Alive Jazz

These are records that really come to life on big speakers playing at loud levels.

They cannot be properly reproduced using small drivers, small speakers or screens, and they won’t sound the way they should unless the volume is up good and loud.

Al Dimeola / Elegant Gypsy – Di Meola’s Masterpiece

More Al Di Meola

More Jazz Rock Fusion

  • One of the best copies of this phenomenal Fusion Guitar Jazz Classic to ever hit the site — Triple Plus (A+++) throughout
  • Both sides are incredibly lively, full-bodied, open and present — the sound is HUGE and WEIGHTY and it rocks
  • 5 stars: “Generally an explosive affair, although it does have a fair amount of variety. A near classic in the fusion vein.”

SHOCKINGLY GOOD SOUND for one of the all-time great guitar albums! We were positively BLOWN AWAY by how lively, dynamic and full-bodied this copy sounds. There’s real texture to all the instruments and the bottom end is tight and punchy beyond belief. They just don’t make records with this kind of Tubey Analog Magic anymore.

If you’ve enjoyed the sonics on one of our Hot Stamper pressings of Return To Forever, Weather Report or Santana, I think you’ll find a lot to like about this record.

This album still holds up today. The All Music Guide gives it five big stars, and on a copy like this one I bet you’ll rate the music just as highly. When you have a pressing with this kind of weight, power, clarity and transparency, you can easily appreciate just how amazing the musicianship is. (more…)

Caldera / Sky Islands

Records You Can Buy that Sound Best on Big Speakers at Loud Levels

More Reviews and Commentaries for Records that Sound Best at Loud Levels

This Super Hot Stamper Caldera album has DEMO DISC SOUND, big and bold, wall to wall and then some! Listen to the monster drum at the opening of Sky Islands — it’s not deep like the bass drum in an orchestra, but it’s solid, punchy and way up front in the mix where it really grabs your attention right from the get go. It’s the perfect introduction to a band that wants to get in your face and knock you over with the power and energy of their music. The immediacy of the recording is like standing at the front of the stage where the music is its loudest and clearest, exactly where I like to be!

Not only is this a phenomenally well-recorded album, it’s also one of the best Jazz Fusion Albums of all time, and easily takes top honors in the sub-category of Latin Jazz Fusion. If you like percussion instruments of all size and shape jumping out of your speakers, this is the record for you!

Produced by Larry Dunn of Earth Wind and Fire fame (he also lends a hand on keyboards), Sky Islands is the pinnacle of the group’s output. AMG really nails the Caldera sound in their bio for the band:

One of the most innovative and chance-taking jazz-fusion outfits of the late 1970s, Caldera was a Latin band that combined jazz, funk and rock with a wide variety of Latin music. 1970s fusion explorers like Return to Forever and Weather Report influenced Caldera, but its members were also influenced by everything from Earth, Wind & Fire’s soul/funk to Afro-Cuban salsa, Brazilian samba and Andean/Peruvian music.

Any band that tries to emulate Weather Report, Return to Forever and Earth, Wind & Fire gets high marks in my book, assuming they can pull it off; those are some seriously talented musicians, groups that have made some of our favorite albums of all time, Desert Island Discs even. If you can keep up with them you’ve been doing your homework.

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