Needle Time

  Ian Carr - Belladonna [MRBLP229 UK 2021 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Reproduced in a high quality gatefold package, Mr Bongo Records rereleased the classic 1972 jazz/rock fusion album Belladonna complete with Vertigo swirl inner sleeve and labels.  Miles Showell cut this release half-speed at Abbey Road on a restored Neumann VMS 80 lathe, likely from a digital transfer of the original master tape. The label are not fully open about the source of this release, however nearly all Showell remasters these days are not cut direct from tape. That being said, this pressing does sound fantastic with a wide detailed sound stage and plenty of air for each instrument to shine through.  The Scotsman's trumpet is backed up by an illustrious band of accompanying musicians including Allan Holdsworth on guitar, Roy Babbington on bass, Dave MacRae on Fender Rhodes and also Brian Smith on sax. Often compared to the Miles Davis style of fusion, Belladonna takes things further with p...

  Ian Carr With Nucleus [BEWITH103LP UK 2022 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] Originally released on Vertigo Records in 1973.  Be With Records are doing fantastic work with their series of Ian Carr & Nucleus albums from the seventies.   The label's marketing hints that this particular release was mastered from the original analogue tapes... and there is no reason to disbelieve them. I hope Be With Records eventually secure the rights to  Snakehips Etcetera  and  In Flagranti Delicto. Labyrinth is very much a pure concept album (that should scare off many non-believers), recorded with funding from the British Arts Council, the whole affair is inspired by the mythical Minotaur (there goes even more of my audience). It is a complicated listen which should be completed in full, this is a very dark menacing record but also full of jazz fusion breaks, some of them funky others not in the least funky. Anybody left..... then this is all for you! A1 Origins A2 Bull D...