AudioCircle
Industry Circles => Omega Speaker Systems => Topic started by: jsaliga on 18 May 2008, 12:17 am
-
Since I have already said pretty much all I have to say about my MaxHemp/DeepHemp combo and the ALNICO drivers, I thought I would start a thread here to discuss another one of my favorite subjects. What would that be? What else? Music!! I know there is a music forum on this site but after spending some time in the "what are you listening to now" thread it is long on album cover art and very short on discussion. So I thought I would try to have a music thread here that would be of particular interest to Omega speaker owners. I'm sure it will possibly be of general interest too. Truth be told, I have come to know a lot of my fellow Omega owners through my participation on this specific forum, and have enjoyed much of the discussion. So I thought it would be nice to have a music thread by Omega speaker owners for Omega speaker owners. Any genre of music is open for discussion and everyone is welcome to post. If you can, please provide cover art and some commentary on the music. One other thing....the music discussed in this thread should be cream-of-the-crop in terms of recording quality. I own a lot of recordings that don't sound all that great, but I have them because I love the artist or the material. I would rather use this thread to discuss the stuff that makes us happy to be audiophiles. The recordings you listen to and then think "Damn! This is exactly why I spend the kind of money I do on this passion of mine. It just doesn't get much better than this." The stuff that sounds so good that you savor every moment as the music plays, and even feel a little sense of loss when it's over -- despite the fact that you can always go back and play it again. Hopefully Louis or the moderators won't have any objection to us running an ongoing music thread here.
I'll get things started...
ZZ Top - Tres Hombres
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/treshombres.jpg)
This is the Steve Hoffman remaster on 180 gram HQ vinyl. The only other editions of this album that are worth a damn are the original vinyl issue in 1973 and a reiusse on vinyl in the late 1970s. I know there are a few different CD releases of this out there and I am fairly certain they are both crap. I can tell you for sure that the 1987 remaster gutted the excellent bass track and added a ton of processed echo that made the band sound like they were recording the album in the middle of big and empty gymnasium. Here is a short 45 second clip from the song Waitin' for the Bus on that CD in MP3 format. This is not streaming media so you will need to download the clip to your hard disk in order to play it. It really stinks and sounds nothing like the record I remember from the 1970s.
Waitin' for the Bus clip from the butchered CD remaster (http://www.indierockfan.net/music/ZZ_Top_CD_Clip.mp3)
Enter Steve Hoffman, who remastered it for its debut on 180 gram vinyl. He did this album right and gave us the original bass track with none of the sythesized and processed echo. The album sounds just as I remembered it and it compares extremely well with a 1973 first pressing I have of this same title. The 180 gram vinyl has a tad more bass response, with slightly richer sound, and much less noise (not because the noise is filtered, but because the pressing on 180 gram vinyl is very, very good so the noise floor is lower. I love this record and on my setup the house really thumps at any kind of volume. I have a high quality PC recording setup with a M-Audio Firewire 410 and Adobe Audition, so I can make very high quality needledrops in 24-bit digital audio with sampling rates up to 192KHz. Here is the same clip from the Steve Hoffman remaster, originally recorded in 24-bit/96KHz digital audio and then downsampled to a 16-bit/44.1KHz WAV file and then encoded with LAME 3.97 using the same settings as the above clip.
Waitin' for the Bus clip from the Steve Hoffman remaster (http://www.indierockfan.net/music/ZZ_Top_LP_Clip.mp3)
I was listening to La Grange on a DVD-A that I made last week and my 21 year-old college student daughter was knocking on my door asking if I could turn it down. I said, "No can do." :) She had to tough it out for a few more minutes while I basked in the wonderful sound of this album. Highly recommended if you have an analog setup and a good motivator to get one if you don't. Your Omegas will love you for it.
--Jerome
-
Duke Ellington - Blues in Orbit
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/bluesinorbit.jpg)
If blues and swing is your thing, then this Classic Records 200 gram vinyl pressing gets my strongest recommendation. This album has it all: from slow, downbeat blues, to swingin' and highly dancable tunes. One of the things that Ellington was a master at was developing musical compositions that featured all of the terrific soloists in his orchestra such as trumpeters Cat Anderson and Shorty Baker and saxaphonists like Matt Gee and the brilliant Johnny Hodges. He also left plenty of room for these outstanding players to improvise around the composition. There is not a stale track on this record, and the quality of the recording will have you beaming a big ear-to-ear grin as you listen. When the last of this record's 11 tracks finishes, you'll wish there were a lot more.
--Jerome
-
Hi Jerome,
If you keep posting these articulate and knowledgeable reviews I might be seduced into purchasing a vinyl rig. :green: :o
-Roy
-
Ok folks. I messed up with the audio clip links in the Tres Hombres post. They were both pointing to the CD clip. This has now been fixed, so you can get both clips to compare the CD remaster to the Steve Hoffman remaster. I apologize for any inconvenience.
--Jerome
-
Hi Jerome,
If you keep posting these articulate and knowledgeable reviews I might be seduced into purchasing a vinyl rig. :green: :o
Hi Roy,
Vinyl can be a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because it opens up an entire universe of recordings that are still not available on CD. Second, it gives you access to some original recordings that have been utterly ruined on the CD format by incompetent remastering. The latter is the main reason that I have my analog rig.
But vinyl is also a curse because it is fraught with it's own problems. The state of the art in terms of vinyl pressing has not advanced too much the last 35 years, so the defect rate with new vinyl pressings is still fairly high in my view. I have had to send back about 10% of the new pressings I buy. Some ended up in the trash and I just wrote off the loss. Vintage vinyl can be a curse too, depending on where you buy it. Buying on eBay is a good way to get ripped off. Sure, the sellers will deliver your records. But the tendency is to seriously overgrade used vintage vinyl. I can't tell you the number of albums that were listed as near-mint that showed up at my door loaded with scratches. There are only two or three record dealers on eBay that I buy from now and can trust. With them most of the vinyl I get is exactly as described, and in the rare event that I have a problem they refund the price and I throw the record away. I will say this however, when vinyl is done right there is nothing else quite like it.
As much as I have come to love high resolution digital audio (SACD, DVD-A), I still think that vinyl has a slight edge. Of couse, it really depends on the music. For instance, I think that SACD is the preferred format for classical music. I especially love the RCA Living Stereo series in hybrid SACD. They did a marvelous job with it. Trying to obtain these titles on vinyl can be a game of chance where the audiophile usually ends up the looser. Maybe I have had a unusual run of bad luck, but out of the 30 or so RCA Living Stereo vinyl records I have bought all of them but two were completely worn out. On the other hand, if you're into 70s and 80s rock then vinyl is really the preferred format. With jazz it's a mixed bag. Blue Note titles on original vinyl pressings go for a king's ransom these days. So your best bet is vinyl reissues from Blue Note, OJC, and Riverside. With Blue Note recordings I started buying the RVG Remaster series on CD and while some of them were mastered hot, most of them were very good and I was a strong defender and advocate of the series. But recently I have bought a lot of 2005 and 2006 RVG remasters and almost all of them are mastered hot and the dynamics are crushed out of them. It's very depressing to have someone like Rudy Van Gelder involved in this project only to see a poor end result. Where I have done exceptionally well with vintage vinyl is with 1950s and 1960s jazz and pop vocalists on Capitol Records. I recently bought original vinyl pressings of Nat King Cole's entire recorded output on Capitol Records and the sound quality of these albums was fantastic. I also have a lot of Peggy Lee records on Capitol, as well as Keely Smith (she was a duet partner of Louis Prima in the 1940s and pursued a solo career in the 1950s).
While I realize that this thread was just started yesterday, it's my hope that others will jump in and share with us some of their most prized recordings. I'm always on the lookout for some great sounding music.
--Jerome
-
We are lucky to have a small, independent record (and cd) store in our little Pacific Northwest town. They seem to have a constant influx of new and used vinyl that I could cull for premium recordings. Presently I do have a TT but lack a phonostage. It will be great when, if ever, digital audio settles on a high resolution format that matches the sound quality of the best vinyl.
-Roy
ps. I'm almost afraid to get addicted to vinyl because of the added expense, all the new gear required and the constant feeling that you have to tweak this and that. Plasticlay, vacuum powered record cleaners, special carts, $1000 turntables, direct drive vs. belts, air suspension for TT and on and on..... :?
-
Then allow me to recommend the TC-760LC from Phonopreamps.com
http://www.phonopreamps.com/TC-760LCpp.html
Less than $100 delivered to your door. Support for both MM and MC carts. I found it to be at least as good as the Dynavector P-75 (about $800 new) that I used to own. The TC-760LC also has a variable gain control (rare for phono preamps), which is great to have if you want to make high quality digital recordings of your vinyl to a PC. I do this myself and make format compliant DVD-As from vinyl at 24bits/96Hz. The DVDs will play on any universal player that supports the DVD-A format.
--Jerome
-
Hmmm.... that is very reasonably priced. :D Wow, I could have a vinyl system ready to go for less than $100 since I already have a turntable. The TT is a Beogram RX and I've tested it with my old Scott LK48 (which is now defunct) and the cart is still good.
_Roy
-
If any of you are wondering how bad it can be with brand new vinyl, witness these two samples of bad 200 gram vinyl pressings from Classic Records:
Sample of Classic Records Poor Quality on 200 Gram Vinyl (http://www.indierockfan.net/music/Classic_Records_Quality_Issues.mp3)
More Shoddy Quality on Classic Records 200 Gram Vinyl (http://www.indierockfan.net/music/More_Shoddy_Classic_Records_Vinyl.mp3)
So this isn't necessarily a path I would suggest to everyone. I have lost over $300 on Classic Records titles alone that I could not get refunded or replaced because I waited too long to play them. When they are good, they can't be beat. But I have been having a very high failure rate with their records lately and taking a pretty big financial lump (about 25% or more of recent 200 gram deliveries to my door are bad). So I am no longer buying Classic Records titles and in retrospect I probably shouldn't be recommending them here. Going forward I won't be recommending any Classic Records titles.
In that vein, I would like to suggest an alternative to the Heifetz performance of the Sibelius Violin Concerto on 200 gram vinyl:
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/sibeliusviolinconcertoSACD.jpg)
I can easily give this hybrid SACD a strong recommendation. It includes Prokofiev Violin Concernto No.2 in G Minor and Glazunov Violin Concerto in A Minor as well. So you get about twice as much brilliant Heifetz violin playing on a stunning SACD for $12, which is about $18 less than a Classic Records 200 gram pressing that you might be sorry you bought.
--Jerome
-
There are plenty of really great recordings on CD.
Jimmy Smith - Midnight Special
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/jimmysmithmidnightspecial.jpg)
Jimmy Smith was king of the Hammond B3 organ and was key to its adoption into jazz circles during the hard bop era. He later helped to develop the soul-jazz aesthetic as well. On this session Smith is teamed up with one of my favorite saxaphone players, Stanley Turrentine. Kenny Burrell is also here on guitar. The mastering on this CD is really great, the levels are correct and the dynamic range is superb. All in all a great sounding CD on my Omegas. It's an easy recommendation to jazz fans.
--Jerome
-
Speakin' of Jimmy Smith, I like the sound quality of this release that is available for $7.95 @ Amazon. Nice performance too! :)
(http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/43/db/757e6230a8a0b8a52bd8f010.L.jpg)
-Roy
-
It's an excellent album Roy. I have it too. Mine is a 2003 RVG remaster. My only complaints are that the dynamic range is a little compressed and there are occasionally clipped levels. See the following waveform sample from Adobe Audition 3.0. Most of the album is like this:
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/prayermeetin.jpg)
By comparison, here is a sample from the Midnight Special CD, which was not part of the RVG Remaster Series.
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/midnightspecialWAV.jpg)
Don't get me wrong, because I think overall the Prayer Meetin' CD sounds good and I wouldn't pass up any Jimmy Smith album because of a few minor quibbles I might have with the mastering. When all is said and done we listen to music, not stare at waveforms. :)
--Jerome
-
That must be what is called the loudness factor in which all the levels are too high and compressed hence the clipping. I guess that makes it easier to play on an Ipod which usually has to deal with more ambient noise such as general street noise etc. Too bad there wasn't a way to determine the quality of a cd before purchase other than word of mouth and reviews. It seems like it would be difficult to determine the quality of a given component when you have to deal with compressed audio. I wonder if an original recording, that was recorded totally in the digital arena, have the natural waveform restored easily if so desired. :scratch: Can you retroactively determine what was the original dynamic range?
-Roy
-
Indeed. It's all part of the loudness war. Here's an excellent video on YouTube that demonstrates what is happening to modern CD mastering.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ
With these classic Blue Note jazz titles (and any other analog recording for that matter) one can always go back to the original master and session tapes. With digital recording I don't really know the process, but if I were a recording engineer I would want clean master or session recordings that I could go back to at any time.
I don't want to harp too much on the RVG Blue Note Remasters. They can sound very good and the music it represents is just too important to turn your nose up at it because of a few mastering issues. Most of it sounds very good, and some of it could sound better with better quality mastering.
--Jerome
-
Johnny Hodges - Johnny Hodges with Billy Strayhorn and the Orchestra
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/JohnnyHodgesStrayhorn.jpg)
This is an incredible sounding CD issued on the Verve Master Series label. Hodges' brilliant alto saxaphone playing provided the melodic and improvisational glue that held a lot of Duke Ellington's compositions together in the 1950s and 60s. I think Hodges was the best alto sax player on the planet during his day. While he could swing like there was no tomorrow, his blues and ballad playing were particularly special. This session pairs Hodges with Duke Ellington's great arranger, Billy Strayhorn. It's an album that shouldn't be missed by fans of Hodges, Strayhorn, Ellington, or just jazz afficionados in general.
--Jerome
-
Cowboy Junkies - Whites Off Earth Now!
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/whitesoffearthnow.jpg)
What an album. :thumb: Margo Timmins' ethereal vocals are supported by the languid and meandering guitar playing of her brother Michael. It's hard to pin down stylistically where this album comes down. It's rockish, with a tinge of country and folk, and a dash of blues seasoned to taste. Some reviewers have said there are parallels to the Velvet Underground. Perhaps that's true. They did do a cover of Sweet Jane on their follow-up album Trinity Session. And this album does seem to be somewhat influenced by White Light/White Heat. Whatever their influences, the music just gets inside your head and swirls around. It is still available from Mobile Fidelity on an Ultradisc UHR hybrid SACD, and I strongly recommend it if you find this music appealing. It sounds terrific on my ALNICO driven Max Hemps. Try some of the samples up on Amazon.com. You can only get the SACD disc from MoFi, however.
http://www.mofi.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=0&idproduct=103
--Jerome
-
Swans - White Light from the Mouth of Infinity
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/swanswhitelight.jpg)
Swans got their start in the early 1980s and sprung up out of the New York underground and were influenced by the No Wave movement of the late 1970s. Their early proto industrial grind is arguably some of the most abrasive and aggressive music ever created. Michael Gira fronted the band and wrote most of the songs, backed by guitarist Norman Westberg and drummer Johnathan Kane. Their early work is perhaps best desribed as theme music for the apocalypse. But after several albums and bringing female vocalist Jarboe into the fold, the band underwent a metamorphasis of sorts. Michael Gira, it turns out, actually was in command of a good singing voice, with a distinctive baritone that is reminiscient of Johnny Cash. On their early sides one would never know this, because Gira's singing in those days was more like the kind of sound one might expect from someone who was being tortured. Swans also discovered musical structure in their later years, especially harmony and melody. Rather than focus on the seedy side of human nature, their song craft turned to songs of despair, hopelessness, and depression -- though their later music isn't necessarily always depressing.
While I like most of Swans early, noisy, music such as it is, this particular album -- released in 1991 -- is a personal favorite of mine. It embodies all of the admirable traits of Swans' rebirth as an alternative rock band: Gira's golden baratone voice, Jarboe's ethereal and haunting vocals, and their combined sense of impeccable songcraft. The mix can be dense at times, but this CD is well recorded and mastered, and it sounds terrific. The bad news is that it has been out of print for several years. Used copies turn up from time to time on eBay and Amazon for between $50 and $80. Alternatively, you can buy the 2-disc compilation set called Various Failures, which includes the best tracks from this album, and some hand picked tracks by Michael Gira from a few other later Swans albums such as The Burning World, Love of Life, and a side project World of Skin album called Ten Songs from Another World.
YouTube: Swans - Failure (audio only) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWStaRmuXzY)
--Jerome
-
Wow, now there is an album I wasn't expecting to see in this thread. Very nice. :thumb:
-
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41W3JR732RL._SS500_.jpg)
I liked the sound quality of this album under the Delmark label. I discovered this recording at the local library which occasionally purchases adventurous jazz :) to add to their mostly traditional collection.
-Roy
-
Wow, now there is an album I wasn't expecting to see in this thread. Very nice. :thumb:
I think you will find that I can be full of surprises where music is concerned. 8) We would very much like you to share some of your most treasured recordings with us. Tell us a little something about the music and what makes it so special to you.
--Jerome
-
I liked the sound quality of this album under the Delmark label. I discovered this recording at the local library which occasionally purchases adventurous jazz :) to add to their mostly traditional collection.
Nice find and thanks for posting it. I ordered it from Amazon this morning.
--Jerome
-
For those of you interested the Delmark label can be found at http://jazzmart.com/ This is the website for the Chicago Jazz Record Mart that is owned and operated by Bob Koester who is also the founder of Delmark Records. A person who wished to visit all the great remaining Brick and Mortar Record Stores that still exist; this would be at the top of the list. And yes, it does have vinyl.
-
Outstanding!! It looks like they have an excellent selection. I'll get an order lined up with them over the weekend.
--Jerome
-
Can - Future Days
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/futuredays.jpg)
Can was a band that I think came before its time, or at least came before music fans were ready for them. While they were in favor with music critics, their music was fairly inaccessible and they never achieved mainstream acceptance with the music buying public. The band's early 1970s output consisted of long, improvisational pieces that incorporated complex, dynamic rhythms blended with electronic music. With this album, the emphasis is clearly on the rhythm section and features some of the best drumming ever heard on a rock album -- by any band. The electronics and guitar are important no doubt, but they are recessed in the mix to allow the bass and drums to take center stage. In addition, what makes this album special is the quality of the recording. Can's entire catalog was remastered for hybrid SACD and sound quality is absolutely fantastic!! The bass and drums have wonderful firmness and is clearly articulated. A strong recommendation to any open-minded rock fan; it's easily one of the best sounding high definition audio titles of a rock group I have had the pleasure of hearing.
