker ( I bet that was a hard listen) Let's have a hit with this one Roy!!!
Babe Ruth / First Base - This is one of those rare albums that I felt very cool to have owned and turned many people on to it. Even as recently as a few years ago when I played it for my 20 year old Nephew Adam and it became his CD of the month on his home box. Once again we have the very Talented Roger Dean as this gallery is a showcase of some of his early '70s cover art. If you find this one anywhere ..get it .but only if you like a bit harder edge. If you like Zep and Yes ..this one will fit in nicely. Wells Fargo ,The Mexican and The Joker are all stand out songs with great playing and songwriting. Moody Blues Producer Tony Clark had his hand in this one and it turned out a great debut ( i think this is the first)!
I suppose there could be another Tony Clark ...hmmmm?
When I got Evolver I was bowled over. I put it on auto repeat & listened to it for a couple of days straight, even while I slept. Do ya think I like it? :) Thanks again for the immense enjoyment I get from your art of sound! -Greg LeBlanc
This is Evolver. A highly visual flow of one-of-a-kind custom crafted 3D soundscapes that draws you in and inspires those elusive, inner peace moments. .It definitely works!!! This album will remove you from the planet!
This music engages an evolution and encourages it even more within universal exploration of invented cosmic tones, sheer bliss and some awesome emotional escapes and rescues. ...and once again crafted with no synthesizers. Evolver/cosmic guitar experiments Volume 1.
Say Hey to Little Monkey Darwin in the lower right! The first human to figure it all out ...and have the courage to tell the rest of us! The REAL Evolver!
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...and for those of you who placed a request for a 3D/CD... Here's the Requested gallery
get CD