patricia barber - diana krall - holly cole

Beauty is in the ear of the beholder. 

We need more hate. 

They would probably tear at each other's clothes, like Lucy & Ethel.

That's an interesting concept.

You know there are actual jazz musicians with talent touring, right?

You don't feel that those three are talented? 

@2chfreak  , I actually enjoy "Wallflower."  I particularly like her cover of "Desperado."  I have yet to hear "The Girl in The Other Room."

Patricia Barber . . . another artist that I would love to see in concert, but I suspect that nothing can top her Companion XRCD.

@moto_man  , I didn't know that "Companion" was on XRCD.  I have the Blue Note  digital pressing that I bought before 9/11, and I did like it so much that more recently I bought the MFSL SACD pressing.  I have four different digital pressings of Cafe Blue, and I'll usually choose one (actually I haven't listened to one of them yet)   for auditioning changes to my system.

I have a Japanese digital pressing, that I bought a long time ago, of Holly Cole "It Happened One Night" that I like a lot because it does a good job of conveying the immediacy of her vocals, particularly on "Cry If You Want To." 

Oh well, ramble on. . . .

@moto_man  , my ears probably aren't good enough for that, but I was planning on doing some listening tomorrow after the 1pm game.  I will put "Companion" at the top of my list (after playing a warm up disc) and I am game.

I haven't heard much on XRCD?  I have Tina Turner "Private Dancer" on XRCD, and that definitely has something extra (when compared to most other CDs, although I have made no direct comparison to any other "Private Dancer" CDs) and I paid way more$ than I wish I would have for "Linda Ronstadt's Greatest Hits" because 1) the few times I listened to it I never thought the sonics were anything special, and 2) about the 3rd time I was going to listen to it, when I was extricating it from its case (it fit tightly) it broke!  I almost felt like crying.  I wound up buying a used DCC pressing of that one, but it's not really anything special either. 

@2psyop

to each his own, everyone can listen to whomever they like?

Nope, not on Audiogon. If you don’t hate Diana Krall there is something wrong with you. It has to be that way.  Case closed and period.

I think all you defending her are proving my point. Horny old men who care more about that the albums are “generally magnificently recorded“ than the music itself. Top tip. There are lots of albums that are well recorded.

You are correct, @mayoradamwest , you don’t like her so therefore no one else should like her.

Sometimes when I’m reading a book and listening to music, whenever I reach for the remote to move to a different song, it’s always Holly Cole. Don’t know what’s about her music but I can’t stand to listen to her for more than 30 seconds.

It's her weird phrasing.  She sometimes gurgles and turns vowels around in her mouth it's almost like she's daring you to like what she's doing.

Sort of an anchovies-on-pizza singer. 

I haven't noticed that.  It must not be universal to all her CDs. 

I've never noticed that on the Holly Cole CDs that I own. 

@tomcarr , right on, man. I didn’t take anything you typed before as being negative. Not at all.

You didn’t say what grade you gave the pressing(s?) of Cafe Blue?

As far as Cafe Blue, I bought that back when it came out on redbook (HDCD) (which I didn’t/still don’t have) after I heard her cover of "Ode To Billy Joe" on a public radio station. That was back when my gear was in the living room, and consequently I never listened to that disc much. Since I have moved my gear to The Room, and being a tad obsessive, I have acquired 3 more digital pressings. Now a days it is one of my go-to discs for "analytical/critical evaluation." Plus I’ve got to where I just really enjoy hearing it.

Oh well, my daily rambling is (hopefully) now complete.

Oh, but I must ask, by classic country, do you mean like Waylon and Willie and The Boys? No matter, that is some great stuff.

@tomcarr  , and your grade (or grades if you have multiple pressings) of "Cafe Blue"?

I think the SACD UN-Mastered version is class A+, the CD version is class A.

@tomcarr  , I'd put the SACD "Cafe Blue Unmastered" on the best-of-my-best list, for sure.  Have you heard the MFSL SACD of "Cafe Blue"  (not unmastered)?  I go back & forth on those two.  I think I am going to do the MFSL tonight.  (I've already got the CDs picked out in my mind for this evening.)

Did you know that Impex (sort of recently) released a gold reissue of "Cafe Blue" on red-book (not the original HDCD release that I believe you sere referring to)?  I hate to say it, but I haven't even taken the plastic wrapper off of that one yet.

On an aside, is HDCD a pretty noteworthy listening experience?

@tomcarr  , just some commentary which is off of OP's original topic, but I do remember reading about HDCD in Stereophile when it (HDCD) was a new thing, and I was intrigued.  I was always thinking I should have ordered my Muse DAC with the HDCD chip which was an option back then.  But I'd say HDCD must have fizzled?  By most standards, I have A LOT of CDs, & HDCD was never a factor that caused me NOT to buy one.  But with all these CDs, I can only off hand think of four that are HDCD and I probably own a few HDCDs that I am not thinking about, but not many.

But SACD, in my opinion, is a different animal.  A good SACD (and admittedly, not all of them are, for example I am most disappointed with the Japanese SACDs I have bought) truly does, to my ears, sound a cut above everything else I have heard in my system.  (But s I previously noted, I don't have vinyl.)  I'd almost go as far as saying that, although some are better than others, I have not (yet) bought any of the MFSL crop of SACDs that have disappointed me. 

Thanks, @tomcarr  , I just did a quick search & MD has the LP (which won't fit inside my CDP) and then I took a look on ebay & I saw one by SMH . . . I've found that SHM usually does a pretty good red-book. 

@tomcarr  , I guess since I've already strayed from the OP, I may as well stray a bit further.  As far as classic rock, these days I limit it to buying & listening to certain remasters that I hope will provide a good sonic presentation.  I keep checking MD to see if MFSL's "Hotel California" has progressed from TBA to being a thing.  So far it still hasn't, but when it does I will order it.  I have the DCC red-book reissue, and to my ears it doesn't sound good enough any more that I play it other than on a blue moon; I did buy the Japanese SACD, but to me, it sounds even thinner and less of everything than the DCC red-book does.

To justify that ramble above, back on topic:  do you have Patricia Barber "Companion" original red-book or any of the red-book remasters or the SACD remaster?  If so I am curious as to how you would grade them.

Coyote Ugly Sound Track

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