Hello, Abu Dabi sees last F1 race of the season this weekend Hamilton left pole for his teammate Bottas, Vettel 3rd once more, Ricciardo pulled of a surprise beating Raikonen for 4th and Verstappen said his bolide slided too much to get any further than 6th. Behind these 3 top teams the fight is on to score the last points, 3 teams with just 4 points between them and millions at stake for the final constructors reckoning.
Today's Artist is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released several albums of his own work. However, he is best known for producing albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Brandon Flowers. He also collaborated with Brian Eno: most famously on producing several albums for U2, including the multi-platinum The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. Three albums produced or co-produced by him have won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Four other albums received Grammy nominations......N'Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Daniel Lanois was born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec; his French-Canadian family was firmly rooted in music, with his mother a singer and both his father and grandfather noted for their prowess on the violin. Following his parents' 1963 separation, Lanois and his mother moved to the English-speaking suburbs of Hamilton, Ontario; there he learned to play guitar, and with his brother, Robert, began making primitive home recordings on a cheap cassette player. In 1970, the siblings purchased a four-track machine, setting up a recording studio in the laundry room of their home and offering their services to local bands for a $60 fee.
Regularly aiding their clients not only as producers but also as songwriters and arrangers, the Lanois brothers' reputation quickly spread, and as the decade drew to a close, they were able to graduate to larger recording facilities, which they dubbed Grant Avenue Studios. He worked with a number of local bands, including Martha and the Muffins (for whom his sister Jocelyne played bass), Ray Materick, Spoons, and the Canadian children's singer Raffi. Daniel first worked with Brian Eno there, who in the decade to follow would emerge as Lanois' chief mentor and frequent collaborator. Together, they spent several weeks working on instrumental ambient material, experimenting heavily with sonic manipulation techniques; when Eno eventually returned to the U.K., Lanois remained in Ontario, recording a series of LPs for the local band Martha & the Muffins and, in 1983, producing improvisational trumpeter Jon Hassell's album Aka/Darbari/Java. In 1984, after working with Eno on Hybrid (a collaboration with guitarist Michael Brook) and The Pearl (another collaborative effort, this time with Harold Budd), Lanois responded to Eno's call to co-produce U2's The Unforgettable Fire; the album was a major hit, and it so impressed another superstar, Peter Gabriel, that he invited Lanois to co-produce the soundtrack to the motion picture Birdy. In 1985 he earned a CASBY award for his work on a Martha and the Muffins album.
Lanois next scored with 1986's So, Gabriel's brilliant commercial breakthrough. However, it was his and Eno's second collaboration with U2, 1987's The Joshua Tree, which launched him to true fame: after the album won a Grammy -- and after he subsequently co-produced Robbie Robertson's long-awaited solo debut -- Lanois emerged as one of the best-known and most respected producers in contemporary pop music. In 1989, he masterminded Bob Dylan's Oh Mercy -- widely regarded as Dylan's best work in over a decade -- as well as the Neville Brothers' Yellow Moon, an artistic watershed for the venerable New Orleans group. By this time. Lanois himself was a resident of the Crescent City, setting up Kingsway Studio in a mansion in the heart of New Orleans; there he crafted his own hotly anticipated solo debut, 1989's Acadie. Two years later, he reunited with U2 for the stellar Achtung Baby, and in 1992, re-teamed with Gabriel for the wonderful Us. In 1993, Lanois issued the lovely For the Beauty of Wynona; however, like Acadie, it failed to reap the same commercial awards as his other production ventures. Other albums of note include Emmylou Harris' 1995 masterpiece Wrecking Ball
his 1995 collaboration with Emmylou, won a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. More productions for Luscious Jackson's Fever In Fever Out, Willie Nelson's Teatro, and Dylan's 1997 comeback Time Out of Mind; in between, Lanois also recorded the score to the 1996 film Sling Blade.
