The Moscow Sessions
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC tracks | no cue | no log | Covers | FS, MU, HF | 1.06 GB 3% rec
1987 | Genre: Classical | Label: Sheffield Lab | TLP-27 | US pressing, Direct from master tape

The sound is first class (as the bright-as-a-button Shostakovich overture readily shows at the opening), and the large TV studio in Moscow proves an admirable venue, offering plenty of ambience, while the microphone placing seeks a natural concert hall balance throughout the three programmes. There is brilliance without edge and the recording truthfully reflects the fact that the strings have not quite the body and weight of the finest West European orchestras, but that they do not lack commitment or vitality.

[ Gramophone Magazine, February 1988 ]

Lena Horne and Harry Belafonte - Porgy & Bess
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC tracks | no cue | no log | Covers | FS, MU, HF | 754 MB 3% rec
1959 | Genre: Jazz Vocal | Label: RCA Living Stereo | LSO-1507 | US pressing

The first of Belafonte's duet albums with female performers, this one paired two attractive black American singers at the peak of their respective talents. As with Belafonte's later albums, the selections consist of individual performances as well as duets. The subject matter is songs from George Gershwin's operetta Porgy and Bess, capitalizing on the popularity of the Columbia film released that year

(Cary Ginell - AllMusic Guide)

Willie Nelson - Greatest Hits (1981) 24-Bit/96-kHz Vinyl Rip
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC tracks | no cue | no log | Covers | FS, MU, HF | 1.3 GB 3% rec
1981 | Genre: Country | Label: CBS | 37542 | US pressing, Double LP set
Rated 5 out of 5 star by AllMusic Guide
Peaked #1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart 1981

Consequently, this Greatest Hits is far more than a mere recitation of familiar items. It is something much better – a rounded, full-bodied portrait of Willie in all of his idiosyncratic spleandor, which is about as much as could be asked from a hits collection. And that's why it's worth having, not just as an introduction, but just as a splendid listen on its own terms.

( Stephen Thomas Erlewine - AllMusic Guide )

West Side Story (Original Sound Track Recording, 1961)
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC tracks | no cue | no log | Covers | FS, MU, HF | 1 GB 3% rec
1961 | Genre: Sound Track | Label: Columbia Masterworks | OS-2070 | US pressing, six-eye label
Rated 4.5 out of 5 star by AllMusic Guide

This film version of the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim score of a modern, urban Romeo and Juliet spent more weeks at #1 in the charts (54) than any other album in history. It is an effective rendition of the score, featuring Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris, and features all of the show's important songs, among them "Something's Coming," "Maria," "Tonight," and "Somewhere."

( William Ruhlmann - AllMusic Guide )

Prokofieff - Lieutenant Kije, Stravinsky - Song of the Nightingale (Fritz Reiner/CSO)
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC tracks | cue | no log | Covers | FS, MU, HF | 802 MB 3% rec
1957 | Genre: Classical | Label: Chesky | RC-10 | US pressing, reissue from RCA 3-track tape

Kijé is from the mainstream Prokofiev stable: folk tunes scored with great invention and combined with sections of sarcasm and wit. The Stravinsky tone poem, Song of the Nightingale, is music taken from his opera, The Nightingale. It is a score of great brilliance and demands the utmost virtuosity from every player. Here, under the watchful eye of Fritz Reiner, the Chicago Symphony delivers the goods.

(Anthony Kershaw, audiophilia classic, 2009)

Carpenters
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC tracks | cue | no log | Covers | FS, MU, HF | 625 MB 3% rec
1971 | Genre: Pop Vocal | Label: A&M | SP-3502 | US pressing

Carpenters is the third studio album by the Carpenters. Released on May 14, 1971, the album was successful, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200 chart and #12 in the UK. With the hit songs "For All We Know", "Rainy Days and Mondays" and "Superstar", Carpenters solidified Karen Carpenter as one of her generation's most endearing pop vocalists.

(wikipedia)

Offenbach: Gaîté parisienne, Strauss: Graduation Ball (Doráti/MSO)
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC tracks | cue | no log | Covers | FS, MU, HF | 1.07 GB 3% rec
1957 | Genre: Classical | Label: Mercury | Living Presence SR-90016 | US pressing, FR-1/FR-1

Brilliant recording of favorite ballet scores by a conductor who commands an appropriately energetic approach. The sound here is exceptionally live, with remarkable definition of various instruments and real "bite" to the reproduction.

