Filmed over four nights in Texas in 1972 in support of Exile, the 83-minute film was theatrically released in 1974. Ladies and Gentlemen was presented in limited engagements to showcase unique “quadraphonic” sound reproduction rather than standard-at-the-time monaural playback. The auditory experience was overwhelming; advertisements for screenings of the film were canceled because fans’ word-of-mouth excitement caused sell-out crowds.
In the 36 years since its initial release, Ladies and Gentlemen has been widely bootlegged. The film provides a before unseen balance; the professionalism of The Stones stage show in contrast to the rumors of hedonism and recklessness that surrounded the recording of Exlie. A small horn section augmented the material from Exile, although the film features tracks from Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers as well.
Additional DVD/Blu-ray features include rehearsal footage from Montreux, the 1972 TV show, Old Grey Whistle Test, and 2010 interviews with Mick Jagger.
SoundUnwound's editorial team write about the latest big music news and quirky stories which catch the eye. We also post a selection of these news stories on Chordstrike; for much, much more, visit SoundUnwound.com, the new music site from IMDb and Amazon. Follow us at twitter.com/soundunwound.
There are plenty of live albums issued solely as afterthoughts or
contract fulfillments, but there are plenty that are as transcendent as
the best in-person concert experiences, only with zero lines at the bathroom. For
this particular list we came up with the following criteria:
• Only one album per artist.
• Albums were been performed live in front of an audience, but don't necessarily have to be culled from a single performance.
• No EPs or singles—this list is about albums
• We decided to limit this list to music, which means no comedy. We
wanted to save those records for a separate list for laffers.
Of course, we exercise their judgment regarding quality and/or
historical significance. If you disagree with our choices (and there's
a good chance you will), let us know in the comments.
J.S. Bach published his collected Partitas in 1731. He was 46 years old and had been the cantor at Leipzig's Thomaskirche for eight years. He had already composed two of the most important choral works; the St. Matthew and St. John passions. Bach probably attached significance to keyboard works by publishing them as his Opus #1, and they've come to be appreciated as the pinnacle of a form that was soon to fall out of fashion, in favor of other frameworks such as the sonata.
In late August ECM New Series put out a live recording of the Six Partitas, made 2 years ago in Germany, by Andràs Schiff. Mr. Schiff has already recorded these works, albeit more than 20 years ago, but between these recordings he's been in demand as a conductor, particularly after founding the Cappella Andrea Barca chamber orchestra. He points to his work from the podium, particularly conducting the choral works mentioned above, as influencing the performance of Bach's keyboard works.
These partitas are offered out of traditional sequence - V, III, I, II, IV and VI. Although there is no reason to think that Bach wrote the partitas to be performed together, this arrangement provides the most logical key progression (G - a minor - B flat - c minor - D - e minor). From his side of the footlights, Schiff also notes that in live performance the inner tranquility of the B-flat major partita (traditionally #1), is something that live audiences are seldom ready or settled-in to hear. I have no objection to the rearrangement, certainly as VI, which seems the most climatic, still comes last.
Andràs Schiff, is fresh off the completion of a very successful reading of the Beethoven piano Sonatas, again on ECM New Series, but one glance at his discography will tell you that Bach holds a special importance for him. As one would expect, you can't hear Schiff using any pedal, but the abstinence is much more pronounced than his earlier recording or most other prominent renditions. The effect is liberating. Free from lingering harmonics, this performance seems dedicated to the melodies within, as line and voice assume a clarity I've seldom heard. Recorded live in a 16th Century former armory in Neumarkt, Germany, there is an almost eerie lack of audience noise, although the placement of left and right hands in the stereo image is nigh on perfect. Schiff leads the listeners unflagging attention in an unbroken thread for hours. Masterly. -- Hugo Munday
"World music" is an exceptionally wide-ranging term. Does world music
mean music that’s not in English? Does a world music artist have to
create music from his/her own particular country or ethnic background?
What about "big name" world artists (like Enya, Celtic Woman, Bob
Marley) who have had mainstream Top 40 hits? In the end, we came up
with the following criteria:
• Broadly speaking, world music is not traditionally Western. We’ve
chosen albums featuring music from a particular region, culture, or
heritage.
• Albums can include lyrics in English and/or Top 40 hits, as long as
the music itself draws from non-western rhythms, instruments, or
melodies.
