Latest bin find.....Elton John

Yep, his early albums are great. I especially like "Tumbleweed Connection." The UK DJMs of these early records, including "Madman" sound very nice, but condition is always an issue. You know who Dick James (DJM) was? Interesting history if you look him up. I too lost the thread during the Yellow Brick Road era. 

I also have DJMs from France and Japan from the era. I first mentioned it, aside from the pressings,  to underscore that Dick James had some real history even before Elton; those mop tops from Liverpool. Had a nice chunk of the publishing. And sold it. I think there was considerable acrimony between EJ and Dick James. Should be a matter of public record.
It was a colorful business, with some interesting characters. 

David Lindley is, as a number of us here and elsewhere have acknowledged, an American treasure. He is great fun to hear live--we’ve usually caught him in small clubs where his tone and virtuosity just shine. I also love his sick sense of humor- it reminds me of an era in LA that is now pretty much gone.
@tablejockey - I should update my system pics. Those are from the set up in NY. We have since moved to Austin, and the room is longer, the structure is made of old shiplap planks, and the system sounds better than ever. Sadly, we left the Buddha behind--it was far too delicate to move. I haven’t yet come up with a sculptural object for the front of the room, but I’ll know it when I see it.
The Les Paul gets plugged into one of those Marshall re-boots that has point to point wiring. I use an Echoplex preamp emulator to jack the gain out of the pick-ups even more (the guitar came from the CV Workshop where it was modified to copy the old Peter Green guitar). That amp, with only 18 watts or so, is ear shatteringly loud in a residential environment. I’m not much of a guitar player, was a very good keyboard player a long time ago, but I like to noodle, and we’ve have some visitors over the years who can really play. That’s when it gets fun.
Here’s a glimpse of what things look like in Texas now:[url]http://thevinylpress.com/gone-to-texas/[/url]
regards,
bill hart

Yeah, nobody wins in those Mother Nature things- it is amazing to see the outpouring of support, not words, or hashtag stuff, but hard labor, money, people doing stuff, rescuing animals as well as people.
Kinda restores my faith in human-kind if you know what i mean.

I remember hearing Lindley back in the Jackson Browne era- it was probably just before or after Late for the Sky (which is as much a Lindley album as it is a Jackson Browne album in my estimation)/ Lindley looked like Cousin ITT, seated, bent over his guitar, all hair.  Lindley was part of a loose confederation of musicians that were like the LA Rock Mafia, worked with a bunch of big California based artists during that era.
Really worth seeing him solo if you haven’t. He brings a dozen instruments, and once he gets a working on a tune, he develops all these overlays and counterpoints to his own playing. My wife, who had never heard him (or of him) said, after going to one of these solo shows for the first time: "He’s like Yo-Yo Ma." Since then, she keeps an eye out for his tours.

Some of the UK DJMs are on semi-translucent vinyl- though it looks like normal black vinyl, if you shine a light behind it, you can see it is a dark, almost blood red color. The preferred pressings, sonically, are, if memory serves, not these translucent ones, which are somewhat later pressings.