[John Casler]

Classical Cut of the Day:

Moussorgsky NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHLnQQwtsPg&feature=related

And one of my favorite transcriptions is by Leopold Stokowski.

It is DARKER, more FRANTIC and Powerful. This is the version most famously featured as the ending sequence of the Disney film "Fantasia"







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu970EXXGzQ&feature=related

[John Casler]

OK it is time for some of the Best Blues Guitar and one of the best produced audio cuts there is.  It has everything.  The incredible guitar of SRV, a wonderful Bass line, and some clean and clear drumming.

And Stevie is exceptionally "bluesey" to go with his rendition.

Is there anyone who has listened to this cut who has not a CLEAR visual picture of what the song paints in words and music?

I DON'T THINK SO.  For a few minutes you are transported to Tin Pan Alley (the roughest place in town)

It is from the "Couldn't Stand the Weather" CD and NO it is not on some audiophile lable but just a $10 cd (or less) you can get at K-Mart.

TIN PAN ALLEY video

[John Casler]

How about a pop Classical Classic?

This one has it all, if you have the Telarc recording

Long Ago in a far off Galaxy . . . . .

STAR WARS video

[John Casler]

Couldn't resist one more Classic Favorite

Aaron Copeland's Fanfare for the Common Man.

The Brass, the Tympani's the POWER of this work is fantastic!

It is unbelievable on the TELARC SAMPLER (shown below)



This YouTube is not from that sampler, but it will give you an idea of the majesty of this piece.

Fanfare for the Common Man

I might add that the Telarc Sampler above is a FANTASTIC collection of incredible works on a two CD set.

Yousah

[John Casler]

Today from a very "unlikely" source TEARS for FEARS and the SEEDS of LOVE Album





WOMAN IN CHAINS

And  the "beatlesque"

SOWING the SEEDS of LOVE

Talk about musical layering!!!  Track after track of sonic layers and tid bits to hear and enjoy with a highly resolving system.

TG4VMPS

[John Casler]

One of my favorite John Lennon Cuts (and there are many) is the Acoustic Version of Watching the Wheels go Round and Round

YouTube video

[John Casler]

If you've been around as long as I have, you no doubt have heard this as a Reference Cut.

Rebecca Pidgeon - Spanish Harlem

The YouTube VIDEO showing the SACD album cover

[John Casler]

Classic Rock Reference Cut

David Crosby

If I Could Only Remember My Name





With guest artists like Grace Slick, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Neil Young, David Frieberg, Steven Stills, Marty Balin, and several others. (I'll pull out my vinyl copy and look) 

I purchased this shortly after it was released in like "71", and later saw that Harry Pearson had it on his list of Reference Recordings.

I particulalrly like "Orleans", and "Music is Love", but there isn't a bad cut on this record.  The harmonies are flawless.

You tube video

[John Casler]

Classic Rock Reference Cuts

Emerson Lake and Palmer

TRILOGY

From the Beginning

Man, what Classic Rock Reference Recording list would be complete without "SEVERAL" cuts from these guys?

I'll be coming back and adding more from them.

You Tube Video

[John Casler]

MALE VOICE Ref Cut?

Josh Groban

To Where You Are

Here is a Josh Groban Cut that I used for years to test a system for sibilance, bass and distortion.

I seldom listen to it anymore since it was used as the music to the DVD videolog at my father's funeral, but it is still an excellent cut for male voice and system performance.

The key test is the word SMILE at 1:27 into the cut.  If you have your system at Reference Level that word should be clear and pure in a good quality system. 

In a bad system it will distort.  I have heard a lot more distortion on this test cut than purity, but it must be played LOUD (Reference or louder)

Oh and the other system test is BASS.  This cut has some exceptional bass, which many NEVER even hear because their systems don't produce it.

And the bass is rich and deep.    Not flabby and whooly 

You'll know when you hear it.  If you don't then your system is a bit bass shy.

To Where You Are Video

[John Casler]

Classic Rock Cut'o the Day

Jimi Hendrix

All along the WatchTower

Another Classic Rock Cut I could play ALL DAY and never tire of.

While Dylan (the writer of the song), Dave Mason, and others have done this cut, I find Hendrix's cut the most gripping and raw.

While most will be listening to Hendrix and his Axe Work and vocals try to listen for the Bass lines and Drumming too.  Both these guys are exceptional for the time.

All Along the WatchTower

[John Casler]

Got BASS?

Classical Reference Series

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's

1812 Overture

It begins with such heavenly pastoral reverence, and ends with WOOFER BUSTING    concussions from HELL.

Keep the remote handy

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's famous 1812 Overture performed by the Hallé Orchestra, conducted by Mark Elder at the Royal Albert Hall during the Nations Favourite Prom 2004.

Is there any more stirring a Classical Movement?  Who is to argue?