Lanois scored again with U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind at the end of 2000, along with working with Joe Henry and others in a support capacity. 2003 saw the year of his third and finest recording, Shine, which featured guest performances from Emmylou Harris and Bono. In 2005, he released the outtake-filled "renegade CD" Rockets through his website, which was followed quickly by Belladonna, a proper album release on Anti. Soon after, photographer Adam Vollick started filming the next year-and-a-half of Lanois' life, following him on the road, with celebrity friends, and in his second home, the recording studio. Lanois premiered the documentary entitled Here Is What Is at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007. The film chronicles the recording of his album of the same name, and includes footage of the actual recording. The album Here Is What Is was released, first by download, then in compact disc, in late 2007 and early 2008. Soon after, Lanois released a three-disc recording called Omni.
Lanois spent time working on a new band project for the next couple of years, with bassist Daryl Johnson, drummer Brian Blade, and vocalist/keyboardist Trixie Whitley. This culminated in the self-titled album Black Dub in 2010. The band toured internationally. Lanois was working on Neil Young's record Le Noise in June 2010 when he was hospitalized after suffering multiple injuries in a motorcycle crash in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. He has since recovered. Lanois' production is recognizable and notable for its 'big' and 'live' drum sound, atmospheric guitars and ambient reverb. Rolling Stone called Lanois the "most important record producer to emerge in the Eighties."
Daniel served as executive producer for Rocco DeLuca's self-titled album and released it on his own Red Floor label through 429 Records in August of 2014 On October 28 2014 Lanois, released an album, entitled Flesh and Machine on ANTI- Records, based on Brian Eno's Ambient albums. The fully instrumental album consists primarily of original atmospheric and process-based sounds, blending pedal steel guitar and a variety of digital and analog sound processing devices. He was assisted by the drummer Brian Blade. In 2016, he released the album Goodbye to Language with Rocco DeLuca..
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Thirty seconds into "I Love You," the first track off of Shine, Daniel Lanois' warm, watery guitar signature is already unmistakable, even before his voice entwines ecstatically with Emmylou Harris'. Shine is the third Lanois album to appear under his own name, and his first in a decade. What is immediately startling about Shine is how spare it is. There is a plethora of sounds and textures to be sure, but they are suspended in space, looking not outside to communicate but toward the heart as a mirror, as if to make certain that the music played is not necessarily accurate but is true. Folk, country, blues, psychedelia, and atmosphere are wound together into an inseparable knot. Lanois played almost all of the instruments here, with the exception of drums, handled by Brian Blade and occasionally his brother, Brady. Other musicians, such as longtime musical collaborator Malcolm Burn and bassist Darryl Johnson, make appearances. Beginning with "I Love You," with its acceptance and pleading need (lent great credence by Harris' singing) and on into "Falling at Your Feet," a duet co-written with U2's Bono during the All That You Can't Leave Behind sessions, to the third track, "As Tears Go By," with a sampled guitar line by blues guitar legend Charley Patton, it is clear that Lanois is writing from a place more vulnerable, more spiritually conscious, and yet more strident than ever before. Where Acadie was full of warmth and intimacy, it felt like a collection of songs that had been assembled from many sessions. For the Beauty of Wynona, with all of its experimentation and poetic songwriting, was a far more unified project, but it was reliant on its wide-ranging sonic attack to support those adventurous words and melodies. Here, everything is balanced; the scope is small, close, and textured by pedal steel guitars, very organic percussion, and Lanois' voice way up front. On the instrumentals, such as "Transmitter," "Matador," "Space Kay," and the closer, "JJ Leaves La," the same whispering feel is evident. The songs on Shine feel like confessions, prayers even, not only to a superior being, but to lovers, full of brokenness and the willingness to learn and heal; they are wrapped in the soil of North America, from Montreal to Mexico; they feel rooted in not only the earth, but in spirituality and a willingness to open to the forces of the heart itself. The instrumentals create a sense of movement through time and space to anchor the intent of the vocal tracks. His instincts are nearly perfect: When the weight of a particular series of songs begins to move the listener too far in one direction, an instrumental or two appears, allowing one to drift in its ambience for a short time. After a pair of instrumentals ("Matador" and "Space Kay"), "Slow Giving" and "Fire" are hymns to unseen angels who may indeed represent living characters or those who've passed after imparting some gift. Clearly Lanois' protagonist relies on them heavily in the dark times with a lyricism that is sophisticated, literate, poetic, and soulful. That's a rare combination. The album closes with the pedal steel tune "JJ Leaves LA." The steel guitar was Lanois' first instrument, and its gentility and sweetness are tempered only by its pervasive melancholy, leaving the listener with a sense of bittersweet longing and a sense that some kind of story has been told, a series of snapshots have been shown that reveal something, postcards have been sent and arrived unexpectedly, and the only way to unravel the mystery is play the record again.
