AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only, from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head

Pure Pleasure / Candid  - CJS 9775 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue

Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering by Ray Staff  at Air Mastering London

Limited Edition - Pressed  at Pallas Germany 

Very intimate voice, sensual jazz singer recommanded, one of my favorite jazz singer, now on lp, it is even better than the CD - LP - Sound 5/5

Vocalist Stacy Kent is an exceptional ballad interpreter, and she puts a unique sound and delivery to this collection of covers. She makes each song her own, and is backed here by a tight-knit group of professionals, including her husband, Jim Tomlinson, who contributes clarinet and tenor sax. Dreamsville hit the Swedish Pop Charts in 1999 and won the Gold Award in Japan's Swing Journal that same year.

Vocalist Stacey Kent may or may not be "the greatest ballad singer in half a century," as her PR claims, but her straightforward renditions of these by-request ballads are not at all generic. What makes them consistently delightful is her unique sound and delivery. There's a certain brassiness, a trumpet-like pointedness, in her voice, as well as a host of endearing idiosyncrasies. Kent knows how to make every tune fit her own musical persona.. Dreamsville includes a number of seldom-heard gems, particularly "You Are There" by Johnny Mandel and Dave Frishberg, "You're Looking at Me" by Bobby Troup, and the ever-stunning title track by Henry Mancini. She also presents perennial favorites like "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" and "Thanks for the Memory" (the latter not exactly a ballad). And although this is Kent's hour all the way, her band provides expert backing and more than a few surprises. The singer's husband, Jim Tomlinson, takes a break from tenor sax to play a sumptuous clarinet solo on "Polka Dots." And in the midst of Rodgers & Hart's "Little Girl Blue," pianist David Newton, bassist Simon Thorpe, and drummer Jasper Kviberg fall away, entering again only after Tomlinson and Colin Oxley perform a hushed tenor/guitar duet chorus.

In search of more female vocals, I turned to Stacey Kent’s Dreamsville, as remastered by Pure Pleasure in 2007. Here you could appreciate the singer’s way of using vibrato to make notes that start sounding precise and penetrating, finish up as a kind of purr, cushioned in a lush-sounding production

As the “Is-you-is-or-is-you-ain’t-a-jazz-singer?” debate deepens around Diana Krall and Jane Monheit, count on Stacey Kent to become the next victim. Well on her way to divadom in England, the all-American Kent is poised to become the next big thing on this side of the Atlantic with this, her fourth album. Sticking exclusively to familiar standards, and remaining steadfastly loyal to every word, she insists, in interview after interview, that she wants to be regarded as simply a keen interpreter of the Great American Songbook. To that end, she succeeds.

Reminiscent of Doris Day, Kent boasts the same superb enunciation and a similar ability to sell a lyric without a breaking a sweat. Listening to Dreamsville, I was, however, struck with a nagging feeling of deja vu. I knew I’d heard that voice before. First, I detected a hint of Ginger Rogers in her phrasing-not surprising considering that Kent was weaned on Fred Astaire musicals. Then, somewhere around track eight or nine, it finally hit me: Stacey Kent sounds exactly like Joanie Sommers. Sommers, whose all-to-brief career ended before Kent was born, is best remembered as the sparkly, early ’60s jingler for Pepsi-Cola and the teen fave who hit pay dirt with “Johnny Get Angry,” her sappy paean to high school he-men. But Sommers also tried, with limited success, to follow the crossover path paved by Bobby Darin. Trouble was, for all her fundamental skill she made everything sound the same. Kent, too, has a tendency toward monotony. It’s hard, for instance, to detect much difference in cadence or emotion between “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” “Isn’t It a Pity?” or “When Your Lover Has Gone.” Occasionally, though, she rises above par and, in doing so, proves herself a quick study. Her “Under a Blanket of Blue” is terrific, but isn’t hers. It’s Anita O’Day’s. Her “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” comes complete with most of Sassy’s shadings.

Still, any singer who can echo the best qualities of Day, O’Day and Vaughan or, for that matter, Rogers and Sommers, deserves attention. And attention she’ll get. She’ll never be a threat to the legacies of Ella or Carmen, but there’s nothing too shabby about being the next Doris.

Musicians:
Stacey Kent, vocals
Jim Tomlinson, tenor saxophone, clarinet, flute
Colin Oxley, guitar
David Newton, piano
Simon Thorpe, bass
Jasper Kviberg, drums

Selections:
1. I've Got A Crush On You
2. When Your Lover Has Gone
3. Isn't It A Pity?
4. You Are There
5. Under A Blanket Of Blue
6. Dreamsville
7. Polka Dots And Moonbeams
8. Hushabye Mountain
9. Little Girl Blue
10. You're Looking At Me
11. Violets For Your Furs
12. Thanks For The Memory

ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES

AAA 100% ANALOGUE

We use the Original Tapes and work with only the Best Mastering Studios

PALLAS

Plated and Pressed at Pallas in Germany on 180 gram Virgin Vinyl

Highest Quality Jackets and  Inner Sleeves

LIMITED EDITION

Low Numbers per Stamper Released in Limited Quantities

 

 

Pure Pleasure Records
The Restoration of the Art of Sound
180g Vinyl Mastered From The Best Available Sources

At the beginning of the 90s, in the early days of audiophile vinyl re-releases, the situation was fairly straightforward. Companies such as DCC, Mobile Fidelity, Classic Records and, of course, Pure Pleasure all maintained a mutual, unwritten ethical code: we would only use analogue tapes to manufacture records. During the course of the present vinyl hype, many others have jumped on the bandwagon in the hope of securing a corner of the market. Very often they are not so ethical and use every imaginable source to master from: CDs, LPs, digital files, MP3s – or employed existent tools from the 80s and 90s for manufacturing.

A digital delay is gladly used when cutting a lacquer disc because tape machines with an analogue delay have become quite rare and are therefore expensive. When cutting the lacquer, the audio signal is delayed by one LP revolution against the signal, which controls the cutter head, and for this a digital delay is very often employed. Of course, the resultant sound signal is completely digital and thus only as good as this delay.

We should like to emphasize that Pure Pleasure Records on principle only uses the original master tape as the basis for the entirely analogue cutting of lacquer discs. In addition, the pressing tool is newly manufactured as a matter of principle. We only employ existing tools for manufacturing if an improved result is not forthcoming, e.g. the title Elvis Is Back, which was mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray, or several titles from our Philips Classics series, which in any case Willem Makkee cut from the original masters at the Emil Berliner Studios in the 90s. It goes without saying that we only used the mother and that new tools were made for our production. To put it in a nutshell: we can ensure you that our releases are free from any kind of digital effects and that the lacquer discs are newly cut.

There really is nothing quite like it.  It’s the touch, the feel, you have to stop and stare, the cover,  the real thing, even the smell.

Its tangible, you can feel it, see it, study it,   muse/dream over it, it’s real, someone  has spent hours and hours over its construction and presentation. Pure Pleasure Records is just that, Pure Pleasure and that is what it has set out to be.  The music and the physical record.  Something to keep, treasure, admire and above all enjoy.Of course with vinyl it’s not just a record, it’s the cover,  the sleeve notes, you are  holding a unique package, produced by craftsmen.

60 Years Pallas

 

Audiophile Vinyl - Made in Germany  For over 60 years the family business in the third generation of the special personal service and quality "Made by Pallas" is known worldwide. Our custom PVC formulation produces consistently high pressing quality with the lowest surface noise in the industry. Our PVC complies with 2015 European environmental standards and does not contain toxic materials such as Lead, Cadmium or Toluene. Our vinyl is both audiophile and eco-grade!