c�d�master88
10-10-2013, 12:14 AM
Portsmouth Sinfonia
Portsmouth Sinfonia Plays the Popular Classics
1973/1974 (Columbia Records)
11 tracks, TRT: 42:01, FLAC (48k/24b)
https://mega.co.nz/#!MpUCzQDC!NKdUe07Ex0z4arbRHnTg_ACDfb0VYyKwgNH6IDh yqhc
Note: I've been a fan of these albums for many years but never got around to sharing them. For good reason however. The copies I had were from obviously old and crappy LPs while this new version comes from my own recently acquired copy of the album. It does still have the occasional vinyl pops, clicks and crackling but it's not all that distracting to me and in fact featured LESS of the typical vinyl sounds than any rip I've ever heard. I decided to leave the crackles but I still cannot stand the sound of a pop. It's like nails to a chalkboard for me....that's negating the fact that I rather enjoy that sound. This vinyl arrived surprisingly clean with very little dust. I cleaned it up a bit myself before laying the needle so that seemed to alleviate a little surface noise but some surface noise does still remain although there are no pops/clicks.
Included in BOTH archives is an interesting little bio on the Portsmouth Sinfonia, dubbed "the world's worst orchestra." For Brian Eno fans, this may definitely be of particular interest to you as this features Eno in his early days. The track listing on the bio for this album is missing the In the Hall of the Mountain King cue which is included here.
Despite how atrocious nearly every aspect of the performances are they are guaranteed a few gut laughs and this album may be one you may find yourself going back to when in need of a good cheering up after a bad recital or just a bad day in general. The enthusiasm is definitely there as the tunes they are playing are still quite recognizable but I'm sure you've never heard them played quite like this before. An interesting side note is Michael Nyman was inspired by this group in some of his compositions for the soundtrack to 1999's Ravenous, an interesting score all in itself. P.T. Anderson later used samples of Nyman's Ravenous score in some of his own films (Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and Magnolia) but that's another topic for another day. Back to Portsmouth Sinfonia: listen to the albums, enjoy them and share them. You will feel good that you did. :) Also, you will never think of the 2001: A Space Odyssey opening in the same way ever again. Their renditions of the William Tell Overture which appears on both this album and the next one are the only "good" songs of the two sets but that's not why we listen to these things. Highly recommended cues: tracks 1-7.
As I mentioned previously, the previous rip I posted strangely excluded "In the Hall of the Mountain King" which is easily one of the best renditions on the album and closely rivals their rendition of 2001 as the "best worst" cue.
Also missing was the second part of the Nutcracker suite ("Waltz of the Flowers"). Not necessarily a favorite of mine but I do enjoy its inclusion to the programming. They add an additional 7 minutes to the program's run time.
Obviously, if you simply can't appreciate bad performances of classic pieces then this album is clearly not for you. You need to be able to laugh or you're just gonna be annoyed. If you're an aspiring musician then you can probably relate to these.
Portsmouth Sinfonia
Hallelujah: The Portsmouth Sinfonia at the Royal Albert Hall
1974 (Antilles Records)
8 tracks, TRT: 42:05, FLAC (48k/24b)
https://mega.co.nz/#!YsMm0Q5b!WzJ0-2eL_hjn3re8-b5g-2zxp214uSFBwBZl5tPTj6w
Note: you will never think of the 1812 Overture (the sections with the bomb blast sound effects) in the same way ever again. 'Nuff said. I won't even get started on that cymbal player. Recommended tracks: 2, 6, 7 and 8.
This has also been ripped from my own personally acquired copy of the album and my first thought upon laying the needle down and the first notes of The Nutcracker begin playing, the increase in clarity and quality from my previous post is made abundantly clear. I'm not sure what that person was thinking when they mastered their own digital edition but they did it all wrong. The volume at which they mixed theirs made it quite a difficult task to endure after a little while. The bomb explosions featured in the 1812 Overture rendition did not have the proper clarity for such an effect to work so as a result it came off sounding just like a cacophony of ear-shattering sounds that build to a rather messy audio climax (more so than I imagine was expected). This rip alleviates that issue.