--Jerome
-
Hopefully someone else besides Roy and myself will participate, or it's going to be a fairly short thread.
Sarah Vaughan - How Long Has This Been Going On?
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/sarahvaughanhowlong.jpg)
Recorded in 1978, this Pablo Records release features Sassy at the top of her game (of course it's hard to think of an outing when she wasn't breathtaking). With an all-star supporting cast of guitarist Joe Pass, pianist Oscar Peterson, drummer Louie Bellson, and bassist Ray Brown -- this album could not possibly disappoint. It is an exemplar of late-period Sarah Vaughan, and she quite ably demonstrates on this record why many people regarded her as the greatest female jazz vocalist of all time. She's in her mid 50s here, and still has the amazing vocal range and touch that won her accolades decades earlier. I was very fortunate recently to have found a near mint original issue of this album on vinyl, and every track on this LP is a stunner. My personal favorites on the album are Midnight Sun, You're Blasé, More Than You Know, and Body and Soul. No fan of jazz vocals should be without this record.
--Jerome
-
With Jerome's timely prompt for more participation, I've finally gotten off my duff to participate :D
......and YES, I am looking at friggin' turntables on A'gon almost daily. Damn you, damn you! :lol:
Anywhoo, I've been enjoying the stylings of Karl Denson's Tiny Universe - "The Bridge", in lossless format on my RWA iMod.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41G7C4ASNNL._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
If you like a mix of soul, funk and jazz, this album is sure to please. It is extremely well recorded, and an absolute pleasure to hear on the max's. There is absolutely no compression or false ambience to interfere with the wonderful collaboration of these often overlooked artists. The vocals are backed up with a stellar horn section, and the rythm section keeps it tight throughout. Denson seamlessly crosses defined genres, with a steady Zydeco undercurrent (in many of the tracks) as a foundation for the funk/jazz/soul music that it infuses. The solos are right on, to boot. Great stuff.
I started to list my favorite tracks, but, frankly, all of the songs are stellar.
If I had one 'complaint', it is that at times things are almost TOO tight, bordering on mechanical. The cool thing is that the MUSICALITY of this precision comes through, even in the moments of razor-like lockstep of the various musicians.
All in all, this is a spectacular album that deserves a focused listen.
Okay, back to listening! I'm toying around with positioning and treatments today, but thought I'd chime in.
Cheers,
Michael
-
Thanks for the suggestion Michael. I'll definitely check it out.
Cat Power - Moon Pix
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/moonpix.jpg)
There are many times when I really love introspective, reflective, and somber music. Stuff that vaguely recalls Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" always strikes a resonant chord with me. Not that my life is full of regret, but rather that it's usually thought provoking material when done right. I especially like this sort of music when it is stripped down to its bare essentials. Chan Marshall's (AKA Cat Power) Moon Pix is one such record. The songs on this album are supported with intimate guitar work and intricately structured melody lines in a shimmering near-drone effect. It creates a marvelous backdrop for the kind of messages the songs convey, with searching, yearning vocals that are emotionally evocative. A modern-day alternative folk masterpiece if there ever was one. I have it on 180 gram virgin vinyl. It's an easy buy recommendation.
--Jerome
-
Waylon Jennings - Honky Tonk Heroes
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/honkytonkheroes.jpg)
I can't say that the outlaw country movement caught on with me during my high school years in the mid 1970s. At that time I didn't much like Willie Nelson and I probably cared even less for Waylon Jennings. It all sounded like sh*t-kicking country music to me, and at the time the very thought of it summoned images of Hee Haw on television (apologizes to anyone who's a fan). In those days my musical life was filled with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Kiss, AC/DC, Foghat, and such. There simply was no room in my musical lexicon for country. As I grew older, however, my tastes in music began to mature and expand. I eventually came to understand that my perception of country music was narrowminded and stereotypical. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I am now a big country music fan, but I'd like to think that I can and do enjoy much of the finest that country music has to offer. One such record is Honky Tonk Heroes by Waylon Jennings. These songs just seem to be custom tailored to his majestic baratone voice. While the real attraction here is the outstanding title track, the remainder of the album is exceptionally strong and very much worthwhile. A must for country fans and I would even suggest it as a crossover album for rock fans.
--Jerome
-
Bill Frisell - Gone, Just Like a Train
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/billfrisell.jpg)
Bill Frisell is one of my favorite guitarists and is an absolute master of tone. If you listen to other jazz or fusion guitarists such as Alan Holdsworth or Al Di Meola they seem to define themselves in terms of the complexity of the melody lines they play. Their playing is densely packed with a lot of notes, and usually the faster the better. That's not to take away anything from them. I enjoy both of their styles of playing. But Bill Frisell is an entirely different critter. He defines himself by his tone and what he does with it. Tone is the expressive domain of Bill Frisell's playing and in that sense it makes him unique among his contemporaries. There is simply no one else out there like him. There were a number of jazz singers who were able to sucessfully use their voice as a musical instrument (Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan come immediately to mind). Frisell uses his guitar and tone in a manner consistent with the flexibility and range of the human voice as an instrument. I have most of Frisell's work in my music library, and while I very much enjoy all of it, this is easily my favorite album in his catalog. Wonderfully recorded and mastered, this is an album that defies labels. It has some elements of country, some elements of rock, and there is no doubt a strong jazz inflection in all of it. The lead-off track Blues for Los Angeles is great and gets things started. It is one of the few albums I own that commands my full attention whenever I play it. I'll start the CD and try to do other things while I listen and within a minute or two the album has my undivided attention. Buy it if you're a fan of the electric guitar.
--Jerome
-
jsaliga, I really agree with your recommendation for Cat Power - Moon Pix. I just picked it up after reading your post and I am really enjoying it. I have only heard the album "The Greatest" by Cat Power before picking this up but I can say this too me is a lot more enjoyable.
I have a little different type of suggestion from the normal here, but I figure since I am so passionate about this record that I just have to share it.
Why? - Alpoecia
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5136EIIwTlL._SS500_.jpg)
I am mostly an indie rock fan but I do crossover to most other genres. This album is the most interesting mixture of music that I think is out there. I know most will turn away once they see the other genre that is mixed with this mostly indie rock band but I do urge people that are open to look into it still. The genre is hip hop. I will assure you that this is not rap but there the lead singer does rap in a sense but not all the time, maybe 20%. It is extremely interesting. The music is really well recorded for a fairly unknown band and even compared to alot of things. One of the best things about this band is the lyrics. Normally I am not a huge fan of lyrics but some of the descriptions are just amazing and some of the most witty things ever sung or said. I know that I am in no way doing justice to this band by this description, but I've tried.
-Anthony
-
Herbert Von Karajan/Berliner Philharmoniker - Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/karajanbeethoven.jpg)
This hybrid SACD features Herbert Von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in the first of four complete Beethoven symphony cycles. This one was originally recorded in the early 1960s, and in my view it represents the best Beethoven work by Karajan. I can't say he is my favorite conductor where Beethoven symphonies are concerned, as that distinction goes to Otto Klemperer and the New Philharmonia Orchestra. With that said, I think I prefer the sound of the 6th symphony on this SACD. It is fuller, and fills the room with sounds of a pastoral outdoor countryside setting in the spring. Truth be told, the engineers at Deutsche Grammophon did a pretty spectacular job with the recording, and if one cannot exactly warm up to the performance then at the very least one can tip their hat to the sonic canvass upon which this great piece of music was painted. I can appreciate both, and it is very nice for once to find a classic performance of Beethoven by a time-honored conductor given the royal treatment on a high-resolution digital audio format. Highly recommended (especially if you have a DeepHemp sub).
--Jerome
-
Ralph Towner - Anthem
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/anthem.jpg)
Multi-instrumentalist Ralph Towner has cut a distinctive niche for the classical and acoustic guitar by adopting it in his folkish-jazz creations on ECM. I have to be honest here, aside from Ralph Towner and Keith Jarrett, I find the ECM jazz formula to be fairly lightweight fare. Sure, almost to an artist, the music is wonderfully recorded, mixed, and mastered. But the sound and compositions are so clean and airy that the music is almost sterile. For the most part it simply lacks fire and imagination. I'm sure that won't sit well with folks who are fans of the ECM stable of artists; I mean no disrespect. It just really isn't my cup of tea. With that said, I find Towner's expressively deep solo acoustic guitar work an exception and something at which I can truly marvel and appreciate. I haven't ventured outside of Towner's solo work, as some of his collaborations adhere strictly to the ECM formula. But his solo recordings come highly recommended. If there ever was a CD that was recorded right smack dab in the middle of the sweet spot of Omega speakers...this is it. Anyone who owns a pair of Omega speakers and enjoys 6 and 12 string acoustic guitar should buy this disc. Even if you don't have a pair of Louis' creations I can still give this a strong recommendation.
--Jerome
-
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/414G42B0ANL._SS500_.jpg)
I don't have the hybrid SCAD version of this album but I bet it's excellent because I find the regular redbook version has very good sound quality. This young group has a lot of talent and beautiful harmonies, virtuoso bluegrass instrumentals are here to enjoy. Their later recordings don't seem to garner the generally high praise that this debut album generated.
-Roy
-
Very nice Roy. I think I'm going to try the hybrid SACD.
Keely Smith - Politely!
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/keelysmithpolitely.jpg)
Keely Smith was a duet partner of Louis Prima in the late 1940s and early 50s, and started her own solo career in the late 1950s. She is an enormous talent and has been described as the female version of Frank Sinatra. She has terrific interpretive skill, and her voice is elegant and stately. Her phrasings very much recall Sinatra. But there's no doubt that she is a great talent in her own right and really didn't walk in the shadow of Sinatra. On this particular outing she was paired with Billy May (he also worked with Frank Sinatra on Come Dance with Me and Anita O'Day on Anita O'Day Swings Cole Porter with Billy May). If you're into 1950s pop and jazz vocals this one is strongly recommended.
This particular record shows that vinyl can sometimes be a tough love. This record came in last week and it looked very clean. My standard procedure with vintage vinyl is to run it through my record cleaning machine. It sounded fantastic for the first minute...and then the loud repeating pops began. I took the record off the turntable and checked it again under a very strong light. I could see small pieces of grit/dirt stuck in the grooves. I worked on this album for about an hour trying to salvage it. I only do this as a last resort, but took isopropyl alcohol and diluted it 50% with distilled water and then applied that directly to the vinyl and also to a Discwasher brush for a thorough scrubbing. The album went back and forth between the turntable and the cleaning machine four times, but I did finally manage to get the record into playable shape and it sounded great.
--Jerome
-
OK Jerome, I don't have Omegas (although I hope to hear a pair someday soon), but your enthusiasm for music is obvious and appreciated in a hobby that sometimes gets too obsessed with the "gear", IMHO. So I'll play and in honor of you first post of Tres Hombres, I'll recommend
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/312B33XWXCL._SS500_.jpg)
ZZ Top's First Album
Many don't realize that before all the commercial success of albums like "Eliminator" and "Afterburner", ZZ Top was a Texas blues/rock band and nothing shows this heritage off better than "ZZ Top's First Album". Just make sure you buy the vinyl LP, as there is a horrible re-mix of this album on CD, although I'm not sure which label. Fortunately, I have the vinyl LP on Warner Bros. (BSK 3268) and it sounds great. Highly recommended! :thumb:
As for CD recordings, I really think Ben Harper is a great artist and Fight For Your Mind is his best recording, IMHO. The recording quality as well as the song selection is first rate all the way through. There is not a single weak track on this CD! Played loudly, this disc just sounds incredible and is a work out for any system. :D
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41FXOSyQ0KL._SS500_.jpg)
Ben Harper, Fight For Your Mind
-
Airborn, no Omegas required and many thanks for the Ben Harper recommendation. I tried some clips and he sounds like an interesting artist. I'm sort of surprised I haven't bumped into his music before given my tastes -- which actually go far beyond jazz.
To all, keep the recommendations coming. Equally important is to tell us a little something about the music. Thanks again!
--Jerome
-
Uncle Tupelo - March 16-20, 1992 [Remastered]
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51duduhEcpL._SS500_.jpg)
For my first post in this thread I am going with a cd from the Alt Country category - Uncle Tupleo's March 16-20, 1992 [remastered version]. This remastered version is significantly better than the original in all respects and should be the only version one listens to. While Uncle Tupelo's lifespan was relatively short (only 5 albums over a 3+ year span), Jeff Tweedy went on to form Wilco and Jay Faarar formed Son Volt.
This is my favorite Uncle Tupleo cd and is basically an all-acoustic album. Being all-acoustic, it really plays into the strengths of the Alinco Hemp drivers and the Atma-Sphere M-60's. The texture and nuance that one hears when listening to 6 and 12 string guitars, banjo, mandolin, and pedal steel guitar is nothing short of orgasmic! Jay and Jeff sing with an angst and edge that is befitting the overall mood and focus of the album.
While there are no clunkers on this cd, a few tracks really standout for me and are always heavy in the rotation or part of my test songs when evaluating new gear:
Grindstone: From the opening guitar play, to Jay's vocals, to the light brush work throughout, this is great song.
Colaminers: Listen to these lyrics and the guitar work and be transported back to a different era. Every time I listen to this song, it immediately conjures images and puts me into the recording session.
Shaky Ground: Guitars, guitars, guitars...feel and see each pluck of the strings...texture, texture, texture...leading edge is sharp at first and fades into the body of the note.
Black Eye: Probably my favorite song on the cd. Jeff sings this one and between his honest and open vocals and the rhythmic/hypnotic guitar play, this song always commands my full attention. Short but powerful.
Moonshiner: Back to Jay singing on this one. Besides the great guitar work, enjoy Jay's harmonica play as it comes across with the right mixture of bite and edge.
Fatal Wound: Jeff sung and wrote this one and man is it good! Might be the best written song on the cd - definitely pay attention to the lyrics! Listen to the way Jeff's and Jay's guitars are intertwined, while in the background there is a haunting violin that is just sooo right.
Sandusky: Great instrumental featuring guitar, pedal steel guitar, and banjo. Everything flows and fits together perfectly.
Highly recommended for anybody who wants to hear what Alt Country or really good music is about.
George
-
Great album George. I'd also recommend Anodyne as well.
--Jerome
-
Great album George. I'd also recommend Anodyne as well.
--Jerome
Agreed.
I can also recommend all Wilco and Son Volt cd's. :thumb: :thumb:
George
-
Bill Evans - Waltz for Debby
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/waltzfordebby.jpg)
There are many truly great jazz pianists: Keith Jarrett, Oscar Peterson, McCoy Tyner, Sonny Clark, Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, Count Basie, Herbie Hancock...the list goes on and on. In my view, Bill Evans is the perfect jazz pianist, and Waltz for Debby is the perfect jazz trio album. As much as I love what Keith Jarrett has done in the Standards Trio with Jack DeJohnette and Gary Peacock, their best work doesn't quite measure up to Bill Evans with the original trio lineup of Scott LaFaro on bass and Paul Motian on drums. Recorded live at the Village Vanguard in 1961, the sessions contained herein and on Sunday at the Village Vanguard are legendary and deservedly so. While both are highly desirable, I tend to prefer Waltz for Debby because of the slate of songs and the performance on this date really showcases the group as a trio and there is less emphasis on soloing. If you ever wondered what the big deal was about Bill Evans, get this record and discover for yourself why he is so revered among jazz enthusiasts. As a general rule I don't recommend live albums as reference audio titles, but in this case I'll make an exception. Many live albums really aren't live. To wit: the Peggy Lee album recorded with George Shearing that was billed as live but in fact was completely recorded in the studio, including fake stage banter. And it's a well-known fact that most "live" rock albums are heavily overdubbed after the fact. But this record seems to capture perfectly the ambiance of a live jazz performance at the Village Vanguard, from the occasional faint audience chatter to the sound of glasses clanking as drinks are being served. It seems appropriate and never intrudes upon the music. No self-respecting jazz fan should be without this album. It's currently available in several formats: CD and hybrid SACD from OJC, and on vinyl reissue (also from OJC) and 180 gram audiophile virgin vinyl (from Analog Productions). If you want all of the Village Vanguard sessions then you can buy The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings on CD (I have it). I have Waltz for Debby on 180 gram vinyl and have made a needle drop of it to DVD-A in 24-bit/96KHz digital audio. Simply breathtaking.
--Jerome
-
Jerome,
This is somewhat OT but how do your copies of vinyl to CD or DVD compare to the originals? What gear do you use to perform this task?
Perhaps this would be a good topic for a separate thread. :idea:
-Roy
-
Willie and Lobo - "Caliente"
(http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/18/fc/428fb220dca0b95340742010.L._SY57_CR0,0,57,57_.jpg)
(This is the old artwork)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NDHSH3YTL._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
This is the updated artwork
Truly enjoyable flamenco/gypsy guitar and violin. These two musicians (one German-born, the other a well-traveled Texan) collaborate to create some of the most enjoyable and listenable music I own. This album is primo "morning coffee" or "late evening chill" music, and it offers up a variety of Spanish/moorish/gypsy-inspired music for your listening pleasure. Some modern elements (i.e. keyboards, sampling) are used in a number of the tracks, but only to add ambience to this acoustic guitar and violin-focused music.
The vast majority of the album places you in a neo-gypsy camp overlooking the mediterranean, with Willie and "Lobo" providing music that is at once modern and ancient.
The fisrt few tracks offer a slow warm up to to a stunning pure acoustic piece (track 4, "El Anclote) with only the two musicians building to a breathtaking climax (on the climactic final note I can picture the flamenco dancer with her arm thrust upward, the other hand pulling her dress backwards as she drops her head to a pensive gaze downwards.....)
This is immediately followed by a smooth gypsy fiesta with the added contribution of trumpet and some sampled elements to give a party-like feel. The album continues to move through various pieces that vary in style, but still tie together very well.
The recording quality is quite good and the performance is engaging and enthralling, with a bent towards simplicity and playful interplay between the two primary musicians.
