Mdomnick, please understand, I'm not "nocking" Nora's talent. It just really surprises me that this is Grammy material.
Geez, maybe we should start a band and go for a Grammy.
Can you play anything? |
Yea, but Viridian, you have to give credit for the recording quality of Patricia Barber. I actually use one of her albums as a reference (Cafe Blue/Blue Note #7243 5 21810 2 5). The recording quality is superb.
The only thing is, when listening to Patricia, I feel the need to do 8 or 10 shots of Wild Turkey. Ya know, just to put you in the same "frame of mind" as the artist. |
Hey Warren, I once heard the Dixie Dregs featuring Steve Morse at the Beacon. Great venue. Now THAT was a Grammy winning performance. Those guys were absolutely amazing. I walked out of that place speechless along with everyone else after listening to them for over 2 hours.
And Pbb, $28.00? Man, I felt like I was chewing on tinfoil paying $17.99. But, it was "on sale" from $21.99 so, of course, that made me feel a little better (NOT).
And classifying Norah as jazz is like classifying McDonalds as gourmet food. |
Mdomnick, I couldn't agree with you more. And, in regards to M&M, I heard that he won a Grammy, but I never really gave it much attention. Although I did see one of his videos on one of those video channels. He was dressed up as Bin Laden. It was pretty funny.
I kinda forgot to listen to the music. |
Clueless, they seem to be the right cables the 99.99% of the time. I found the instruments in the first cut to be a little recessed. Almost like they were playing from behind a down comforter.
Maybe it's partially the cables that are allowing me to hear that level of detail or, non-detail, whatever the case may be.
Some of the other cuts don't display the same characteristics. Although, if you look at the liner notes, you'll notice that several different engineers and producers were used on different cuts.
Could that explain some of the inconsistencies? |
You're right Warren. (And I assume you're talking about Patricia Barber). But I'm grasping at straws here. And if the only straw I can grasp is recording quality, Hell, I'm goin for it.
P.S. Enjoy Norah live. Seeing a musician perform live adds a new perspective on said artist. |
Viridian, Thanks for the tip on Tierney Sutton. I'll give it a shot. Telarc seems to always do a great job in terms of sonic quality. I've got a thing for the female voice anyway.
Probably one of my all time favorites has always been Ricki Lee Jones. Her recordings were always very well done. And there is a certain "seasoning" that Ricki Lee has always had.
Probably all those years of heroin abuse with Tom Waitts. |
DB, your tremendous wealth of knowledge is somewhat overwhelming.
It also amazes me at how well your eyes can hear. It is really quite an incredible ability. You must feel very special.
I would have to assume that after the extensive amount of formal education you received pertaining to room acoustics, sound reinforcement and acoustic physics, you would now be capable of looking at a portion of a picture and determining how a room, and the system contained within, sounds.
Very impressive.
So, before I opt to unleash my verbal wrath on you, I think I'll just revert back to a very valuable lesson my Dad had taught me many years ago. He suggested.....
"In times of confrontation, sometimes the best response you can receive is no response at all".
Now, whether you may attempt to comprehend this is totally irrelevant.
But, consider yourself fortunate. Do you understand?....... I didn't think so.
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Are we forgetting, Ricki's first album, The Magazine, Pirates, and Traffic From Paradise? I feel that Ricki's older material was a little more melodic, very well recorded and slightly more indicative of Ricki's style. |
Paulwp, let's clarify several comments in your last response, shall we?
Terminology; please define 'dissing". Because quite frankly, it is a very general term. As I look back through the responses to this thread, I see very few people "dissing" Norah's efforts.
To the contrary, I found most everyone to be quite receptive to this new release within reason. My original intent was not to "diss" anyone. Nor do I feel it was the intent of anyone who responded to this thread. I feel that the majority of the focus was the questionable Grammy and musical standards. That was MY bone of contention, not anyone else's until, of course, people started responding to this thread.
TAS says the same thing? About what? If your thinking of the same TAS that I'm thinking of..... I personally respect the opinions of many sources, but I don't use any single one as "the benchmark". And as I have said in the past; I'm not asking anyone to agree with my opinion, I simply ask that they respect my opinion. Hence, the concept behind a forum.
Taking offense? The only time I take offense to things said, is when they are hollow statements that are said with no basis. Let's try a different approach;
Gee Ed, I noticed a somewhat different approach to your system setup. Is that L.H. speaker at first reflection? Did you calculate your room nodes? Is that 5/8" sheetrock with sound deadening insulation? Are those 15' ceilings? Is the dispersion range of the speakers in FRONT of the couch? Is your listening chair 4 feet from the opposing walls? Are you running triangulated or cross axial?
And does Norah's album sound the same in my listening environment as your listening environment? Probably not. Your friends listening environment? Probably not.
You see? Now someone can make a more informed, intellegent statement. It's an age old concept, engage your brain BEFORE putting your mouth in drive.
In closing Paul, if certain individuals become that easily offended by opinions rendered in this forum, they should not be here. If open exchanges of ideas become too stressful, they should find somewhere else to go. But if people are going to participate in this forum or any other forum, they should keep in mind, it is an OPEN EXCHANGE of ideas. That means you must approach it with an OPEN MIND.
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Onhwy61, Maybe we should both go back and read the original post. I just did. In my original post I summed up my opinion of this new release in one paragraph. "Kinda cool voice" means exactly what it says. I think her voice is cool. "Cool" meaning, I like it.
"Plastic microphone" pertains to the recording quality, "piano underwater" pertains to recording quality. "Ricki Lee Jones kind of" quality means singing style. Look at my preceeding responses and you'll see that I mention Ricki as being one of my absolute favorite musicians. "Not a bad recording" is self explanatory.
The statement I am trying to make is the same statement I tried to make in previous threads titled, "Is there big trouble brewing" and "Recording industry dirt". Both of those threads were in regards to quality standards now considered acceptable by the industry. Do I consider this a good new album? As I said before, it's not bad. Do I consider this Grammy material? No. At least not relative to what material used to be considered Grammy material. Do I consider Norah talented? She's O.K.
I would never compare her to Ella, Joni, etc. because I think that would be unfair. Again, read my post and look at it from the perspective of Grammy performance. Perhaps you will see the perspective from which I see it. Or, maybe not.
Also, (I feel) the majority of people who responded to this post, pretty much had the same opinion regarding her performance. It was O.K. That would leave me to believe that I'm not the only person who feels this way.
My "whining" is the disgust I feel towards the ever dropping standards of musical performance. And, until the industry promotes musicians the way that they used to, and proceeds to shake this "churn em and burn em" mentality, I will continue to "whine".
DB had mentioned reevaluating Norah in ten years from now. Based on past performance of the newer musicians and the recording industry, do you really think that Norah will be around ten years from now?
I would be pleasantly surprised. But I won't hold my breath. |
