Grateful Dead - American Beauty [MFSL-CD] (1970)

Year: November 1970 (CD Nov 17, 2014)
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (US), UDSACD 2138
Style: Folk Rock, Country Rock
Country: Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Time: 42:46
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 271 Mb

For once a truly beautiful album cover is more than matched by the record inside. The dead just refuse to keep within any normal limits, and I hope that it stays that way for a long time. Workingman’s Dead was a lovely album, lush, full, and thoroughly real in musical and lyrical content. American Beauty is a joyous extension of the last album. If possible there is even more care on vocal wok. Everyone in the band sings, and sings well alone and together.
A full contentment. The instrumentation is rich with sound that moves through, under, and into the listener. Damn it all, the album is American beauty, of the best possible kind. The positivity of the Dead just can’t be kept down. Look at the cover. “American Beauty” can also be read as “American Reality,” thanks to Mouse Studios. If more of the American reality were this album, we’d all have a lot more to be thankful for.
“Box of Rain” takes plenty of time, and moves surely. The band isn’t in any great hurry. Layers of music weave in seemingly simple patterns - deceptively simple patterns. Phil Lesh’s singing is just right. The chorus is fine: “A box of rain will ease the pain/And love will see you through.” “Believe it if you need it/If you don’t just pass it on.” Praised be Bob Hunter. Countrified Dead is so nice to listen to.
From “Box of Rain” they zip into “Friend of the Devil,” which is a snappy little country number, with some extremely fine bass and acoustic guitar interplay. Jerry Garcia’s voice now makes him a perfect wobbly cowboy.
Pigpen drops by with “Operator.” Pigpen songs are always enjoyable, because they’re Pigpen songs. That would be enough, but they are often good too, which is an added bonus, and this one certainly is good. Pigpen growls as ever.
“Ripple” and “Brokedown Palace” are coupled by a vocal chorus, a little reminiscent of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but only in a complimentary sense. The songs meld together and are strongly pretty and sad, as is “Attics of My Life,” which has some very, very nice harmony work.
The two songs that come closest to being rockers on the album are “Till the Morning Comes” and “Truckin.” “Truckin” is just the story of the Dead - going on the road, losing old friends, gaining new ones, trying to keep everybody happy, trying to play some nice music for people, and succeeding on all counts.
The Dead are getting pretty big commercially now, and if ever a band deserved it, it’s them. They have given us all something to treasure with this album. It’s one for now, and one for the kids in 20 years too. American Beauty’s like that, you know.
(rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/american-beauty-127772/) Review by Andy Zwerling. December 24, 1970

01. Box of Rain (05:20)
02. Friend of the Devil (03:25)
03. Sugar Magnolia (03:20)
04. Operator (02:26)
05. Candyman (06:18)
06. Ripple (04:10)
07. Brokedown Palace (04:10)
08. Till the Morning Comes (03:11)
09. Attics of My Life (05:15)
10. Truckin' (05:08)

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Procol Harum - Broken Barricades [MFSL-CD] (1971)

Year: April 1971 (CD 1987)
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (US, Japan, West Germany),  MFCD 846
Style: Progressive Rock, Classic Rock
Country: Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England
Time: 35:10
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 200 Mb

