Whats on your turntable tonight?

@spiritofradio, not yet, my copy is on it’s way to me. I haven’t looked lately, but about a month ago there was a lot of chatter about the set on Steve Hoffman’s site. There are bound to be differences of opinion, and I expect to have conflicting reactions myself. The tapes were new when my original LP was pressed, they’re 50 years old now. The Band and producer John Simon did the mixes themselves in ’69, and I hope Bob Clearmountain has stayed close to the originals.

But back then it was common to filter the very low bass out of recordings, anticipating the then-current cartridges wouldn’t be able to track a groove cut too "hot". And solid state recording electronics were pretty new in ’69, though I don’t know if this album was recorded on older tube gear or the new ss. Compare the sound of Rubber Soul (tubes) to Revolver (solid state). I much prefer Rubber Soul.

I would buy this boxset regardless of sound quality, being a The Band completest. I still listen to their first two albums everyday (literally), just as some Jazz fans do Kind Of Blue. They still sound fresh, contemporary, and relevant, and I am still hearing or appreciating new things with every listen. They are a master class in how to be a Rock ’n’ Roll band, musician, singer, and/or songwriter. The rest of their catalog is pretty fine too ;-) .

Yeah @slaw, that Andrew Gold album is a rarity---good music in good sound. It was one of the albums I used as material with which to audition speakers back in the 70’s.

Andrew created a really remarkable album (CD only) that is unlike any I have ever heard: Greetings From Planet Love, by The Fraternal Order Of The All. It is a send-up of psychedelia, really well done. It is to the genre as Spinal Tap is to it’s, but better. Musically delightful---authentic to a T, and great tongue-in-cheek lyrics. Also involved in the album was Graham Gouldman of 10CC.

I met and spoke with Andrew a couple of times in the late 90’s, by which time he had become a rather unpleasant fellow.

@noromance, get yourself a Zeta arm! There is something about it (not just effective mass) that makes it about the best mate for Deccas and Londons.

@slaw, I've been dealing with the increasing frequency of my lifelong "cluster" headaches. Consider yourself very fortunate if you've never had one---they're completely debilitating. I have my entire adult life suffered from them about quarterly, but lately they've been appearing weekly, if not twice a week. They always start right above either left or right ear, moving across my head in about three days time. Rather than being like a migraine (of which it is a relative)---constant pain---the cluster strikes like a bolt of lightning, intense pain coming out of nowhere. The next strike may be a few minutes later, or maybe only ten seconds. So one is always poised for the next strike, tensed and anxious.

My doctors have been trying some medicines on me, and I have to do the sleep apnea test next week, seeing if that's the cause. I doubt it, but I'll give it a shot. It's getting brutal being me ;-( .

When one listens to Aretha’s Gold, he or she is afforded not only the pleasure of hearing one of the greatest singers of our lifetimes, but also the musicianship of The Swampers, the studio band heard on those recordings.

The Swampers were the band assembled by Rick Hall at his Fame Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals, where producer Jerry Wexler brought Aretha after Atlantic Records owner Ahmet Ertegun bought her contract from Columbia Records. Columbia had assigned her to Mitch Miller (yeah, THAT Mitch Miller), who didn’t know WHAT do with her. Well, Wexler did, saying he was going to "put her back in church."

Anyway, The Swampers exemplify the style of musicianship known as "ensemble playing": playing so as to make the singer, the song, and the other musicians sound better, rather than to glorify oneself. Wexler also brought Wilson Pickett down, and though Pickett was apprehensive---he had left the South to escape the racism The Swampers seemed to represent: white "crackers"---he said when they started playing, he couldn’t believe his ears; the funkiest band he had ever heard, white or black.

Other artists have gone to Muscle Shoals, expressly to record with The Swampers: Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Boz Scaggs, Joe Cocker, Paul Simon, Dusty Springfield, J.J. Cale, too many to list. Drummer Roger Hawkins and bassist David Hood were enticed out of the studio by an offer from Winwood to join Traffic. Hood’s son Patterson is the frontman of The Drive-By Truckers.

Drummer Roger Hawkins is considered amongst the greatest studio drummers of all-time, even by Jim Keltner, who said he wished he played more like Roger! Extremely "musical": tasteful, elegant, smart (there are a fair number of rather stupid drummers around. Ever hung around a drum shop? ;-), restrained in the less-is-more style. But man does he make for the deepest groove that has ever been played! And his press roll is as good as it gets. To say that his playing is the antithesis of that of, say, Neil Peart, is not to disparage the latter, only to once again make the point that the metric by which a musician’s playing is appraised varies according to what one is looking for, and what one values.

