AAA 100% Analogue This LP was Remastered using Pure Analogue Components Only from the Master Tapes through to the Cutting Head
Yarlung Records - YAR52066-677V - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue
Cut by Bernie Grundman - Limited Edition - Pressed at Pallas in Germany
The Absolute Sound Super Disc List
TAS Harry Pearson Super LP List
Mastering by Steve Hoffman & Lacquers Cut by Bernie Grundman!
The sound is intensely three-dimensional, especially the sensation of being in the audience when the deserved applause come after each performance. The singers appear before you convincingly effectively spread across the stage, bathed but not buried in the deep narrow room’s natural reverberant field but only if you correctly adjust the level. Too loud and the illusion gets destroyed in glare and over-reverberance (if there is such a word). You’ll know when the SPLs are correctly set, especially if your system achieves anything close to phase or time domain coherency.Yarlung’s recording engineer Arian Jensen and producer and label owner Bob Attiyeh used Agfa 468 tape on a SonoruS ATR12 recorder employing SonoruS Holographic Imaging technology. Whatever that is, works. An AKG C24 stereo microphone captured it all using an Eliot Midwood designed microphone preamplifier.- Sound 9/10 Analogue Planet
Extraordinary -An outstanding recording of special and historic music. The Lifeline Quartet soars with music and meaning.
Lacquers Cut by Bernie Grundman! Executive producers: Craig and Diane Martin
Michelle Mayne-Graves and her Lifeline Quartet perform spirituals from the Civil War era and before, celebrating code songs written as reminders and guides for the Underground Railroad. These spirituals include hidden messages about maps, navigational strategies and timing for slaves to escape toward freedom in the Northern States and Canada.
In addition to directing choirs, performing spirituals and helping to coordinate and lead veterans singing groups, Michelle supervises a team and works as the RN Case Manager for Housing Homeless Veterans at the Veteran's Administration in Los Angeles. "If I Can Help Somebody" opens the album. This song not only honors Harriet Tubman, but reveals Michelle's generous heart as well. Michelle lives what she sings. Harriet Tubman is one of the better known heroes who escaped slavery herself and then worked as a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, helping subsequent groups of people flee to the North.
"Wade In The Water", for example, serves as a reminder for escaping slaves of where to walk in the rivers to make it harder for dogs to scent people escaping at night. "I'm On My Way To Canaan's Land" talks about the route to Canada.
Slavery may be the worst chapter in the history of the United States. The scars from slavery may fade over the years but will never go away. It is marvelous and perhaps miraculous to witness the magnificent music created by an oppressed people during and despite this incredible suffering.
This is my favorite type of album: an audiophile masterpiece with extraordinary soundstaging and delicate ambience in a beautiful auditorium. You can use this LP to test for phase coherency in a system and in the listening room. You'll know when it is right. One can feel the audience too, all around you. And don't be surprised if you join in with the occasional 'Amen!' But more than the sound, this is gripping music beautifully performed by four people you will love if you do not know them already. The members of Lifeline Quartet sing from their hearts as much as from their four impressive pairs of vocal chords. These are songs of deep longing, yearning for freedom, eternal hope and the promise of transcendence.
-Mike Wechsberg, President of the Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society
Recorded live in Samueli Theater at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, October 2018
Mastering Engineer: Steve Hoffman
45rpm vinyl mastering by Bernie Grundman
Made in Germany
Musicians
Michael Fitzgerald vocals
Quinton Fitzgerald vocals
Michelle Mayne-Graves vocals
Walter Penniman II vocals
Selections
Side 1:
If I Can Help Somebody
Steal Away To Jesus
Canaan's Land - Fare Ye Well Medley
Wade In The Water
Talk About A Child
Deep River
Side 2:
Hold On To The Gospel Plow
Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen
Down By The Riverside
Motherless Child
Ain't Goin' - Joshua Fit De' Battle
Saints' Medley
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!
