Nine Inch Nails: The Downward Spiral
Halo Eight/Interscope B0003762-82
Format: DualDisc

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In 1994, Trent Reznor set up a recording studio in the California house where members of the Manson family murdered Sharon Tate and four other people. He and producer Flood, who had helped him record his first disc, Pretty Hate Machine, began work there on Nine Inch Nails’ second full-length recording. Reznor wrote all the songs on The Downward Spiral and played nearly all the instruments. It debuted at number two on the charts, buoyed largely by the groundswell of popularity Reznor had built by touring in support of bands whose followers would not normally listen to industrial rock. The standard CD side of this tenth-anniversary DualDisc edition is exciting and punchy, but the two-channel DVD-Audio layer (there’s also a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix) brings one stunningly close to all the details of the recording -- the intake of breath that opens "Piggy" is frighteningly intimate. Reznor’s talents as a studio technician and his use of electronic instruments are truly impressive. As for the content of this very dark disc, especially the video portions of the DVD side, I’ll leave you with a quote from Anthony Lane’s review of the film Sin City, from the New Yorker: "We have, it is clear, reached the lively dead end of a process . . . of knowing everything about violence and nothing about suffering." …Joseph Taylor

Walton: Christopher Columbus: A Musical Journey; Hamlet and Ophelia
Julian and Jamie Glover, speakers; Caroline Carragher, soprano; Jean Rigby, mezzo-soprano; Tom Randle, tenor; Roderick Williams, baritone; BBC National Chorus and Orchestra of Wales; Richard Hickox, conductor.
Chandos CHSA 5034
Format: Hybrid Multichannel SACD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment

Sir William Walton often arranged concert suites from his larger works, but not from Christopher Columbus: A Musical Journey, a curious composition for actors, soloists, chorus, and orchestra. It began life as a radio play originally broadcast in October 1942, with Laurence Olivier as Columbus and Sir Adrian Boult conducting. In 2002 Carl Davis and Patrick Garland put together the concert suite heard on this recording, preserving all the music and cutting the dialogue down. Some of the music is quite brilliant, especially several choruses in which the singers speak instead of sing their parts. There are rousing fanfares throughout, as well as some film-worthy music depicting the sailing of Columbus’ three ships. The performance is excellent, with exceptional singing from the chorus, and all of the speakers manage to make their parts dramatic without overacting. Richard Hickox has a thorough grasp of the score as well as a good sense of dramatic timing. The recording is not as distant as the earliest Chandos SACDs, but still sounds as if heard from halfway back in the hall. There is good frequency response and excellent resolution, but there could be a bit more presence. The placement of the actors across the front stage is good, but for this dramatic work I would not have minded had the surrounds been used. As it is, they merely provide appropriate hall ambience….Rad Bennett

Martin: Violin Concerto, Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, Danse de la peur for Two Pianos and Small Orchestra
Michael Erxleben, violin; Adrienne Soós, Ivo Haag, piano; Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur; Jac van Steen, conductor.
MDG 901 1280-6
Format: Hybrid Multichannel SACD

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Though Frank Martin (1890-1974) is Switzerland’s best-known and greatest composer, he was no wunderkind -- his mature works did not begin to emerge until he was 50. The two concertos on this disc date from 1949 and 1950-51, and both are lyrical pieces that fully demonstrate the virtuoso qualities of the instruments featured. The good-natured Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments is remarkable in giving each soloist passages that are characteristic of his particular wind instrument, while achieving an ensemble style that works for them as a group. The violin concerto is more mysterious and more lushly scored. The performers are all up to their tasks, providing sparkle and feeling for every passage. The recorded sound is quite good, if not up to MDG’s own standard: clean, the upper strings sounding singularly sweet and transparent, the balance between soloists and the 50-piece orchestra ideal. But the perspective is a bit distant for my taste, and there is a slight lack of presence. Still, when compared with the sound other companies produce these days, this disc sounds more refined….Rad Bennett

Dave Insley: Call Me Lonesome
Dave Insley 1
Format: CD

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Dave Insley’s Call Me Lonesome should help free country music from its negative stereotype of lacking lyrical depth. Recorded in Phoenix -- not Nashville or even Austin -- it opens with a tune more conventional than the rest of the disc turns out to be. Insley’s wit really kicks in with the second song, "I’m Afraid of Dyin’." Adopting personas that trivialize the most profound human questions, he achieves an odd pathos: We wonder what forces could grind down someone’s moral and intellectual life to such a nub, yet leave at the core a smoldering human spirit capable of igniting into expressive flame. The album is an idiosyncratic take on the American male out of touch with his emotions, but with melody, solid arrangements, and wonderful details. "Cowboy Lullaby" is particularly affecting, the above-mentioned pathos cutting through unsentimental images of cigarettes and creosote -- if I’ve ever heard that word in a song before, I can’t remember where. Whether or not you’re already a country guy or gal, you won’t regret giving this disc a listen….David Cantor

Nick Moss & the Flip Tops: Sadie Mae
Blue Bella CD 1004
Format: CD

Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment

Nick Moss’s Chicago blues captures the 1950s Chess Records sound so well you’ll probably feel tube-amp heat coming from your speakers. Sadie Mae’s sound is high on atmosphere and a little short on space and detail, but feeling is what matters on blues records, and this one has it to spare. Moss plays straight blues with no rock influence, and while he often plays with dazzling speed, he knows when a single note will do. His strongly felt vocals are reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green, and he shares Green’s intuitive understanding of the blues. Moss gives ample solo time to harpist Gerry Hundt, whose solo chops mesh solidly with the guitarist’s. The other members of the band give Moss subtle, unobtrusive support, but I’d have pulled Bob Welsh’s piano and organ farther forward in the mix. Moss doesn’t break any new songwriting ground here, but he knows his genre well and varies his approach. He also chooses unique tunes to cover, such as Earl Hooker’s "You Got to Lose" and Walter "Left Dizz" Williams’ "If I Could Get My Hands On You." Sadie Mae reminds us that the best antidote to the stodginess of the current blues scene is to go back to the basics….Joseph Taylor