Speaking of elderly: I just had my pic taken at Walgreens for my new passport (I’m heading over to Ireland/England/France/Germany in April). I compared that pic to that on my 1981 passport, and OH MY GOD is time a cruel mistress. :-(

@tomic601, I have long known about The Belly Up, but made it south only as far as Long Beach, where I gigged quite a bit in the 90’s. One gig was with a band from Austin (for some reason I can’t recall their name, but Ted Roddy was their frontman/singer), and drummer Mike Buck (original drummer in The Fabulous T-Birds, later with The Leroi Brothers ), seeing that I played the exact same drumset as he (1960’s champagne sparkle Ludwigs), suggested we just play on the same set. Unfortunately, I’m a lefty, so had to decline his generous offer. Interestingly, Mike and I both worked with guitar legend Evan Johns, though at the time of my interaction with Mike that event had not yet transpired. Small world.

The sound old too, @slaw. Old as in adult---they made most of their contemporaries sound like little boys who had just started their first, uh, band. All but organist Garth Hudson were about the same age as The Beatles, Stones, Kinks, etc., but whereas those bands stopped playing every night on small stages around 1962---ending their progress and evolution as ensembles, The Band (then known as Levon & The Hawks) were a working band, playing all over Canada, the Midwest, the South, and the East Coast (where Dylan heard them and hired them as his band). By the time of their 1968 debut album Music From Big Pink, they had become the best Rock 'n' Roll band in the world, and The Beatles were just about over. George and his best friend Eric Clapton were two of their biggest fans. Nick Lowe has said his band Brinsley Schwartz were trying to be as much like The Band as possible, and falling far short.

Damn @slaw, you're musical taste is like looking in a mirror ;-) .

Lucinda's band on World Without Tears is one of the best I've ever seen/heard live. Drummer Jim Christie is just astoundingly great (though of course not in Neil Peart's league ;-); Lucinda hired him away from Dwight Yoakam.

Cool @tomic601. Hurd's a great songwriter, one of his recorded by Junior Brown, one ("If You Play With My Mind You're Gonna Get Your Hands Dirty") by The Skeletons. Hurd's guitarist Paul Skelton (just a coincidence ;-) and I moved to L.A. together in '79, then to NYC in '82. He was (R.I.P., another 2-pack a day smoker) the guitarist on the first two Wayne "The Train" Hancock albums, but didn't go on the road with him. In his place was Evan Johns, another guitarist I worked with. Small world!

So you got yourself an RM-9, ay? I'm keeping my eyes open for one myself, until then my RM-10 and RM-200 will have to do ;-) . What speakers are you hooking it up to? My RM-10 goes with my Quad 57's, the RM-200 with Eminent Technology LFT-8b's.

@slaw, Springfield Missouri, hometown of The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, is also home to another great group, some of whose members were in and out of both bands.

Guitarist D. (Don) Clinton Thompson, drummers Bobby Lloyd Hicks and Ron Gremp, and keyboardist Joe Terry were at certain points in time members of both The OMD and Springfield legends (Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe, and Elvis Costello, and I are fans) The Skeletons/The Morells (they went by both names over the years).

D. Clinton Thompson was in Steve Forbert’s road band for years, and is a fabulous player.

Bobby Lloyd Hicks was Dave Alvin’s drummer for many years, and died of lung cancer/pneumonia (a heavy smoker) a couple years back. An excellent "rhythm section" player.

There are a number of Skeletons and Morells albums still available, and they are fantastic. Great songs, great band, great production by bassist Lou Whitney (also now gone), who ran a recording studio in Springfield. I have friends/former bandmates (in The Cornell Hurd Band, now in Austin Texas) who travelled from San Jose California to Lou’s studio to record. He and The Skeletons/Morells are underground legends.

@tomic601, have you heard about the new documentary on The Band, put together by Robbie Robertson? It's entitled "Once Were Brothers", and is based on Robbie's book. It's "touring" the U.S. right now, playing in selected cities. It's at the Kiggins Theater in Vancouver on the 28th of this month, and I and a good bass player I worked with in 2017 are going to see it together.