• One album per artist
• No EPs or singles—this list is about albums
• No greatest hits collections or compilations except in cases where no
actual album was available, or where the collection acts as a proper
album. Bob Marley’s Legend, being a greatest hits compilation album, did not make our list, but Catch a Fire did.
Of course, our editors exercise their judgment regarding quality and/or
historical significance. If you disagree with our choices (and there's
a good chance you will), let us know in the comments below, or on the customer discussion on our list landing page.
This list is MP3s, but if you prefer CDs, you can find the list here.
I was just reading through No Depresssion, one the best online magazines (formerly in print) focused on americana music, and found their list of Five Best Living Songwriters to be an interesting read. It was also interesting to see that Bob Dylan made the number one spot, same as he did on our similar list of The 100 Greatest Singer-Songwriter Albums of All Time. It looks like all 5 of their artist picks made it somewhere onto our list as well.
I would love to know more about the author's apparently strong aversion to Nick Drake. It's also suspect to see the inclusion of Patty Griffin and Billy Joel (the guy wrote Uptown Girl after all) at the number 4 and 5 spots, which would not be my choice, but everyone's taste is their own. That's what's great about music.
Thanks, No Depression, for your best list. Any of you Chordstrike readers care to chime in with more of your passionate opinions and picks of the best songwriters out there? I'd especially love to hear about any under-the-radar artists that aren't the ubiquitous picks we normally see.
Because of its long, storied history, jazz has existed in recorded form
longer than the format, or even concept of the album has, which
certainly complicates making a list of the 100 Greatest Jazz Albums of
All Time. There were many incredible, influential, and vital jazz
musicians who never released a single album--many, if not most of those
who created and shaped the genre in its early days are included in that
group. However, this is a list of the greatest jazz albums of all time,
not the most influential or innovative jazz musicians of all time. Here
are the rules we used to compile our list:
• Legitimate album releases only: no collections, compilations, singles, or EPs.
• Reissues, even those with tacked-on bonus tracks, qualify for inclusion.
• While we typically only allow one album per artist, due to the
collaborative nature of jazz as an art form, and the drastically
different styles played by single artists within one career, we will
allow multiple albums by the same artists.
Don't agree with our list? Think we hit the right note? Let us know in the comments below.
Leopold Stokowski: Bach Transcriptions, Vol. 2 Conductor: José Serebrier Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony
As the authentic performance movement started to gain momentum 35 years ago, these transcriptions became a common point of derision. Why would you take the hallowed works of J. S. Bach and bastardize them with "modern" instruments? One of the marks of a Stokowski or a Beecham is that they took great works (as did Bach) and re-voiced them for their orchestras. Also, as the D minor Toccata and Fugue that opens this recording reminds us, through Mickey Mouse, Stokowski brought transcribed works to a massive audience. These transcriptions are good, but it's the Olympian grasp of ensemble that is what this disc is all about. This is amplified by the fact that José Serebrier knows the Bournemouth Symphony like the back of his hand, and he was mentored in his youth by Stokowski, himself. There is no new ground here, just a stunning and ravishing exercise in orchestral beauty, recorded and staged with excellence (thank you Naxos). These sounds are good enough to eat.
Vivaldi Soloist: Daniel Hope Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Europe I'm in two minds about encouraging this sort of album, but the playing and the repertoire have won me over. It teeters close to the type of vehicle superstars use to strut their stuff. I'm referring to the glossy, themed production, with a lush cover, with only one or two words in the title, that contain repertoire from all over the place, to show what a particular race horse can do. Although Daniel Hope's recent offering looks the part, further comparison would be unfair. His theme is Vivaldi that hasn't been beaten to death, and there is a great selection of well and lesser well-known works here. Get it right and Vivaldi is a home-run. He has a sense of theater and dance that the other Italian Baroquers never quite capture, and Hope latches into both in these pieces. It's not exactly a bonus track, but Anne-Sophie von Otter - joins the band with the subdued, but beautiful aria "Sovvente il sole". I was sorry when the album came to an end.
The Guarneri Quartet The Hungarian Album Where's the American music? I don't have a slew of new world compositions but I have returned to this album a few times. A couple of years ago the Guarneri announced that they would stop performing as a quartet in 2009. I don't know whether this will be their last release, but if it is, one of my favorite American groups is going out on the right note. On offer are three quartets, two of which are by Ernö Dohnányi (D flat major and A minor, respectively), but it's the middle offering from Kodály that I keep going back to. A little more challenging, tonally, this gem does not look west for influences, but is a rustic exploration of Hungarian folk idioms, even bird-song and musical fragments that build to a full-blown Hungarian dance at the climax of the second movement. Distinct and different music, given a clear, cohesive voice, by a group that will be missed.