In my opinion, this album's highlights are the 3-4 tracks where only the two musicains are doing their thing. Breathtaking.
I can heartfully recommend this album to any fans of flamenco/gypsy music (a-la Ottmar Liebert, Shahin & Sepehr, etc).
-
Yes....I own Omega's...their the A8's.
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=2773)
Their a good match with my RWA 30....or Sophia Baby...or the KR Audio ANTARES VA320.
As for food for them....they like Jazz...but they can Rock as well. :rock:
My selection.....
(http://991.com/newgallery/Stan-Getz-Jazz-Samba-364031.jpg)
Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd - "Jazz Samba"
Well recorded and very relaxing....I own both the Lp and Cd.
Guitarist Charlie Byrd was invited to travel and play in Brazil during a cultural goodwill tour sponsored by the Kennedy administration in 1961. He was completely enamoured by the music, and when he returned, he headed straight for the recording studio to make the now classic Jazz Samba. Collaborating with Stan Getz on tenor sax and backed by a band that included Gene Byrd (bass, guitar), Keter Betts (bass), and Buddy Deppenschmidt and Bill Reichenbach (drums), Byrd forged a new and brilliant sound. American record companies were to churn out hundreds of watered bossa-pop albums that have since given the style its lounge-addled image, but this album stands as a tribute to the vitality and adaptability of jazz. --Louis Gibson
If you don't own it....get it....a great album. :thumb:
-
War - Why Can't We Be Friends?
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/war-friends.jpg)
There are days when you seem to struggle to find something to listen to, and it has little to do with the size of one's music library. Today was such a day for me. I started going through my music collection database and wanted to put on something that I had not listened to in a while, in this case it was something I hadn't heard in several years. So there it was, this album by War that I had not heard in a very long time. I know the music very well, or so I thought. It's fair to say that probably everyone knows at least two songs on this album. :) I knew the album was great, but aside from the two hits Low Rider and Why Can't We Be Friends? I was really hard pressed to remember anything special about the rest of the record. After spinning this album all I can say is...daaaaaammmnnnn! This album has it all. It's got horns, it has bass (oh does it have bass my friends), and it has a funk groove and beat, with great vocals. The songs are terrific to a tune. It has excellent production values and just plain sounds awesome!! I'm still trying to figure out why it has been so long since I last gave this wonderful album a listen. Oh well, it won't be nearlly so long a wait for the next play, that's for sure. If you have it, go and queue it up. If you don't have it, seriously consider it.
--Jerome
-
You guys are really killing me with all these great music suggestions. At this rate I'll never be able to afford those new alnico drivers! :duh: :thumb:
-
Ben,
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
know whatchya mean!
How are the hemptones treating you?
-
They're pretty sweet! But I'm still suffering from lack of dedicated room and placement flexibility. They're still a little shouty, which I think is pretty heavily due to a cheap USB-SP/DIF converter and room acoustics/placement issues. I'd also love to hear how those alnico's would affect the sound. My new house in August should improve the options a great deal. Since I have to accept the acoustics for the next couple months as they are, I guess I've got plenty of time to explore and enjoy new music in the meantime! aa
-
If you don't own it....get it....a great album. :thumb:
And while they're buying Jazz Samba they might as well add the following to their shopping cart... ;)
Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/getz-gilberto.jpg)
Stan Getz collaborates with Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim to create a jazz masterpiece and the finest bossa nova album ever produced. If you don't have this album you should be clicking (http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/shoppingcart.gif) right now!
--Jerome
-
I agree with Jerome....get both. 8)
I didn't mention "Getz/Gilberto".....thinking most people might have it already...because it contains "The Girl from Ipanema"....and other goodies... :drool:
Video Link... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz2P_dXgfNk).. :thumb:
-
If you don't own it....get it....a great album. :thumb:
And while they're buying Jazz Samba they might as well add the following to their shopping cart... ;)
Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/getz-gilberto.jpg)
Stan Getz collaborates with Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim to create a jazz masterpiece and the finest bossa nova album ever produced. If you don't have this album you should be clicking (http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/shoppingcart.gif) right now!
--Jerome
Jerome,
Just hit play - thanks!
George
-
Gilberto's daughter Bebel is most charming and offers a nice modern bossa nova sound.
Tanto Tempo
(http://i29.tinypic.com/2ng52tz.jpg)
-
Another Jazz Classic....that swings...hard bop...1970 !! 8)
Freddie Hubbard - "Red Clay"........
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41440X0wmZL._SS500_.jpg)
Great lineup....Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Lenny White....and on the CD extra track George Benson and Stanley Turrentine.
Before Freddie Hubbard signed with CTI Records in 1970, he was already considered one of the most brilliant jazz trumpeters in the world. RED CLAY, his debut album on the label, is an exceptional set of plugged-in hard bop fused with funk - and reportedly the album he considers his best. Joining him on five of the six cuts, is a crack quintet featuring longtime colleagues Joe Henderson and Herbie Hancock, on tenor saxophone and keyboards respectively. The final number, a previously unissued, extended live jam on the title tune, finds Hubbard fronting an all-star septet that includes such fellow CTI stars as George Benson and Stanley Turrentine.
This may be Freddie Hubbard's finest moment as a leader, in that it embodies and utilizes all of his strengths as a composer, soloist, and frontman. On Red Clay, Hubbard combines hard bop's glorious blues-out past with the soulful innovations of mainstream jazz in the 1960s, and reads them through the chunky groove innovations of 1970s jazz fusion. This session places the trumpeter in the company of giants such as tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Lenny White. Hubbard's five compositions all come from deep inside blues territory; these shaded notions are grafted onto funky hard bop melodies worthy of Horace Silver's finest tunes, and are layered inside the smoothed-over cadences of shimmering, steaming soul. The 12-minute-plus title track features a 4/4 modal opening and a spare electric piano solo woven through the twin horns of Hubbard and Henderson. It is a fine example of snaky groove music. Henderson even takes his solo outside a bit without ever moving out of the rhythmnatist's pocket. "Delightful" begins as a ballad with slow, clipped trumpet lines against a major key background, and opens onto a mid-tempo groover, then winds back into the dark, steamy heart of bluesy melodicism. The hands-down favorite here, though, is "The Intrepid Fox," with its Miles-like opening of knotty changes and shifting modes, that are all rooted in bop's muscular architecture. It's White and Hancock who shift the track from underneath with large sevenths and triple-timed drums that land deeply inside the clamoring, ever-present riff. Where Hubbard and Henderson are playing against, as well as with one another, the rhythm section, lifted buoyantly by Carter's bridge-building bassline, carries the melody over until Hancock plays an uncharacteristically angular solo before splitting the groove in two and doubling back with a series of striking arpeggiatics. This is a classic, hands down.
Produced by.....Creed Taylor....CTI records. Recording engineer - Rudy Van Gelder.... :thumb:
Lp or Cd....both sound very good.... :wink:
-
John Coltrane - Ballads
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/coltraneballads.jpg)
I can't really say that John Coltrane is my favorite saxaphone player. I can't even say he's my favorite tenor player. Truth be told there were just way too many great sax players from his generation to categorically say one was better than another. Coltrane made a lot of unique contributions to music, and I really dig pretty much everthing he did. But I enjoy the work of a lot of other sax players and luckily there is room enough in my library for them all. With Coltrane I generally find myself listening to more of his later period stuff than his early quartet output -- though I love both. I'm a fan of the avant garde and Coltrane was a giant of the art form. So on any given day I am more likely to be listening to Ascension, Sun Ship, or Live in Seattle than I am Lush Life, Giant Steps, or Blue Train. But today I am going to recommend this gentle set of ballads that Coltrane recorded in 1962. I love the record because it shows that even amid all of Coltrane's later squonks, bleeps, and blurps, that he was very capable of being an extraordinarily lyrical tenor player. Only Stan Getz and Lester Young were arguably more lyrical in their playing. This is a beautifully recorded record. If you're just getting into Coltrane, I can't think of a better place to start. Highly recommended for all music lovers.
--Jerome
-
Ah yes! aa Ballads is one of the five albums included in this exquisite boxed set (for only $32 @Amazon) which, I think, is a incredible deal for this immortal music. I also feel that the sound quality is superb and if you don't already own these recordings, this is a great way to bulk up your Coltrane collection.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51woGD3rQKL._SS500_.jpg)
-Roy
-
I would suggest that if you like John Coltrane Ballads then you should investigate John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. Johnny Hartman is a singer for grownups; his singing is to be savored like fine wine. He is a baritone that sounds wonderful on Omega Speakers.
-
Blood, Sweat & Tears
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/bloodsweattears.jpg)
This is actually the second album by Blood, Sweat & Tears. Their first album, Child is Father to the Man, was also terrific, but the group melted down shortly after its release due to internal struggles over control of the band's musical direction. Co-founder Al Kooper, who is probably better remembered for the work he did on the album Super Session with Michael Bloomfield and Stephen Stills, left BS&T. The band set out to find a new lead singer and brought in David Clayton-Thomas, whose rootsy voice provided a perfect compliment to the band's jazz inflected brand of rock. While not as adventuresome as the band was under the stewardship of Al Kooper, this album is more accessible than their earlier work and had three chart topping hits: And When I Die, Spinning Wheel, and the truly outstanding You've Made Me So Very Happy. This Hybrid SACD by Mobile Fidelity sounds wonderful.
--Jerome
-
Arthur Grumiaux - Bach: Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/bachviolinsonatas.jpg)
I don't consider myself a classical music guru. My knowledge of it is rather limited, especially when compared to my extensive knowledge of jazz. That's not say that I don't have a deep appreciation of it. On the contrary, what I have taken the time to explore and study I absolutely love. But I am still an underclassman at Classical Music U :) , so I have a lot to learn and experience. Take Johann Sebastian Bach, for instance. His extant catalog of works is immense, and one could make a considerable investment in time and money to have him comprehensively represented by quality performances in a home music library. I've barely scratched the surface with Bach: prefering his piano, violin, and cello works. This two-disc set of Bach's violin sonatas and partitas from Philips Classics is outstanding. Arthur Grumiaux is the soloist here, and the quality of the recording is quite remarkable as is the quality of the performance. I have really come to love the Philips 2CD Duo series of classical music releases. They are routinely sold at a discount even from Amazon.com, and most of these two disc classical music titles can be had for about $12. So the value proposition is exceptional. The quality of the performances is almost universally superb, especially on much of the chamber music in the series. Highly recommended.
--Jerome
-
Roy Buchanan - Guitar On Fire: The Atlantic Sessions
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/guitaronfire.jpg)
This ranks among the very best CDs in my music library. In the microverse of electric blues guitar, Roy Buchanan had very few peers: Jimi Hendrix, Michael Bloomfield, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, and perhaps Eric Clapton. After that there were a lot of really talented bluesmen such as Albert Collins and Luther Allison, but no one else was in his class. Criminally underrated and relatively unknown (yep, you might be surprised to learn that when I mention Buchanan to my blues loving friends they almost all to a person go, "Roy who?" Buchanan was not only an unrivaled interpreter of the blues, but he also was a geniune innovator on electric guitar technique and used harmonics like no other guitarist before or since. I usually don't go for compilations and am reluctant to recommend them. But Buchanan had a fairly bizarre and uneven recording career. I have most of his original LP releases on vinyl, but I also have two compilations: this one, and a two CD set called Sweet Dreams: The Anthology. Both are worthwhile since there is very little overlap between the two. But start with Guitar on Fire. This disc culls the best tracks from Buchanan's short stint at Atlantic Records, and has some scorching guitar work on tracks like: Ramon's Blues, Green Onions, Down by the River, If Six Was Nine, and The Messiah Will Come Again. Beyond essential for any fan of electric guitar.
--Jerome
-
Pascal Roge - Ravel: Piano Works
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/ravelpianoworks.jpg)
There's a lot of great music for classical piano to explore, and I can't think of a better place to start than this set of Ravel's piano works. Wonderfully performed by Pascal Roge, this set kicks things off with the brilliant though haunting Gaspard de la Nuit -- which is one of my favorite piano pieces. This 2 CD package is a great value from Decca's London label, which is also commonly discounted and can be snapped up for about $12. The sound quality is great and you get a lot of music for the money. There is also an excellent performance of Gaspard de la Nuit by Martha Argerich on the Deutsche Grammophon label, but aside from that piece the rest of the CD is pretty forgettable and in my opinion it doesn't represent her best work. So I see the 2 CD set with Pascal Roge as being better value of the two.
--Jerome
-
This recording really has a huge dynamic range so don't have your refrigerator running in the background. The sound quality is quite good but I think that it really taxes my little T amps. I'm looking forward to the return of my Heathkit KT66 monoblocks which are being upgraded and rebuilt. They should provide the extra testorone required to play this recording more effectively.
Respighi employs a large gamut of textures and colors in this large orchestral work which makes for a very entertaining listen. I'd say that it is a good and demanding test for quality systems.
-Roy
(http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/11/6a/80f7224128a08a52ea079010.L.jpg)
-
This has got to be the best thread I've seen.
This is what it's all about.
I have been listening to the Melvins Stoner Witch a lot lately, but not computer savvy to post the album cover.
Many thanks,
louis
-
This has got to be the best thread I've seen.
This is what it's all about.
I have been listening to the Melvins Stoner Witch a lot lately, but not computer savvy to post the album cover.
Many thanks,
louis
Here you go:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41H7PV1EHNL._SS500_.jpg)
George
-
Right on George.
Need to get Vinnie down here to teach me how to do this.
Thanks,
Louis
-
Right on George.
Need to get Vinnie down here to teach me how to do this.
Thanks,
Louis
I will be happy to tutor you for a pair of Deep Hemp subs. :drool:
George
-
Right on George,
You got your work cut out for you though.
Thanks,
Louis
-
Here you go Louis....
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=40968.0 (http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=40968.0)
-
Sarah Vaughan - Dreamy
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/sarahvaughandreamy.jpg)
I know I already recommended one Sarah Vaughan album, and I could probably go on to recommend every single album in her vast catalog. There can be no overstating her importance to vocal jazz. But truth be told, not everything she did is essential listening. Vaughan did not always have the best slate of songs on her records, and even she was not capable of working miracles on awful material. The same thing was true of the glorious Ella Fitzgerald during her very short stay at Capitol Records. They had the bright idea of taking one of the greatest jazz singers and marrying her to some insipidly terrible pop tunes. Fitzgerald sounded like a fish out of water, and even her marvelous voice could not rescue that god forsaken material from musical oblivion. That aside, there are a number of pretty important vocal jazz recordings that are currently not available on the CD format. This excellent recording is among them. This outing has Vaughan singing to the light string arrangements of Jimmy Jones, her regular piano accompanyist. The strings are recessed in the mix and Sarah Vaughan's wonderful voice takes center stage. Essential listening if you can find a good vinyl copy. My copy is a EMUS reissue from the early 1970s, and it was originally issued in 1960 on the Roulette label -- though good original pressings are getting pretty rare.
--Jerome
-
The Band - The Band
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/thebandtheband.jpg)
This is arguably Robbie Robertson's finest moment as both a songwriter and a musician. A slice of southern Americana, with rootsy vocals, articulate arrangements, and an uncanny musicianship that keeps the listener squarely focused on the music. I'm happy to be able to say that this is one instance where a CD remaster is actually an improvement. I usually avoid CD remasters like the plague, but in this case The Band remasters are very much worth buying and sound fantastic.
--Jerome
-
Hi Airborn,
Thanks for the link. Now I can figure it out.
Hi Jerome,
Looks like I will be spending some cash on Amazon very soon.
Thanks,
Louis
-
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals - Lifeline
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51P5ahyG44L._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
Recorded old-school style on analog gear, and it sounds fantastic - even on CD. Very well recorded with a very natural sound and some fantastic songs.
Joan Osborne - Relish
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/415SRCDC62L._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
I pulled this CD out of my cabinet and was quickly reminded of why it was one of my fave's more than 10 years ago. Excellent recording (on most tracks) and wonderful musicianship coalesce to make for a wonderful listening experience. "Pensacola" is particularly good.
-
.....And, this one needs little - if any - introduction. Very enjoyable, with a "variations on a theme" thread tying many of the tracks together.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51UjjYsUuqL._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
-
Drive-By Truckers - Southern Rock Opera
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/southernrockopera.jpg)
Some might argue that the band in general and this record in particular is little more than a cheap knock-off of Lynyrd Skynyrd. But I beg to differ. This double LP is a 90-minute ode to Southern rock and a homage to the aforementioned Lynyrd Skynyrd. The songs are tightly woven into a tale of a young man who goes from a rock and roll fan in the deep south to rock star and then dies in a plane crash (sound familiar?). But this is a story that is told through passionately played and sung music, and it works amazingly well. The songcraft is outstanding, and the musicianship is completely in the service of the music while not over-powering the songs. I was looking for some music to buy and happend upon this one more or less by accident. After reading a short review I ordered it on vinyl (it's available on CD as well). A must own for any fan of Southern rock and highly recommended for rock fans in general.
--Jerome
-
Norman Blake - Home in Sulphur Springs
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/sulphursprings.jpg)
Norman Blake is a great bluegrass artist who has been making records since 1972 and is still at it, performing live and recording in the studio. This record is his solo recording debut and features light instrumentation and arrangements, with only a solo acoustic guitar on most tracks. On other songs the guitar is paired with a mandolin (also played by Blake). While the arragements are somewhat spartan by bluegrass standards, this is truely spirited music played and sung in the great bluegrass tradition. Blake also happens to be a virtuoso on the acoustic guitar, and his technical virtuosity is prominently on display throughout the record. This record is also an example of the joys of vinyl. I have owned this title on CD for many years, but recently found an original 1970s pressing (Rounder 0012) still sealed for $7 on eBay. The record was spine tingling good with low surface noise as one would expect and not a pop or click to be found. Even if bluegrass isn't your cup of tea, I still recommend you give this music a chance if you like acoustic guitar. The rewards of listening are tremendous.
