Mark O'Connor - On The Rampage

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:05
Size: 110.1 MB
Styles: Progressive bluegrass
Year: 1980/2016
Art: Front

[5:53] 1. Opus 1 Come Ride With Me
[4:55] 2. Opus 2 Mark's Ark
[4:18] 3. Opus 3 Midnight Interlude
[3:04] 4. Opus 4 On The Rampage
[5:07] 5. Opus 8 Ease With The Breeze
[5:42] 6. Opus 10 Rampology
[4:15] 7. Opus 7 The Dark Rain
[4:02] 8. Opus 5 Soft Gyrations
[3:45] 9. Opus 9 Tubular Explosions
[7:00] 10. Opus 6 Disco Fiddle Rampsody

Mark O'Connor was all of 17 years of age when he made On the Rampage in 1979 for Rounder, yet he was already a seasoned player attracting a lot of attention in the world of bluegrass. Overdubbing himself on violins and guitars, O'Connor shares no fewer that ten originals, which not only show a surprising maturity but demonstrate that he's a major player in stretching the supposed boundaries of bluegrass. Mark is unaccompanied for the haunting "Midnight Interlude," which consists solely of his multiply overdubbed instruments. It doesn't hurt to have veterans like mandolinist Sam Bush on hand, while both David Grisman and Tony Rice are added for the mellow "Ease With the Breeze." ~Ken Dryden

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Peter Rowan & Tony Rice - Quartet

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 52:04
Size: 119.2 MB
Styles: Progressive bluegrass, Contemporary Folk
Year: 2007
Art: Front

[4:44] 1. Dust Bowl Children
[3:46] 2. To Live Is To Fly
[5:44] 3. The Walls Of Time
[4:13] 4. Shady Grove
[7:40] 5. Moonlight Midnight
[5:03] 6. Trespasses
[3:39] 7. The Sunny Side Of The Mountain
[6:14] 8. Cold Rain And Snow
[3:24] 9. Guardian Angles
[4:54] 10. Let The Harvest Go To Seed
[2:40] 11. Perfection

Allowing Peter Rowan and Tony Rice to front a small acoustic band is a shortcut to creating a bluegrass-folk supergroup. Few bluegrass-folk vocalists achieve Rowan's rich, resonant delivery, and while he's certainly a "good" singer, he maintains weathered edges that make him a good (read "authentic") folksinger. Rice's guitar style, equally melodic and nimble, warmly wraps itself around Rowan's vocals. These winning attributes, however, only begin to explain the carefully woven tapestry of Quartet, a richly realized folk recording. Both bassist/vocalist Bryn Davies and mandolinist/vocalist Sharon Gilchrist add considerably to the spaciousness of the sound and intricate interplay between the four musicians. Davies and Gilchrist's vocal harmony likewise supplies an additional emotional layer on "Dust Bowl Children" and "To Live Is to Fly." While the songs have been carefully selected, the content of individual lyrics seem to matter less than the tone of Rowan's vocals, the harmony, Rice's lead lines, and the mix of acoustic instruments. Quartet, then, is more about creating an entwined sound with a solid bottom end than lyrical content, and the songs are simply vehicles for that sound. Quartet starts stronger than it ends, but the early material is very strong. While both Rice and Rowan seem more intent in refining earlier stylistic innovations than creating new ones, Quartet's progressive acoustic vision remains fresh and vital. ~Ronnie D. Lankford Jr

Quartet

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