Rick Danko was a very talented guy, one of my all-time favorite musicians. Levon Helm has been my main role model on drumset playing since 1969, Richard Manuel one of the greatest singers (and drummers) in the entire history of Rock 'n' Roll, and Garth Hudson a near-genius musician.

I recently read Bernie Taupin say that the 2nd Band album was his and Elton's inspiration and model for their Tumbleweed Connection album. Nick Lowe said The Brinsley Schwartz Band (of which he was a member) were trying to be England's The Band, and fell far short. As I have previously said, I listen to The Band's first two albums every single day (I'm being literal), and have for many years. The two best albums I have ever heard.

@slaw and @tomic601, I was fortunate enough to have been invited to an industry-only event at the Sony offices in L.A., promoting T Bone Burnett's then current album (The Criminal Under My Own Hat). His wife Sam Phillips was with him, and he had her sing a song on her own, though she was on a competing label (Virgin). She sings in an almost whisper---very soft, gentle, and vulnerable. She's the kind of woman you can fall in love with at first sight.

That same night they performed live at The Roxy Theater on Sunset. They had only minimal accompaniment, most notably Jerry Scheff on electric bass. His playing that night was the most incredible thing I've ever seen and heard, musicality on a VERY high plane. I then understood why he's so in demand by those who know what great musicianship is. He's the bassist on Costello's King Of America album, EC's best imo. Produced by T Bone.

By the way, just as did Julie Miller (Buddy's wife and collaborator), Sam started out as a Contemporary Christian artist, moving over to Secular later in life. She too has a very unique, some might say quirky, singing style.

Yeah, I’ve included the 1st Moby Grape album on a few lists, including Best Debut Albums and Perfect Albums. The album is particularly remarkable not just for the songwriting, but also the interplay of the three guitarists and singers, not unlike Buffalo Springfield, The Grape’s Southern California equivalent. The SQ of the recordings is, unfortunately, only average commercial, but still better than a lot from that year (’67).

I love the album to death, but was disappointed by it’s follow-up---Wow. They rebounded with their 3rd---Moby Grape 69, bunted on their 4th---Truly Fine Citizen, then came roaring back with 20 Granite Creek. After TGC they disintegrated, Skip Spence joining the ranks of Acid Casualties (Syd Barrett, Peter Green, Brian Wilson, Brian Jones), committed to a California State mental hospital. When Governor Ronald Reagan closed many of those facilities (compassionate conservatism at it’s finest), Skip was thrown out onto the street, living his remaining years wandering the streets of San Jose bumming cigarettes.

Jerry Miller is a seriously good guitarist, a favorite of a lot of players I’ve known. In The Grape he played a Gibson L5, a favorite of Jazz guitarists. Definitely the best guitarist to have come out of the mid-to-late 60’s San Francisco scene (no offence intended, fans of Jerry Garcia, Carlos Santana, and John Cipollina ;-). He and drummer Don Stevenson moved down to the Bay Area from Seattle, where they had been in The Frantics together. Bob Mosley was amongst the best SF bassists, along with Phil Lesh (The Dead) and Jack Casady (The Airplane).

For more of Chris Hillman, keep an eye out for his albums on Bluegrass label Sugar Hill. Really good music captured in excellent SQ.

Ya know @noromance, maybe it's time to try again. I know the genetic breeding has gotten really sophisticated. Related story: In 2006 my girlfriend was working in a dispensary, and one of the shop's growers also serviced private customers. One of his clients was Bob Dylan, whose favorite strain was Goofy Grape. True story!

@slaw, I'll research Prednisone, thanks for the tip.

@tomic601: Me too! Rock Of Ages is I believe my favorite live Rock ’n’ Roll album, along with their collaboration with Dylan on Before The Flood (I have a Capitol original, waiting for the MoFi repress). Until then, do you know about the expanded 4 CD/1 DVD issue of ROA, entitled Live At The Academy Of Music 1971? The Band played two nights, the expanded LATAOM containing both entire shows. Mixed by Bob Clearmountain, as have been all the 50th anniversary Band boxsets.

Don’t know Jim, I haven’t heard the MoFi. In fact, I don’t think I knew about it! My attitude used to be that MoFi issues of many of their album choices were a waste of time and money. If a recording isn’t really, really good to begin with, why bother? That’s why I also never got their version of The Basement Tapes. Another reason is that Robertson re-recorded some of his guitar parts for that album’s original LP release in the mid-70’s. The Dylan Bootleg Series Volume 11 is the version of The Basement Tapes to have---Eric.