--Jerome
-
The Who - Who's Next
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/whosnext.jpg)
When I started this thread I was determined not to fill it with a bunch of obvious choices. You know, choices like Miles Davis' Kind of Blue for jazz listeners or something like The Allman Brothers Band At Fillmore East for rock fans. Most people who haven't spent their lives in a cave and know a little something about music are in the know about the important recordings in the genres of music they follow. And it is certainly true that people who frequent on-line communities such as this one know considerably more about music than the music buyer who thinks that Walmart is the best place to shop for music. I think I have mostly done what I set out to do. I tried to pick some recordings that are slightly off the beaten path, that most people might not think would be mentioned in a thread like this, or just a surprise or two to give my fellow music lovers something to investigate that they might not be too familiar with. My tastes are all over the map but there are limits to what I will recommend in this thread...so I won't be discussing Throbbing Gristle here anytime soon (even though I have both the 24 Hours of Throbbing Gristle and TG+ boxed sets) But darn it, I want to talk about Who's Next for a minute even though it is one of those "obvious choices." Yeah, no self-respecting rock fan would be without this staple of hard rock. But what's really to like about it? Well, there are four things that immediately come to mind: Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon. There are a other reasons. I love the cover art. :lol: And then there are the songs. Yeah, that's it: the music. 8) This is really a ballsy record. Pete Townshend brings keyboards into the mix and writes a memorable slate of songs that have been in motion picture soundtracks and have kept the CSI TV show franchise going for the past 12 years. They're all winners, naturally, but my favorites are the obvious ones: Baba O'Riley, Bargain, Going Mobile, Behind Blue Eyes, and the album's signature tune Won't Get Fooled Again. This is available in a 2CD Deluxe Edition and the sound quality is very good (though the extras are something of a let down). But good news for vinylphiles is that original pressings of this album in great playing condition are plentiful and cheap. Buy it if you don't have it...
--Jerome
-
Check thes guys out!
http://www.myspace.com/belakaroli
Their rendition of "summertime" is SUBLIME!!!!!!!
-
I'm surprised Bela Fleck and the Flecktones haven't come up:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l318/davec113/belafleckandtheflecktones.jpg)
Virtuoso musicians with Bela on electric banjo, its a fusion of bluegrass, jazz and a little bit of rock. Victor may be the best bass player ever (Les Claypool is the only other contender, IMO). There is a live album called "Live at the Quick" featuring unique instruments like a bassoon, a tuvan throat singer and more. I'd recommend that and their self titled album, but they're all good.
-
Also, Thievery Corporation deserves a mention:
(http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l318/davec113/MirrorConspiracy.jpg)
Thievery is a eclectic mix blending electronica with reggae and latin beats, every album is quality material, but "The Mirror Conspiracy" is my top pick.
-
OOOOH, Thievery Corp. is GREAT stuff.
Okay, back to this unbelievable rendition of 'Summertime'
The vocalist reminds me of 'Ekova'.
-
Tony Bennett - I Wanna Be Around
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/iwannabearound.jpg)
Tony Bennett is another artist that one could simply say buy everything the man ever recorded and be done with it. In the thread where I discussed my experience with my MaxHemp/DeepHemp setup I said that if one could only buy one Tony Bennett album then you should go out and get Tony Bennett - Jazz. But I am a jazz fan and therefore am admittedly biased. Tony Bennett isn't a jazz singer, and he never really was one. He is, rather, one of the finest singers of popular music standards to ever step into a recording studio. So it seems appropriate to recommend a record that captures the essence of him as a pop standards icon. A lot of his albums from the 1960s fit that bill. Many will probably wonder why I am not suggesting his signature record, I Left My Heart In San Francisco. Simply stated, while I love that record there are other albums in Bennett's catalog that I prefer over it because they have a stronger lineup of songs. The album I Wanna Be Around is one of those records. It is jam packed with great pop standards such as The Good Life, I Wanna Be Around, Let's Face the Music and Dance, Someone to Love, and the bossa nova tune Corcovado (Quite Nights of Quiet Stars). This is essential listening for anyone who likes Tony Bennett or pop music standards of the 1950s and 1960s.
--Jerome
-
Count Basie, Joe Williams - Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/basiewilliams.jpg)
One of my favorite albums...period. Count Basie found his big swing band declining in popularity ever since big blues shouter Jimmy Rushing left the Basie Orchestra as its featured vocalist in 1950. Joe Williams, an enormously gifted vocalist with incredible range, was a great talent without a band to back him. So they joined forces and the results could not be more delightful. The signature song on this album is All Right, OK, You Win, but to my ears the song that brings down the house is Please Send Me Someone to Love, where Joe Williams puts on a magnificent display of vocal chops that will just knock your socks off. Basie and the orchestra are in fine form, with Thad Jones on trumpet and that big Basie rhythm section that is truely great even if they are somewhat upstaged by the power of Williams' vocals. A must buy for fans of big band swing and jazz vocals.
--Jerome
-
Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/doublenickels.jpg)
While San Pedro's Minutemen may have developed their reputation and musical following as West coast punk rockers, by the time their masterpiece Double Nickels on the Dime was released the band had integrated a variety of musical aesthetics into its sound. This is not a typical punk rock record...not even close. There is awesome musicianship at work here for starters. D. Boon shows that he has the guitar playing chops needed to express his musical ideas. George Hurley on drums and Mike Watt on bass are no less impressive in the technical mastery over their respective instruments. This is a double LP with 43 songs packed into it, and there is not one wasted note nor a second of filler on this album. There certainly is punk angst to be found in the message in many of the tunes, but the delivery is often melodic, and done in a way that doesn't soften the songs to the point where it becomes a bowlfull of counterculture mush. This is musical profundity of high order. Also refreshing is that the quality of sound engineering and recording is stunning and matches the level of songcraft and performance. Each instrument is cleanly miked as are D. Boon and Mike Watt on vocals. You are not likely to hear a better recorded and mixed rock album. Required listening for anyone who professes to be a rock fan.
--Jerome
-
Cab Calloway - Are You Hep to the Jive?
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/hepjive.jpg)
I owe at least some of my fondness for jazz to seeing Cab Calloway in a collection of Paramount shorts from the 1930s and 1940s that used to air frequently on an independent local TV channel where I grew up in the 1960s and 70s. Even when I was listening to Led Zeppelin and Kiss in the 1970s I aways thought big bands were way cool and was a closet fan of Count Basie. I just didn't say that to any of the friends I hung around with during those years; they may not have understood. If we had to find an entertainer today who was the equivalent of Cab Calloway in the 1930s in terms of talent and importance....well I'm not sure there is one. This compliation from Columbia/Legacy is a real treat. There is a collection of 22 great songs performed by the man himself, lovingly transcripted from 78rpm shellac records stored in the Columbia vaults. The sound quality is surprisingly good, though I would have preferred a bit less processing on the click removal. But honestly, this is really just me picking nits. It really sounds great and the songs are all first rate: Are You All Reet?, Everybody Eats When They Come to My House, Are You Hep to the Jive?, Papa's in Bed with His Britches On, What's Buzzin' Cousin?, Don't Falter at the Alter, Minnie the Moocher, and many others. It recently went out of print (what a shame :( ), but there are still a lot of used copies around on Amazon and new copies on eBay that are selling for about $10 to $12. Get it while you can.
--Jerome
-
Jerome,
You really have an impressive music collection. Man, you must have thousands of albums. :o :thumb: :green: Just keeping it organized certainly requires a good cataloging system. I see that you have it listed alphabetically according to artist/composer. I imagine that you can also change it to genre or any other listing preference.
-Roy
-
Hi Roy,
I have about 2,400 CDs and roughly 1,000 vinyl LPs. Only about 350 of my LPs are cataloged in my Collection database. Since I like to do cover scans of the original album art it can be a lot of work. I don't know if I'll ever have all of my vinyl in my database.
I use software called Music Collector from Collectorz.com
http://www.collectorz.com/music/
--Jerome
-
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NWPB8GM3L._SS500_.jpg)
I just keep returning to this album. She writes her own songs and can really get most out of the lyrics with her sweet, smooth, soulful, sexy and supple voice. Young and definitely a talent to keep and eye on. I'll soon purchase her live album.
-Roy
ps....Ms. Rae also sings The River on Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Papers
-
Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
Outstanding choice, Jerome! :thumb: I've loved the Minutemen since I first heard them live in Richmond, VA (anyone know "The Fan") in 1983. If you like Double Nickels, check out What Makes a Man Start Fires?, Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat and Three Way Tie (for last), which has my favorite MM song, "The Big Stick." If you remember Ronald Reagan and the war in Nicaragua, how can you not appreciate lyrics like "Over there in Managua Square, American made bombs are falling everywhere. They kill women and children and animals too, these bombs are made by both me and you. We're told we hold a big stick over there."
We seem to have similar taste all over the place (from heavy metal to punk to Indie to Jazz), so I don't think I'll spoil your thread by mentioning a couple of other non-audiophile favorites of mine:
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ICOvr1oAL._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
Daydream Nation is widely considered as one of the great alternative masterpieces of the 1980s. I bought this album when it first came out and it is one of the few that I have continued to listen to often over the years. It has the energy, wit and rawness of punk mixed with the epic scope of progrock.
1. Teen Age Riot - Utterly brilliant. Great lyrics, riffage, drumming, craftsmanship - everything.
2. Silver Rocket - Opens with doomy arpeggios and riffs. A very angry sounding song, and an excellent one, but the rock song doesn't last long - it moves into pure distortion before the second minute.
3. The Sprawl - Fantastic lyrics, ridiculously cool. Threatening sounding. Breaks down for the last few minutes.
4. Cross The Breeze - Gorgeous opening riff but soon moves into complex, fast art-punk. Great use of guitar duetting.
5. Eric's Trip - Sounds drug-fuelled. Very atmospheric and dark.
6. Total Trash - Good, memorable but sounds similar to whats gone before it.
7. Hey Joni - Ditto.
8. Providence - Dark, artsy, neo-classical piece blending stark piano with a spoken sample and rumblings. Different, but not much of a composition on its own.
9. Candle - Opens with the most gorgeous guitar work you could imagine, then goes into good but standard fare.
10. Rain King - The most distorted, dischordant, challenging song and with the exception of Providence the least conventional. Screaming, burning, angry, excellent.
11. Kissability - Good lyrically, somewhat insubstantial musically until the last few seconds.
12. Trilogy - This song has everything you could want in its 14 minutes: straight-up rock, beauty, dischord, artsy - often all these at once.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41NDXJW79RL._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
Pixies, Doolittle
Doolittle is, quite simply, the Pixies best album. It is an absolute masterpiece. There is no filler whatsoever. It starts out with the raw, catchy "Debaser", moves onto the far from "Tame", which transitions so well between quiet whispers and screeching (but somehow melodic) vocals. And then there's "Wave of Mutilation", a wonderful bit of surf music reminiscent of the Beach Boys. And "I Bleed", a spectacular duet between the anguished voice of the lead singer, Black Francis, and the sweet chick-crooning of Kim Deal, who went on to form the Breeders. Then there's the pop masterpiece, "Here Comes Your Man", the anxious "Dead", the powerful "Monkey Gone to Hell and the disturbing "Mr. Grieves"... and the album ends with the incredible "Gouge Away." There is not much more I can say except Doolittle is incredible. Borrow a copy from a friend if you' don't have it, but somehow you must listen to this album.
-
Roy, thanks for the tip. I ordered that CD today.
I really like soul music, especially Philly Soul. So let me recommend my favorite Philly Soul album:
Billy Paul - 360 Degrees of Billy Paul
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/billypaul.jpg)
Of course the record has the chart topper Me and Mrs. Jones, and that is the song for which Billy Paul is most remembered. But this album has a very strong set of songs and Paul's heartfelt, emotive delivery really sets this record apart from the rest of the pack. The tune I'm Just A Prisoner alone makes the album worth having. He also does a very nice soul-jazz version of It's Too Late, which Carole King made into a hit, and a cover of Let's Stay Together, which is Al Green's signature song. The nice thing about these Billy Paul covers is he takes these songs and puts his stamp on them, making them his own rather than doing a cheap knock-off in order to fill space on the album. I'm listening to the album as I write this and it still sounds vital and fresh, despite being recorded in 1972. The Columbia/Legacy CD is out of print but can still be inexpensively found on eBay, and the sound is very faithful to the vinyl LP (I have both). It's the pinnacle of Philly Soul and a must have for fans of the genre.
--Jerome
-
Thanks Jerome,
I'll first check Amazon and see if the CD version is available from one of their alternative sellers.
I still haven't decided if I'm going to purchase a vinyl rig. It's really tempting and I'm sure that it will addicting and soon I would be a turntable tweaker. A number of years ago I had a vinyl collection and an old AR TT to entertain me but jettisoned that gear when I took to the sea for some years. The debate centers around when and if high resolution digital audio will become more available at a reasonable price and I would use the $'s that would've gone into analog gear to upgrade my digital setup.
-Roy
-
Hey Jerome I'll double up on the Jimmy Smith Midnight Special but on vinyl not cd.Regards derockster aa
-
Corrine Bailey Rae
I just keep returning to this album. She writes her own songs and can really get most out of the lyrics with her sweet, smooth, soulful, sexy and supple voice. Young and definitely a talent to keep and eye on. I'll soon purchase her live album.
-Roy
ps....Ms. Rae also sings The River on Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Papers
[/quote]
Now as I listen to this (Corrine Bailey Rae) album, I realize that it has been another victim of levels compression. Regardless, I still enjoy it. Her cut on River certainly is better produced. I hope on the live album the levels are untouched.
Tonight I followed it with Kurt Elling....The Messenger. the producers have done a much better job of retaining the musical balance. Of course, I like some of the cuts better than others and I have never been a fan of scat so those cuts could be excised with no loss from my point of view.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/313gK367GyL._SS400_.jpg)
-Roy
-
Henry Mancini - Music from Peter Gunn
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/petergunn.jpg)
Here is a jazz masterpiece that is frequently overlooked by jazz fans. Don't let the fact this is music from a television show fool you. There is serious swing and blues going on here, with a rhythm and attack that rivals some of the best stuff done by Count Basie at the height of his years at Verve. The blues numbers from slow to mid tempo provide a terrific counterpoint to the swing tunes. And oddly enough there were no really big names in the lineup of musicians on this recording date. Nearly all of them were session players. But the music and the performances are inspired, and the ensemble gathered for this date deliver what was probably the performance of their careers. No serious jazz collection can be considered complete without this album. Mine is a Speaker's Corner 180 gram audiophile vinyl pressing that sounds incredible. There are also orginal vinyl pressings to be found. Stay away from the CD reissue on Buddah. If you want the CD version then go for the RCA Victor import from Japan. You can get it for less than $30 on Amazon.com.
--Jerome
-
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=14956)
Rajacat recommended a Kurt Elling album, so I'll throw in another. Try "This Time It's Love" and you'll find a voice that is as velvety as Mel Torme's but that can also scat with the best of them. The CD is very well engineered and features a tight jazz ensemble. Check out the comments on Amazon for the album. You won't be disappointed.
-
Magic Slim & the Teardrops - Grand Slam
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/grandslam.jpg)
If you're into gritty Chicago style electric blues then run out and get yourself some Magic Slim. The guy's been making blues records since the 1970s, and while some of his later stuff got a little bit repetitive, it's all really excellent. Grand Slam is a set recorded in 1982, and it finds Magic Slim and his backing band the Teardrops in fine form. The man is a blues wailer in the great tradition of the blues, and he has superb guitar playing chops that allow Magic Slim to deliver his songs with the emotion and expression that few bluesmen could match. This is truely addictive music, and once you get this CD and start listening it will be hard to put it down. A no-brainer buy for any fan of the blues.
--Jerome
-
I found this piece of vinyl at my local record store. It looks to be in excellent condition with just a little bit of dust on the surface. It still has the new record sheen. I've always been a Taj Mahal fan and was lucky enough to see him live in our little town about 15 years ago. This will be first record I'll play to celebrate my return to LPs. My phonopreamp should be here any day now. :thumb:
-Roy
(http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/M/Mahal/mahal_ooohf.jpg)(http://tralfaz-archives.com/coverart/M/Mahal/mahal_ooohb.jpg)
-
Niiiiiiice! 8)
--Jerome
-
Mosaic Records - The Columbia Small Group Swing Sessions, 1953-62
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/columbiaswing.jpg)
I really like Mosaic records, especially their comprehensive boxed sets. They aren't cheap, but I think you get a lot of value for the money and in my experience the mastering is uniformly great. I normally would not recommend that someone go out and spend $136 on an 8 CD boxed set, no matter how good. It's a lot of coin to spend in one go, and there's no denying that these sets have somewhat limited appeal. But if you're a small group swing fan there really is no other game in town since much of this music can no longer be found anywhere else. The cast of players here is truely great: Ruby Braff, Buck Clayton, Marlowe Morris, Illinois Jacquet, Kenny Burrell, Herb Ellis, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Jimmy Rushing, and many others. If you aren't familar with most of these names then all I can say is that if you are a fan of swing then this is a very worthwhile set to have in order to get to know them. Superb music with excellent sound engineering and mastering.
--Jerome
-
X - Under the Big Black Sun
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/xbigblacksun.jpg)
X was an L.A. punk band that had mainstream appeal thanks mainly to bassist John Doe's tight songwriting, Exene Cervenka's steady but explosive singing, and guitarist Billy Zoom's great rockabilly guitar chops. There are 11 tracks on the original album, and the CD -- a fine remaster issued by Rhino -- has 5 bonus tracks. Both are very much worth having. All of the songs are truely great, but the creme de la creme for me are the tunes The Hungry Wolf and Blue Spark.
--Jerome
-
Morphine - Cure for Pain
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/cureforpain.jpg)
Now we're talkin'. How about a rock group that doesn't regularly feature guitar work, but instead sports hefty doses of baritone and alto sax? It works for me, and extraordinarily well. Mark Sandman's songwriter's pen and vocals hit a bullseye on this album. Add Dana Colley's great saxaphone playing and Jerry Deupree's propulsive drumming and you have a winning combination. There is a balance of ballads and rockers here, they're all pretty infectious, but I tend to favor the rockers by a slim a margin. If you're not really familiar with the group, are a rock fan, and in search of something different -- look no further. Highly recommended.
--Jerome
-
Morphine - Cure for Pain
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/cureforpain.jpg)
Now we're talkin'. How about a rock group doesn't regularly feature guitar work, but instead sports hefty doses of baritone and alto sax? It works for me, and extraordinarily well. Mark Sandman's songwriter's pen and vocals hit a bullseye on this album. Add Dana Colley's great saxaphone playing and Jerry Deupree's propulsive drumming and you have a winning combination. There is a balance of ballads and rockers here, they're all pretty infectious, but I tend to favor the rockers by a slim a margin. If you're not really familiar with the group, are a rock fan, and in search of something different -- look no further. Highly recommended.