Daniel Lanois - Shine (flac 219mb)
01 I Love You (feat. Emmylou Harris) 2:31
02 Falling At Your Feet 3:33
03 As Tears Roll By 4:28
04 Sometimes 3:16
05 Shine 3:02
06 Transmitter 3:05
07 San Juan 3:40
08 Matador 4:55
09 Space Kay 3:25
10 Slow Giving 3:42
11 Fire 3:21
12 Power Of One 3:39
13 JJ Leaves LA 4:17
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Right from the onset of "Two Worlds" it's a refreshing splash in the face to hear Daniel Lanois' pedal steel playing dance around a bed of guitar feedback; it serves as a reference point to some of his work on U2's The Joshua Tree. Like 2003's Shine, Belladonna reveals a side of Lanois that is a treat to see. The vulnerable, contemplative side that was such a critical element to his work with Brian Eno is more than evident, and his slide guitar playing also highlights just how important his contributions were to the notable releases of Eno's solo catalog. The interplay between musicians on the full ensemble tracks is focused and meticulous, with each member knowing exactly when to play and more importantly, when not to. But above all this, it's Lanois' guitar that tells the story and is the anchor of the 13-song cycle; a homage to a lost love with Latin and desert country influences embedded within the center of the record. It's every bit as focused and accomplished as anything in Lanois' catalog, and die-hard fans will be wanting more long after the disc winds down.
Daniel Lanois - Belladonna (flac 161mb)
01 Two Worlds 2:03
02 Sketches 4:23
03 Oaxaca 2:49
04 Agave 1:58
05 Telco 3:34
06 Desert Rose 1:51
07 Carla 2:02
08 The Deadly Nightshade 4:02
09 Dusty 1:38
10 Frozen 3:17
11 Panorama 3:01
12 Flametop Green 2:27
13 Todos Santos 5:31
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Here Is What Is is the soundtrack to a documentary film of the same name that basically follows artist Daniel Lanois around the world for a year. The album was originally released in late 2007 from Lanois' Red Floor records website in a variety of packages. Ultimately, while packages are nice for collectors and dedicated fans, it's the music that matters. There are 18 cuts, among them some ones, and some different versions of earlier ones. A slew of familiar namesappear as sidemen including Brian and Brady Blade, Garth Hudson, and Daryl Johnson. There are several spoken narrations and spoken interludes by Brian Eno, but the true beginnig is Lanois offeing an alternate version of "Where Will I Be." Though he wrote it, it first appeared on Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball, which he famously produced. It's a beautiful song, but this version pales in comparison; one wonders why he even bothered. While the title cut and "Not Fighting Anymore" are interesting, they are far from compelling. Supposedly this is a film about beauty, but the music here, while pleasant, certainly doesn't come across as the intimate creation that the demos that made up Acadie are, nor do they add up to the harsh yet melodic, blasted rock and rhythm soundscapes that appear on For the Beauty of Wynona. This is drift-along-in-the-background music. Lanois feels less and less like a songwriter, and more like someone who has sketches for them. "Harry" almost becomes a real song, but then jumbles itself up with a rambling bridge. "Lovechild" is a mess that can't make up its mind what it wants to be -- an ambient piece, a country ballad, a soft rock song, a psychedelic sound world -- and it goes on for over eight-and-a-half minutes. "Duo Glide" is the limpest attempt ever at offering a portrait of a Harley Davidson motorcycle in song, and "Bladesteel" resembles anything but its title as it shimmers along pedal steel country clichés--only the imaginative drum work by Brian Blade rescues it. Here Is What Is is for the hardcore Lanois fan. This is a collection of 18 tracks, not an album. They don't hold together as a listening experience. This is a disappointment; it doesn't feel like art so much as over-indulgence. If you like having that pillowy cluster of warm sounds that have no particular purpose in your ear, then this might be for you. If you still hold Lanois' earlier recordings to their rightfully exalted place, this set will likely frustrate you. Unfortunately, it offers considerable evidence that Lanois as a songwriter and musician has lost his way.
