This is a terrific recording by the band that featured a great horn ...
341788
Paul Butterfield was one of the greats-- in studio and live. This is a terrific recording by the band that featured a great horn section. Great stuff.
2921398
Fans and performers of French horn music will enjoy the Rhapsody and Rondo for Horn and Orchestra.  This is a show piece, exhibiting all the techniques and acrobatics that a horn can do.  But it is also pleasant,  exuberant music to listen to, and is well performed here.  It was written  originally for Dennis Brain, and Marco Polo deserves the thanks of the  French horn community for preserving this work.  You won't find any other  recordings of this horn piece, and this one is well worth owning.
1308972
This cd is excellent! All the tracks are remarkable, however, "Redemption" "John the Baptist" and "Cowboys and Indians" have to be some of the finest arrangements and overall  musicianship ever recorded by a horn band or any band for that matter!  Simply an exciting and inspiring achievement. One of my top twenty cds.
4551994
It's incredible that this musical document has been made available.  The
sound quality is actually awesome considering the environment and conditions in which
it was recorded.  Although no guitar player was present, the accompaniment
sounds quite full.  Too bad this group didn't get the recognition they deserved
3241638
A truly fantastic show.  The band was playing in front of a huge crowd at Chicago's Soldier Field (and using a stage left at the venue by the Grateful Dead).  The is actually the first live Pearl Jam album I've heard that features Jack Irons on drums.  He sounds a bit nervous during this show, and his drumming is often fussy and sloppy, which is not at all typical.  The guitar playing is stellar, and Eddie is in fine voice throughout the very generous performance--this was a long show.  It's also nice to hear a live document from 20+ years ago to measure against the flood of bootlegs, official and otherwise, that have become available since to hear just how much better Pearl Jam have gotten as a band.  The playing has gotten both tighter and more elastic.  They've really progressed as musicians and a unit.

This isn't a bootleg recorded at the show, but a recording of the live radio broadcast the band provided to the city of Chicago.  The sound quality isn't terrific, but it's not distracting.  As an artifact of the band at a specific time (in the aftermath of the fight with Ticketmaster, working on material that would become the No Code album, being a huge band at the peak of their powers but part of a fading musical community), it's a terrific piece of their history.
4419793
I had purchased their first recording FIFTH ANGEL which was awesome so i just had to buy this. I wasn't disapointed this is a fantastic recording it isn't as raw or powerful as their first offering however it was more melodic. The twin guitar attack even in the slower songs are special and the vocals are strong. The highlights are CATHEDRAL ( best on the album ) seven hours, Time will tell , & feel the heat. Sadly after this offering the band broke up which is such a shame, Very very underated, which with a stroke of luck this band could have been successful
4112157
some great performances on this record from the sidemen, particularly the drummer on shingaling - maybe the best drum performance I've ever heard on a record.
1435681
These are terrific recordings. It's a shame they didn't record the Choral Fantasy as well. I still love the Fleisher/Szell recordings, but the sound quality is way better on this newer one.
960075
Our son is an amateur french horn player so we had to hear these guys.  Even in the old Seattle opera house these gentleman were spectacular.  I can still hear them playing in my head.  There is no way one can describe this experience.  They had to rotate the parts from player to player because it is impossible to do as a solo piece without this conversion.  Some years earlier members of the Seattle Symphony with the orchestra played this piece live and recorded it.  Hearing this piece live with orchestra was a great thrill.  Unfortunately, while Mr Cerminaro was with the Seattle Symphony they did not perform this work.  As I remember asking them they just could not agree to do this amazing piece before John retired.  One can only hope that the All Star Orchestra will agree to play this piece using their amazing audio and video recording system so that all of us can actually hear the full sonic range of this amazing piece.  Maybe the same musicians would agree to do this.
978598
Zdenek and Bedrich Tylsar are some some of the best Czech horn players.  Together, they have recorded all the music available for two French horns.  This two cd set contains some of the more famous concertos (such as the Beethoven and the Haydn) and some of the lesser Czech composers (such as Rejcha and Fiala).