--Jerome
I have everything Morphine ever produced and love it all!!
As good as "Cure For Pain" is, I think their best work was "Yes".
Too bad Mark Sandman died of a heart attack at such a young age.
George
-
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31VNRBXN6AL._SS500_.jpg)
This is Tori's major breakthrough and it deserves all the accolades it racked up over the years. This album showcases Tori's writing ability, as well as her strong vocals and piano play. The lyrics tackle some very intense and personal issues from religion to relationships to her own rape. You can hear how Tori just poured herself into this album and produced music that is charged with emotion...so much so, that it almost forces the listener to share in that emotion in a song by song fashion.
The production of the album is very good and not cluttered or artificial.
For me, this is Tori's best album from top to bottom.
George
-
Throwing Muses - The Real Ramona
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/realramona.jpg)
This is my favorite rock album from the 1990s, and Throwing Muses happens to be one my favorite rock bands period. This album is extremely satisfying to me on so many levels I could probably yammer on about it all night long if I had the time. Kristin Hersh, in my view, is a songwriting genius, and her remarkable sense of songcraft and delivery has served her very well throughout her solo career as well as side projects such as 50 Foot Wave. This was the record were Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly brought it all together and created a masterpiece of 90s rock. Hersh's dark, searching songwriting combined with Donelly's great pop sensibities gell so well it surprises me that I don't see these as two half-albums brought together by two very different creative songmeisters. But it all seems to fit together in a way that makes it seamless to me. The album balances pop, hard rockers, and ballads. Tunes like Counting Backwards, Red Shoes, Graffiti, and Hook in Her Head are bustling with energy. But the two sleeper tracks on this record are Honeychain and Two Step -- replete with shimmering guitar work. A must own album for any rock fan.
--Jerome
-
I have everything Morphine ever produced and love it all!!
As good as "Cure For Pain" is, I think their best work was "Yes".
It's all good George. :) Yes is a terrific album too. You can't go wrong with either of them.
--Jerome
-
This will be first record I'll play to celebrate my return to LPs. My phonopreamp should be here any day now. :thumb:
-Roy
.....must......reist......temptation... .. to.....buy.........turntable......... :D
-
not......possible....!
--Jerome
-
The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/whitelightwhiteheat.jpg)
Well...if someone can suggest a Sonic Youth record in this thread then I think it only fair that I submit for your consideration one of my truly favorite, and damned noisy, rock albums. It sounds like sh*t. It really does. But it does it in a way that makes you think it sounds pretty great! 8) This album implodes in its own cacophony, that's for sure, but amazingly it maintains a pop aura about it that there's no denying. I find the whole enterprise very fascinating. The songs are all strong, but the 17 minute plus Sister Ray really takes the cake. Just be forewarned if you aren't familiar with the Velvets: this is one NOISY record and is an early entry into the world of lo-fi, only to be matched by perhaps The Sonics and the MC5 in terms of recording aesthetics.
--Jerome
-
Johnny Mercer - Capitol Collector's Series
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/johnnymercercapitol.jpg)
I truly love the music of Johnny Mercer. The Georgia Gentleman really had a way with a lyric. His smooth voice just seemed to glide right over the music. This is probably the best single-disc compilation of Mercer's work as a solo artist and with the Pied Pipers and Jo Stafford. My parents danced to this music long before I was a twinkle in my dad's eye, and in many ways I think my parents enjoyed much better music when they were in their 20s then I did when I was in my 20s. :) Thankfully this music has been well preserved and the quality of this CD is stellar. Some of the recordings were taken from metal stampers and others were culled from 78s. The latter will have very slight surface noise, and I am pleased that Capitol did not denoise the thing to death. Most of Mercer's signature songs are here, such as: Ac-cent-tchu-ate The Positive, G.I. Jive, I'm Gonna See My Baby, On The Atchison, Topeka, And The Santa Fe, Personality, and many others. Twenty great songs adorn this splendid CD, which can usually be had for less than $8 on Amazon.com. Very classy music from a bygone era. Highly recommended.
--Jerome
-
...and if you want more Johnny Mercer there is a nice 3 CD set from Mosaic for $44.
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/johnnymercermosaic.jpg)
Mine just came in the mail today and I played the first CD. It sounded great and the song selection is terrific, but some of Mercer's more pop oriented tunes, such as On The Atchison, Topeka, And The Santa Fe have been omitted. This package represents Mercer's more jazzier works, which is what I would have expected from a label like Mosaic. Very nice.
-Jerome
-
Ben Webster - Soulville
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/benwebstersoulville.jpg)
Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, and Lester Young were the three greatest tenor players of the swing era. Hawkins cut his teeth with Louis Armstrong, Young made his name with Count Basie in the 1940s, and Webster was a featured tenor with Duke Ellington, also during the 1940s. When the big band swing era ended in about 1946, it gave way to small group swing sessions, usually a quintet (tenor sax, bass, drums, piano, and guitar), but occasionally there were quartets (no guitar) and even a few sextets (add a trumpet or alto sax to the quintet). This is my favorite form of swing. I like the big bands too, but I find the small group swing model more intimate and far more invigorating musically. Soulville was released in 1957 and to my ears it is perhaps the greatest small group swing album ever cut on the Verve label. Webster's throaty, raspy tone was the archetype for 1950s swing tenor, and this album was superlatively recorded to show off the musical talent assembled for this session (Oscar Peterson on piano, Herb Ellis on guitar, and Ray Brown on bass). If you like small group 1950s era swing and you don't have this album, then buy it right now. I can recommended both the CD (Verve Master Series) and the Speaker's Corner 180g vinyl. It doesn't get any better than this.
--Jerome
-
Jerome, I have Soulville in the CD format. It's definitely the album to choose while enjoying a bit of Scotch after a stressful day at work. I also find that the sound quality of the CD to be very good.
Verve offers a number of albums where Webster teams up with another renown artist. I have and like this one.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/417E9C2804L._SS500_.jpg)
-Roy
-
Verve offers a number of albums where Webster teams up with another renown artist.
Hi Roy, I have most of them and they are all outstanding. I wasn't aware that Mulligan Meets Webster was issued on a MFSL gold disk.
--Jerome
-
The The - Mind Bomb
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/mindbomb.jpg)
No matter how large your music library becomes and how insatiable your thirst for new music is, there will always be superb artists that somehow manage to elude your music radar. Matt Johnson, otherwise known as The The, is one such artist for me. In fact, up until about five months ago I have never even heard of him despite the fact that he has been writing, performing, and recording critically praised alternative pop/rock since 1981. Mind Bomb is a terrific album. I usually don't go in for what I refer to as dance rock, but this album works extraordinarily well. In some ways it recalls the INXS masterpiece - Kick. In fact, the songs The Violence of Truth, Kingdom of Rain, and Gravitate to Me would have probably been right at home on an INXS album. But I don't want to create the impression that Matt Johnson is a cheap INXS immitator. Far from it, since the comparison really ends with just a few of the tunes. Johnson was far more creative and wasn't constrained into a single niche genre, as he would later do an album of Hank Williams songs with surprisingly fresh interpretations. Mind Bomb is highly recommended for open-minded rock fans.
--Jerome
-
Buckethead - Electric Tears
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/electrictears.jpg)
I'm pretty sure that I got over the whole rock-stars-as-mythical-figures schtick by the time I was about 22, which was over a quarter century ago. True enough, when I was in high school I thought Kiss was pretty cool. And I'm sure that if I was a teenager today I would think that a guitarist running around with an inverted KFC bucket on his head would be the greatest thing since sliced bread. But I'm pushing 50 now and it's far easier for me to see past the gimmicks (and make no mistake about it...they are gimmicks) and concentrate on the music. There is no denying that Buckethead is a guitarist of enormous talent. He has great range as a musician: from thrash metal to experimental rock, to world musics, his talents have taken him to a variety of musical realms and he is able to thrive in all of them. The folks who prefer the wilder side of Buckethead's musical meanderings will probably not be too keen on this album. This is relaxed, mellow music that is introspective in nature, drawing from popular American contemporary themes and world music such as Spanish guitar. That's not to say the album has no fire. The song Mustang has a sharp growl and attack, but doesn't feel out of place here. This album is very well recorded and sounds fantastic.
--Jerome
-
Frank Sinatra - Songs for Swingin' Lovers!
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/swinginlovers.jpg)
I don't think it's any secret around here that Frank Sinatra is one of my favorite, if not my favorite recording artist. I could not even begin to calculate his impact on popular music and he was single-handedly responsible for the revival of the American Popular Song. Were it not for Sinatra's stint at Capitol Records in the 1950s, the likes of Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Rogers and Hart, and Jerome Kern might very well have slipped into musical oblivion. Because of Sinatra's success, other artists were strongly motivated to record songs from the Great American Songbook, most notably Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney, and Anita O'Day. With all that said, Songs for Swingin' Lovers is my favorite Sinatra record, and he made a ton of great albums in a recording career that spanned six decades. The song lineup is the strongest of all of his swing oriented concept albums, with the ballad laden Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonley having nearly an equally strong slate of tunes. Nelson Riddle turns in perfect arrangements that are equal to the task of being made to order for Sinatra at the top of his game. The track listing is worth mentioning: 1) You Make Me Feel So Young, 2) It Happened in Monterey, 3) You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me, 4) You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me, 5) Too Marvelous for Words, 6) Old Devil Moon, 7) Pennies from Heaven, 8) Love is Here to Stay, 9) I've Got You Under My Skin, 10) I Thought About You, 11) We'll Be Together Again, 12) Makin' Whoopie, 13) Swingin' Down the Lane, 14) Anything Goes, 15) How About You? It's available on CD, but the sound quality is not so good. The best CD edition comes with the 21 CD "The Capitol Years" boxed set, from EMI International. But that set will run you almost $300. If you have an analog setup then find yourself a vinyl copy -- just be careful. My first copy on vinyl was a 1970s reissue that sounded very good but had a wee bit of reverb in the vocals. Barely noticable but it's there. I eventually ran down a first-pressing after someone told me that this was the only issue of the album that was struck from the original master tapes. To me this is the single most important record in American popular music.
--Jerome
-
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PbHWBodrL._SS500_.jpg)
I checked this album out of the local library. Nice straight ahead contemporary jazz. Eric Alexander plays with a very strong and confident tone; he's got all the tools. I think the sound quality is excellent too :). My setup sounds like it's had injection of air. :o It is engineered, mixed and mastered by Rudy Van Gelder for High Note Records.
-Roy
-
This is one of my favorite albums. I think it does a great job of showing exactly what these speakers are capable of. I left Louis w/ a copy on a recent visit to CT. He mentioned later that he had used it at his most recent show. Andy is a phenomenal mandolin player. He is complemented by an equally talented bassist and percussionist. I think you can hear shorts clips of each song here...
http://www.amazon.com/East-Flatbush-Blues-Andy-Statman/dp/B000H1RFVO
(http://ec3.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000H1RFVO.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
-
I checked this album out of the local library. Nice straight ahead contemporary jazz. Eric Alexander plays with a very strong and confident tone; he's got all the tools. I think the sound quality is excellent too :). My setup sounds like it's had injection of air. :o It is engineered, mixed and mastered by Rudy Van Gelder for High Note Records.
Nice find Roy! I found some samples from this one and it is some superbly performed hard bop. That's right up my alley.
--Jerome
-
Shirley Horn - Close Enough For Love
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/closeenoughforlove.jpg)
Shirley Horn got her start with Mercury records in the early 1960s, but never really enjoyed much success. It took another 25 years for that to happen when she signed up with Verve in the late 1980s. Release after release proved that she was a paragon of vocal jazz. She also turned in some dazzling work on the piano. Her first four albums for Verve were all five-star efforts. On this album Horn mixes it up, waxing melancholy on the ballads and then turning it up on some outstanding swing numbers. If you aren't familiar with her music, then start with Close Enough For Love since it is her best album, and then you can turn your attention to I Thought About You, Softly, and You Won't Forget Me. By the time you have those, you'll want to check out the rest of her 1990s catalog.
--Jerome
-
The The - Mind Bomb
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/mindbomb.jpg)
Jerome, thanks for mentioning this outstanding album. Also worth mentioning is that on this (and one other The The album) Matt Johnson teams up with Johnny Marr, ex of The Smiths, a brilliant and innovative rock guitarist.
-
Roberta Gambarini - Easy to Love
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/robertagambarini.jpg)
This album came on a recommendation from a fellow jazz fan on another forum. It arrived in the mail today and I'm listening to it as I write this post. If you like jazz vocals and enjoy excellent scat singing, then buy this album! Roberta Gambarini reminds me a lot of Ella Fitzgerald. Not just in her vocal interpretations of standards and elocution, but also in her scatting (though truth be told, no one -- and I mean no one -- could scat like Ella Fitzgerald). Still, Gambarini has a great deal of talent and it shines through on every track of this outstanding CD. James Moody appears as a guest on tenor sax and also joins the featured vocalist on a great scat duet. This is a very worthwhile CD that will see a lot of use in my current rotation.
--Jerome
-
Andy Bey - Ain't Necessarily So
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/andybey.jpg)
Vocal jazz is a field that has historically been dominated by women. There just doesn't seem to be many male jazz singers, and even fewer good ones. That's not a complaint, just an observation. I have more jazz than any other genre of music in my library, and vocal jazz is very well represented. It's one of my favorite subgenres of jazz along with swing and hard bop. I can't say that Kurt Elling works for me as a jazz singer. I know he has a very large following, and that my low regard for his art runs contrary to the prevailing sentiments among jazz lovers. But his voice, his improvisational style, and arrangements just do not appeal to me. I'm even less impressed with Michael Bublé . Harry Connick Jr. has done a few swing albums, but he lacks the proper feel for rhythm and timing and his voice, his vocal style, just isn't suited for swing.
Mark Murphy, on the other hand, is a giant of vocal jazz in my view and has towered over his contemporaries for the last 35 years or so. But beyond Murphy there isn't much out there in the way of contemporary male jazz vocalists. Enter Andy Bey, who often seems to get lost in the sauce, which is hard to imagine since there are so few male jazz singers to begin with. Bey got his start in the mid 1960s on the Prestige label and is still recording music. Which makes one wonder how he only managed to release 9 albums over the course of a 43 year recording career. To say he is not particularly well known is an understatement. With so few studio recordings Bey's reach into the hearts of jazz lovers was confined to his live performances. Ain't Necessarily So, a 2007 release on the 12th Street Label, was recorded live at Birdland. The set features a wonderful mix of tunes, with some downright fascinating interpretations of standards by the likes of George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, and Oscar Hammerstein. You will find a delightful blend of ballads, swing, and post-bop that are driven by Bey's extraordinary gifts for vocal improvisation. He is also a very accomplished jazz pianist. This CD should have a place in every jazz lover's library.
--Jerome
-
Mosaic Records - The Complete Verve Roy Eldridge Studio Sessions
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/royeldridge.jpg)
Roy Eldridge is one of the four most influential and important trumpeters in jazz: the other three are Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis. Eldridge is probably most remembered for his stint during the early 1940s in Gene Krupa's band and especially for his performance of the song "Let Me Off Uptown" with a very young Anita O'Day. After the big band swing era came to a close in the late 1940s he recorded prolifically on the Verve label throughout the 1950s. There are several important 1950s swing dates on these discs that are very much worth having -- such as those with Oscar Peterson and Herb Ellis in the early 1950s, also with Buddy Rich, Ben Carter, and then there are the numerous recordings he made with Dizzy Gillespie. This is the only place you are going to find all of this music, and Mosaic as usual rolls out the mastering red carpet and provides you with 7 CDs that sound phenomenal. If this music is important to you and you don't have this set, then you should buy it without delay. It is on Mosaic's "Last Chance" list, which usually means it will be sold out fairly soon. Once it's gone that will be it. True, it isn't cheap at $119, but these things will show up on eBay for $300 to $500 within a few months after the last sets are sold by Mosaic. It's better to get it now while you can do so for a sensible price if it is something that you may want.
UPDATE: These are now sold out so don't bother checking with Mosaic. Hopefully those who were truely interested got one while they could.
--Jerome
-
Susannah McCorkle - I'll Take Romance
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/susannahmccorkle.jpg)
Chronic depression led Susannah McCorkle to tragically end her life in suicide in 2001. But she left behind a recorded musical legacy that proves she ranks among the finest jazz singers and lyrical interpreters to ever to grace a stage or recording studio. Like Billie Holiday, Susannah McCorkle had a way of interpreting torch songs and ballads that seemed natural, and not forced or contrived. She could not only tell the story of a particular song, but she could also create and develop the emotional context of the story. Unlike Billie Holiday, McCorkle could also swing. Perhaps not like Ella Fitzgerald or Anita O'Day, but she had a fine sense of rhythm and knew how to pace a swing tune. I'll Take Romance is an album of mostly torch songs and ballads. All the songs are superbly sung, but the standouts are My Foolish Heart, Taking a Chance on Love, That Old Feeling, Where Do You Start, I Thought About You, and a simply breathtaking reading of Lover Man that I think is at least as good as the version that Billie Holiday did in the 1940s. Required listening for any jazz vocal fan.
--Jerome
-
Little Feat - Dixie Chicken
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/dixiechicken.jpg)
Little Feat is one of my favorite bands, and I can give a hearty recommendation to any Feat record that was recorded while Lowell George was with the band. They were still a good band without him, but it just wasn't the same. It was a great loss when George died suddenly of a heart attack at the young age of just 34. Dixie Chicken brought us the fully formed Southern-Fried-Rock meets New Orleans R&B sound of Little Feat and it became their marquee record, with many of its songs in heavy rotation in the band's live performances. The title cut gets things moving and the great songs just keep on coming and they never let up until you lift the needle at the end of side 2. If you have a analog rig then I strongly suggest that you find yourself a vinyl copy since they are cheap and plentiful -- it also sounds considerably better than the CD.