The Milk Carton Kids were for me one of the highlights of the New Basement Tapes (along with Marcus Mumford). I do wish they were a little more like The Everly Brothers than Simon & Garfunkel, but then I’m more of a 50’s than a 60’s guy, and more of a Rocker than a Folkie.

Of course, S & G modelled their harmonies on those of the Brothers (the higher part a third above the lower one), as did Lennon & McCartney. It was when they added George on a third part that they got REALLY good, like The Byrds. The harmonies Brian Wilson wrote for The Beach Boys were far above those of either group, very sophisticated.

@slaw, I’m doing some catching up, and here’s some responses to a couple of your posts on this thread:

- The Zeta arm. I think of it as the hi-fi equivalent of the Chevy big block V8 engine ;-). Available for under a grand (the last one I got---NM condition---for only $500); spend a couple hundred on a rewire (uninterrupted run from cartridge tags to KLEI RCA plugs), and you have a very nice medium mass arm. For some reason great with Deccas and Londons, which dump a lot of mechanical energy into an arm.

- Fleetwood Mac’s Kiln House album. This came out when I worked at my first record store: Discount Records (owned by CBS), the best in San Jose. A full catalog record store in 1970 was a rare thing (Tower had just opened it’s second store, in North Beach in San Francisco), and working there I got exposed to Jazz and Classical for the first time (other than in my Humanities class my Senior year in High School. When Reagan was elected Governor of California, he initiated the elimination of such classes from the curriculum, and the defunding of school orchestras and bands).

Anyway, in 1970 I had a bad attitude towards Blues performed by English white guys. Thanks to Bill Graham and my own research, I had become aware of the genre’s creators. Bill started booking the old Blues guys at The Fillmore (I started going to shows there in ’67), and seeing Albert King and others live changed my perspective.

I immediately loved Kiln House, probably because it was a rarity at that time (for some reason, I remained unaware of Dave Edmunds and his wonderful Rockpile---the album title, not the group he later formed with Nick Lowe): an English group playing 1950’s-style Rock ’n’ Roll. I love, Love, LOVED Danny Kirwin's phrasing and tone, the best I've ever heard out of a Les Paul. I then heard Kiln Houses predecessor Then Play On, and dismissed it as just another English white boy imitation of the real thing. So I never bothered to listen to their first album. I did listen to the follow up to Kiln House---Future Games, and didn’t like it at all. Jeremy Spencer had left the group, replaced by American Bob Welch, whom I didn’t and don’t care for. Bare Trees I liked even less, so I wrote off Fleetwood Mac.

(I and everyone else in San Jose was surprised when Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham---members of local garage band Fritz in the late 60’s---turned up in Fleetwood Mac. I had last seen Fritz in the Summer of ’68, opening the Santa Clara Folk/Rock Festival, headlined by The Electric Flag and the doors---the lower case their idea, not mine ;-) . Just another local garage band.)

That assessment remained unchanged until very recently. I have watched a couple documentaries on Peter Green and early Fleetwood Mac, and found myself wanting to give the first two albums a thorough listening. Those albums should be easy to find, as soon as my LRS reopen! In the intervening years, I did read that B.B. King said Peter Green was the only white guitarist who made him sweat. Sorry Clapton and Beck ;-) . Speaking of them, I saw Clapton with Cream twice, and Beck on his first U.S.A. tour (with Ron Wood on bass and Rod Stewart singing). Loved them both at the time, '67 and '68. As it did for Clapton, The Band changed everything. Kiln House fits well with their brown album.

@tomic601, if you want to hear Evan in a different setting, he joined the Austin band The Leroi Brothers for one album---Lucky Lucky Me. I found a sealed copy on Discogs for ten bucks, where currently there are a bunch of Mint copies for even less.

Mike Buck, who was the original drummer in The Fabulous Thunderbirds, drums on all the Leroi Brothers’ albums. He and I met when he was working with Ted Roddy, and they and my band shared the stage at a now-closed Blues club in Long Beach (don’t recall the name). We couldn’t believe it when we saw each other’s drumsets---identical 1960’s Ludwigs! Champagne Sparkle 22/16/13, with a chrome over brass snare drum. He suggested we set up just one and both play on it, but I’m a lefty.