There must have been something in the water at the Tylsar house because these two brothers perform exceptionally well together.  It is just a joy to listen to.  If you are a fan of the French horn, or simply classical music in general, you can not go wrong with this album.
1120514
The Calefax Reed Quintet have recorded one of the most unusual recordings of Die Kunst der Fuge that I have heard.  With an instrumentation of oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet (basset horn), saxophone (mostly soprano), and bassoon; this recording truly captures the many possible colors and styles that is in Die Kunst der Fuge.  What is truly impressive is the way that the saxophone makes the all reed ensemble blend as one.  It is obvious that all of the musicians on this CD have studied baroque style, and bring a wonderful life to this music.
4544608
I agree with the fans of this recording that the orchestra plays wonderfully and I find no fault in Honeck's interpretation.  Indeed, the finale is among the most exciting I have heard. The sound is also wonderfully transparent on this Exton recording, however in my view the brass -- trumpet in particular -- seems to be mixed too strongly in the first and second movements.  Mahler obviously wrote boldly for the trumpet in this symphony, and the musicians play with great energy and precision, but were the audio engineers also trumpeters in another life?  In my subjective listening experience before equally-transparent studio speakers, it feels that the brass were mic'ed too close, like hearing to the concert from the bassoonists chair, not from the middle of the house.  I generally love the detail that is characteristic of many SACD productions, but this brass-heavy mix is just too unbalanced for my liking.  Again, no such complaints in the fifth movement, which is brilliant in all respects, earning this a fourth star.
2248622
I had lost a cassette of this album and missed it enough to purchase the CD.  It's a terrific rendition of their sound.
3062358
The only mystery about this cd is why Delmark Records is marketing it as an Albert Ammons recording. Half of the numbers are recordings by Meade Lux Lewis, and two belong to Pete Johnson. They ought to have equal billing on the sleeve...

That aside, the music here is top notch. How often do you get to hear in-concert live recordings of these guys?

The music is frequently a lot looser on stage than in a recording studio, and that is clearly audible on this disc. Ammons & co take their time, they change bass figures a lot more than on the studio recordings, and they seem to have good rapport with the audience, which can be heard clearly on several tracks. It's great to hear how the crowd responds to the music with applause and shouting. It seems that a good jazz/blues audience hasn't changed much...

The sound quality is a lot better than you might expect, considering that the recordings were done in 1939, and the playing is uniformly excellent. In many ways, a record like this is a lot more interesting than a studio recording, if only because you get a true glimpse of a long gone era, and a very vivid impression of the music the way it used to be played in an authentic live situation.

In addition, the entertainment value of this relentless groove-based music hasn't decreased one bit in 65 years!
2046777
With the recent release of the band's 1974 box set (and the accompanying hype), I expected great things.  However, I found that on many songs the band sounded just as trashed as the legendary tour accounts had documented.  While the best samples were selected and remastered, it couldn't make up for the sloppy play and the shot voices.  I'm sorry guys - I'm a huge fan, but it wasn't worth the money.
This recording IS worth the money.  It catches them during their peak, and they all sound great.  There's really not a weak song in the bunch, and a couple of nuggets (Triad and Lee Shore) that you don't ever hear.  My only gripe is they didn't let loose and crank up the band a little more.
This is the more satisfying (and economic) choice if you want to get some live CSN&Y.
210692
The sound on this recording is very good - there's lots of space and the bass is excellent. The two Duprees - Champion Jack and Cornell - are at the top of their form, Cornell's guitar work is some of the finest around. And King Curtis rocks. The band gets into some excellent grooves and extended improvisations. It is worth getting for the music, but for me Cornell Dupree's work is the highlight here.
269879
The great soul/horn band from Oakland, CA was previously represented on CD/mp3 in VERY muddy and harsh sound quality. Due to personal and business woes, this band has never gotten the acclaim fellow horn bands Chicago, EW&F and B,S&T have enjoyed. This set reconciles the audio problem with much improved remastering and a great selection of tunes spanning the then-complete band's recorded history (1970-1997). The well-known tunes and essential deep cuts are all here.

This will be blasphemy for many, but to me Tower's albums has always been a bit inconsistent; this set collects the best tracks to create what I feel the best TOP album. The band's recorded output has slowed to a crawl since this set was released: if you see the band these days, 90% of what you will hear is in this collection.

Bottom line: essential! Do NOT hesitate to pick this one up while you still can: it's officially out of print, but copies can usually be found at decent prices used, Mine was $30 and in mint condition.