--Jerome
-
Jeff Buckley - Live at Sin-e
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/jeffbuckley.jpg)
People familiar with Jeff Buckley might suggest that the album Grace was a masterpiece created by an artist who died just as he was on the cusp of stardom. For the most part I agree with that assessment. But if you really want to get to know and understand something of what Jeff Buckley was all about as a musician (and a person) then I think Live at Sin-e is a much better choice. Recorded at a time when Buckley was still paying his dues and developing as an artist on the New York cafe circuit -- this is as up-close-and-personal, as intimate, as it gets. The singer, alone with only his guitar, a microphone, and an amplifier creates a musical experience tailor made for music lovers. There is no slick production here, and you aren't going to find sound that was recorded by the best equipment and sound engineers available. That is not suggest it was recorded by amatuers. Buckely was a recording artist for Columbia at the time, but this is a no frills production and it shows it. And yet, this is compelling music that stirrs the soul and is likely to make you fall in love with music all over again. It is vital, alive, and vibrant. The sound is great despite the amplifer buzz and occasionally excessive reverb. Buckley's amazing voice, his wity banter, and his personal charm are the stars of this show. When people ask me if I could turn back hands of time and attend one performance I missed in days gone by, this one is at the top of my list. There are some surprising songs here that delight the listener and demonstrate the extent of Buckley's knowledge and love of music, such as a spellbinding reading of the controversial song Strange Fruit that was originally recorded by Billie Holiday. All of this wonderful music is spread across two CDs on this Columbia/Legacy Edition package. There is also a DVD included with peformances of Kick Out of the Jams and The Way Young Lovers Do. Even the liner notes are a great read. It's an awesome set and a terrific value.
--Jerome
-
Come - Eleven: Eleven
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/come.jpg)
Anyone here who is familiar with Thalia Zedek will probably remember her from bands like Uzi and Live Skull. I have the Live Skull album Positraction on vinyl and love it for its No Wave influences. But Zedek's work with Come is far removed from the extremes of Live Skull. This is blues rock that recalls The Rolling Stones at their creative best (Beggar's Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers), but this is a much darker, and disonnant interpretation of what blues rock should be. Some might find this a little too noisy for their liking, but most people who enjoy indie rock and like bands such as Pavement and Guided By Voices should warm up to Come and find a lot to like. The main attraction is obviously the multitalented Thalia Zedek. She is not only a great singer in the way she interprets blues rock, but she is an accomplished songwriter and talented guitarist. This album features 10 original songs and a splendid cover of the Stones tune I Got The Blues from the album Sticky Fingers. Out of the originals, Submerge, Dead Molly, Off to One Side, and Sad Eyes are the highlights -- the entire album is strong and it should find a comfortable home in the collection of any music fan who enjoys blues rock.
--Jerome
-
Just checked this out on CD from the library, and I am very pleased with it!
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/317PKDSWBKL._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
The combination of arabic/Punjabi-based Qawwali and Flamenco in these 3 CD's is phenomenal. The recording quality is excellent (live) and the emotion is palpable.
Recommended!!!!!!!
-
canyoneagle: Wow! We want this one. Qawwali? Flemenco?
Who are the Qawwali artists on the discs? I can't read the credits on the photo.
We had the honor of catching Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan live in Chicago before he died. We really appreciate his somewhat modern interpretations of the Qawwali tradition. His nephew had been apprenticing with him and sure sounded like he had the pipes to continue the tradition.
We have a pretty extensive collection of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's work if interested in suggestions. Have you checked out Gaudi/Nusrat's, "Dub Qawwali" yet? (Produced after Nusrat's death.)
Thanks for the tip.
scott
-
Hi Scott,
The Qawwali artist is Faiz Ali Faiz, and the others (Flamenco, other) are Juan Cortes (Duquende), Miguel Poveda and Juan Gomez (Chicuelo).
These artists are backed up with a fantastic percussion section (tabla, etc).
Fantastic stuff!!!!!
...and yes, I'd love some recommedations in this genre!!!!
The CD set is available on Amazon......
Cheers,
Michael
-
Michael: A couple of Nusrat's more traditional discs that we really enjoy would be "Shahbaaz," and "Qawwali: The Vocal Art of the Sufis (1)."
While Nusrat made a few crossover discs, my favorite is "Mustt Mustt." Its mostly traditional but has a little techno flavor on a couple of cuts, one which became fairly popular in the club scene in India and Pakistan.
I'll be buying the qawwali/flemenco set soon. Thanks for the recommendation.
lw
-
Firebird Suite/Marche Slave/Night on Bald Mountain
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/stravinsky.jpg)
One of the things that I truly love about vinyl is that you can buy great classical music by the bucketload for a mere pittance. I recently bought a box of 140 LPs for $30 that was advertised as a mixed bag with mostly classical music, but also some jazz and a few pop music records. The seller said that the records all graded to VG+ or better. The seller was true to his word, but what he didn't say was that some of the recordings were scarce RCA Victor and RCA Living Stereo first pressings from the 1950s and 1960s. There were also a handful of Columbia 6 Eye jazz records in there, and most of them were in fine shape. I threw a few bad ones in the trash, but at a per-record cost of 74 cents each I really don't mind. Most of them were simply excellent. I want to single out this London Phase 4 Stereo release in the Concert Series from 1971 as what should be a model of how a classical music recording should sound....not just on vinyl, but on any medium. The instruments are vibrant and alive on this record, and if I close my eyes for a few seconds I actually feel as though I am at a concert hall at a live performance and not sitting in my home office. The soundstage is wide and enveloping, but directional as well and I could pinpoint the location of specific instruments in the mix. It takes a truly superb recording for me to be able to do this. The horns were crisp and clear, the timpani was firm with excellent texture, and the strings had great definition and weren't muddled. There are three powerful pieces of music presented here, with stormy and evocative emotional content. Powerful stuff indeed. Grab a copy if you can find one.
--Jerome
-
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512XC7X9KSL._SS500_.jpg)
Very nice studio recording of the master and his student. Not only is the playing superb but the dialog between them is interesting and adds a feeling of intimacy that includes the listener in the performance. The recording quality is definitely a step above Stevie Ray Vaughn's usual offerings.
-Roy
-
Jerome,
Where do you find these bulk vinyl offerings? Just kidding :P, you don't have to share your sources. :lol:
-Roy
-
Roy,
I started looking for ways to get the most out of my music dollar. Someone on Head-Fi suggested to me many months ago that I should give up on buying expensive audiophile vinyl pressings and look to buy records in bulk lots. I blew him off at first, thinking it was too hard to find records in quantity or that most of these albums were beat to death and ready for the landfill. And then I found a box of 63 albums at a Salvation Army Thrift Store that was three miles from my home. The box was marked "Records $1.50 each." I asked a store employee if they would consider taking $1 per record if I bought the entire box. Fifteen minutes later I was back at home sifting through the vinyl booty I just hauled in. Of those, ten records went in the trash, but that left me with a little more than 50 albums that were great at a cost to me of about $1.25 each. So after that experience I started going to Goodwill and Salvation Army stores, local yard sales and flea markets, and occasionally a good deal will turn up on eBay from time to time (but watch out for auctions because bulk lots can get bid up pretty high). I have even found some nice lots from local classified ads (and here I thought that no one even read newspapers anymore ever since the internet was created.) :lol: I did manage to win an auction on eBay that featured 12 still sealed boxed sets of Operas on Decca's London Label. I won that auction for $1 (I was the only bidder), and shipping came to about $20.
So now I am buying most of my music on vinyl in bulk lots in boxes of 100 or more. I won't pay more than $1 per record, and even at that price they have to be pretty special. I consider a per-record cost between 65 and 75 cents each to be in the magic zone that will have me reaching for my wallet.
--Jerome
-
The Oscar Peterson Trio - The Sound of the Trio
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/soundofthetrio.jpg)
Bill Evans, as I have said earlier in this thread, is the perfect jazz pianist. I stand by that assertion. His chord voicings and stylistic interpretation have a profound depth and emotionalism to them that is unmatched by any other jazz pianist before or since. If swing's your thing, however, then Oscar Peterson reigns supreme in that musical realm. The Sound of the Trio is without question the greatest swing album recorded by a jazz trio, and anything else is just a distant second. While I am a big fan of nearly all of Oscar Peterson's work, you find that on many of his recordings, especially with Ray Ellis on guitar in the 1950s and some of his early Verve sides, he is holding something back. Peterson was great at interplay and a master at weaving his piano lines in with Ellis' gentle guitar. By the early 1960s Ellis was gone and the second incarnation of the Oscar Peterson Trio featured a drum kit that was helmed by Ed Thigpen. On this recording you see what a difference having drums can make to the swing sound, as Thigpen just lets it fly. Ray Brown rounds out the rhythm section on bass. With these cats doing their thing, Peterson uncorks one of his greatest performances ever. The notes just jump from his fingers as they dance across the keyboard. If you aren't tapping your toes and snapping your fingers after the first few bars of the opening track, then get yourself to a doctor right away -- you don't have a pulse.
--Jerome
-
I'm no whizz at posting pics on the net, but my ears tell me that all four of Jim White's releases on disc sound wonderful through the Omega 6.5's. This is alternative country at its finest. Jim White is a wordsmith extraordinaire who marries uniquely atmospheric musical compositions with his lyrics. Hick-hop, if you will.
Jim's latest release, Transnormal Skiperoo, took me awhile to appreciate, but has become a listening staple. Imo, his "Drill a Hole" cd, released prior to the latest, would prolly be the most accessible. But all four are full of southern wit, humor, fire and brimstone.
Jim's compositions sound great through the omega alnicos and tubes, breathing life into the otherworldly tunes.
lw
-
Arthur Rubinstein - Chopin Ballades and Scherzos
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/Rubinstein_Chopin_Ballades.jpg)
Another wonderful RCA Living Stereo Hybrid SACD title for your consideration. Chopin ranks among my favorite composers for piano, followed closely by Liszt, Ravel, and Debussy. I feel that Arthur Rubinstein is the finest interpreter of Chopin among 20th century piano virtuosos, though ironically enough there is a 1960s performance of Ballade No. 1 in G Minor by Vladimir Horowitz that in my humble opinion simply cannot be bettered, not even by Rubinstein. Still, the performances on this disc are splendid and the recording quality is superb. If you enjoy this sort of music then I encourage you to browse through the RCA Living Stereo Hybrid SACD catalog now and get them while you can. Some of these titles are starting to go out of print, and for $10 each the value proposition is very high since a lot of these recordings are seminal works. I have every SACD in the series with the exception of a few Italian operas, and I intend to snag those as well while they are still available.
--Jerome
-
(http://991.com/NewGallery/John-Handy-Projections-446454.jpg)
Vinyl
This LP is incredible. My favorite, so far, on my new vinyl setup. Perhaps my limited experience with records clouds my judgment but I find the sound quality to be very high, so high that it almost matches the superb musicianship displayed with this masterpiece. :thumb: A friend gave me the honor of borrowing Projections for a little while. :)
-Roy
-
Roy, what did you end up with for a vinyl rig? Inquiring minds want to know!
--Jerome
-
Jacqueline du Pre/John Barbirolli/LSO - Elgar: Cello Concerto
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/EMI_elgarcelloconcerto.jpg)
There have a been a number of brilliant 20th century cellists to grace the classical music scene: Pablo Casals, Janos Starker, Mstislav Rostropovich, Gregor Piatigorsky, and Jacqueline du Pre. I find that each has to their credit some definitive work: Starker with the Dvořák Cello Concerto, Casals with the Bach Cello Suites, Rostropovich for the Brahms Cello Sonatas. Jacqueline du Pre gets the nod for her breathtaking reading of Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor. This is not only the definitive interpretation of that work, but this CD also sets a benchmark for sound quality. Highly recommended.
--Jerome
-
Sviatoslav Richter/London Symphony Orchestra - Liszt: The Two Piano Concertos; The Piano Sonata
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/Richter_LisztConcertos.jpg)
This CD quite possibly contains about 65 minutes of the greatest Liszt concertos ever recorded. Richter was, in my opinion, usually a fairly measured pianist. He did many, many things extremely well, had a vast repertoire, and his interpretive skills were immense. Still, he was regularly regarded as jack-of-all-trades insofar as did a little bit of everything, but there aren't many piano works where Richter is acclaimed as providing a definitive performance of that work. When we think of Arthur Rubinstein we think of Chopin, when we think of Vladimir Horowitz we think of Scriabin, Scarlatti, and Chopin, when we think of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli his name recalls Debussy and Ravel. That's not to say that Richter wasn't highly regarded. He was one of the greatest virtuosos of the 20th century. And if you are looking for that definitive work, then look no further because here it is. Richter provides a lot of shock and awe in these Liszt performances. The piano concertos are played with a fire and passion that you simply will not find anywhere else, and the orchestra is fully up to the task. This is an essential CD for classical music lovers.
--Jerome
-
Byron Janis/Fritz Reiner/CSO - Strauss: Burleske; Rachmaninoff: Concerto No. 1
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/reiner_strauss_rach.jpg)
RCA Victor is one of the storied record labels in classical music excellence. There are others to be sure, such as Columbia, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca, London, Angel, and several other smaller labels. The hey-day for RCA Victor was from 1950 through the mid 1960s. As it turns out many of my favorite conductors and soloists made serveral appearances on RCA Victor. Without question Fritz Reiner ranks among the greatest conductors of the 20th century. Most of his incredible 1950s RCA Living Stereo recordings are available on SACD, and I have them all and can give them a hearty recommendation. But not all of them have made it to a high definition audio format. Some, like this one, are available on CD. However, since the CD audio format has a longer runtime RCA gives you more music than what originally appeared on the LP release. In this instance they add a performance of Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra, which seems like an odd addition given the piano centric nature of the original LP performances. I think it disrupts the flow a bit. But you can always use your CDs remote to skip around it or create a playlist. So no biggie.
But there is something to be said for having the original vinyl LP. I have been collecting a lot of RCA Red Seal/Shaded Dog albums and always look for opportunities to buy them at reasonable prices. I shudder when some eBay record dealer prices some of these records at $50 or more. That's insane. But the specimen that I have, which came in today's mail and I'm listening to it now, set me back a whopping $8, which is far more reasonable. The sound is spectacular with very low surface noise and the performance is brilliant. I also have the CD but honestly I prefer this vinyl record. If you have an analog setup then you may want to try to snag a copy if you can find it at a fair price.
--Jerome
-
Yes - Fragile
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/yes_fragile.jpg)
Time to return to some great rock music. For my money Fragile ranks among the greatest rock albums of the 1970s. Released in 1972, this album has been in my rotation ever since, I listen to it at least once every year, and I never tire of it. I think Fragile was the band's finest moment. Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe gell wonderfully in the recording studio, and Jon Anderson's vocals fit the compositions like a glove. The songcraft is just as strong as the performance, with Anderson and Howe penning most of the album's 9 tracks. The record kicks off with Roundabout, perhaps the greatest keyboard driven rock tune ever recorded. I used to own a CD copy of this, having given up vinyl in the early 1980s. So I was glad to be able to locate a pristine original vinyl pressing of this record on Atlantic. The mastering on the CD I had sounded thin, with the bass sounding too far back in the mix. According to AMG there is a 1995 remaster that sounds great, though I can't comment on it since I haven't heard it. I will stick with the vinyl thank you very much. It sounds incredible and I strongly recommend it for those with a analog setup.
--Jerome
-
Dan Fogelberg & Tim Weisberg - Twin Sons of Different Mothers
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/fogelberg_weisberg.jpg)
This terrific easy-listening soft rock record was a collaboration between singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg and flutist Tim Weisberg. The rock tunes are spread out by a number of mesmerizing soft jazz-rock songs thrown in. Released in 1978, the album spawned the radio hit The Power of Gold, and numerous tracks from this record have graced the sound tracks in several motion pictures. Dan Fogelberg's piano and guitar playing go with Weisberg's flute like a fine wine with cheese. This album is just what the doctor ordered when you hunger for some mellow rock to relax with after a hard day at the office.
--Jerome
-
Robert Palmer - Double Fun
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/robertpalmer_doublefun.jpg)
When Robert Palmer's name is mentioned it is hard not to recall the music video of the song Addicted to Love, appearing on the 1985 album Riptide, that got heavy air play on MTV (back when the "M" in MTV stood for music). After 23 years it is still hard forget that video. The hot-chick backing band, the song, and Palmer, appearing suave and debonair, dressed in a shirt and tie. I'm sure there were a lot of guys wishing they were Palmer at the time. Heck...I'm one of them. But as much as I liked the albums Riptide and its follow-up Heavy Nova (featuring the hit Simply Irresistible), Palmer's better days, artistically speaking, were already behind him by the mid eighties in spite of his new found commercial success.
People not very familiar with Robert Palmer's 1970s work are in for something of a surprise. In those days he was a soulful crooner and his material frequently had a funk inflected sound to it. Double Fun is one such album, and I think it is his strongest effort from his early days before his commercial breakthrough with Riptide. If you enjoy jazzy soul-funk then is this is a must-have record. Superbly recorded and sound engineered, the album has an inescapable groove that will command your attention. The lineup of tunes is strong throughout. The album leads off with the hit Every Kind of People, and while it's a great song it is not even close to being the best song on the album, and that's saying a lot.
--Jerome
-
Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Night Moves
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/BobSeger_NightMoves.jpg)
Bob Seger climbed the charts in the mid to late 1970s. When Night Moves came out I was a junior in high school, and I really hated both Seger and this album. I can't really pin down the reason why. Perhaps it was because this album was a staple of AOR radio and the stations simply played it to death. The song Mainstreet was released as a single and it became the second most overplayed record of the 1970s, right behind Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven. Whatever the reason for my dislike of Seger, it took another 20 years before I would give his music a fair shake and a place in my rotation. And that was purely by accident, while I was a passenger in a colleague's car and he played the song Fire Down Below from the Night Moves CD. As the song played...I thought to myself what a terrific rock and roll song it truly was. So the very next day I picked up the CD. Now I have original vinyl pressings of most of Seger's 1970s output. This album is the hardest rocking entry in Seger's catalog, with just a few light rockers mixed in for a change of pace. But the record is loaded with an array of memorable songs: Rock and Roll Never Forgets, Night Moves, Fire Down Below, Sunburst, Sunspot Baby, Mainstreet, and Mary Lou. This album belongs in the music library of every serious rock and roll fan.
