Fontaines D.C. – Live At Kilmainham Gaol (Partisan, 2021)
(Partisan/Knitting Factory Records)
Live recording/no audience for this July 2020 COVID lockdown session at this deeply historic site (I’ve been there, it’s a moving and amazing place you should visit if you are ever in Dublin.) The jail (gaol) interior is all high ceilings, metal and stone, and you can really hear the reverb in this recording, where the band TEARS through ten songs from Dogrel and A Hero’s Death (including the great title track from the latter.) You should get those albums too, but if you’re able to find this disc, snag it – it’s an excellent introduction to this very fine bunch of punks. Great (180g) vinyl quality and packaging (one of the better made gatefolds I’ve seen.) Plus: a poster for the dorm room wall!
Echo and the Bunnymen – Live In Liverpool (Cooking Vinyl/Demon UK Import)
(Cooking Vinyl/Demon)
This is a first-time-to-vinyl reissue of a 2001 performance at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts – “LIPA” for you acronym fans. The band is in very, very, fine form here, running through not just the hits (including The Killing Moon, simply one of the finest songs ever written) but fine lesser-known songs like King of Kings. The arrangements are muted, taking on an “Unplugged” vibe, but the different perspective suits the songs well – with the exception of Killing Moon, which sounds on the tinkly side – that song needs to go big. EXCELLENT two-disc vinyl pressing on clear vinyl.
Kenny Dorham – quiet kenny (New Jazz/Craft Recordings)
(Craft Recordings)
Craft Recordings has been firmly establishing itself as the go-to label for high-quality reissues. Their recent introduction of their “Small Batch” one-step pressing series, kicking off with John Coltrane’s Lush Life put them right in the mix with Mobile Fidelity, Speakers Corner, and Chad Kassem’s Analogue Productions. This fine 1959 disc on the New Jazz label (a Prestige predecessor) is no exception. The music is exceptional (Dorham is backed by a murderer’s row of Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers and Arthur Taylor) and the mastering, by the peerless Kevin Gray from the original mono tapes, is fab also. The disc has the usual RTI quality – it’s a drop-dead quiet pressing, and the sleeve is a properly heavy cardboard with a poly inner sleeve. If you can still find this disc (Craft only pressed 2500 copies), snap it up; it’s a gem.
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