These rips are about the best we can hope to expect from them and if my hopes are correct, it'll more than suffice. With the controlled volume, I actually felt like I was there with the audience. The mix for this was warm if not a bit hissy (but not as bad as the Popular Classics album however) and the acoustics of the Royal Albert Hall shine through admirably enough but it wasn't recorded with the best equipment from the sound of it or perhaps concert hall sound recording wasn't quite the art it is now. Either way it goes, it sounds amazing compared to what has previously only been available. Considering this has NEVER seen an official digital release, enjoy the first high-quality digital rips ever presented. I don't foresee a digital album coming out anytime soon so this edition should more than hold us off until that eventual day.
Once you listen to this album in particular, the performances CAN actually sound pretty good. This album is special because it walks a very thin line between bearably good and bearably awful. A wonderful feat to achieve given the history of the Sinfonia. Pieces like the Marche Militaire and Piano Concerto have a magnificent driving rhythm and you may even find yourself dancing along to them, quality of the performances be damned. The Hallelujah chorus cue featuring the Portsmouth Sinfonia Choir (assembled exclusively for this performance) is definitely a highlight. I find the terrible brass and cymbal players played alongside the brilliant choir to be warmly refreshing. It's especially refreshing to hear the players lose sync with each other part way through a piece then meet somewhere in the middle to play the rest of the piece. It's less than perfect, it's raw, real and not afraid to hide it. That's why I love it. That and the fact that they came from (in my opinion) the best musical era to have ever happened: the 70's. I simply can't limit myself to counting the list of great 70's albums that were produced on just two hands. I know other terrible orchestras exist but currently none of their works are available for comparison. Only in the 70's would an orchestra like Portsmouth Sinfonia come along and make it big but only in the post-2000's would we embrace such awfulness to carry on the tradition for 30+ years. How desperate we are to lower the bar these days, eh?
Due to the increase in clarity on this rip, you can definitely hear a few audience snorts and other noises you may never have heard before. Those are guaranteed a laugh if you like the rest.
Once again, if you have a very dry musical sense of humor then there's a good chance you will probably hate both of these albums. Everyone else will have a gay ol' time.
Every cue on both albums is properly split and fully tagged with original artist and cover artist (Portsmouth Sinfonia) plus front (both albums) and back (only available for Plays the Popular Classics) cover art included for your MP3 player. Enjoy!
Portsmouth Sinfonia Plays the Popular Classics
1973/1974 (Columbia Records)
11 tracks, TRT: 42:01, FLAC (48k/24b)
https://mega.co.nz/#!MpUCzQDC!NKdUe07Ex0z4arbRHnTg_ACDfb0VYyKwgNH6IDh yqhc
Note: I've been a fan of these albums for many years but never got around to sharing them. For good reason however. The copies I had were from obviously old and crappy LPs while this new version comes from my own recently acquired copy of the album. It does still have the occasional vinyl pops, clicks and crackling but it's not all that distracting to me and in fact featured LESS of the typical vinyl sounds than any rip I've ever heard. I decided to leave the crackles but I still cannot stand the sound of a pop. It's like nails to a chalkboard for me....that's negating the fact that I rather enjoy that sound. This vinyl arrived surprisingly clean with very little dust. I cleaned it up a bit myself before laying the needle so that seemed to alleviate a little surface noise but some surface noise does still remain although there are no pops/clicks.
Included in BOTH archives is an interesting little bio on the Portsmouth Sinfonia, dubbed "the world's worst orchestra." For Brian Eno fans, this may definitely be of particular interest to you as this features Eno in his early days. The track listing on the bio for this album is missing the In the Hall of the Mountain King cue which is included here.
Despite how atrocious nearly every aspect of the performances are they are guaranteed a few gut laughs and this album may be one you may find yourself going back to when in need of a good cheering up after a bad recital or just a bad day in general. The enthusiasm is definitely there as the tunes they are playing are still quite recognizable but I'm sure you've never heard them played quite like this before. An interesting side note is Michael Nyman was inspired by this group in some of his compositions for the soundtrack to 1999's Ravenous, an interesting score all in itself. P.T. Anderson later used samples of Nyman's Ravenous score in some of his own films (Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and Magnolia) but that's another topic for another day. Back to Portsmouth Sinfonia: listen to the albums, enjoy them and share them. You will feel good that you did. :) Also, you will never think of the 2001: A Space Odyssey opening in the same way ever again. Their renditions of the William Tell Overture which appears on both this album and the next one are the only "good" songs of the two sets but that's not why we listen to these things. Highly recommended cues: tracks 1-7.