Small world: Mike drummed on one album with Evan, as did I. Then we cross paths in Long Beach, CA. But at that point in time his stint with Evan was in the past, mine lay ahead in the future. Who knew?! Mike is now part owner of Antone’s Record Store. Hey, maybe they have a copy of Lucky Lucky Me! ;-)

@noromance, I bought a UK copy of The Madcap Laughs when it was originally released (even though I didn't care for Pink Floyd or Psychedelia in general). We were at that time looking for anything "weird", but this album is WAY beyond that; it's terrifying and alarming. Hearing it is like being in a room with a seriously mentally ill person. No, not mentally ill, full-on insane.

In the late-60's/early-70's there were a not-inconsiderable number of people walking around in the Bay Area (Ground Zero for psychedelics) who had taken acid far too many times (George Harrison said The Beatles did it only a handful of times). Skip Spence ended up in San Jose after he was ushered out of the Agnew State Mental Hospital (when Governor Reagan cut off funding, all tax payer-funded State mental health facilities were closed. "Your on your own, losers."), walking the downtown streets babbling to himself, bumming cigarettes and spare change. What a sad spectacle, and a waste of talent.

It's an unfortunate fact that talent and self-destructiveness often go hand-in-hand. Brian Jones, Brian Wilson, Peter Green, Chris Farley (comic genius), plenty of others.

Yep @slaw, Elusive Disc is good too. They’ve been my first stop for a few years now, especially for MoFi’s. They have some OOP titles too, but a little overpriced imo.

I’ve found a great little record shop locally, a husband/wife team who sell LP’s only. What makes them great is that all their LP’s are in what I consider VG+ or better condition, many M-. I don’t buy anything but M or M- myself, being patient enough to wait for them. My musical taste being what it is, the titles I look for aren’t that much in demand, so are usually under $10, even for Mint copies. I’m still wary of ebay, buying sealed LP’s only.

Speaking of Analogue Productions (as I did above), their retail arm Acoustic Sounds is now my favorite source for new "audiophile" LP’s. Great stock, reasonable prices, free shipping with a $49.99 purchase (a coupla LP’s), and the best shipping cartons I’ve seen, with 12" cardboard fillers and bubble wrap inside.

Amazon is great for mass-produced titles, and free shipping with a $25 purchase. Their packaging is very good, though not equal to that of AS. Their prices fluctuate day-to-day, sometimes apparently according to the number of copies in stock. That the Bear Family Buddy Miller LP’s are available through Amazon surprises me, for some reason.

There is a German fella posting videos on YouTube, under the moniker 45RPM Analogue. He reviews LP's from all the audiophile companies, commenting on the recorded sound quality, the mastering and pressing, the cover and label, and of course the music. He must have a fair amount of disposable income, 'cause he spends a LOT on records! He's a charming, likeable guy, and I really like his videos. I found him through another YouTube poster, Norman Maslov, another interesting record collector. He covers audiophile pressings, but only marginally, his focus being on the music itself. He has done a lot of videos, all very entertaining. Two guys worth checking out.

@noromance: Big Jay McNeely---now yer talkin’! Do you have the Honkers & Screamers/Roots Of Rock ’n’ Roll Vol. 6 double LP on Savoy Records? BJM, Lee Allen (Little Richard’s tenor sax man, who was in The Blasters when I saw them back Big Joe Turner at Club Lingerie on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood in the mid-80’s), Sam "The Man" Taylor, Paul Williams, and Hal Singer, all doing the late-40’s Jump Blues that was in essence the first Rock ’n’ Roll.

When popular "Rock" music was becoming absolutely unlistenable in the late-60’s and early-mid 70’s (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath---are you fu*ckin’ kidding me?!, etc.), every American musician worth his salt (and some Limeys, such as Dave Edmunds and Albert Lee) starting looking back, tracing Rock ’n’ Roll back to it’s sources. What we found were guys like McNeely, the black musicians the Southern Hillbillies were hearing on KDIA Radio out of Memphis, and going to see in the bars on the "colored" side of town, along the Hillbillies that were being broadcast on The Grand Old Opry.

Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Johnny Burnette, Johnny Cash, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly (in Texas), and dozens of other Southern whites mixed that black Jump Blues with white Hillbilly, and voila---Rockabilly!

In ’74 I joined a band that played around the Bay Area (in clubs such as Keystone Berkeley, San Francisco, and Palo Alto), performing songs by guys like Louis Jordan and Johnny Otis, and the audiences went crazy. People actually got off the asses and danced, a sure sign you’re doing something right. The club owners liked us too, ’cause dancing people drink more. ;-)

The dry period ended with the debut album of The Dwight Twilley Band (Sincerely) and Dave Edmunds' Get It. Everyone should own both albums. Next came Tom Petty and The Ramones, and things were back on track! 

