Candid /  Pure Pleasure  - CJS9786 - 180 Gram Virgin Vinyl - AAA 100% Analogue

Audiophile Mastering by Ray Staff  at Air Mastering London

Limited Edition - Pressed  at Pallas Germany 

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

Tributing Richard Rodgers, Stacey Kent teamed back up with her regular band to release In Love Again.  Another Pure Pleasure 180 gram Audiophile Limited Edition album with 13 songs that would make Rodgers and Hammerstein very proud.   Stacey’s subtle voice on It Might As Well Be Spring is enchanting as it flutters between the chorus and sax solos by Tomlinson.  This is my first introduction to Kent and I am blown away by  her voice and melody.  As I attempt to pick apart and review this album, I find myself just sitting and listening and loving her interpretations.  My favorite cuts on the album, I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered and It Might As Well Be Spring sound absolutely new and fresh and make this release well worth the price. Tone Audio

Winner of BBC Jazz Awards 'Best Vocalist' in 2002!

A chance meeting in Oxford with saxophonist (and now husband), Jim Tomlinson, was the twist of fate that took Stacey's life into a new direction. The two were embarking upon academic paths, but their meeting sparked the desire to pursue their love of music together. As a result, Stacey Kent has become one of the world's foremost jazz singers. 

Since the release of Stacey's first album, Close Your Eyes (1997), she has achieved, without compromise, both critical and popular success, with her fresh and heart-felt interpretations of the finest love songs of the twentieth century.

"It's been said that one of the most appealing qualities of Stacey's style is that it is 'conversational.' I'd go one step further. She conveys as well as any other singer I've heard the sense of a person talking to herself; the faltering hesitancies, the exuberant rushes of inner thought. There is invariably a lover being addressed, but in Stacey's readings that lover is never in the room. The lyric is what the singer wishes to say, or wishes she had said. We're witnessing a private moment.

"No surprise then to find on this latest album emotions being portrayed never in primary colours, but always subtly shaded. These thirteen Richard Rodgers songs move between the themes of love found and love lost. But it's never as straightforward as sunshine followed by dark despair. She may convey wonderfully the giddy intoxication of love, and yet she does sound, well, intoxicated - and vulnerable; like a sophisticate who's suddenly left herself open to naiveté. Then every three or four tracks - as though to confirm our fears - we discover her disappointed and let down, singing something like IT NEVER ENTERED MY MIND or EASY TO REMEMBER. But what's curious and unique in these exquisitely rendered ballads (and what makes her distinct from Billie Holiday, say, or that other fine singer of her generation, Diana Krall) is the absence of bitterness. What we get is someone going over the broken pieces of her life, trying to coax from somewhere a little courage and perspective. Here's a great jazz diva of our age." - from liner notes, Kazuo Ishiguro, July 2002

"Superb album from a singer who is truly touched by greatness." - Andrew Vine, Yorkshire Post, February 14, 2002

"Stacey Kent has a distinctive voice, superb pitch, fine diction, a natural sense of swing and a great band. She also has the taste to trust a good song to make its own point by applying the lightest of touches." - Dave Gelly, Observer, March 24, 2002

Tributing Richard Rodgers, Stacey Kent teamed back up with her regular band to release In Love Again.  Another Pure Pleasure 180 gram Audiophile Limited Edition album with 13 songs that would make Rodgers and Hammerstein very proud.   Stacey’s subtle voice on It Might As Well Be Spring is enchanting as it flutters between the chorus and sax solos by Tomlinson.  This is my first introduction to Kent and I am blown away by  her voice and melody.  As I attempt to pick apart and review this album, I find myself just sitting and listening and loving her interpretations.  My favorite cuts on the album, I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered and It Might As Well Be Spring sound absolutely new and fresh and make this release well worth the price.

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

Selections:
1. Shall We Dance
2. Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered
3. My Heart Stood Still
4. It Never Entered My Mind
5. I Wish I Were In Love Again
6. Thou Swell
7. It Might As Well Be Spring
8. Nobody's Heart (Belongs To Me)
9. I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair
10. This Can't Be Love
11. Easy To Remember
12. Manhattan
13. Bali Ha'i

 

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.

Pure Pleasure  Records bring you vinyl albums of quality Jazz - Blues - R+B - Soul - Funk, remastered by some of the best engineers in the world and pressed on 180 gram audiophile vinyl at what is probably the best pressing plant in Europe 

Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering
 
Plated and Pressed at Pallas in Germany on 180 Gram Virgin Vnyl
 
Released in Limited Quantities

 

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!