Daniel Lanois - Here is What is (flac 295mb)
01 Chest Of Drawers 0:24
02 Where Will I Be 4:04
03 Here Is What Is 2:51
04 Not Fighting Anymore 3:32
05 Beauty 1:57
06 Blue Bus 2:18
07 Lovechild 8:36
08 Harry 4:35
09 Bells Of Oaxaca 1:04
10 This May Be The Last Time 2:29
11 Smoke #6 2:46
12 I Like That 4:15
13 Duo Glide 6:29
14 Bladesteel 3:50
15 Moondog 3:45
16 Sacred And Secular 4:34
17 Joy 2:48
18 Luna Samba 3:24
.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Black Dub generated significant excitement when they released stark, black-and-white videos of their rehearsals and leaked concert footage from a show at Bowery Ballroom in New York. The quartet, comprised of producer Daniel Lanois on guitar and vocals, jazz drummer extraordinaire Brian Blade, session bassist Daryl Johnson, and vocalist/keyboardist Trixie Whitley (daughter of the late great Chris Whitley) make a beguiling, seductive music that blurs rock, soul, blues, gothic Americana, New Orleans funk, and dubwise reggae. The videos portrayed an accomplished group of musicians delivering new originals, a smoking cover of "I'd Rather Go Blind," and a few Lanois' nuggets from older recordings in a bubbling, smoky, passionate yet understated manner. This self-titled debut was mostly written by Lanois save for "Last Time," which is a band composition. Rather than the stark immediacy of the rehearsals, much of this music is draped in Lanois' signature warm, syrupy, murky production; all the edges -- save for those glorious ones in Whitley's voice -- have been rounded off with dense layers of effects and loops. The ballads "I Believe in You," "Surely," "Silverado," and "Nomad" are stellar showcases for Whitley's deeply soulful contralto. She rises above the band and soars, delivering these lyrics as if they are her own; she goes straight to the heart of the listener with that voice, regardless of genre. She stands out here and shines. The mercurial ethereal funk in "Last Time" places Whitley's and Lanois' vocals opposite those of guest Brady Blade, Sr.'s in a weave of bluesy, swampy, narcotic funk. "Ring the Alarm," one of the album's few straight-out rockers, suffers from production excesses: check the video version, this one pales in comparison. The two instrumentals here, "Slow Baby" and "Sirens," are pleasant enough, but seem more like ideas edited from jam sessions rather than full-fledged ones. Still, for a debut, Black Dub is compelling; it gives up its secrets only with repeated listening.
