(Hard/Progressive Rock) May Blitz - May Blitz & The 2nd Of May 1970 & 71, FLAC (image+.cue+scans), lossless

May Blitz (alongside Rory Gallagher's Taste) were among the first of the newly formed hard rock power trios to take up the challenge of Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience; that is, making the biggest possible noise with the smallest available lineup, but never losing sight of melody and finesse while they did so. Certainly anyone catching their early live show was guaranteed to leave with their ears ringing but their brainbox humming, and the band's debut album was a seamless reiteration of their in-concert impact, all the way down to the extended riffing and miniature solos. May Blitz's strongest point, in terms of audience recognition, was drummer Tony Newman, and fans of the jazz-inflected style that he injected into the Jeff Beck Group certainly won't be disappointed by what they find here -- indeed, with guitarist James Black beside him, it's not difficult to compare May Blitz to the Beck band's Beck-Ola, and find the better-known disc come up wanting every time. The epic "Smoking the Day Away" kicks things off in dynamic form, laying down the grinding, almost proto-metallic assault that was May Blitz's raison d'etre; later in the set, "Dreaming," "Virgin Waters," and "Squeet" all howl with a vengeance that might sound a little old-fashioned today, but was breathtakingly fresh at the time. Even better is "Fire Queen," which essentially blueprints the best parts of every metal act from Judas Priest to the Cult, except it doesn't hang around long enough to spoil the effect. Rather like May Blitz themselves, in fact.
The second and final May Blitz album basically picked up where its predecessor left off, with the thunderous and foreboding "For Mad Men Only," and then bludgeoned on from there. Except, where May Blitz concentrated on weight, 2nd of May is more interested in mood and even mirth -- "25th of December 1969" would be almost jovial, if the lyrics weren't so harsh, while the balladic "Just Thinking" closes the album with the sweetest of whispers. It's a tighter disc than its predecessor. Just two of the eight songs really top five minutes, as the band learned how to cram maximum impact into minimal space, and layered the virtuosity on from there. The helter-skelter blur of "Eight Mad Grim Nits" is as electrifying a guitar workout as you're likely to hear, with the axe panning wildly while the rhythm section soars like a steeplechase behind it; while "High Beech" takes the opposite tack entirely, a psychedelic dream that builds so gently that the effect is almost boleric. "Honey Coloured Time," too, has a gentle mood that puts one in mind of labelmates Black Sabbath's "Planet Caravan," as performed by the Full House era Fairport Convention. And, while a lengthy Tony Newman drum solo doesn't really repay repeat listens (well, not unless you like drum solos), still 2nd of May remains one of those albums that you will find yourself returning to again and again, while wishing May Blitz had held on long enough to cut a follow-up. by Dave Thompson, allmusic.com

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008

EAC extraction logfile from 27. June 2008, 10:55

May Blitz / May Blitz & The 2nd Of May

Used drive : ASUS DRW-2014L1 Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 6
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

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 : -V -8 -T "artist=%a" -T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" %s

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.33 | 8:20.35 | 33 | 37567
2 | 8:20.68 | 4:50.27 | 37568 | 59344
3 | 13:11.20 | 6:43.28 | 59345 | 89597
4 | 19:54.48 | 6:55.00 | 89598 | 120722
5 | 26:49.48 | 4:49.37 | 120723 | 142434
6 | 31:39.10 | 3:27.55 | 142435 | 158014
7 | 35:06.65 | 5:22.20 | 158015 | 182184
8 | 40:29.10 | 4:16.38 | 182185 | 201422
9 | 44:45.48 | 4:42.40 | 201423 | 222612
10 | 49:28.13 | 3:12.20 | 222613 | 237032
11 | 52:40.33 | 6:10.02 | 237033 | 264784
12 | 58:50.35 | 4:33.13 | 264785 | 285272
13 | 63:23.48 | 5:02.30 | 285273 | 307952
14 | 68:26.03 | 4:13.12 | 307953 | 326939
15 | 72:39.15 | 5:12.63 | 326940 | 350402

Range status and errors

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Filename E:\Torrent\May Blitz - May Blitz & The 2nd Of May.wav

Peak level 95.2 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Copy CRC 8D241AD4
Copy OK

No errors occurred

End of status report