Before The Doobie Brothers put San Jose on the Rock ’n’ Roll map, we had The Syndicate Of Sound (who had a national hit in ’66 with "Little Girl". By ’68 they playing at high schools again, and at my Senior All-Night Party, held in a bowling alley ;-), People (a regional hit with a cover of The Zombies "I Love You"), The Count Five (famous for their Garage classic "Psychotic Reaction", a shameless rip-off of The Yardbirds), and the aforementioned Stained Glass (I first saw them in ’65 as a 4-piece, when their name was The Trolls. They did the best live versions of Beatles songs I’ve ever heard) and The Chocolate Watchband (three albums on Tower).

And of course Fritz, the San Jose Garage band whose members included Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. There are pics on the 'net of them playing on the stage at Mother Butler High School (I played their once), Stevie wearing a 1-piece A-line dress (ask your mother ;-), her hair done in the bouffant style! She was barely out of high school then, but looked like a student at one of them.

In the Summer of ’71 the band I was in did an audition to replace The Doobies as the house band at The Chateau (they had resigned after signing their Warner Brothers’ deal), the hippie/biker bar up on Summit Road in the Santa Cruz mountains (we didn’t get the gig ;-). In the middle of our set this real longhaired guy came up to say "Hey" to our main singer/songwriter/guitarist/organist (talented guy ;-), Lance Libby (he’s up in very northern Washington state now, right below the Canadian border, living on a farm). I hadn’t yet heard of them then, but learned afterwards it was Doobies lead guitarist Patrick Simmons, who knew Lance from Lance having been in local band Christian Rapid. Christian Rapid had changed their name from Stained Glass after having had two albums out on Capitol Records in the late-60’s. Their lead singer/songwriter/bassist Jim McPherson left the group to join John Cipollina in his post-Quicksilver Messenger Service band Copperhead. Amazingly, I had been in a band in my senior year of high school with the younger brother of Stained Glass drummer Dennis Carrasco!

Four years later, I was driving down a residential street in Campbell (a San Jose suburb) when I saw Dave Shogren, the Doobies original bassist (debut album only). He was on the driveway of his tract house, washing his Rolls Royce ;-) . He may have been on only their debut---which stiffed, but apparently had made enough dough to buy a Rolls and make at least a down payment on the house. After The Doobies gave him the boot, he was in a band named SF Star (how’s that for a crappy name?), whose drummer I knew well; he told me he was inspired to take up drums after seeing me playing at a local Teen Center when I was 14 years old---my first band. All the other guys in my Frat band (what bands like Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Standells, and The Kingsmen are called by Rock ’n’ Roll historians) were in college, and their precious drummer had left to join a group that is now semi-legendary---The Chocolate Watchband, seen in the Roger Corman teen-exploitation movie Riot On Sunset Strip. That drummer just happened to go to my high school (Cupertino), and was in both the marching band and the orchestra. He lives in Santa Cruz now, and plays Jazz.

San Jose was a kind of small city at the time, and many musicians were related somehow to others. I saw and heard a number of local bands I consider "better" than The Doobies (the drummer and lead guitarist of The Chocolate Watchband had a band together after TCW called it quits---The Electric Tingle Guild, who were really, really great), but you can’t argue with success.

@reubent: Classic Records also issued Girlfriend (12 tracks on a single disc, mastered I believe by Bernie Grundman), as well as Matthew’s Altered Beast, Blue Sky on Mars, and 100% Fun albums. My copies aren’t for sale ;-) .

I have a coupla Intervention LP’s---which are great, but have no idea how Classics compare to Interventions.

@reubent: Classic Records also issued Girlfriend (12 tracks on a single disc, mastered I believe by Bernie Grundman), as well as Matthew's Altered Beast, Blue Sky on Mars, and 100% Fun albums. My copies aren't for sale ;-)

I have a coupla Intervention LP's---which are great, but have no idea how Classics compare to Interventions..   

@tomic601: Hey Jim, I'm alive, just been deep up in the mountains in Deer Island, Oregon. On a small farm at the end of a little road, no cable/internet (so I brought no computer). TV reception via a dish, water from a well, septic tank no sewer, heat from a wood-burning stove. I brought my Monitor Audio mini-system and a buncha CD's with me, including those you recently gifted me with. Some good stuff man!  