Black Dub - Black Dub (flac 263mb)
01 Love Lives 3:39
02 I Believe In You 4:28
03 Ring The Alarm 6:30
04 Last Time 3:02
05 Surely 5:09
06 Nomad 4:17
07 Slow Baby 4:19
08 Silverado 3:43
09 Canaan 4:14
10 Sing 3:24
11 Sirens 2:32
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Today's Artist is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released several albums of his own work. However, he is best known for producing albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and Brandon Flowers. He also collaborated with Brian Eno: most famously on producing several albums for U2, including the multi-platinum The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. Three albums produced or co-produced by him have won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Four other albums received Grammy nominations......N'Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Daniel Lanois was born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec; his French-Canadian family was firmly rooted in music, with his mother a singer and both his father and grandfather noted for their prowess on the violin. Following his parents' 1963 separation, Lanois and his mother moved to the English-speaking suburbs of Hamilton, Ontario; there he learned to play guitar, and with his brother, Robert, began making primitive home recordings on a cheap cassette player. In 1970, the siblings purchased a four-track machine, setting up a recording studio in the laundry room of their home and offering their services to local bands for a $60 fee.
Regularly aiding their clients not only as producers but also as songwriters and arrangers, the Lanois brothers' reputation quickly spread, and as the decade drew to a close, they were able to graduate to larger recording facilities, which they dubbed Grant Avenue Studios. He worked with a number of local bands, including Martha and the Muffins (for whom his sister Jocelyne played bass), Ray Materick, Spoons, and the Canadian children's singer Raffi. Daniel first worked with Brian Eno there, who in the decade to follow would emerge as Lanois' chief mentor and frequent collaborator. Together, they spent several weeks working on instrumental ambient material, experimenting heavily with sonic manipulation techniques; when Eno eventually returned to the U.K., Lanois remained in Ontario, recording a series of LPs for the local band Martha & the Muffins and, in 1983, producing improvisational trumpeter Jon Hassell's album Aka/Darbari/Java. In 1984, after working with Eno on Hybrid (a collaboration with guitarist Michael Brook) and The Pearl (another collaborative effort, this time with Harold Budd), Lanois responded to Eno's call to co-produce U2's The Unforgettable Fire; the album was a major hit, and it so impressed another superstar, Peter Gabriel, that he invited Lanois to co-produce the soundtrack to the motion picture Birdy. In 1985 he earned a CASBY award for his work on a Martha and the Muffins album.
Lanois next scored with 1986's So, Gabriel's brilliant commercial breakthrough. However, it was his and Eno's second collaboration with U2, 1987's The Joshua Tree, which launched him to true fame: after the album won a Grammy -- and after he subsequently co-produced Robbie Robertson's long-awaited solo debut -- Lanois emerged as one of the best-known and most respected producers in contemporary pop music. In 1989, he masterminded Bob Dylan's Oh Mercy -- widely regarded as Dylan's best work in over a decade -- as well as the Neville Brothers' Yellow Moon, an artistic watershed for the venerable New Orleans group. By this time. Lanois himself was a resident of the Crescent City, setting up Kingsway Studio in a mansion in the heart of New Orleans; there he crafted his own hotly anticipated solo debut, 1989's Acadie. Two years later, he reunited with U2 for the stellar Achtung Baby, and in 1992, re-teamed with Gabriel for the wonderful Us. In 1993, Lanois issued the lovely For the Beauty of Wynona; however, like Acadie, it failed to reap the same commercial awards as his other production ventures. Other albums of note include Emmylou Harris' 1995 masterpiece Wrecking Ball
his 1995 collaboration with Emmylou, won a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. More productions for Luscious Jackson's Fever In Fever Out, Willie Nelson's Teatro, and Dylan's 1997 comeback Time Out of Mind; in between, Lanois also recorded the score to the 1996 film Sling Blade.