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 "The Year 1905" Conductor: Vasily Petrenko Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Finished in 1957, the eleventh symphony commemorates the massacre of hundreds of Russian demonstrators by the Imperial Guard, outside the Winter Palace, in January, 1905. Part of the brittle terror locked in this work comes from the fact that while Shostakovich was working on this piece, Soviet tanks were dealing with Hungarian students and demonstrators, with a similarly cruel hand. That terror is not locked in there anymore. Conducting phenom', Vasily Petrenko was still 20 years away from being born when this was written but he brings a level of cohesion and understanding that makes this one of the most accomplished, dynamic readings of this work, I have ever heard. I've got goose-bumps just penning this.
The term “Indie Rock” is undeniably tricky. We challenge anyone to
definitively define what is and what is not indie rock--you will fail.
For the purposes of compiling this list we’ve decided to use a
combination of hard and fast rules and gut instinct. Our hard and fast
rules are listed below, but as for gut instinct—you just kind of have
to know. For example: John Oates put out a rock record called Phunk Shui on an indie label, however, in no way should Phunk Shui
be mistaken for indie rock. Likewise, Black Flag put out many seminal
punk albums on SST, but we’re not talking about punk or grunge or
classic post-kraut-rock, we’re talking about indie rock. Are Black Flag
really indie rock? Not to our ears.
With that in mind, we squeezed the minds of our music editors (who
fought and screamed at each other over omissions, inclusions, and
rankings) to deliver you this, our list. If you’ve got complaints (and
we know you will), bring it to our comments below. You can argue
about whether Sub Pop is really an indie label, about why we should make an exception for Weezer, or about why we chose Unrest’s Imperial f.f.r.r. instead of Perfect Teeth—whatever you want. We’d love to hear what you think.
Here are the hard and fast rules:
• One album per artist.
• No EPs or singles, this list is about albums.
• No greatest hits collections or compilations of previously released tracks.
• Nominations must have been originally released on an independent
label. Albums released on indies which were later acquired and/or
re-released by majors are allowed (like Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation, originally released by a pre-1989 major label merger Enigma Records).
This has me captivated. I'm lost on too much of the TV stuff, to go for the prize, but if nothing else it tells you what American TV shows did strike a chord with Rick, growing up in England in the 70s. That and he has a real penchant for Bond movie scores. What is it about recognizing tunes from movies and TV that I find so enjoyable?
My fellow editors and I put our heads together and nailed down a list of the 100 greatest records by artists who can do it on their own. Hit the comments to let us know where we made horrible, unforgivable mistakes, but head over here to read up on our selection criteria for the list in case you care to do something wacky like make an informed argument. We like arguments. That's partially why we make lists.
Though it was overshadowed by all of the hoopla surrounding the Grammy Awards this year, it should be noted that jazz vocalist/pianist Blossom Dearie passed away on Saturday, February 7. Though more popular in Europe, and especially Paris, than in her home country of the US, she's always been a favorite of mine for her unique delivery, and soothing style. Dearie's singular child-like voice gave her music an innocent, yet romantic quality (her self-titled album landed in the #22 spot in our 100 Greatest Romantic Albums of All Time list), that I've never heard captured by any other singer.
Though she's best known for her bebop music, my favorites all seem to come from her late '60s-mid-'70s period. Here are a few:
Really, the truth is, you can't go wrong with Blossom Dearie. If you haven't had the opportunity to get to know her music, do yourself the favor--you will not regret it. Every time one of her songs shuffles into my earphones, it always brings a smile. She was an incredible performer who left a legacy of incredible albums in her wake, and will be incredibly missed. R.I.P. Blossom.
Do you love gettin' down with your significant other to hot, sensuous, romantic, sexy music? We sure hope so, because hot on the heels of our 100 Greatest Debut Albums of All Time list, and just in time for Valentine's Day, comes the 100 Greatest Romantic Albums of All Time. Does our list of tunes make you swoon, or is the heat you feel coming out your ears with anger? Let us know what you think of our choices in the comments.
For the first in an ongoing series of the "100 Greatest *fillintheblank* of All Time" lists, we decided to use our collective knowledge to run down the best ever debut albums. Dig our picks below and let us know where we went horribly, horribly wrong in the comments.
