Montrose - Montrose [24kt Gold. Audio Fidelity. HDCD] (1973)

Year: October 17, 1973 (CD Jul 12, 2005)
Label: Audio Fidelity (US), AFZ-028
Style: Hard Rock
Country: California, U.S.
Time: 32:15
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 215 Mb

Now this is rock music! Yeah baby! This is a one of kind album and it still stands up today as one of the rock classics of all time. The self-titled Montrose album came roaring out if the gates in 1973 and 32 years later Audio Fidelity has flattered this rock gem by releasing it on 24KT Gold Disc.
Ronnie Montrose had made his presence known in the Edgar Winter Group then cut his ties and decided to venture into some solo guitar work. He needed a powerful front man to sing over his heavy-duty power chords. He found a young Sammy Hagar (listed as Sam in the credits on the album sleeve) ready to rock and completely capable of handling those duties.
This is a typical LP clocking in at a fraction less than 30 minutes, which is a shame really, because every track oozes with primal raw energy. This is the kind of heart-pumping fist waving sound you that will leave wanting for more every time you hear it. The whole idea behind what Audio Fidelity does is to maintain the original album's integrity while enhancing the sound for optimal listening pleasure so you get what came out in 1973 but with a much better sound. Bill Church (bass) and Danny Carmassi (drums) was a good match for the Montrose guitar groove and they proved to be a solid rhythm section on every track, giving Montrose solid ground to lay his meaty power chords on. This does sound terrific so get ready to crank that stereo as loud as you can stand it, this is music made to play loud!
Ronnie Montrose really cut loose on this album and proved he could play with the best of them. He would continue to show the world why he was one of the best guitar players around throughout the years with more great music but nothing ever seemed to match this. Neither this session nor anything like it would ever happen again unfortunately, as egos got in the way to cause tensions and finally a break up. Its too bad things started fall apart for this band into the second album, which is why this remains the best recording Ronnie Montrose put out under the Montrose heading. When you hear "Rock Candy" you will remember why you loved this album so much. I know I wore it out when it came out on vinyl and to hear it now on my surround sound system in all its glory is something to behold. Do not be mislead by that statement however, this is not 5.1 surround sound it's sourced from the original master tapes and converted from analog to digital.
Eight tracks of some of the most powerful guitar rock you will ever hear is on this album. Its hot sweet and sticky so "Make It Last" because once is not enough for this music.
(enjoythemusic.com/magazine/music/0805/rock/montrose.htm)

01. Rock the Nation (03:03)
02. Bad Motor Scooter (03:43)
03. Space Station #5 (05:16)
04. I Don't Want It (02:58)
05. Good Rockin' Tonight (02:59)
06. Rock Candy (05:05)
07. One Thing on My Mind (03:41)
08. Make It Last (05:27)

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Peter, Paul And Mary - In The Wind [Hybrid SACD. Stereo. Audio Fidelity] (1963)

Year: October 1963 (CD 2014)
Label: Audio Fidelity (US), AFZ 181
Style: Folk, Pop, Oldies
Country: New York City, U.S.
Time: 37:58
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 226 Mb

In the 1960s, the most creatively fertile grounds in America would have to be Greenwich Village, a neighborhood in west Manhattan. It could be be argued that the counterculture of the 60s arose from Greenwich Village, as did many of the decades biggest musical acts, one of the most talented being Bob Dylan.
1963, however, was a very different year than 1965, and a guy like Dylan pretty much had no chance of making a pop crossover. Instead, his songs found their way to the mainstream with Peter, Paul and Mary, a group of Greenwich Village folkies who were formed by manager Albert Grossman in 1961. This group cut their teeth doing clean-cut folk music with sparse acoustic production and pristine harmonies, and often, their music could be quite beautiful. This can be seen on some of the traditional folk covers that appear on this album, like the lullaby "Hush-A-Bye", or the religious ballad "All My Trials". Admittedly, not all of the songs on here work for me, like "Long Chain On" or "Rocky Road", both of which I found to be largely forgettable. For the most part, I would say that this album averages out to a nice, pleasant experience that I probably won't return to. It can certainly be very pretty, and harmonies of all three are very pleasing to the ear, but it' just not as engaging as some of the other folk music that was coming of Greenwich Village. Speaking of which, the main story on this album, as least for me, would have to be the Dylan covers. The weakest of the three would be their take on "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right", mainly because the scornful, passive-aggressive lyrics work best when they're coming from just one person (preferably Dylan himself), as opposed to three. On the other hand, their cover of "Blowin' in the Wind" is genuinely beautiful cover, one that absolutely does the original justice. Peter, Paul and Mary famously performed that song at the same March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have A Dream" speech, and I think that it was a powerful moment, a highlight of their careers.
Ultimately, though, it couldn't last. Peter, Paul and Mary were old school folkies, musically much closer to the Kingston Trio than the Byrds. When Bob Dylan went electric at the Newport Folk Festival, Peter Yarrow was in the audience, holding his head in dismay. The group had one last hit in 1969, the John Denver-penned "Leaving on a Jet Plane", and then that was it. Their brand of pristine folk music had it's moment, but it passed. Still, they'll always have that cover of "Blowin' in the Wind".
(rateyourmusic.com/release/album/peter-paul-and-mary/in-the-wind/)

01. Very Last Day (02:32)
02. Hush-A-Bye (02:21)
03. Long Chain On (04:37)
04. Rocky Road (03:40)
05. Tell It On The Mountain (02:58)
06. Polly Von (04:11)
07. Stewball (03:13)
08. All My Trials (03:18)
09. Don't Think Twice, It's Alright (03:15)
10. Freight Train (02:46)
11. Quit Your Low Down Ways (02:05)
12. Blowin' In The Wind (02:57)

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Peter, Paul And Mary - Peter, Paul And Mary [Hybrid SACD. Stereo. Audio Fidelity] (1962)

Year: May 1962 (CD 2014)
Label: Audio Fidelity (US), AFZ 161
Style: Folk, Pop, Oldies
Country: New York City, U.S.
Time: 34:18
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 194 Mb

Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival. The trio consisted of Peter Yarrow (guitar, tenor vocals), Paul Stookey (guitar, baritone vocals), and Mary Travers (contralto vocals).
They were very successful in the early- and mid-1960s, with their debut album topping the charts for weeks, and helped popularize the folk music revival. Following Travers's death in 2009, Yarrow and Stookey continued to perform as a duo. Yarrow died in 2025, leaving Stookey the sole surviving member of the group.
The self-titled debut studio album by American folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary was released in May 1962 on Warner Bros. Records. Released in both mono and stereo on catalog no. 1449, it is one of the rare folk albums to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart in the US, where it remained for over a month. The lead-off singles "If I Had a Hammer" and "Lemon Tree" reached numbers 10 and 35 respectively on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. It was the group's biggest selling studio album, eventually certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for U.S. sales of more than two million copies.
At the Grammy Awards of 1963, their recording of "If I Had a Hammer" won the Best Folk Recording and Best Performance by a Vocal Group Grammies.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter,_Paul_and_Mary_(album))

01. Early In The Morning (01:37)
02. 500 Miles (02:48)
03. Sorrow (02:55)
04. This Train (02:07)
05. Bamboo (02:34)
06. It's Raining (04:27)
07. If I Had My Way (02:24)
08. Cruel War (03:29)
09. Lemon Tree (02:57)
10. If I Had A Hammer (02:10)
11. Autumn To May (02:49)
12. Where Have All The Flowers Gone? (03:57)

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