Lanois scored again with U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind at the end of 2000, along with working with Joe Henry and others in a support capacity. 2003 saw the year of his third and finest recording, Shine, which featured guest performances from Emmylou Harris and Bono. In 2005, he released the outtake-filled "renegade CD" Rockets through his website, which was followed quickly by Belladonna, a proper album release on Anti. Soon after, photographer Adam Vollick started filming the next year-and-a-half of Lanois' life, following him on the road, with celebrity friends, and in his second home, the recording studio. Lanois premiered the documentary entitled Here Is What Is at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007. The film chronicles the recording of his album of the same name, and includes footage of the actual recording. The album Here Is What Is was released, first by download, then in compact disc, in late 2007 and early 2008. Soon after, Lanois released a three-disc recording called Omni.
Lanois spent time working on a new band project for the next couple of years, with bassist Daryl Johnson, drummer Brian Blade, and vocalist/keyboardist Trixie Whitley. This culminated in the self-titled album Black Dub in 2010. The band toured internationally. Lanois was working on Neil Young's record Le Noise in June 2010 when he was hospitalized after suffering multiple injuries in a motorcycle crash in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. He has since recovered. Lanois' production is recognizable and notable for its 'big' and 'live' drum sound, atmospheric guitars and ambient reverb. Rolling Stone called Lanois the "most important record producer to emerge in the Eighties."
Daniel served as executive producer for Rocco DeLuca's self-titled album and released it on his own Red Floor label through 429 Records in August of 2014 On October 28 2014 Lanois, released an album, entitled Flesh and Machine on ANTI- Records, based on Brian Eno's Ambient albums. The fully instrumental album consists primarily of original atmospheric and process-based sounds, blending pedal steel guitar and a variety of digital and analog sound processing devices. He was assisted by the drummer Brian Blade. In 2016, he released the album Goodbye to Language with Rocco DeLuca..
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Thirty seconds into "I Love You," the first track off of Shine, Daniel Lanois' warm, watery guitar signature is already unmistakable, even before his voice entwines ecstatically with Emmylou Harris'. Shine is the third Lanois album to appear under his own name, and his first in a decade. What is immediately startling about Shine is how spare it is. There is a plethora of sounds and textures to be sure, but they are suspended in space, looking not outside to communicate but toward the heart as a mirror, as if to make certain that the music played is not necessarily accurate but is true. Folk, country, blues, psychedelia, and atmosphere are wound together into an inseparable knot. Lanois played almost all of the instruments here, with the exception of drums, handled by Brian Blade and occasionally his brother, Brady. Other musicians, such as longtime musical collaborator Malcolm Burn and bassist Darryl Johnson, make appearances. Beginning with "I Love You," with its acceptance and pleading need (lent great credence by Harris' singing) and on into "Falling at Your Feet," a duet co-written with U2's Bono during the All That You Can't Leave Behind sessions, to the third track, "As Tears Go By," with a sampled guitar line by blues guitar legend Charley Patton, it is clear that Lanois is writing from a place more vulnerable, more spiritually conscious, and yet more strident than ever before. Where Acadie was full of warmth and intimacy, it felt like a collection of songs that had been assembled from many sessions. For the Beauty of Wynona, with all of its experimentation and poetic songwriting, was a far more unified project, but it was reliant on its wide-ranging sonic attack to support those adventurous words and melodies. Here, everything is balanced; the scope is small, close, and textured by pedal steel guitars, very organic percussion, and Lanois' voice way up front. On the instrumentals, such as "Transmitter," "Matador," "Space Kay," and the closer, "JJ Leaves La," the same whispering feel is evident. The songs on Shine feel like confessions, prayers even, not only to a superior being, but to lovers, full of brokenness and the willingness to learn and heal; they are wrapped in the soil of North America, from Montreal to Mexico; they feel rooted in not only the earth, but in spirituality and a willingness to open to the forces of the heart itself. The instrumentals create a sense of movement through time and space to anchor the intent of the vocal tracks. His instincts are nearly perfect: When the weight of a particular series of songs begins to move the listener too far in one direction, an instrumental or two appears, allowing one to drift in its ambience for a short time. After a pair of instrumentals ("Matador" and "Space Kay"), "Slow Giving" and "Fire" are hymns to unseen angels who may indeed represent living characters or those who've passed after imparting some gift. Clearly Lanois' protagonist relies on them heavily in the dark times with a lyricism that is sophisticated, literate, poetic, and soulful. That's a rare combination. The album closes with the pedal steel tune "JJ Leaves LA." The steel guitar was Lanois' first instrument, and its gentility and sweetness are tempered only by its pervasive melancholy, leaving the listener with a sense of bittersweet longing and a sense that some kind of story has been told, a series of snapshots have been shown that reveal something, postcards have been sent and arrived unexpectedly, and the only way to unravel the mystery is play the record again.