Before I headed for the hills I put in my Black Friday LP orders (15% discount) with Acoustic Sounds, Elusive Disc, and Music Direct, some Amazon and ebay buys, and an 1100-piece order of outer sleeves (at a 20% discount) from Michael at Vinyl Storage Solutions in Canada (Have ya'll discovered him and his sleeves? Michael invented a clever double-pocket sleeve design. My next order will be 800 for my gatefold covers.). I arranged to have my across-the-street neighbor bring in the boxes while I was gone, and now it's like Christmas around here ;-) !

Also waiting for me were the rebuilt bearings for my VPI Aries 1 and HW-19 Mk.3 (with TNT-5 platter) that Harry had his machinist do for me. New bottom spindles and ball bearings, which should last me the rest of my life. I should check the bearing on my Townshend Rock while I'm at it.

I have a few hundred emails waiting to be opened and read. Hope they weren't time-sensitive ;-) . 

Damn @spiritofradio, that’s a great version of also one of my very favorite songs, up there with "God Only Knows" and "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted". "The Weight" (and the rest of Music From Big Pink, and the s/t brown album), once fully digested, rendered just about all other Rock ’n’ Roll Bands irrelevant to me for quite a while. I love what the dobro, mandolin, fiddle, and banjo players in this video add to the song. And the girls singing 3-part harmony---fantastic!

There’s a great version of "The Weight" performed by The Band and The Staples at the end of The Last Waltz, and another filmed at the 2012 Americana Awards Show with Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, John Hiatt, Jim Lauderdale, Richard Thompson, Buddy Miller, Larry Campbell, Sam Bush, Amy Helm (Levon’s daughter), I think Peggy Young (Neil’s now ex-wife), Don Was, and others. Incredible!

If anyone does a YouTube search for this posted video, you will come across a video of Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White performing the song. You will not believe how utterly lame they sound. My God, they don’t even get the opening chord sequence correct. And the "singing"---pathetic!

@spiritofradio: I don’t know if you got this pressing of the Albert King Elvis album, but there is one offered by reissue company Vinyl Me Please that is reportedly great. I just ordered my copy a coupla days ago from a seller on Discogs.

@mammothguy54: For another great Analogue Productions Beach Boys reissue, consider the Sunflower album. I can’t tell you what a breathe of fresh air it was when it came out in August of 1970. A welcome reprieve from all the Metal, Blues/Rock, and Progressive/Rock sludge that was big at the time. Listen to the insanely great chord progression Brian Wilson incorporates into "This Whole World". As good as some Classical compositions! If I remember correctly, he was listening to a lot of J.S. Bach at the time. As in some Bach works, the chords in "TWW" are just flying by, in some parts four per bar!

@spiritofradio: I don’t know about the separate LP and CD issues, but the 50th anniversary deluxe boxset of Stage Fright comes out on Feb.12. It will include a live show from 1971, a show Robertson says is one of the best The Band ever did. I saw them in 1970 at The Berkeley Community Theater, and they were BY FAR the best Rock ’n’ Roll ensemble I’ve seen and heard live (and I’ve seen a lot, including The Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Who with Keith Moon, Hendrix, Cream, The Jeff Beck Group, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Rockpile, Little Village, NRBQ, Dylan, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, The Crickets, and hundreds more). More like a Jazz group than a Rock one.

The box will include a recording Robertson, Danko, and Manuel made in a hotel room, new at-the-time unrecorded songs available for the first time. The album is being remixed from the original multi-tracks, a great idea. I’ve never liked the sound Todd Rundgren produced. Hiring him was a terrible idea, and Levon took a real dislike of Todd.

The Stage Fright song running order will be not the one used all these years, but its original intended order. I have a first pressing American copy of SF (mastered by Bob Ludwig), a first pressing UK copy, and the Mofi, plus a couple of Capitol CD’s and the Mofi SACD, but can’t wait for this box!

By the way, whart is Bill (William) Hart’s Audiogon moniker. Bill lives in Austin, has a couple of great hi-fi systems, and eclectic taste in music. Plus a very interesting website. Real nice fella, too.

Damn @slaw, you been drinkin'? ;-)

Loudon's Older Than My Old Man Now is in stock at my local (well, Portland) record shop, I'm picking it up tomorrow. I just received his new one (I'd Rather Lead A Band, with Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks), haven't played it yet (I spent two grand on LP's in December). His Last Man On Earth (from 2001. CD only, afaik) is a fave of mine---a perfect album.

