Moon Safari - Himlabacken, Vol. 2 (2023)
Moon Safari - Himlabacken, Vol. 2 (2023)
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+log+.cue) - 519 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 221 Mb | Scans included | 01:08:52
Progressive Rock | Label: Blomljud Records
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+log+.cue) - 519 Mb | MP3 CBR 320 kbps - 221 Mb | Scans included | 01:08:52
Progressive Rock | Label: Blomljud Records
Moon Safari's illusive comeback album is finally here! 70 minutes of no nonsense Symphonic Prog bursting with vocal harmonies, explosive guitars, huge melodies and romantic lyrics. CD in jewel case with a 20-page booklet. Graphic design by Mattias Noren. Mixed and Mastered by Rich Mouser.Tracklist:
"Moon Safari’s Himlabacken Vol 1 hit big with fans of symphonic prog upon its release in 2013. Anticipation of a follow-up changed from ‘keen’ to ‘hoping forlornly’ as the years passed. But it’s finally here.
And there’s so much care and attention to detail in the new album, it’s like perusing a map of Middle-earth on the frontispiece of a particularly grand hardback edition of The Lord Of The Rings
Continuing the epic and episodic theme of sunny childhood memories, this sequel is presented as a continuation of its predecessor. And while Vol 2 extends some of the cheerful motifs of childhood reminiscence, it also adds reflective, darker, ‘growing up’ moments.
Opener 198X (Heaven Hill), the subtitle of which is the literal meaning of ‘Himlabacken,’ is thoroughly positive prog. Warm, bright 1980s synths are overlain by ultra-chirpy Freiheit-meets-Queen harmonies that almost make the perkier moments of Spock’s Beard’s catalogue sound dour.
The 10-minute-plus Between The Devil And Me also radiates a fervent sparkiness, with instrumental pyrotechnics and a vocal blend that recall prime-time Styx. The more compact Emma Come On has monophonic keyboard shrieks and spirals of guitar that scream pure 1970s FM-radio gorgeousness.
To avoid overkill, these set pieces are offset by the likes of Beyond The Blue, a shorter, calmer vocal meditation that deserves to be accompanied by aerial shots of – to quote the sleeve notes of Yes’ Tormato – “faraway places with strange-sounding names.”
But even the many widescreen moments are mere amuse-bouche to the colossus that is the fabulously named, 21-minute Teen Angel Meets The Apocalypse. This has everything a self-respecting 21st-century prog opus should. Stately swathes of melodic guitar begin the musical journey, followed by stomping-goblin work-song chants, fierce Hammond work, Rick Wakeman-riding-a-plesiosaur keyboard soloing, and lashings of vocal duelling between Petter Sandström and Simon Åkesson.
There’s even a jaunty McCartney-ish interlude at 13 minutes in, strongly redolent of the ingenuity he experimented with on 1971’s underrated, prog-friendly Ram. This all leads up to Pontus Åkesson’s Hackett-meets-Gilmour solo break sweeping in, followed by a glorious choral denouement. ‘We don’t need religion, ’cos we’ve got rock’n’roll,’ they sing in unison.
It was a potentially tricky task, but Moon Safari can consider Himlabacken Vol 2 a very worthy successor after all these years. Let’s hope the next entry in their catalogue won’t be delayed until 2033."
