marantz had these produced by sts in holland
see www.sts-digital.nl
or sold via bulemdorf the german horn people
bought a few in the uk , normal cd versions but they do sound good and decent music , not your usual audiophile plinky plonky stuff but real music
What an amazingly satisfying disc. Everything from the artist/song selections to the quality of the disc mastering is A-Plus. I have a few other test discs, but this one just blows me away.
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I so agree with you John . It gets played here on a regular basis. Favorite track is no contest for me: Boz Scaggs - Thanks you. This disc proves how amazing digital can be when well done by real pros.
I've been among the prophets saying that high-resolution downloads are the future of audiophile music sales. Surely it will benefit the majors to make high-quality downloads a first choice rather than an MP3 extra, but I believe that individual artists can benefit as well. Most new-to-the-scene performers have little money for middlemen and disc manufacture, yet can get things together for the Internet.
Frans de Rond and Peter Bjørnild have taken this approach with Sound Liaison, producing recordings available only in 24-bit/96kHz downloads that mirror the master recording. And man, are they ever sweet. I've seldom heard recordings that were so successful in both performance and sound aspects.
De Rond hails from the Netherlands, where he studied double bass at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague while concurrently studying recording techniques. Bjørnild also studied double bass, moving to the Netherlands to continue studies at The Hague. Since graduating, he has played almost every type of music, from classical to jazz. Together de Rond and Bjørnild bring two pairs of golden ears to their label. Bjørnild claims that, "a recording should be as realistic and beautiful sounding as possible. As if, when closing your eyes, you find yourself in the best seat in the hall."
The partners discovered a fine recording hall (Studio-Eleven, Hilversum) and set out to record amazing musicians in this great acoustic place in front of live audiences. It's a daring feat; one take and no place to hide, but the abilities of the musicians involved make it seem easy. I chose to talk about the first album by Carmen Gomes Inc. It was a tough choice because all of the three current albums were worthy of review.
Carmen Gomes has won many awards in the Netherlands and surrounding areas. Like so many new European singers, she sings in English -- excellent English, I might add. She's formed a group called Carmen Gomes Inc., with Folker Tettero on guitar, Peter Bjørnild on double bass, and Marcel van Engelen on drums. Her style is bluesy and intimate with a sexy voice that's sweet as dark tupelo honey, and her interpretations are unerring. The musicians play to her and to each other, and the ensemble is so tight that the four musicians breathe and move as one.
There are some standards on the set that knocked me over with their fresh approach. Any singer can misplace a few accents and rhythms and come up with something that's original, but perhaps also uneasy and a little strange. Not Gomes, who has taken the songs to their bones and then restructured them to suit her style. Thus "Fever" doesn't sound like a cover of Peggy Lee; it sounds like a brand new take on a familiar song. You emerge from hearing it not thinking it's better or lesser than Lee's version, but that it's a valid new interpretation that could have come first.
The same approach works on "Angel Eyes," "You Don't Know What Love Is," and "I'm on Fire." Most of the rest, including the title song, "Oblivion," "Time Will Tell," "Gasoa Blue," and "The Sea," are Gomes originals that fit right in with the standards. The recording achieves exactly what Bjørnild set out as his goal. It can provide the best seat in your listening room. Go to the Sound Liaison site, listen to a few samples, download an album, and see if you don't agree that this intimate effort is one of the best and best-sounding jazz vocal albums to come along in many a day. By the way, the small audience applauds enthusiastically enough after the last chords of a song die away, but the attendees never interrupt or make themselves known while a song is going on. No doubt they were completely mesmerized into silence, as was I.
Be sure to listen to: On "Dock of the Bay," Gomes creates a languid, bluesy version that is a little bit reminiscent of Bobbie Gentry while still coming across as quite original. It'll cast a spell over you.
I was looking at that STS site a few days ago and thought about ordering some more. I may still, as I'm quite impressed!
there's nothing on that site it seems
where are there products shown
But I am talking about the Sound Liaison site:
http://http://www.soundliaison.com/
last time I looked it was up and running(2 minutes ago to get the link,).
But the sts', I guess you can get them via Marantz,but again I do prefer the Sound Liaison recordings of Carmen Gomes,the sts recordings are about 10 years old now,they are 24/44 recordings and in m.o. only ''Carmen Meets Kharma''has stood the test of time. If you serch on amazon you can find a few SACD's of the STS album but really the downloads, all though not 5.1, are way better.They were nominated for album of the year at the Naim forum.
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Inspired by the tale of Ines and Pedro, 'Thousand Shades of Blue' is Carmen Gomes' tribute to the land of her ancestors, the sea surrounding it, and the power of impossible love.
Gomes Sings "You better come on into my kitchen, 'cause it's going to be raining outdoors" and what a wondrous musical kitchen she possesses.
The utensils are the thoughtfully played musical notes. The chef is Carmen herself, serving a dream-like melodic delicacy. We at Adore Jazz, play the music from Gomes' new CD "Torn" with great joy.
Guy Zinger - Reviewer & Writer, All About Jazz
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