The Beatles: The Capitol Albums Vol. 1
Capitol CDP 8 66878 2
Released: 2004
Format: CD

This set was bound to be controversial. While purists consider the US versions of the Beatles’ albums, which were reconstructed from the original UK LPs and singles, to be violations of the band’s intentions, American baby boomers who grew up listening to the US albums found they sometimes missed them when Capitol deleted them on the release in 1987 of the Beatles catalog on CD, exclusively in the original UK versions. Meet the Beatles, The Beatles’ Second Album, Something New, and Beatles ’65 are now available on CD for the first time in this set, remastered using 24-bit technology. They sound smoother and less "digital" than most of the Beatles CDs now in print. With Yellow Submarine Songtrack, this set makes yet another strong argument for remastering all of the band’s recordings.

The Capitol Albums Vol. 1 houses each CD in a miniature version of the original LP sleeve; each disc contains the song lineup in both stereo and mono. Most of the stereo recordings are, in fact, true stereo, while some are in Capitol’s abysmal Duophonic fake stereo. You’ll want to avoid the horrible, distorted Duophonic versions of "She’s a Woman" and "I Feel Fine," for example, and opt for the monos. That’s why CD players are programmable. There are some significant sonic differences between these recordings and their British counterparts, and it’s instructive to compare them. On the whole, a very enjoyable set, especially for completists and collectors.

Harold Budd: Avalon Sutra
Samadhisound CD SS0004
Released: 2004
Format: CD

Harold Budd says that Avalon Sutra will be his last recording. His previous disc, La Bella Vista, was a collection of solo piano pieces; here he returns to a more familiar sound. Sustained electronic keyboard lines and doctored pianos create intense, atmospheric backdrops to Budd’s beautiful melodic ruminations. John Gibson joins him on four tracks on reeds, a string quartet on four other tracks. On the remaining selections, Budd multitracks himself. Like his occasional collaborator Brian Eno, Budd can come dangerously close to making elevator music, but the meditative quality of his music pulls you in and deepens as his pieces develop. Disc 1 of this set contains 14 short compositions that are plaintive and romantic. The second disc is a remix of the final track on the first disc, "As Long As I Can Hold My Breath," as reimagined by Budd and electronic/ambient composer Akira Rabelais. It’s nearly 70 minutes long; you can duck in and out of the recording at various points and detect no variety in its simple, repetitive lines, but a closer listen reveals many subtle shifts and changes.

Paul Weller: Studio 150
V2/Virgin 63881-27211-2
Released: 2004
Format: CD

Paul Weller’s first studio recording to be released on a major US label since 1997’s Heavy Soul is a collection of songs originally recorded by others. Nearly everyone knows Bob Dylan’s "All Along the Watchtower" and the Carpenters’ "Close to You," while devotees of 1970s soul will be familiar with Rose Royce’s "Wishing on a Star" and Sister Sledge’s "Thinking of You." Other choices are more obscure, such as Nolan Porter’s "If I Could Only Be Sure," but Weller brings a songwriter’s affection and appreciation to all of them, even when radically reinterpreting them. Weller’s version of "Close to You" is more Dionne Warwick than Karen Carpenter, and "All Along the Watchtower" is a prime example of how effectively he can mix 1960s rock and soul. His slashing version of Gil Scott Heron’s "The Bottle" is a high point of a disc that will serve to keep his fans happy until his next batch of original songs.

Los Lobos: Ride This
Mammoth/Hollywood 2061-62456-2
Released: 2004
Format: CD

For The Ride, Los Lobos enlisted the help of some of their friends to help celebrate their 30th anniversary, and here they return the favor by covering songs by seven of the musicians who appeared on that disc. Los Lobos can play anything -- their version of Bobby Womack’s "More Than I Can Stand" is as soulful as Womack himself could want, and they take Tom Waits’ "Jockey Full of Bourbon" to the barrio. Choice tracks include a version of Elvis Costello’s "Uncomplicated" that’s as tough as the original, and a beautiful, gentle cover of Ruben Blades’ "Patria" that features a terrific Hendrix-influenced solo by David Hidalgo. If you already own The Ride, you might as well pick this up. If you don’t, buy them both.

Various Artists: Goodbye Babylon
Dust-To-Digital DTD-01
Released: 2004
Format: CD

Atlanta software installer Lance Ledbetter spent five years researching and compiling Goodbye Babylon, and financed it on his credit cards. It showed up on a number of best-of lists for 2004, but a collection of 135 southern gospel songs and 25 sermons is probably not for everyone. Some audiophiles may find the sound of these recordings, which go back as far as 1902, to be a little hard to fight through, but Ledbetter, who released the set on his own label rather than give up control to a major, has done a fine job of cleaning things up. Blues, country, Sacred Harp singing, African-American and white gospel quartets -- the music runs the stylistic gamut, but all of it is emotionally raw and honest. Most of these recordings are from the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, so you’re not going to hear much Freud- or Oprah-influenced Christianity here, or any sentiments you’d recognize if all you know of gospel music comes from the current Nashville scene. This is old-time Pentecostal music, whose tone is perhaps best embodied in the title of a sermon from the sixth disc, "Black Diamond Express to Hell."

The six CDs come in a large wooden box with a sliding lid that contains an etching of Gustave Doré’s The Confusion of Tongues. A 200-page booklet, modeled after an old-time hymnal, describes the performers and their songs. Anyone who’s listened to Jimmie Rodgers and Robert Johnson on the same day will not be surprised to learn how much of the music of the South cross-pollinated, but the sixth disc reveals how powerfully Southern preaching influenced the region’s music. If you own this, Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music, and Louis Armstrong’s Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings, you have the Rosetta Stone of American music in the 20th century.

…Joseph Taylor
josepht@soundstageav.com