And so the evolution of Robin Trower's importance to Procol Harum reaches its peak (and, unfortunately, finale). Apparently the band came to the conclusion that Trower's guitar was indeed the saving grace of Home, so they took the next logical step and based this album almost completely around that particular strength. A good half of the album can easily fall into the hard-rock category, and the tracks that aren't (with one exception) still feature Trower prominently. I can see where, possibly, those who fell in love with the band with Shine on Brightly could be disappointed, as the album, while still more than a bit 'artsy,' gets away from the basic 'group sound' established on that album.
The album does have some tracks that don't quite cut the mustard for me, but not any more than on a typical Procol Harum album, so I'm not particularly bothered. Of these, the title track is a low point – it's uncharacteristically built around an unimpressive synth loop, with nothing great in the vocal melody or lyrics to redeem it (not to mention no guitar work), and at 3:11 it's easily a good minute-and-a-half overlong. I'm also not that fond of Luskus Delph – it wants so much to get by just on 'oh, isn't that pretty,' but aside from the OK vocal melody, there's simply too little substance (strings and all) to make it so. And again, what is it with this sudden need on Brooker's part to use a synth to try and create 'beauty' when he'd already shown his great skill at using 'traditional' keyboard instruments to do so perfectly well?
The other six tracks, however, are all aces – they won't fit one's traditional conception of PH, but they're great nonetheless. Simple Sister gets the album off to a terrific start, with a great guitar riff serving as the foundation while Brooker yells his head off (he isn't the most convincing rocker in the world, but he tries), and a great instrumental chunk in the middle based around a different bass/piano riff while Trower first builds the tension with his riffage and then does a bunch of totally effective and efficient solos, with strings and horns gradually popping up to remind that this is, in fact, still Procol Harum you're listening to. It's a weird combination of materials, definitely, but then I'm all for weirdness when it's a synonym for originality, and I'd definitely be more than a bit surprised if there were any other rock songs that quite resembled this little ditty.
Other high quality hard rock tunes on this album include Memorial Drive, a great riff-driven groove (with semi-bombastic lyrics that sound oddly out-of-place but don't hurt anything), Power Failure, with a neat rolling piano riff augmented by power chords (and some random 'live' cheering in the middle, for whatever reason), and the closing Trower-sung Poor Mohammed, which rocks so well that I find myself desperately wishing that the band could have included more tracks along these lines and made the album longer. The main riff is just killer, especially that little slide thing at the end of each iteration, and I haven't even mentioned the crunchy soloing at the end. Go Robin go!
(full version: procolharum.com/99/mcferrin_rev-brok-barr.htm)

01. Simple Sister (05:52)
02. Broken Barricades (03:14)
03. Memorial Drive (03:48)
04. Luskus Delph (03:48)
05. Power Failure (04:33)
06. Song For A Dreamer (05:41)
07. Playmate Of The Mouth (05:06)
08. Poor Mohammed (03:05)

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Grateful Dead - Workingman's Dead [MFSL-CD] (1970)

Year: June 14, 1970 (CD Nov 20, 2014)
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (US), UDSACD 2137
Style: Folk Rock, Country Rock
Country: Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Time: 36:04
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 205 Mb

Looking at the sepia tone album cover of the Workingman’s Dead 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, I give away my age when I say I remember my older brother having the original on 8-Track tape back when it came out in 1970. I remember my seven-year-old brain being somewhat mortified of it because the men pictured on the cover looked like zombies to me ( which I attribute to the old-timey feel of the photo and the post – Night of the Living Dead mania of the day).
My fear didn’t last long, however. It subsided one day when my brother was not at home and I put the tape in his trusty Pioneer player and listened to the eight songs on the album.
I remember thinking during that clandestine listening session that the band sounded a lot like some of the other bands that my older sibling listened to like CCR or CSNY. What set them apart, however, was that unlike a lot of the other bands of the day, they sounded like they were actually having fun playing their instruments and singing. That impression has never left me.
Fifty years later as I listen to the same songs and pick up on some of the weighty themes of the record – the working life, the nature of existence, maintaining hope amidst despair, and staring down death, I still hear an exuberant undercurrent of love and compassion coming from the Grateful Dead’s music that continually sets them apart for me in the world of rock and roll bands. 
I still hear their love for music for music’s sake, but now I also additionally hear an affection for their musical forefathers and influences, for life itself, and for their fans. It is a love that literally pours out of the speakers when their songs are playing and is a love that helps explain the existence of an unprecedented and unmatched fanatical fanbase decades later.
The eight songs on Workingman’s Dead features the band displaying their amazing ability to synthesize elements from Bluegrass, Folk, Country, Blues, Jazz, Dylan’s early electric songs, and sixties rock and roll to masterfully forge a distinctly original sound of their own.
That all of these songs still sound fresh and lively now after a half-century has passed is a testament to the prodigious individual and collective talents of the band.
(americanahighways.org/2020/07/14/review-the-grateful-deads-workingmans-dead-is-still-quintessential-listening-50-years-later/)