As I mentioned previously, the previous rip I posted strangely excluded "In the Hall of the Mountain King" which is easily one of the best renditions on the album and closely rivals their rendition of 2001 as the "best worst" cue.
Also missing was the second part of the Nutcracker suite ("Waltz of the Flowers"). Not necessarily a favorite of mine but I do enjoy its inclusion to the programming. They add an additional 7 minutes to the program's run time.
Obviously, if you simply can't appreciate bad performances of classic pieces then this album is clearly not for you. You need to be able to laugh or you're just gonna be annoyed. If you're an aspiring musician then you can probably relate to these.
Portsmouth Sinfonia
Hallelujah: The Portsmouth Sinfonia at the Royal Albert Hall
1974 (Antilles Records)
8 tracks, TRT: 42:05, FLAC (48k/24b)
https://mega.co.nz/#!YsMm0Q5b!WzJ0-2eL_hjn3re8-b5g-2zxp214uSFBwBZl5tPTj6w
Note: you will never think of the 1812 Overture (the sections with the bomb blast sound effects) in the same way ever again. 'Nuff said. I won't even get started on that cymbal player. Recommended tracks: 2, 6, 7 and 8.
This has also been ripped from my own personally acquired copy of the album and my first thought upon laying the needle down and the first notes of The Nutcracker begin playing, the increase in clarity and quality from my previous post is made abundantly clear. I'm not sure what that person was thinking when they mastered their own digital edition but they did it all wrong. The volume at which they mixed theirs made it quite a difficult task to endure after a little while. The bomb explosions featured in the 1812 Overture rendition did not have the proper clarity for such an effect to work so as a result it came off sounding just like a cacophony of ear-shattering sounds that build to a rather messy audio climax (more so than I imagine was expected). This rip alleviates that issue.
These rips are about the best we can hope to expect from them and if my hopes are correct, it'll more than suffice. With the controlled volume, I actually felt like I was there with the audience. The mix for this was warm if not a bit hissy (but not as bad as the Popular Classics album however) and the acoustics of the Royal Albert Hall shine through admirably enough but it wasn't recorded with the best equipment from the sound of it or perhaps concert hall sound recording wasn't quite the art it is now. Either way it goes, it sounds amazing compared to what has previously only been available. Considering this has NEVER seen an official digital release, enjoy the first high-quality digital rips ever presented. I don't foresee a digital album coming out anytime soon so this edition should more than hold us off until that eventual day.
Once you listen to this album in particular, the performances CAN actually sound pretty good. This album is special because it walks a very thin line between bearably good and bearably awful. A wonderful feat to achieve given the history of the Sinfonia. Pieces like the Marche Militaire and Piano Concerto have a magnificent driving rhythm and you may even find yourself dancing along to them, quality of the performances be damned. The Hallelujah chorus cue featuring the Portsmouth Sinfonia Choir (assembled exclusively for this performance) is definitely a highlight. I find the terrible brass and cymbal players played alongside the brilliant choir to be warmly refreshing. It's especially refreshing to hear the players lose sync with each other part way through a piece then meet somewhere in the middle to play the rest of the piece. It's less than perfect, it's raw, real and not afraid to hide it. That's why I love it. That and the fact that they came from (in my opinion) the best musical era to have ever happened: the 70's. I simply can't limit myself to counting the list of great 70's albums that were produced on just two hands. I know other terrible orchestras exist but currently none of their works are available for comparison. Only in the 70's would an orchestra like Portsmouth Sinfonia come along and make it big but only in the post-2000's would we embrace such awfulness to carry on the tradition for 30+ years. How desperate we are to lower the bar these days, eh?
Due to the increase in clarity on this rip, you can definitely hear a few audience snorts and other noises you may never have heard before. Those are guaranteed a laugh if you like the rest.
Once again, if you have a very dry musical sense of humor then there's a good chance you will probably hate both of these albums. Everyone else will have a gay ol' time.
Every cue on both albums is properly split and fully tagged with original artist and cover artist (Portsmouth Sinfonia) plus front (both albums) and back (only available for Plays the Popular Classics) cover art included for your MP3 player. Enjoy!