--Jerome
-
Roy, what did you end up with for a vinyl rig? Inquiring minds want to know!
--Jerome
Jerome,
Well...I didn't exactly acquire a high end rig :| but with the addition on some rebuilt and updated Heathkit W5m monoblocks everything sounds better :D. I did purchase the bargain TC760-LC at phonopreamps.com that you recommended. I'm powering it with a 12v battery. My TT is a Beogram Rx that I acquired by trading a set of interconnects. :roll: Despite this extremely humble rig, I think, with a good recording, that the sound quality is very good. I think that the Beogram didn't have much mileage and the stock cart is supposed to be very good. Anyway it is sitting on a granite slab producing some nice vinyl tunes. I do plan to upgrade the TT and I'm on the lookout for a used TT that I can buy locally.
(http://rajacat.smugmug.com/photos/397614457_Kn4wk-L.jpg)
It may not an upper crust TT but it sure is a nice clean unit. :)
I think that the Heathkits deserve a new thread. Soon I'll open one with some photos.
-Roy
-
Hey Roy,
That's great. The most important thing is that it sounds good, not how much it costs. If you can get great sound for very little money then you are that much ahead of the game as far as I'm concerned.
That vinyl rig is going to give you access to a ton of music that you otherwise wouldn't have with just a digital rig. Pretty soon you will be hitting the Salvation Army thrift shop and public libraries snooping for cheap vinyl. ;) Life is good...enjoy.
--Jerome
-
Dire Straits - Making Movies
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/makingmovies.jpg)
As far as I'm concerned this is Mark Knopfler's finest moment as a musican, a songwriter, and a singer. Making Movies is not a perfect album, its lone stinker being the completely forgettable finale Les Boys. But if you can forgive that one misstep, this is one helluva record. Opening with the tight and driving Tunnel of Love, it is followed by a cornucopia of brilliant songs: Romeo and Juliet, Skateaway, Expresso Love, Hand in Hand, and Solid Rock. It's a lineup of songs that were undeniably the strongest of any 1980s rock album, from any artist. For me it represents the high water mark for Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler, one that he would never reach again. Essential listening for rock fans. Get an original vinyl pressing if you have a turntable, as they are cheap and plentiful and it will sound better than any CD of this title.
--Jerome
-
James Gang - Rides Again
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/jamesgang_ridesagain.jpg)
Joe Walsh's big splash on the rock scene in 1970. The band suffered from constant changes in personnel, and the stint that Walsh did with the James Gang saw the group at its creative best, and Rides Again, with it's terrific lead-off hit Funk #49, was its best album. The record features some fascinating arrangements by Joe Walsh, incorporating keyboards, pedal steel guitar, and string arrangements into the band's sound. Most people familiar with The James Gang will probably remember this record for the snappy opening track, while the rest of it fades quickly from memory. What a shame too, because it's a strong record throughout, one that might have been spoiled by radio just as much as it was made popular by it.
--Jerome
-
Dire Straits - Making Movies
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/makingmovies.jpg)
As far as I'm concerned this is Mark Knopfler's finest moment as a musican, a songwriter, and a singer. Making Movies is not a perfect album, it's lone stinker being the completely forgettable finale Les Boys. But if you can forgive that one misstep, this is one helluva record. Opening with the tight and driving Tunnel of Love, it is followed by a cornucopia of brilliant songs: Romeo and Juliet, Skateaway, Expresso Love, Hand in Hand, and Solid Rock. It's a lineup of songs that were undeniably the strongest of any 1980s rock album, from any artist. For me it represents the high water mark for Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler, one that he would never reach again. Essential listening for rock fans. Get an original vinyl pressing if you have a turntable, as they are cheap and plentiful and it will sound better than any CD of this title.
--Jerome
Absolutely great album and I totally agree on the vinyl being superior to cd. If you do listen to cd, definitely get the remasters.
BTW, as good as this album is, I still rate "Brothers in Arms" just slightly ahead of "Making Movies". Am I splitting hairs? Yes, but we all have our own preferences.
George
-
You're not splitting hairs George. As you noted, everyone has their preferences...and I am aware that Brothers in Arms is generally a more popular album than Making Movies. I just happen to think the latter is musically superior. No biggie, I have room on my shelf for both. 8)
--Jerome
-
I like "Making Movies" better, too. "Love Over Gold," is prolly my fave.
We were lucky enough to catch Dire Straits on one of their few stops in the US back in the mid 80's. Believe it or not, the show was in an intimate little theater in St Paul MN. :)
Right now we're listening to the Buena Vista Social Club on CD.
lw
-
Man, the more I think of it, Dire Straits self titled debut album might just be my favorite.
lw
-
Valery Gergiev/Kirov Orchestra - Shostakovich Symphonies 5 & 9
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/gergiev_shostakovich59.jpg)
Ok...back to classical music for a bit. If you are wondering why all the classical music recommendations lately it is because I have bought a truckload of used classical music vinyl and a bunch of new classical music CDs and SACDs from Amazon. I've been going crazy on music buying lately and a lot of it is turning out to be pretty spectacular. I hope some of you find these suggestions worthwhile.
I know that Valery Gergiev has established himself as a great conductor of Shostakovich's symphonies. I never got around to buying any of them until now. I love Shostakovich, but I have always regarded the Bernard Haitink/London Symphony Orchestra Shostakovich symphony cycle on Decca to be the standard bearer, and never felt motivated to look at other performances at length. I own the Bernstein 5th and 9th, and a 10th and 14th from other conductors on vinyl. I have been eyeing this Gergiev release on SACD for several months. I would add it to my shopping cart, and then take it out after finding something else that I thought was more important. I think I have done this three or four times.
Well, I finally pulled the trigger and the SACD was delivered today. I thought I would give it a casual listen while I worked this afternoon. I had to take the SACD off after the first five minutes. It sounded wonderful...too wonderful in fact, and I kept finding myself becoming distracted because I wanted to concentrate on the music and not my work. So I came back to it at the end of the day. I won't go too much into the story behind Shostakovich's 5th symphony, other than to say that he wrote it in response to his falling out of favor with Joseph Stalin and the Communist government in Moscow a few years before the outbreak of World War II.
Shostakovich experimented with dissonance in many of his chamber works and small scale orchestral pieces. His symphonic works were a little less adventuresome sonically, though they were still quite invigorating musically. This SACD, featuring the 5th and 9th symphonies, has astonishingly good sound quality; it might not be too much of a stretch to say that it is one of the best sounding classical music recordings in my music library. The performance is first rate too, and is easily on par with the Haitink/LSO Decca recording that I own. If you like classical music, are intrigued by Russian composers, or know of Shostakovich's symphonic works and enjoy them, then order this Hybrid SACD without further delay. It's spellbinding sound quality and great performance will leave you awestruck in its wake.
--Jerome
-
(http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/e6/5f/e34881b0c8a09ca0fa229110.L.jpg)
I find these string quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich to be fascinating and of excellent sound quality. The boxed (5) CD set is priced very reasonably ($15.00) from a number of alternative dealers at Amazon.http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0000042HV/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new
--Roy
-
sorry, i thought I could fix the link with an end '/' -- but no go.
-
I find these string quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich to be fascinating and of excellent sound quality. The boxed (5) CD set is priced very reasonably ($15.00) from a number of alternative dealers at Amazon.http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0000042HV/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new
--Roy
This is another set that I have been meaning to buy for quite some time and never seem to get around to it. Thanks for the reminder Roy. I just put my order in. But I gotta slow down a bit...I spent over $400 on music in the last week alone. I'm loving it mind you, but my wallet is starting to cry uncle! ;)
--Jerome
-
Frtiz Reiner/Jascha Heifetz/CSO - Brahms Violin Concerto
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/brahms_reiner_heifetz.jpg)
One of my favorite compositions for violin, paired with one of my favorite conductors and my favorite violinist of all. I have this on RCA Living Stereo Hybrid SACD (it's paired with the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D and is therefore a great value). But I recently acquired this original RCA Red Seal Shaded Dog pressing on vinyl and I have to say that I slightly prefer the vinyl. It's a little warmer with somewhat fuller, richer sound. Brahms concertos are very important works to me personally, so having this performance on a digital format and on vinyl is worthwhile. You should be able to find very nice specimens on vinyl for $10 or less. I paid $7 for mine and it sounds wonderful. I know, I know, I have said time and again that I am only interested in vinyl that I can buy in bulk for 75 cents per record or less. But some records are worth breaking your own rules to get...and this is one of them.
--Jerome
-
Jimi Hendrix live at Berkeley.... 8)
lw
-
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/munch_schumann1.jpg)
This is pretty close to the best, if not the best, classical music recording I have ever heard...period. And here's the funny part, it is not a vinyl record nor is it a CD. It's a music download. Where can you find this gem? At High Definition Tape Transfers (HDTT), where else? To use their words "High Definition Tape Transfers specializes in rare classical recordings mastered with the best mastering equipment available." You know something, after buying two titles and listening to them today, I don't doubt them one bit.
http://www.highdeftapetransfers.com
I bought two titles today. The one I recommended above and this one:
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/Steinberg_Brahms3.jpg)
Which I can also strongly recommend.
Both are great performances and feature incredible, three-dimensional sound, from the light and airy strings all the way down to thunderous percussion. There is so much detail in these recordings that you can single out instruments and hear them clearly. This is what seperates these two recordings from the pack as far as I am concerned. And when the orchestra gets loud...the sound doesn't lose one bit of coherency like it does with so many other classical recordings.
Another great thing about HDTT is flexibility. You can download FLAC files at CD resolution or you can download High Definition audio files at 24/96, also in FLAC format. If you prefer media then you have your choice of a CD or a DVD-R that is burned in the DVD-A format. Frankly, I can't think of a single reason anyone would want to settle for anything less than the 24/96 FLAC files. Sure they are big downloads. High res FLAC files give you greater options. For example, you can use Foobar 2000 to convert FLACs to WAVs, and then use software like Disc Welder Bronze to burn your own DVD-A discs (this is what I did). Or you can use software such as Adobe Audition or Audacity to convert and resample 24/96 to 16/44.1 and burn your own audio CD if you don't have a DVD-A player or a Silm Devices Transporter to play the high res formats. The downloads do not have DRM. HDTT has won me over and I will be a regular customer. I'm already planning my next purchases, namely a Dvorak violin concerto and Schubert Symphonies 2 & 8.
--Jerome
-
Jacintha - Here's to Ben: A Vocal Tribute to Ben Webster
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/jacintha_benwebster.jpg)
It's been a while since I posted to this thread, and I've had a truckload of new audiophile vinyl arrive in the last few days. I'm cross posting this from Head-Fi since they have a thread going in the music forum on best in-production vinyl, and it seemed only appropriate to bring this particular title up here in this thread.
Before last week I have never heard of Jacintha. I stumbled upon her while browsing the Acoustic Sounds website shopping for vinyl. This recording is presented on two 180 gram 45 rpm LPs, and as one might expect the sound quality is simply astounding. The production values on this set are extremely high. While most of the time I am somewhat jaded about the tendency to over-produce contemporary jazz recordings, the high gloss really serves the music well in this instance.
As far as Jacintha's singing and instrumental accompaniment...it is very accessible straight ahead vocal interpretations of 10 songs that Ben Webster performed at some point in his career. But that is really where the association ends as Jacintha's voice is polished, smooth, and in no way resembles Webster's throaty, breathy tenor sax playing. That is not to say this isn't good music. I found the entire affair to be a very enjoyable and pleasant listen that is exceptionally well recorded and mixed. All said and done it would qualify as a reference recording and will make for mind-numbing demo material if you really want to impress a guest with how truely amazing vinyl can sound. It will probably be enough to get them to run for the CD exit sign. And at $34.99 for a pair of 45 rpm long players, what's not to like?
This offering is from Groove Note records, which means these are pressed by RTI. While the pair of LPs that I have played just fine, both had slight discoloration that plagues a lot of RTI pressed vinyl.
--Jerome
-
OK Jerome, your thread is killing me :drool:
This is what it is all about as Louis said awhile back. Great music!
I'm stuck with several new discs that I need to buy after looking at this list and it's all your fault :lol:
I do not have a TT in my set anymore nor do I have the Omega Speakers, must hear on my list, so I can not comment on the sound. I applaud your efforts of perusing the record bins after great finds.
I too suffer over great music that I know I have heard on Vinyl years ago yet struggle with CD quality. The re issues of or remasters of CD's that are too hot or just plain bland, over compressed, and lifeless.
I can also agree on the issues of word of mouth on great recordings and the ones to stay away from.
I'm not that big of a fan of SACD's from Verve as I find them hot, and sibilant over emphasizing the main instrument and not balancing the rest of the originally recorded music. Blue Note made some great recordings straight off with out the need for SACD or Re Issues.
I can recommend one hear but can not post the Album work: Curtis Counce
You Get more Bounce with Curtis Counce http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1035801&cart=809593081
Keep up the great thread :thumb:
BTW, if your near OH come by and we will listen to music until the cows come home 8)
-
What can I say? It's a dirty job but someone has to do it. :D
--Jerome
-
The Empire Strikes Back (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - John Williams/London Symphony Orchestra
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/empire_strikes_back.jpg)
I'm not making this recommendation because I'm a Star Wars fanboy and think that George Lucas can do no wrong. No sir. Sure, I like Star Wars as much as the next guy I suppose...well, the first two films anyway. But I strongly encourage you to decouple the soundtrack from the movie and listen to it critically and intently as a musical composition and performance. If you can do that then it will be much easier for you to see and appreciate the sheer genius of John Williams in this work. I see a lot of influences here, and the two that stand out the most to me are Richard Wagner and Dimitry Shostakovich. The Imperial March still sounds as fresh and exciting as it did 28 years ago. The Sony Collector's Edition CD sounds superb and is very much recommended. However, if you own a turntable then by all means try to find yourself an original RSO double-LP vinyl release from 1980. You owe it to yourself to give this a fresh look if you haven't already done so.
--Jerome
-
(http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/de/96/c5a1225b9da07b1e4d34c010.L.jpg)
Crescent is one of my favorite John Coltrane albums. This is the lyrical 'Trane, in the same vein as Ballads.I really like McCoy Tyner's piano work, Jimmy Garrison plays a very nice bass solo :), in fact the whole group is a very well balanced blend of talent. Coltrane readily shares the stage with all of the players. Considering that this is a CD the sound quality is superb....almost live. aa
--Roy
-
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51gMQM7rAIL._SS500_.jpg)
Great sound quality. Unique creative modern style. :thumb:
-
(http://www.heroinpig.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=87&g2_serialNumber=1)
Andrew Bird's latest album Noble Beast is a mix of his usual calm, melodic and upbeat musings as well as a few songs that remind me of some of Radiohead's finest.
The album sounds amazing on the three systems I've listened to it on. I definately recommend everyone give this album a try and if you find that you like it try the rest of his discography as it all holds great value.
Thanks for taking the time to listen and keep recommending great music!
-Pete
-
Drew Gress - 7 Black Butterflies
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/drewgress_butterflies.jpg)
While I feel that the hills of bop and hard bop have been thoroughly mined in the 1950s and 1960s, one area of jazz that is still fertile and continues to develop is the avant garde. Sure, there are still good artists out there recording very capable and listenable hard bop, but they aren't really covering any new ground. Freer improvisation in jazz creates near-limitless possibilities. The New York jazz scene has been the standard-bearer of the avant garde for the past couple of decades, and it shows no sign of letting up anytime soon. This entry by bassist Drew Gress is a masterpiece. There are moments of traditional structure that dissolve into freer improvisation. The music does not go out of its way to be melodic, but it does not go atonal. This makes the album more accessible to people who might otherwise be put off by the harsh saxaphone squonks of an Albert Ayler or Ornette Coleman. Still, this music is probably not for everyone. However, for those with an open mind and who are interested in broadening their musical horizons I cannot think of a better entry point into avant garde jazz. This album richly rewards repeated listening and is highly recommended for those jazz fans with a sense of adventure.
With that said, this will probably be my last post here for quite some time. If anyone needs to reach me just send me a PM. I will receive an email and get back to you. Take care.
--Jerome
-
The Beatles Remasters
At the risk of stating the obvious, if you are a rock fan then you owe it to yourself to look into the new Beatles remasters. This is, in my opinion, the most important music release of 2009. Several of these albums are making their debut in mono on the CD format, and for many audiophiles this is a watershed event. I pre-ordered both the mono and stero boxed sets from Amazon.com on July 11th and received them on Wednesday, September 9th.
Here is the mono set:
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/Beatles_Box_2_small.jpg)
and here is the stereo set:
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/Beatles_Box_3_small.jpg)
I have not had time to go through all of this music, but I have heard enough of it to recommend both. The Steve Hoffman forum is buzzing with a lot of talk about these sets and the consensus is very positive. I have listened to the following: Revolver in both stereo and mono, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in both stereo and mono (and also compared it to my original 1967 UK mono vinyl pressing), and Magical Mystery Tour in both stereo and mono. As someone who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, I remember listening to this music in mono. I did not hear stereo mixes until the 1980s.
Without going into too much detail I will say that I found the mono CDs to be very authentic. The mono Sgt. Pepper on CD was very, very close to the 1967 vinyl. I wish I had an original 1966 UK mono pressing of Revolver to compare, but nevertheless I am very pleased with the mono CDs. On a lot of songs the mono mix is better resolving and you can hear more than on the stereo mixes. But there is a lot to recommend the stereo mixes as well. If you never thought much of Ringo as a drummer or Paul McCartney as a bass player then these remasters will provide you with some new perspective.
I know that $400+ is a lot of scratch to throw down for both sets. Only you can judge for yourself if there is enough value here. The stereo CDs are available individually so if there were a few titles of interest you could snag those without breaking the bank. The mono albums are not available seperately and according to EMI they are a limited edition...though how many sets they will ultimately produce seems to be up in the air.
This is most certainly something you should check out.
--Jerome
-
I offered my cleaning services. Please take further feuds off the circles.