01. 198X (Heaven Hill)
02. Between the Devil and Me
03. Emma, Come On
04. A Lifetime to Learn How to Love
05. Beyond the Blue
06. Blood Moon
07. Teen Angel Meets the Apocalypse
08. Forever, For You
09. Epilog
Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 4 from 7. December 2014
EAC extraction logfile from 5. January 2024, 16:53
Moon Safari / Himlabacken Vol. 2
Used drive : ASUS BC-12B1ST Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 702
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 : 896 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\flac-1.3.2-win\win64\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=ripped by vp_sunset" %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:55.06 | 0 | 17630
2 | 3:55.06 | 10:38.36 | 17631 | 65516
3 | 14:33.42 | 3:19.30 | 65517 | 80471
4 | 17:52.72 | 8:28.04 | 80472 | 118575
5 | 26:21.01 | 2:12.18 | 118576 | 128493
6 | 28:33.19 | 5:44.17 | 128494 | 154310
7 | 34:17.36 | 21:03.58 | 154311 | 249093
8 | 55:21.19 | 10:08.56 | 249094 | 294749
9 | 65:30.00 | 3:22.23 | 294750 | 309922
Track 1
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Extraction speed 2.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Copy CRC 94964C6B
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename C:\EAC\02. Between the Devil and Me.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.6 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C50C99B3
Copy CRC C50C99B3
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename C:\EAC\03. Emma, Come On.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.6 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C873D319
Copy CRC C873D319
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename C:\EAC\04. A Lifetime to Learn How to Love.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 3.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC DF0F929B
Copy CRC DF0F929B
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename C:\EAC\05. Beyond the Blue.wav
Peak level 99.7 %
Extraction speed 2.7 X
Track quality 100.0 %
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Copy CRC 19E5D87F
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename C:\EAC\06. Blood Moon.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 3.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC FF2E16DF
Copy CRC FF2E16DF
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 7
Filename C:\EAC\07. Teen Angel Meets the Apocalypse.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC A5159016
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 8
Filename C:\EAC\08. Forever, For You.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.3 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 1B3E7FE4
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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Track 9
Filename C:\EAC\09. Epilog.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 4.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC D06C1C2E
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
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None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report
==== Log checksum B935B84F7431FB14B5E50A84AA04E11A4536629FBEDB877FD2970129DADEBC73 ====
EAC extraction logfile from 5. January 2024, 16:53
Moon Safari / Himlabacken Vol. 2
Used drive : ASUS BC-12B1ST Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 702
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 : 896 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files\flac-1.3.2-win\win64\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=ripped by vp_sunset" %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 3:55.06 | 0 | 17630
2 | 3:55.06 | 10:38.36 | 17631 | 65516
3 | 14:33.42 | 3:19.30 | 65517 | 80471
4 | 17:52.72 | 8:28.04 | 80472 | 118575
5 | 26:21.01 | 2:12.18 | 118576 | 128493
6 | 28:33.19 | 5:44.17 | 128494 | 154310
7 | 34:17.36 | 21:03.58 | 154311 | 249093
8 | 55:21.19 | 10:08.56 | 249094 | 294749
9 | 65:30.00 | 3:22.23 | 294750 | 309922
Track 1
Filename C:\EAC\01. 198X (Heaven Hill).wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 94964C6B
Copy CRC 94964C6B
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename C:\EAC\02. Between the Devil and Me.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.6 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C50C99B3
Copy CRC C50C99B3
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename C:\EAC\03. Emma, Come On.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 2.6 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C873D319
Copy CRC C873D319
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename C:\EAC\04. A Lifetime to Learn How to Love.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 3.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC DF0F929B
Copy CRC DF0F929B
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename C:\EAC\05. Beyond the Blue.wav
Peak level 99.7 %
Extraction speed 2.7 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 19E5D87F
Copy CRC 19E5D87F
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename C:\EAC\06. Blood Moon.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 3.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC FF2E16DF
Copy CRC FF2E16DF
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 7
Filename C:\EAC\07. Teen Angel Meets the Apocalypse.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC A5159016
Copy CRC A5159016
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 8
Filename C:\EAC\08. Forever, For You.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.3 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 1B3E7FE4
Copy CRC 1B3E7FE4
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 9
Filename C:\EAC\09. Epilog.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 4.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC D06C1C2E
Copy CRC D06C1C2E
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report
==== Log checksum B935B84F7431FB14B5E50A84AA04E11A4536629FBEDB877FD2970129DADEBC73 ====
Thanks to the Original ripper !