Lost Classics
- Thread starter Ojai Sam
- Start date
Ojai Sam
Staff member
Donny Hathaway - Live At The Bitter End 1971 (2014)
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-5614207-1398016674-5062.jpeg.jpg)
Back in 1972, Donny released a live album with selections from shows at both The Bitter End and The Troubadour. Decades later, Rhino finally released this package with what appears to be a complete 2 hour show from the NYC venue. The band, consisting of Willie Weeks (bass), Cornell Dupree (guitar) and Fred White (drums) along with Donny on keyboard, quickly established a bubbling groove that never lets up. Like Bill Withers and others of the same period, tepid production and poor quality vinyl pressings robbed Donny's work of the vitality which we can only now begin to appreciate in live performances like this vault treasure.
Back in 1972, Donny released a live album with selections from shows at both The Bitter End and The Troubadour. Decades later, Rhino finally released this package with what appears to be a complete 2 hour show from the NYC venue. The band, consisting of Willie Weeks (bass), Cornell Dupree (guitar) and Fred White (drums) along with Donny on keyboard, quickly established a bubbling groove that never lets up. Like Bill Withers and others of the same period, tepid production and poor quality vinyl pressings robbed Donny's work of the vitality which we can only now begin to appreciate in live performances like this vault treasure.
Ojai Sam
Staff member
Masaaki Suzuki - Sweelinck: Psalms From Geneva (comp. 1600-21, rec. 2006)
This record is surely a Lost Classic. A century before Johann Sebastian Bach created the "Toccata and Fugue In D Minor" Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck composed a diverse series of organ works for the Calvinist church in Amsterdam. He also taught a number of North German students who were Bach's direct progenitors. If less ebullient than those of Bach, Sweelinck's pieces combine a delicate yet emotionally reverent tone with sophisticated use of counterpoint.
Masaaki Suzuki is no stranger to Bach. Wiki tells us that he is "an organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and music director of the Bach Collegium Japan. With this ensemble he is recording the complete choral works of Johann Sebastian Bach for the Swedish label BIS Records, for which he is also recording Bach's concertos, orchestral suites, and solo works for harpsichord and organ. He is also an artist-in-residence at Yale University and the principal guest conductor of its Schola Cantorum, and has conducted orchestras and choruses around the world."
This album was recorded on an modern organ built in the Dutch style of Sweelinck's time that resides in a church at Kobe, Japan.
Given the impact of Bach’s organ works that runs all the way through to contemporary progressive rock, this album is well worth a listen to show where it all came from.
This record is surely a Lost Classic. A century before Johann Sebastian Bach created the "Toccata and Fugue In D Minor" Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck composed a diverse series of organ works for the Calvinist church in Amsterdam. He also taught a number of North German students who were Bach's direct progenitors. If less ebullient than those of Bach, Sweelinck's pieces combine a delicate yet emotionally reverent tone with sophisticated use of counterpoint.
Masaaki Suzuki is no stranger to Bach. Wiki tells us that he is "an organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and music director of the Bach Collegium Japan. With this ensemble he is recording the complete choral works of Johann Sebastian Bach for the Swedish label BIS Records, for which he is also recording Bach's concertos, orchestral suites, and solo works for harpsichord and organ. He is also an artist-in-residence at Yale University and the principal guest conductor of its Schola Cantorum, and has conducted orchestras and choruses around the world."
This album was recorded on an modern organ built in the Dutch style of Sweelinck's time that resides in a church at Kobe, Japan.
Given the impact of Bach’s organ works that runs all the way through to contemporary progressive rock, this album is well worth a listen to show where it all came from.
Ojai Sam
Staff member
Voces String Quartet - Arriaga: Complete String Quartets (comp. 1824, rec. 1985)
Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga (1806-1826) was born in Spain on the 50th anniversary of Mozart's birth and died at age 19. Like Mozart, he left behind a diverse legacy of compositions that belie his youth and lack of training. His three string quartets offer beautiful harmonies that 1001 Classical Recordings characterizes as "boldly original...Romantic harmonies...nudging at the boundaries of classical refinement." Arriaga died in Paris at the threshold of unimaginable success, most likely of tuberculosis induced by exhaustion. The Voces String Quartet of Romania presents these works with all of the emotional depth that they hold. Both these quartets and their composer truly represent Lost Classics.
Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga (1806-1826) was born in Spain on the 50th anniversary of Mozart's birth and died at age 19. Like Mozart, he left behind a diverse legacy of compositions that belie his youth and lack of training. His three string quartets offer beautiful harmonies that 1001 Classical Recordings characterizes as "boldly original...Romantic harmonies...nudging at the boundaries of classical refinement." Arriaga died in Paris at the threshold of unimaginable success, most likely of tuberculosis induced by exhaustion. The Voces String Quartet of Romania presents these works with all of the emotional depth that they hold. Both these quartets and their composer truly represent Lost Classics.
Ojai Sam
Staff member
The Isley Brothers & Jimi Hendrix - In The Beginning... (rec. 1964-65, rel. 1971)
After Jimi Hendrix died, the market was inundated with a flood of his unreleased recordings. Most of these had languished in the vault for a reason but this album, released on the Isleys' own label, is different. Between 1964 and 1965, Hendrix played guitar for the brothers and recorded these sessions for Atlantic. Some of the songs here were remixed for this release to boost the guitar but they capture the excitement of this dynamic talent smashup.
At the time, none of their Atlantic recordings sold much so they moved on to greater success for the Motown hit machine. But the Hendrix masters all belonged to the brothers’ own record label which they wisely established with the proceeds from "Shout", a huge international hit. So we can hear them now and imagine an alternative scenario where Jimi stayed with the Isleys to develop a psychedelic powerhouse ala Sly and The Family Stone.
After Jimi Hendrix died, the market was inundated with a flood of his unreleased recordings. Most of these had languished in the vault for a reason but this album, released on the Isleys' own label, is different. Between 1964 and 1965, Hendrix played guitar for the brothers and recorded these sessions for Atlantic. Some of the songs here were remixed for this release to boost the guitar but they capture the excitement of this dynamic talent smashup.
At the time, none of their Atlantic recordings sold much so they moved on to greater success for the Motown hit machine. But the Hendrix masters all belonged to the brothers’ own record label which they wisely established with the proceeds from "Shout", a huge international hit. So we can hear them now and imagine an alternative scenario where Jimi stayed with the Isleys to develop a psychedelic powerhouse ala Sly and The Family Stone.