01. Uncle John's Band (04:47)
02. High Time (05:15)
03. Dire Wolf (03:16)
04. New Speedway Boogie (04:09)
05. Cumberland Blues (03:18)
06. Black Peter (05:46)
07. Easy Wind (05:00)
08. Casey Jones (04:29)

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Keith Richards (The Rolling Stones) - Talk Is Cheap [MFSL-CD] (1988)

Year: 3 October 1988 (CD Feb 1992)
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (US), UDCD 557
Style: Rock, Pop Rock
Country: Dartford, Kent, England (18 December 1943)
Time: 47:07
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 292 Mb

Like Paul Hogan goading wannabe muggers in Crocodile Dundee as he unsheathed a whopping blade (“That’s a knife? This is a knife”), there were no half-measures when Keith Richards retaliated to Mick Jagger derailing the Rolling Stones in favour of his ill-advised solo career 30 years ago. Reluctantly at first, Richards formed a band that rocked and made what was hailed as the best Stones album in years.
The civil war between the two Stones flared in 1983 after Jagger sneaked solo opportunities into the band's new CBS mega-deal and released MTV-geared She's The Boss. This soured recording of Dirty Work, but touring behind his album with another band (playing Stones classics) ignited Keith's own offensive.
Like a polar opposite to Jagger’s synthesised clatter, Talk Is Cheap brimmed with humble soul and rolled like a train, with Keith in fine voice. Studded with loose, joyous rockers (Take It So Hard, How I Wish, the Jagger-directed You Don’t Move Me) and gorgeous ballads (Make No Mistake, Locked Away burnished in authentic Memphis soul), it sold a million and ignited Keith’s solo career, while precipitating the Stones’ return.
(loudersound.com/music/albums/keith-richards-talk-is-cheap-review)

01. Big Enough (03:17)
02. Take It So Hard (03:16)
03. Struggle (04:10)
04. I Could Have Stood You Up (03:13)
05. Make No Mistake (04:52)
06. You Don't Move Me (04:50)
07. How I Wish (03:32)
08. Rockawhile (04:39)
09. Whip It Up (04:02)
10. Locked Away (05:50)
11. It Means A Lot (05:21)

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Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame [MFSL-CD] (1971)

Year: November 3, 1971 (CD 1999)
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (US), UDCD 744
Style: Jazz Fusion, Progressive Rock
Country: New York City, U.S.
Time: 46:26
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 292 Mb

The Inner Mounting Flame is the debut studio album by jazz-rock fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra. After their formation, the group performed several gigs before they entered the studio to record their first album featuring all original material written by guitarist John McLaughlin. The album is credited to both Mahavishnu Orchestra and John McLaughlin.
Reviewing the album for JazzTimes in 1998, Bill Milkowski said:
One is struck by the grandiose reach of the quintet that dared to call itself an orchestra. Pieces like "Meeting of the Spirits" and the fragile, acoustic "A Lotus on Irish Streams" are like classically-inspired suites in miniature. But it was numbers like "Noonward Race", "Vital Transformation" and especially "Awakening", fueled by Cobham’s smoldering intensity on the kit and McLaughlin’s raging, distortion-soaked guitar lines, that really grabbed rock crowds. More ethereal pieces like "The Dance of Maya", with its odd time signatures and arpeggios, and the haunting "You Know, You Know", a drum feature for Cobham, helped to create a kind of mystique about the Mahavishnu Orchestra that was wholly unprecedented for its time.
In a retrospective review for Allmusic, Richard S. Ginell wrote that The Inner Mounting Flame "is the album that made John McLaughlin a semi-household name, a furious, high-energy, yet rigorously conceived meeting of virtuosos that, for all intents and purposes, defined the fusion of jazz and rock a year after Miles Davis' Bitches Brew breakthrough".
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inner_Mounting_Flame)

01. Meeting of the Spirits (06:51)
02. Dawn (05:15)
03. Noonward Race (06:29)
04. A Lotus on Irish Streams (05:40)
05. Vital Transformation (06:16)
06. The Dance of Maya (07:17)
07. You Know, You Know (05:07)
08. Awakening (03:28)

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