Various Artists: The Only Doo-Wop Collection You’ll Ever Need
Shout Factory D2K 32649
Format: CD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment

Doo-wop has an air of nostalgia and silliness that causes some people to dismiss it as lightweight. Yet its influence shows up in unlikely places -- the intro to Sly and the Family Stone’s "Dance to the Music," to choose just one example. The tight vocal harmonies of many Motown groups were based on the sounds of such groups as Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers and the Five Satins, both represented in this collection. The emphasis here is on hits, so you won’t find some of the more obscure tunes that were included in Rhino’s far more comprehensive Doo-Wop Box (1994). The mastering is very good, but most of these performances were recorded before 1960, for small labels that quickly folded -- sonic fidelity was less important than impact and atmosphere. At a third the price of the Rhino set, anyone who doesn’t have a copy of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," or the Flamingos’ sublime version of "I Only Have Eyes for You," will want to pick up The Only Doo-Wop Collection You’ll Ever Need….Joseph Taylor

Ravel: String Quartet
Debussy: String Quartet
Párkányí Quartet.
Praga 250 208
Format: Hybrid Multichannel SACD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment

This coupling of two impressionist string quartets has become so popular that many versions of the pairing exist. One of the best is a 1980s Philips digital recording with the Orlando Quartet. It’s good news, then, that the Párkányí Quartet is the original Orlando Quartet reborn, with three of the Orlando’s members intact -- only cellist Michael Müller is new. You’d never know that from listening, however. This is one of the best-integrated string quartets around, an ensemble in which each player is as important as the others. The Ravel is the most seductive piece of chamber music ever written, and the Párkányí plays it with elegance and élan, capturing its sensuousness perfectly. The pithy Debussy is played to perfection. The sound is clean, clear, warm, and perfectly balanced. The use of the rear channels gives the instruments up front a good three-dimensional sense, and imparts presence to a recording that sounds as if it is being heard from the tenth row. This is the opposite of a recent Praga SACD release of Haydn’s Op.74 quartets with the Kocian Quartet (Praga 250 212, ****), which is very close-up and intimate. All we need from Praga now are immediate encores -- the label seems to have a handle on how to make multichannel recordings of chamber music….Rad Bennett

North Texas Wind Symphony: Allegories
North Texas Wind Symphony; Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor.
Klavier K 11144
Format: CD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment

Klavier’s Wind Project recordings now number more than 30. The series has proven just as comprehensive and artistically sound as the famous collection from Mercury Living Presence featuring the late Frederick Fennell and the Eastman Wind Ensemble. Conductor Eugene Migliaro Corporon, the leading force in making the Klavier recordings, is a rare musician in the world of band music: a leader who can obtain precise yet thoroughly musical results. Corporon and his players can thrill with a rhythmic, driving toccata, or enchant with a lyrical melody. There is no hurdle these musicians cannot jump with ease. The concert on this newest release is, like the others in the series, varied and entertaining, ranging from Frank Ticheli’s explosive, high-energy Symphony No.2 to Cindy McTee’s Ballet for Band, a whimsical, fragmented tribute to dance rhythms. The Wind Project recordings have all been engineered by Bruce John Leek, who has established as high a sound standard as Corporon has an artistic one. Every sound, from the lowest bass-drum thud to the highest piccolo chirp, is heard with presence and clarity on a cohesive soundstage. Another new recording in the series, Retrospectives [Klavier K 11145], includes music by Hindemith, Grantham, Godfrey, and Shostakovich….Rad Bennett

Branford Marsalis Quartet: A Love Supreme Live in Amsterdam
Branford Marsalis, tenor sax; Joey Calderazzo, piano; Eric Revis, bass; Jeff "Tain" Watts, drums.
Marsalis Music/Rounder 11661-3310-9
Format: DVD-Video, CD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Picture Quality
Overall Enjoyment

This tribute to legendary jazz musician John Coltrane was recorded at the Bimhuis Jazz Club in Amsterdam on March 30, 2003. Coltrane composed his suite A Love Supreme after having a spiritual awakening in 1957, and recorded it in 1964 at the famed Van Gelder Recording Studio with himself on tenor sax, McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums. That classic recording was recently reissued on Impulse!/Verve SACD [314 589 596-2]. This new recording proves that A Love Supreme is a great jazz composition that can be approached by other artists with great success. Marsalis’s quartet sizzles and cooks with energy abetted by unfettered, virtuoso playing. The anamorphic 16:9 video is excellent and reproduces the close-up camera work with sharpness and clarity. The audio is offered in both Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and PCM 24-bit/96kHz two-channel stereo. The former re-creates the space well, but the latter has better upper-frequency definition. The included CD sounds almost as good as the DVD's 24/96 stereo, but the DVD's extras are wonderful: an interview with Coltrane’s widow, pianist/harpist Alice Coltrane, and the members of Marsalis’s band, as well as more tour footage. Don’t miss it….Rad Bennett

Erasure: Nightbird
Mute 9260
Format: CD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment

Anyone who enjoys high-quality synth pop and isn’t afraid to admit it should pick up Erasure’s Nightbird. I’ve been a fan since the group began in 1984, and even next to The Innocents, their classic 1988 album, Nightbird is fantastic. It’s one of the best CDs of 2005: wonderfully melodic with beautifully written lyrics, nicely meaty analog synth sounds, and some killer choruses. There are eminently singable tunes with the type of toe-tapping rhythms and brilliant buildups that prompt one’s head to bop back and forth. I dare anyone not to start singing when Vince Clarke’s desperate keyboard melodies break in during "Here I Go Impossible Again," or when Bell’s verbal interplay between "but" and "betcha" wraps up in "I Bet You’re Mad at Me." The recording is slightly thin in the highs, yet open, with excellent detail and snap. During what seemed an endless snowfall in the Northeast, Nightbird was just the thing I needed to bring my mood back up….Anthony Di Marco