Part One

Part Duex

[John Casler]

Man this is fun pulling out all these REF cuts.

The Classic Rock are especially fun since "I was there" for much of that period and it just flowed.

With Woodstock, in the East, Bill Grahm and the Fillmore West, Detroit and MoTown, and Nashville, you had a full menu of incredible and delectable sonic treasures on the domestict front.  When you added that to what was going on in Liverpool, London and the rest of England, it was mind boggling.

Here is one that got a lot of play from San Francisco.

It is from a group call "Its a Beautiful Day", and the cut is WHITE BIRD.

White Bird Video cut

This group is a great example of that San Francisco SOUND and the Filmore West.

Jesse Colin Young, The Grateful Dead, Santana, QuickSilver Messenger Service, and who could forget The Jefferson Airplane/Starship, etc all contributed to this sound.

[John Casler]

OK, now for a group that was on the stage at Woodstock and had one of the best emerging guitar players of the time.

The Band: Ten Years After

The Lead Singer and Guitarist: Alvin Lee

The cut:  I'd Love to Change the World

Get your air Guitar READY!!!

As always TURN IT UP

Love to Change the WORLD video




And no doubt this guy can ROCK and play that AXE.

While Hendrix and Clapton got loads of accolades, Lee (as you can see from the video below) could really light up a Guitar.

Here is the Woodstock Performance, of I'm Goin Home

[John Casler]

I'm in a Classic Rock mode.

Here is a Classic Group

KING CRIMSON

The album: 21st Century Schizoid Man

First cut:  I Talk to the Wind

I Talk to the Wind video

Second cut: Epitaph

Epitaph

Band members: Robert Fripp/Ian McDonald/Greg Lake/Michael Giles/Pete Sinfield.

Of course Fripp stayed with the group and Greg Lake went on to Emerson Lake and Palmer, and later Asia.




If you can, get the MFSL Vinyl version, and again, turn it up.

It is lilting, mysterious, relevant, has sophomorically meaningful lyrics and spacey.  Heavy Mellotron

[John Casler]

OK, one more for the road:

Jeff Wayne's WAR OF THE WORLDS

This is a spectacular retelling of the HG Wells tale with Richard Burton narrating and an assemblage of Rock Gods contributing.

A couple of my favorite cuts are:

Forever Autumn - By Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues

Forever Autumn video

Thunder Child - Which is the name of a Naval Destroyer (but really the name of the Synthesizer used to protray it)

The THUNDERCHILD video

Never forget the first viewing/listening of this album.  Visiting a friend who had the biggest Maggies of the era and some Macintosh Monoblocs.  Needless to say it was a MINDBLOWING experience.

I own 5 copies of this work.  One regualr vinyl, one MFSL version, one Japanese pressing, and CD, and an Audiophile remastered CD.

Once I place it on the table or in the tray, I am hooked for the duration.

[John Casler]

Can't sleep?

Well how about a well produced Male Vocal track that shows my range in music appreciation.

COUNTRY?????

Yes, this is one of the better produced and recorded Male Voices, and it is of Garth Brooks.  This guy was (and still is) a GOD in Country Music.

Listen to this voice:

If Tomorrow Never Comes video

Off his first album Self Titled GARTH BROOKS

[John Casler]

How many SUPER GROUPS are/were there?

How many actually have the Name SUPER?

group: SUPERTRAMP

album: Brother Where You Bound

cut: Cannonball





I have been a SuperTramp Fan for many years.  Jazzy, Cool, Smart, Crisp, Driving Beats, great vocals, fun lyrics, are just some of the trademarks of ST.


One of my favorite Vinyl cuts is Cannonball and here is the video





Cut: Brother Where You Bound.



Here is the title cut and video

[John Casler]

A few cuts ago, I posted White Bird.

Well here is another song with BIRD in the title, and I might be doing the cut an injustice by calling it just a song.

Some songs just rise to the status of Rock Anthems and this may well be one.

Group; Lynyrd Skynyrd

Cut; Free Bird

This album should come with a Surgeon Generals "Air Guitar" WARNING!!!

These guys (the Van Zants) along with Dickie Betts, Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers, Charlie Daniels of the Charlie Daniels Band, the Marshal Tucker Band, 38 Special (also Van Zants) and a couple other groups made a special niche of Southern Country Rock Groups that just simply wailed in the most fantastic way.







FREE BIRD video

[John Casler]

Can't exactly say why, but my favorite Group was and is the Moody Blues.

Something about the combinations of band members, sound, lyrics, use of certain instruments, often employment of classical passages, and even Symphony Orchestras, just seemed to "float my boat" back in the day, and still.

Every Album, and every cut (to me) is reference.

However I might throw out a couple Classical Moody Blues Hits to begin

MOODY BLUES

Album: Days of Future Past





Knights in White Satin

The Video Extended version



Tuesday Afternoon

The VideoExtended version