-
Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major - Walter Goehr/Tossy Spivakovsky/London Symphony Orchestra
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/Everst35mm-TchaikovskyViolin.jpg)
In the late 1950s and early 1960s both Mercury and Everest recorded a number of select classical music performances on 35mm magnetic film. Classic records has obtained a license to reissue the Everest recordings and Speakers Corner has a license to reissue the Mercury recordings. A few weeks ago I received a couple of orders from Acoustic Sounds. One contained several Everest 35mm recordings on 200g vinyl, and another had several recordings on DVD-A. Classic Records has done a very nice job with its DVD-A releases. This recording comes with a standard red book CD in 16bit/44.1KHz and also includes a double sided DVD. On one side is a 24bit/96KHz stereo recording of the content that will play on any DVD-A or DVD Video player. On the other side is a 24bit/192KHz stereo recording that will only play on DVD-A players.
This particular performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D Major, featuring violinist Tossy Spivakovsky as the soloist, was recorded in 1960. The sound quality of the 24bit/192KHz DVD-A program material is, in a word, glorious. The highly detailed sound, wide dynamic range, and stunning clarity of this recording would suggest that 35mm magnetic film as a recording medium could certainly live up to the high expectations. These are some of the finest analog sourced recordings I have ever heard. I certainly have a few RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence recordings that can probably match its fidelity, but none that exceed it. Even the 16bit/44.1 Red Book CD is a sonic marvel. If someone buying a new pair of Omega speakers were to ask me to suggest a high quality recording to try with their speakers...this one would be at or near the top of my list.
--Jerome
-
Buena Vista Social Club - Live at Carnegie Hall
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/BVSC-AtCarnegieHall.jpg)
I usually don't recommend live recordings to audiophiles who are picky and want nothing but the best possible sound quality. But in the case of BVSC Live at Carnegie Hall I will make an exception. If Ry Cooder did absolutely nothing else in his career of note, he would still be deserving of countless accolades for bringing these aging musicians from Cuba to perform on one of music's greatest stages, at Carnegie Hall in New York. People have accused Cooder of exploiting these musicians, and that may be so. But one thing is for certain, without Cooder no one outside of Cuba would ever have had a chance to hear these tremendously talented musicians perform this rich and expressive music, and that would have been a shame. The music is presented on two CDs and the sound quality is quite remarkable for a live recording. You can certainly hear some of Carnegie Hall's natural reverb in the mix, but the sound is full, lush, and rich. Bass is surprisingly firm and textured as it propels this joyous music along. The recording engineers got it right with microphone placement and at the mixing board. I don't have an expansive library of world musics, but after hearing this set I just couldn't imagine not having it around. The infectious vibes that these performances give off are highly recommended.
--Jerome
-
Let there be peace among all Omega Speaker people. :thumb:
-
The Dave Pike Quartet - Pike's Peak
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/DavePike_PikesPeak.jpg)
While Dave Pike is not a household name in the jazz world, he was nonetheless a superb vibraphonist during the hard bop era in the 1960s. He never had a steady working band, as the title of this album suggests. But he did do a number of dates as leader in the 1960s. The notable thing about these 1961 sessions for Epic is the presence of Bill Evans on piano as a sideman. This appearance came just months after the tragic death of Bill Evans Trio bassist Scott LaFaro. This recording is also, to the best of my knowledge, the only recorded session where Bill Evans appears with a vibraphonist as a featured soloist (though I could be wrong on that point). The music on this album features some lightly swinging hard bop and modal jazz numbers, with some great interplay between Evans and Pike. Sadly, this music has not been issued on CD in the US, though I believe it is available as an import on Epic Japan. The good news for vinylphiles is that it can be purchased as a reissue from Soundstage Direct and is easily worth the $16 price. If you like jazz or are a Bill Evans fan with a turntable I recommend you snag a copy before the last of these vinyl reissues disappear.
--Jerome
-
Benny Goodman - The Benny Goodman Story
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/BennyGoodman_Story.jpg)
I really dig big band swing. It's easy for me to see how jazz from about 1930 to the mid 1940s was "America's popular music." The driving shuffle beat and alluring melodies made it very dancable. After a minute or two my right foot starts a tappin', as an autonomic response to the tunes. Benny Goodman was among my favorite big band leaders. He was a fabulous clarinetist, only rivaled by Woody Herman and Artie Shaw. But Bennie's band had Gene Krupa and Peggy Lee. I have most of Goodman's 1930s and 1940s recordings. Of course, this was before the advent of magnetic tape so the sound quality only goes so far. Don't get me wrong, historicially this music is extremely important and, at the end of the day, it's the music itself that is most important. Still, wouldn't be great if we could have all of these classic Goodman tunes, only recorded in hi-fi audiophile quality sound? Wait a minute. That was, in fact, already done. In 1955, Goodman went into the recording studio with the same arrangements they used in the '30s and '40s, and to top it all off, with most of the same musicians. Harry James and Lionel Hampton are here, as are many others. Unfortunately, Gene Krupa and Peggy Lee were not present for these recordings, but their absence doesn't take much of the shine off of the performances. The recording is in mono and the sound quality is simply stunning. For someone who loves classic tunes like Sing Sing Sing it really is great to hear them in audiophile sound. Even though these songs were re-recorded over a decade after the big band swing era had ended, Goodman sounds as sharp as ever.
--Jerome
-
Jerome,
Thanks for these highly informative reviews. I'm definitely a Bill Evans fan and always keeping my eyes open for quality recordings.
Benny Goodman is another story. Maybe it's because of the generally inferior sound quality of most Big Band recordings which inhibits my appreciation to the point where I avoid buying Big Band music altogether.
I have some good news to report. Our local small town independent record store has acquired an extensive vinyl collection (50,000+ records) so I'll have a handy source to peruse for years to come all within easy walking distance. Who knows what lost gems are contained within a collection that large? aa
-Roy
-
Benny Goodman is another story. Maybe it's because of the generally inferior sound quality of most Big Band recordings which inhibits my appreciation to the point where I avoid buying Big Band music altogether.
There is a lot of big band music from the 1950s onward that is exceptionally well recorded. Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Count Basie, and Buddy Rich led big bands into the 1970s and beyond. Oliver Nelson led a big band in the 1960s. Both he and Ellington recorded their own compositions. All that said, a number of jazz fans are put off by big band music because of its close ties with swing and the idea that the music is too commercial. But Ellington and Nelson have shown that big band music need not necessarily be commercial. Ellington had particular disdain for the idea of composing and performing popular music as a commercial enterprise.
I'll be recommending more big band music going forward.
I have some good news to report. Our local small town independent record store has acquired an extensive vinyl collection (50,000+ records) so I'll have a handy source to peruse for years to come all within easy walking distance. Who knows what lost gems are contained within a collection that large?
Holy smokes Roy! :drool: That's a lot of vinyl to sift through. I'm glad that didn't happen at a store in my neck of the woods. My wife already thinks I have too much vinyl and she's probably right. I have stopped my bulk lot purchasing because I have all the classical music on vinyl that I will ever be able to listen to. The vinyl I buy these days is limited to the occasional audiophile pressing, such as the 45RPM Blue Note reissues from Analogue Productions and Music Matters.
--Jerome
-
I see you are a Miles nut (I won't make fun of that). I have a great recording of one of the last shows he played. 5-1-1990 from the Starry Night Theater in Portland. It is amazing!!!!! 2 hours of brain spinning music.
I recently gave a copy to a good friend of mine who played with Miles for the later part of his career. He remembered the show right off the bat, and after listening to it......gushed about the night, and performance.
Worth havin'
-
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/TheEarthisNotAColdDeadPlace.jpg)
My experience with post rock is rather limited compared to the people who live for this music. Sure, I have and really enjoy some Mogwai, Labradford, Tristeza, and Gastr Del Sol, among others. But after a while there is a sameness to the sound, and after a time it tends sound like little more than a collection of droning guitars (which I can also find enjoyable up to a point). What makes this album a standout for me is the layered guitars and how they are arranged into a composition that speaks to me on both a musical and emotional level, whereas most post rock strikes me as an excerise in tone control. The Earth is Not A Cold Dead Place can be melancholy and spirtually uplifting at the same time. I have it on CD and vinyl, and either is recommended since the sound quality on both is superb.
--Jerome
-
Greg Koch - The Grip!
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/GreagKotch_TheGrip.jpg)
If you have never heard of Greg Koch you should get to know a little something about him. Aside from his time working as a clinician for Fender Guitar he has also recorded an album here and there and worked as a session musican. He's a terrific guitarist with an oddball sense of humor. If you check out some of the videos of him on Youtube you'll know exactly what I mean. The Grip! is a collection of tunes that lets Greg Koch stretch out and strut his guitar chops, and in a way it is him still putting on a guitar clinic but at a different venue than what he was used to with Fender. Koch's skewed sense of humor shines through in the naming of some of the songs on the album. For example, how can you not like an album with songs such as Zioks, Spank It, Defensestrator, Tonus Diabolicus, Dylan the Villian, and Blind Lemon Pledge? That's not to say that Koch or the album is silly. On the contrary, there's a great deal of firey guitar work on display that is likely to please any fan of the instrument. Musicially there is an ecclectic mix of tunes ranging from country to blues to hard rock and heavy metal...plus a nice cover of the classic Hendrix tune Spanish Castle Magic.
--Jerome
-
John Fahey - America
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/JohnFahey_America.jpg)
I find it somewhat odd when people discuss great guitarists that acoustic players are almost universally overlooked. The discourse will usually be about Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Jeff Beck, etc, etc. But seldom do the likes of John Fahey, Leo Kottke, Bert Jansch, Paco De Lucia, Andres Segovia, or Django Reinhardt receive attention. I very much enjoy the acoustic guitar, and one of my favorite players is John Fahey. He once described his music as "American Primitive" but it really defies classification. His compositions and playing style are clearly informed by several uniquely American idioms, most notably blues, country, and American folk. But Fahey's music is like nothing else you have ever heard. He employed a three-finger picking style with alternate tunings to achieve his sound. And what a glorious sound it is. Fahey died in 2001 from complications during open heart surgery, and he left behind a huge recorded legacy. America, while not my favorite Fahey album, is a great place for those new to his music to start. It is a wonderful recording with terrific sound quality. The performance and songs are likely to stay with you long after your first listen, and repeated listening is rewarded. Highly recommended.
--Jerome
-
Big Maybelle - The Complete Okeh Sessions 1952-1955
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/BigMaybelle_TheCompleteOkeh.jpg)
This is another entry in the Legacy Rhythm and Soul series. I really wish Legacy would do more to promote this music, as much of it is terrific music and of significant historical importance. I'll have to admit to knowing nothing about Big Maybelle before hearing this CD. But after spending a few minutes reading her bio on AMG I was convinced that I needed to have it. Big Maybelle was a blues shouter and her vocal style reminds me a lot of Jimmy Rushing. While she was great at belting out bellowing blues, Big Maybelle was equally adept with a ballad. You can easily see the jump blues and early R&B styles at work here, as many of these tunes are driven by the classic shuffle beat. What I found most interesting in this set is that Big Maybelle recorded Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On two years before Jerry Lee Lewis did. The difference is that Maybelle recorded it as a jump blues tune and Lewis recorded it as a rock and roll song. I really enjoy them both. I had to think about whether or not I really wanted to recommend this title here. The reason being is that a couple of the tracks are somewhat shouty and sibilant. But most of the tracks sound great and given the significance of the music I thought it deserved a mention in this thread. If you have a Rhapsody subscription then you can give it a listen using that service. You can also buy it from Amazon.com for $6.99 so the price is very reasonable. I think most people who like jump blues and R&B will really enjoy these recordings. Highly recommended.
--Jerome
-
The album that got me into Bassa Nova, the one that started it all
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=22290)
I have to admit that I cant understand a word of Portugese (Album is part Portugese part english), however there is enough emotion in the music to give me goosebumps. The album is a tribute to Jobim and is recorded in the late Masters house. Paula Morelenbaum's voice is simply gorgeous and the recording on this CD is superb. This is one of those CDs where you end up listening to the entire CD from track 1.
cheers
vsr
-
A friend of mine brought over this CD and I simply couldnt believe the quality of the recording along with the wonderful fusion of Middle-Eastern and Indian Instruments. The music itself incorporates various styles ranging from middle easter, to Indian to Electronic to Jazz. If you are into either of these types of music or simply want to explore something different, do give the CD a listen.
(http://www.audiocircle.com/image.php?id=22292)
-
Dizzy Gillespie - Birks Works: The Verve Big Band Sessions
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/DizzyGillespie_BirksWorks.jpg)
Dizzy Gillespie was a giant of jazz and I find it somewhat baffling that he isn't talked about in jazz circles today as much as Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and well...you get the picture. As a jazz trumpeter, his talents as a virtuoso were easily on par with the likes the Louis Armstrong and Clifford Brown. As a composer in the jazz idiom he was probably only surpassed by Duke Ellington and Oliver Nelson. As a bandleader of both full orchestras and small ensembles he was a superb entertainer and his enthusiasm for the music was contaigous. And...to top it all off he was an accomplished singer and could scat. As a creative force behind bop and Afro-cuban jazz he had no peer. Gillespie was as complete a musician as you are likely to find. This two CD set is an excellent document of the big band sessions that Dizzy Gillespie led for Verve in the 1950s. A fine mix of light swing, blues, and some bop. The sound quality, as is usual for Verve in the mid to late 1950s, is outstanding. If you are a jazz fan and this affordable double CD set is not in your music collection....it should be.
--Jerome
-
Toumani Diabate with Ballake Sissoko - New Ancient Strings
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/ToumaniDiabate_NewAncientStrings.jpg)
This pair of Kora masters (the Kora is a 21-stringed instrument of West African origin) have collaborated to produce a work of sheer beauty. I was fortunate enough to have an acquaintance on another forum give this a strong personal recommendation. So I tried a few samples on Amazon.com and was intrigued by the music's complex melodies and the hypnotic sound of the Kora. If you are open minded and like to experience non-western musics then I think you will find much to admire and enjoy in this superbly recorded CD.
SAMPLES (http://www.amazon.com/gp/recsradio/radio/B00000JFRU/ref=pd_krex_dp_a)
--Jerome
-
Blue Country Heart...Jorma Kaukonen
w/ Sam Bush (mandolin), Jerry Douglas (Dobro), B?la Fleck (banjo), and Byron House (stand-up bass), all playing on vintage 1920s and '30s acoustic instruments.
(http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/76/c1/2bd2c060ada01b9e1048c110.L.jpg)
When listening to this album I can close my eyes and imagine that I'm sitting on a front porch in the Sonoma County countryside, sipping a beer, perhaps passing a pipe and enjoying the playing of a bunch of talented friends at the end of a hot Summer day. Also I find the sound quality to be quite good.
For you cat lovers, the cut Tom Cat Blues is hilarious and played with relish.
-Roy
-
Jorma Kaukonen was one was the founding members of Jefferson Airplane. Nice find Roy. His brand of Nashville blues and country is a long way from the San Francisco phychedellic rock scene of the 60's, but this is excellent music nonetheless.
--Jerome
-
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Ella & Louis
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/EllaAndLouis.jpg)
This would be the first of two pairings featuring these legendary performers. Both are very worthwhile, but the first one -- Ella & Louis -- should have a place in any jazz collection. These two great singers, performing in a small group setting (a trio consisting of piano, bass, and drums and occasionally a quartet with Armstrong's trumpet tossed in for good measure). The setting is intimate and the miking is done to foster that great sense of intimacy. The resulting sound quality is simply breathtaking. I'm listening to it now on a Universal Japan 200g vinyl pressing, but I also have and can recommend the Verve Master Edition CD of this title. This would be an excellent choice as jumping off point to explore Ella Fitzgerald's recorded legacy on Verve, which is very well documented on both CD and audiophile vinyl. Louis Armstrong is a little different since he recorded for a lot of different labels. Highly recommended.
--Jerome
-
Ray Charles - The Genius of Ray Charles
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/RayCharles_TheGeniusofRayCharles.jpg)
Ray Charles is most remembered for his contributions to early R&B and soul music. During most of his tenure with Atlantic Records, however, Charles was an accomplished jazz pianist and vocalist. Genius was originally released in 1959, and make no mistake about it...this is a jazz album -- not an R&B or soul record. Most of the tracks that appear here were arranged by Quincy Jones, and the sidemen for these sessions came from the ranks of the Count Basie and Duke Ellington Orchestras. The first side is loaded with big sounding swing numbers, and the second side consists of ballads. The two standout tracks are Let The Good Times Roll and Just For A Thrill, but this is a hugely strong record throughout. There are a number of CD issues for this album, the best of those come from Rhino. I have both the Rhino remastered CD and 180g LP. Both are great, but the LP is a special treat for vinylphiles and that is what I am listening to as I write this post. Recommended listening for jazz fans or anyone who likes the music of Ray Charles.
--Jerome
-
Linda Ronstadt - Heart Like A Wheel
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/LindaRonstadt_HeartLikeAWheel.jpg)
I didn't really listen much to Ronstadt's music back in the 1970s. Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Kiss, and Van Halen were more my cup of tea. It would be another 15 years after leaving the nest before I would pay any attention to the pop/rock fare that was coming out as I was making my way through high school. Since that time, however, I have really come to respect Linda Ronstadt as a recording artist. Heart Like A Wheel is arguably her greatest, and most recognizable achievement. I own this album on vintage vinyl (if I am not mistaken it is also available in a 180g vinyl reissue). I also own the recent reissue on CD by Audio Fidelity, remastered by Steve Hoffman. This Gold CD is HDCD encoded and my Denon DVD-5910CI can take advantage of it. The sound quality is truly outstanding and IMHO it is very much worth the price premium. I can't comment on the regular CD from Capitol since I don't own it.
--Jerome
-
Tri Fi - Postcards
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/TriFi_Postcards.jpg)
This is an excellent jazz trio. I came across this music several months ago when I upgraded the tonearm on my turntable to a SME 309. I put the SME 3009 Series II that it replaced up for sale on Audiogon. Phil Palombi, the bass player in Tri Fi, bought the tonearm. In the course of our email exchanges we talked about music and he mentioned the jazz trio he was in. He kindly sent me a link to the band's web site and I ordered both CDs that were available. Their music can best be described as straight ahead post-bop. While that ground has been extensively covered these are all original compositions, the music is adventurous, the performances outstanding, and the sound quality is superb. The recording engineer who laid down these tracks in the studio really knew what he was doing. Highly recommended.
http://www.tri-fi.com
--Jerome