(Billboard, Jan 1958)

Carpenters - A Song for You
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC tracks | cue | no log | Covers | FS, MU, HF | 743 MB 3% rec
1972 | Genre: Pop Vocal | Label: A&M | SP-3511 | US pressing
Rated 4.5 out of 5 star by AllMusic Guide

The duo's best album, and the place to start beyond the hits compilations. Up to the release of A Song for You, the Carpenters' success had seemed an awesome if somewhat fluky phenomenon, built on prodigious talent, some beautifully crafted pop sensibilities, and a very fortunate choice of singles

(Bruce Eder - AllMusic Guide)

Britten: Four Sea Interludes & Passacaglia (André Previn/LSO)
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1976 | Genre: Classical | Label: EMI | ASD-3154 | UK pressing
TAS Listed

These late era analogue recordings are likely to be well known to many who collected LPs in the 1970s although they will not be quite as familiar as the contents of some of the other GROC series discs.
These are stereo ADD recordings. In the case of the Britten Sinfonia and the Grimes episodes the recordings derive from an LP first issued in dual compatible stereo and SQ quad. That LP was a celebrated hi-fi artefact with the clean satin openness of the LSO strings almost as impressive as the crashingly captured climaxes, growling, thunderous and metallic. Every sound is accommodated in a grand acoustic.

( Rob Barnett - MusicWeb International, 2004 )

Kenny Rogers - Love Will Turn You Around
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC tracks | no cue | no log | Covers | FS, MU, HF | 623 MB 3% rec
1982 | Genre: Pop | Label: Liberty | LO-51124 | US pressing

Love Will Turn You Around is the tenth solo studio album by Kenny Rogers, released in 1982.
The title cut was the debut single and charted well, reaching #1 on the U.S. and Canadian country charts and adult contemporary charts, and #13 on the Hot 100 chart. The other single, "A Love Song", didn't fare as well, only reaching #1 in Canada and #3 on the U.S. Country chart.
The album peaked at #34 on the Billboard 200 charts. The album has been certified Platinum in both the U.S. and Canada.

( wikipedia )

Ella Fitzgerald - Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie
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1961 | Genre: Jazz Vocal | Label: Verve | V6-4053 | US pressing reissue by ClassicRecords, Limited Edition

Although not reaching the heights of her live performances, this is an excellent (and somewhat underrated) set.

( Scott Yanow - AllMusic Guide )

Carpenters - Close to You
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1970 | Genre: Pop | Label: A&M | SP-4271 | US pressing
Rated 4 out of 5 star by AllMusic Guide

Hurriedly put together in the wake of the success of the title song, and containing the follow-up hit "We've Only Just Begun," Close to You is a surprisingly strong album, and not just for those hits. Richard Carpenter's originals "Maybe It's You" and "Crescent Noon" are superb showcases for Karen Carpenter's developing talent, the latter a superbly atmospheric, hauntingly beautiful art song of the kind that Judy Collins was doing well at the time, and gorgeously arranged.

( Bruce Eder - AllMusic Guide )

Duke Ellington & Count Basie - First Time
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC tracks | no cue | no log | Covers | FS, MU | 840 MB 3% rec
1961 | Genre: Jazz | Label: CBS/Sony | 20AP-1471 | Japanese pressing
Rated 4.5 out of 5 star by AllMusic Guide

At first glance this collaboration should not have worked. The Duke Ellington and Count Basie Orchestras had already been competitors for 25 years but the leaders' mutual admiration (Ellington was one of Basie's main idols) and some brilliant planning made this a very successful and surprisingly uncrowded encounter. On most selections Ellington and Basie both play piano (their interaction with each other is wonderful) and the arrangements allowed the stars from both bands to take turns soloing. "Segue in C" is the highpoint but versions of "Until I Met You," "Battle Royal" and "Jumpin' at the Woodside" are not far behind.

( Scott Yanow - AllMusic Guide )

Emmylou Harris - Angel Band
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC tracks | no cue | no log | Covers | FS, MU, HF | 711 MB 3% rec
1987 | Genre: Country | Label: Warner Bros | W1-25585 | US pressing
Rated 4 out of 5 star by AllMusic Guide
Reached #23 on Billboard's Country Albums chart 1987

Angel Band is yet another fascinating left turn, an acoustic record comprised of country-gospel songs like "We Shall Rise, " "If I Be Lifted Up" and "Someday My Ship Will Sail, " performed with great subtlety and nuance.

( Jason Ankeny - AllMusic Guide )

Movie Soundtrack - Grease
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC tracks | no cue | no log | Covers | MU, FS, HF | 1.25 GB 3% recovery
1978 | Genre: Rock&Roll | Label: RSO Records | RS-2-4002 | US pressing, double LP
Rated 4.5 out of 5 star by AllMusic Guide
Reached #1 on The Billboard 200 chart, 1978

Grease was a huge success as a Broadway musical prior to hitting the big screen in 1978. That was the version that transformed Grease into a phenomenon – it was a runaway box office success, and then became a TV, cable, and video favorite. The soundtrack rivaled its film counterpart as a pop culture perennial, and it's not hard to see why –

(Stephen Thomas Erlewine - AllMusic Guide)