Daniel Lanois - Shine (flac 219mb)
01 I Love You (feat. Emmylou Harris) 2:31
02 Falling At Your Feet 3:33
03 As Tears Roll By 4:28
04 Sometimes 3:16
05 Shine 3:02
06 Transmitter 3:05
07 San Juan 3:40
08 Matador 4:55
09 Space Kay 3:25
10 Slow Giving 3:42
11 Fire 3:21
12 Power Of One 3:39
13 JJ Leaves LA 4:17
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Right from the onset of "Two Worlds" it's a refreshing splash in the face to hear Daniel Lanois' pedal steel playing dance around a bed of guitar feedback; it serves as a reference point to some of his work on U2's The Joshua Tree. Like 2003's Shine, Belladonna reveals a side of Lanois that is a treat to see. The vulnerable, contemplative side that was such a critical element to his work with Brian Eno is more than evident, and his slide guitar playing also highlights just how important his contributions were to the notable releases of Eno's solo catalog. The interplay between musicians on the full ensemble tracks is focused and meticulous, with each member knowing exactly when to play and more importantly, when not to. But above all this, it's Lanois' guitar that tells the story and is the anchor of the 13-song cycle; a homage to a lost love with Latin and desert country influences embedded within the center of the record. It's every bit as focused and accomplished as anything in Lanois' catalog, and die-hard fans will be wanting more long after the disc winds down.
Daniel Lanois - Belladonna (flac 161mb)
01 Two Worlds 2:03
02 Sketches 4:23
03 Oaxaca 2:49
04 Agave 1:58
05 Telco 3:34
06 Desert Rose 1:51
07 Carla 2:02
08 The Deadly Nightshade 4:02
09 Dusty 1:38
10 Frozen 3:17
11 Panorama 3:01
12 Flametop Green 2:27
13 Todos Santos 5:31
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Here Is What Is is the soundtrack to a documentary film of the same name that basically follows artist Daniel Lanois around the world for a year. The album was originally released in late 2007 from Lanois' Red Floor records website in a variety of packages. Ultimately, while packages are nice for collectors and dedicated fans, it's the music that matters. There are 18 cuts, among them some ones, and some different versions of earlier ones. A slew of familiar namesappear as sidemen including Brian and Brady Blade, Garth Hudson, and Daryl Johnson. There are several spoken narrations and spoken interludes by Brian Eno, but the true beginnig is Lanois offeing an alternate version of "Where Will I Be." Though he wrote it, it first appeared on Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball, which he famously produced. It's a beautiful song, but this version pales in comparison; one wonders why he even bothered. While the title cut and "Not Fighting Anymore" are interesting, they are far from compelling. Supposedly this is a film about beauty, but the music here, while pleasant, certainly doesn't come across as the intimate creation that the demos that made up Acadie are, nor do they add up to the harsh yet melodic, blasted rock and rhythm soundscapes that appear on For the Beauty of Wynona. This is drift-along-in-the-background music. Lanois feels less and less like a songwriter, and more like someone who has sketches for them. "Harry" almost becomes a real song, but then jumbles itself up with a rambling bridge. "Lovechild" is a mess that can't make up its mind what it wants to be -- an ambient piece, a country ballad, a soft rock song, a psychedelic sound world -- and it goes on for over eight-and-a-half minutes. "Duo Glide" is the limpest attempt ever at offering a portrait of a Harley Davidson motorcycle in song, and "Bladesteel" resembles anything but its title as it shimmers along pedal steel country clichés--only the imaginative drum work by Brian Blade rescues it. Here Is What Is is for the hardcore Lanois fan. This is a collection of 18 tracks, not an album. They don't hold together as a listening experience. This is a disappointment; it doesn't feel like art so much as over-indulgence. If you like having that pillowy cluster of warm sounds that have no particular purpose in your ear, then this might be for you. If you still hold Lanois' earlier recordings to their rightfully exalted place, this set will likely frustrate you. Unfortunately, it offers considerable evidence that Lanois as a songwriter and musician has lost his way.