I just saw your mention of the Jason Isbell Manuel/Danko track. I'll see if the guys at Music Millennium will throw it on the table for me tomorrow. Last time I was in they were spinning Cuttin' Grass by Sturgill Simpson, which sounded pretty darn good. I may pick that one up too.

@slaw, I just put in another 600 piece outer sleeve order with Vinyl Storage Solutions. Michael came up with a brilliant new design: a "multi-purpose" sleeve, open at both ends with a flap and resealable glue strip. It can be used on the middle section of tri-fold covers (such as The Band’s Rock Of Ages), or in tandem with one of his double pocket sleeves on the gatefold cover of single LP’s. The double pocket sleeve is available in both 4mil and 2mil versions, the multi-purpose in 2mil only.

@reubent and @tomic601: Gatton is a guitarist’s guitarist, a guy other masters of the instrument listen to. But he’s not just a virtuoso, a "’flash" player; he’s also very musical. I first heard him when he was working with Robert Gordon, playing Rockabilly.

When I recorded with Evan Johns (who had been in a coupla bands with Gatton in the D.C./Virginia area) in Atlanta (on his Moontan album), he told me Gatton was the best musician he ever made music with. The closest I’ve come to greatness. ;-)

@boxer12: That Winchester debut album is great, produced by Robbie Robertson. I've been listening to it since it was first released, and it has stood the test of time.

Your surprise in justified and understandable @slaw. I made statements a while back about what I considered the folly of issuing "audiophile" LP pressings of albums whose recorded sound quality made such a pressing the equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig. I still feel that way, but Tapestry is NOT amongst such albums. Not just a good sounding recording, but truly a classic album. Unlike a lot of early-70’s albums, this one doesn’t sound dated.

I’ve been curious to hear just how good the MoFi UltraDisc One-Step pressings sound, but didn’t love the music on any of the previous titles (including Blood On The Tracks) enough to be willing to pay to find out. MoFi has finally picked a title that broke down that resistance. Michael at 45 RPM Audiophile (his Vinyl Community videos are viewable on YouTube) has compared his One-Steps to other pressings of the same albums, and his reviews were unreserved raves.

For those who don’t know, the UltraDisc One-Step LP’s are a radical improvement in LP technology in two ways: 1- Two steps in the LP manufacturing process---the making of a Father and Mother, used in between the metal part cut by the mastering engineer and the stampers---are eliminated. And 2- MoFi is pressing the LP’s using the new "Super" vinyl formulation (it has a name and number, which elude my memory), which possesses the lowest noise floor we’ve ever had. Some other audiophile companies are also starting to use that new vinyl formulation.

Well, who woulda thought the Santana album could sound that good? Eliminating those two steps provides a marked increase in transparency, or at least that is what has been reported by people with rather high standards. We shall see!

I have scratched my head at other chosen titles, but am well aware that my taste in music is not in line with MoFi's target audience: Boomers with mainstream tastes. Tapestry is definitely such a title, but I'm not THAT snobby. ;-) 

When given the choice, I’ve chosen the 33-1/3 versions of albums. The artistic intent of an album side is more important to me than is the slightly better sound provided by 45 RPM, especially in the case of an album such as Pet Sounds (not a very good sounding recording). But I did get that album in both mono and stereo in the Analogue Productions Beach Boys series. I now have more versions of that album than any other: seven on LP, two on CD. And it’s not my favorite album of theirs. I just received the AP version of Smiley Smile---again in both mono and stereo, and Sunflower, a wonderful album that was a greatly-appreciated alternative to most of the music released that year (1970).

As you can see @slaw, my attitude towards audiophile reissues of albums suffering from mediocre recorded sound quality has changed dramatically. IF the album is important enough to me, and IF the quality of the pressing appears to have contributed to the poor sound of the original LP, and IF Analogue Productions (or one of the other really serious reissue labels) has been granted access to the original master tapes, I am now willing to spend the money. The 33-1/3 AP albums retail for $35, not much more than a mass-produced piece of mediocrity.

But what's really pleasing to see are new albums being released on quality pressings, such as Gillian Welch and David Rawlings' Acony Records. Ry Cooder has long cared greatly about the sound quality of his recordings (which led him to Water Lily Records), but never before has an artist gone to the trouble and expense of building an audiophile-quality LP-producing system. Bravo!