(Experimental, Classical, Bossa Nova) Morelenbaum² & Ryuichi Sakamoto - Casa [US bonus tracks] - 2001, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Review by Richard S. Ginell
Multiple-threat cellist/arranger Jacques Morelenbaum and his singer/wife, Paula,
were a big part of Antonio Carlos Jobim's life in his last decade, touring and
recording with him and shaping the music of his last recordings. So it's entirely
fitting that the Morelenbaums, along with pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto, should journey
to Jobim's idyllic music room in his home above Rio de Janeiro to make some intimate
on-the-spot recordings of Jobim's music -- with Sakamoto playing Jobim's own grand piano.
Of course, there was more recording done at two other Rio studios -- and two additional
tracks were recorded live in Tokyo -- but the ambience of intimacy remains intact
throughout the disc. All of the songs here have been published before, many dating
from as early as 1958, yet the disc trumpets some recorded premieres of Jobim material,
though the booklet doesn't point them out. But there is at least one first recording
that can be verified, "Tema Para Ana," a short, attractive duet for cello and piano
written for Jobim's wife, Ana, and not published until a year after his death in 1994.
Paula's soft, dusky voice -- whether singing in English or Portuguese -- is the
personification of the Brazilian beach itself, and Jacques' cello amplifies the element
of melancholy that runs through much of Jobim. A lovely rendition of "Song of the Sabia"
finds Sakamoto hammering out chords that tie the song to the Chopin E minor prelude,
and a nicely swinging "Bonita" has sounds of the sea overdubbed. The trio gets frequent
help from ringers like Luiz Brazil and Jobim's son, Paulo, on violao (guitar), percussionist
Marcos Suzano, and bassist Zeca Assumpcao, who impose overt bossa nova grooves on tunes like
"O Amor Em Paz" and "O Grande Amor." In addition, Ed Motta's vocals are like a ghostly facsimile
of Jobim's own gravelly voice in "Imagina." The cover art itself is a classy nostalgia trip,
a photograph of Sugar Loaf, the beach at Ipanema, and the surrounding Rio landscape mounted
in the sparely elegant style of Creed Taylor's A&M jackets of the late '60s. Nice touch.

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008
EAC extraction logfile from 30. May 2009, 3:52
Morelenbaum2-Sakamoto / Casa [US Bonus Track]
Used drive  : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GSA-T20N   Adapter: 1  ID: 0
Read mode               : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache      : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction                      : 667
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out          : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks   : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations       : Yes
Used interface                              : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling                                : Appended to previous track
Used output format              : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate                : 1024 kBit/s
Quality                         : High
Add ID3 tag                     : No
Command line compressor         : C:\Program Files\FLAC\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=EAC FLAC -8" %s
TOC of the extracted CD
     Track |   Start  |  Length  | Start sector | End sector
    ---------------------------------------------------------
        1  |  0:00.00 |  3:50.32 |         0    |    17281
        2  |  3:50.32 |  3:51.10 |     17282    |    34616
        3  |  7:41.42 |  4:30.60 |     34617    |    54926
        4  | 12:12.27 |  4:29.68 |     54927    |    75169
        5  | 16:42.20 |  3:49.55 |     75170    |    92399
        6  | 20:32.00 |  3:10.57 |     92400    |   106706
        7  | 23:42.57 |  4:22.00 |    106707    |   126356
        8  | 28:04.57 |  4:18.13 |    126357    |   145719
        9  | 32:22.70 |  2:18.05 |    145720    |   156074
       10  | 34:41.00 |  4:02.50 |    156075    |   174274
       11  | 38:43.50 |  4:30.22 |    174275    |   194546
       12  | 43:13.72 |  2:00.73 |    194547    |   203619
       13  | 45:14.70 |  2:07.10 |    203620    |   213154
       14  | 47:22.05 |  2:21.07 |    213155    |   223736
       15  | 49:43.12 |  4:04.45 |    223737    |   242081
       16  | 53:47.57 |  5:07.58 |    242082    |   265164
       17  | 58:55.40 |  5:37.55 |    265165    |   290494
       18  | 64:33.20 |  7:10.72 |    290495    |   322816
Track  1
     Filename C:\Morelenbaum2_Sakamoto - Casa (2001) [FLAC] {Sony Classical, SK-89982}\01 - As Praias Desertas.wav
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     Accurately ripped (confidence 6)  [5AD18A7B]
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Track  2
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     Accurately ripped (confidence 6)  [6DE39948]
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Track  3
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Track  4
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Track  5
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Track  6
     Filename C:\Morelenbaum2_Sakamoto - Casa (2001) [FLAC] {Sony Classical, SK-89982}\06 - Chanson Pour Michelle.wav
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Track  7
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     Accurately ripped (confidence 6)  [D540BD7D]
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Track  8
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Track  9
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Track 10
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Track 11
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Track 12
     Filename C:\Morelenbaum2_Sakamoto - Casa (2001) [FLAC] {Sony Classical, SK-89982}\12 - Cancao Em Modo Menor.wav
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     Accurately ripped (confidence 6)  [B4D0B1FD]
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Track 13
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Track 14
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Track 15
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Track 16
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Track 17
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Track 18
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All tracks accurately ripped
No errors occurred
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