Daniel Lanois - Here is What is (flac 295mb)
01 Chest Of Drawers 0:24
02 Where Will I Be 4:04
03 Here Is What Is 2:51
04 Not Fighting Anymore 3:32
05 Beauty 1:57
06 Blue Bus 2:18
07 Lovechild 8:36
08 Harry 4:35
09 Bells Of Oaxaca 1:04
10 This May Be The Last Time 2:29
11 Smoke #6 2:46
12 I Like That 4:15
13 Duo Glide 6:29
14 Bladesteel 3:50
15 Moondog 3:45
16 Sacred And Secular 4:34
17 Joy 2:48
18 Luna Samba 3:24
.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Black Dub generated significant excitement when they released stark, black-and-white videos of their rehearsals and leaked concert footage from a show at Bowery Ballroom in New York. The quartet, comprised of producer Daniel Lanois on guitar and vocals, jazz drummer extraordinaire Brian Blade, session bassist Daryl Johnson, and vocalist/keyboardist Trixie Whitley (daughter of the late great Chris Whitley) make a beguiling, seductive music that blurs rock, soul, blues, gothic Americana, New Orleans funk, and dubwise reggae. The videos portrayed an accomplished group of musicians delivering new originals, a smoking cover of "I'd Rather Go Blind," and a few Lanois' nuggets from older recordings in a bubbling, smoky, passionate yet understated manner. This self-titled debut was mostly written by Lanois save for "Last Time," which is a band composition. Rather than the stark immediacy of the rehearsals, much of this music is draped in Lanois' signature warm, syrupy, murky production; all the edges -- save for those glorious ones in Whitley's voice -- have been rounded off with dense layers of effects and loops. The ballads "I Believe in You," "Surely," "Silverado," and "Nomad" are stellar showcases for Whitley's deeply soulful contralto. She rises above the band and soars, delivering these lyrics as if they are her own; she goes straight to the heart of the listener with that voice, regardless of genre. She stands out here and shines. The mercurial ethereal funk in "Last Time" places Whitley's and Lanois' vocals opposite those of guest Brady Blade, Sr.'s in a weave of bluesy, swampy, narcotic funk. "Ring the Alarm," one of the album's few straight-out rockers, suffers from production excesses: check the video version, this one pales in comparison. The two instrumentals here, "Slow Baby" and "Sirens," are pleasant enough, but seem more like ideas edited from jam sessions rather than full-fledged ones. Still, for a debut, Black Dub is compelling; it gives up its secrets only with repeated listening.
Black Dub - Black Dub (flac 263mb)
01 Love Lives 3:39
02 I Believe In You 4:28
03 Ring The Alarm 6:30
04 Last Time 3:02
05 Surely 5:09
06 Nomad 4:17
07 Slow Baby 4:19
08 Silverado 3:43
09 Canaan 4:14
10 Sing 3:24
11 Sirens 2:32
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Thanks, Rho. I shall give Belladona a spin later this evening.
ReplyDeletePlease repost the Daniel Lanois albums.
ReplyDelete