Prokofiev, Lt. Kije
Stravinsky, Song of the Nightingale (wonderful!)
- Reiner/CSO, RCA LSC 2150-45 (45rpm Classic Records reissue)
Stravinsky, L'Histoire du Soldat, Suite - Markevitch/EnsembleDeSolistes, Jean Cocteau/Peter Ustinov, Philips 6500 321
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Yello-Flag, Mel Torme-Swings Schubert Alley, Anita O'Day-Make mine the Blues, Clifford Brown -Clifford Brown All Stars. |
Beethoven Cello Sonatas, Rostropovich and Richter, Philips 835 182/83
Cat Stevens, Teaser and the Firecat | Tea for the Tillerman (Island)
Paul Simon, Graceland
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Sergio Mendes Trio - "In The Brazilian Bag" [Tower stereo LP '66] Piano trio + guests Wanda de Sah vocals, Rosinha de Valenca guitar (fantastic playing), Bud Shank flute & alto sax. A gorgeous samba record originally released on parent label Capitol the year before.
Edmundo Ros & His Orchestra - "Rhythms Of The South" [London FFSS stereo LP '57]
Sonny Stitt Quartet - "The Hard Swing" [Verve stereo LP '60]
McCoy Tyner - "...Plays Ellington" [Impulse! mono promo LP '64] Trio with the Coltrane rhythm section of Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones. What a perfectly mesmerizing album.
Quincy Jones - "The Lost Man" O.M.P. Soundtrack [Uni promo LP '69]
Traffic - "Mr. Fantasy" [U.A. LP '68] Outside of "Dear Mr. Fantasy" and to a lesser extent "Paper Sun", most of the rest of this psyche-foolery really doesn't hold up all that well
The Allman Brothers Band - "At Fillmore East" [Capricorn 2LP '71]
Nilsson - "...Sings Newman" [RCA Victor LP '70] Songs and piano by Randy Newman
Robin Gibb - "Robin's Reign" [Atco LP '70] Probably one of the first, if not the first, art-pop album to make extensive use of an electronic rhythm box as a sonic-seasoning effect
The Bee Gees - "Trafalgar" [Atco LP '71]
Stairsteps - S/T [Buddah LP '70] AKA The 5 Stairsteps as they were formerly (and continued to be best) known, this album included their biggest hit "O-o-h Child" but also leads off with two mystifyingly pointless, though quite okay, Beatles covers (Lennon's "Dear Prudence" and "Getting Better"), in that the original arrangements are barely changed, while the style is hardly the Stairsteps' own. |
Count Basie - S/T [Brunswick mono LP '57] Early 78rpm sides
The Gants - "I Wonder" [Bam Caruso (England) LP comp. '88, rec. '65-'67] Selections culled from their three albums and six singles on Liberty
The Pentangle - "Sweet Child" [Reprise 2LP '68] Half live, half studio, all excellent
Hickory Wind - "At The Wednesday Night Waltz" [Adelphi LP '74] Local DC area acoustic group mixed bluegrass, traditional Piedmont folk and string-band influences
Hickory Wind - "Fresh Produce" [Flying Fish LP '75]
The Plimsouls - S/T [Planet LP '81]
To the discard pile:
The Hollywood Stars - S/T [Arista LP '77] Great as he is, Kim Fowley involvement (only some shared songwriting credits in this case) has never been a guarantee
Slade - "Till Deaf Do Us Part" [RCA (England) LP '81] Great as they were, this one is too late in the game |
Miles Davis: Live Evil
What a great album, and the japanese pressing is brilliant. |
Mendelssohn, A Midsummer's Night Dream, Maag/LSO, London/Decca (ORG 45rpm reissue) - this is a marvelous performance and an excellent recording. Great reissue!
Elvin Jones, Puttin' It Together, Blue Note BNLP4282-45 (Music Matters reissue)
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Hello Troll from the Helge Lien Trio - this is Jazz at its best recorded by the ingenious Eric Kongshaug in his Oslo Rainbow Studios
best & fun only |
And spinning now is 'Friday Night in San Francisco' by John, Paco, and Al. I love this record! |
West Coast Blues by the Harold Land Sextet (listening to VIJ-4080, which is a Japanese pressing of JLP 20)
On deck is Sonny Rollins' Way Out West (CR S 7530), followed by a Japanese pressing of Chet Baker's 'It Could Happen To You' (VIJ-4068), then Porgy and Bess by Sammy Davis Jr and Carmen McRae (VIM-5590). |
Shakin' Street - S/T [Columbia promo LP '80] With Ross The Boss (Dictators) on lead guitar and produced by Sandy Pearlman (who may have helped Blue Oyster Cult, though not The Clash), and named after an MC5 classic, how wrong can you go? Fortunately not all that very much, at least for rockin' purposes, with Tunisian-born leader/singer Fabienne Shine (also a French ex-model and Johnny Thunders gal pal) kickin' out the jams as good as she looked (even if the cliched lyrics and generally disposable tunes are no great threat to any of the songwriters in the aforementioned bands).
Johnny Winter - "First Winter" [Buddah LP '69] Doesn't collect all his pre-fame single sides, just those produced by Huey P. Meaux (in addition to being a reknowned Houston hit producer and studio owner, also a convicted child pornographer, who died earlier this year), but such non-blues Winter originals as the psych/folk-rock "Birds Can't Row Boats" and the fuzzed-up Texas garage raver "Coming Up Fast" sound much better here than on the usual-suspect genre comps. Incredibly, Winter managed in just one year, 1969, to have four different albums come out on four different labels!
The Pentangle - "Basket Of Light" [Reprise LP '69] Unplugged before there was an unplugged. (Brief aside: During the whole dubious "Unplugged" fad of the mid-90's, I always wondered why some contrarian-leaning band didn't release an all-electric live album entitled "Plugged".)
Sparks - "A Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing" [Bearsville LP '72] Pros: It's new-wave music, in 1972(!). Cons: It's largely unlistenable, in any year.
Rose Maddox - "The One Rose" [Capitol mono LP '60] Very hot honky-tonk-verging-on-rockabilly re-recordings of her earlier singles, including three Hank Williams numbers, with the scorching plank-spanking supplied by Maddox brothers Cal and Henry - twangalicious!
Shirley Scott Trio - "Scottie" [Prestige mono LP '58] Feminine master of the more subtle, calliope-toned Hammond jazz organ, as opposed to her more hyper and growly (and famous) male peers
Shirley Scott Trio - "For Members Only" [Impulse! mono LP '63] With large band accompaniment on side 1 arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson - who I dig the most, but it's the haunting Trio-only closer on side 2 (and Scott original) "We're Goin' Home" that I can't get out of my head
Phil Woods - "Greek Cooking" [Impulse! mono LP '67]
Monty Alexander - "Taste Of Freedom" [MGM LP '71]
Oliver Nelson - "Images" [Prestige 2LP comp. '76, rec. '60-'61] Repackage of two albums originally released on New Jazz featuring Eric Dolphy in quintet and sextet settings, with characteristically explosive playing from both reed men |
The Blue Nile - 'Peace At Last'. 1996 LP On Warner Brothers. Super hard to find on vinyl, but well worth it. Well recorded, if a bit bass-heavy. Great music as always from Paul Buchanan. More acoustic than their previous two Linn releases, but just as excellent, if not more emotive and personal. |
"Sad-core"???
I haven't heard (or seen) this, but I oughta...Thanks to the prompt I looked it up on IMDB, and noticed that the bass player was Pierre Michelot (Jacques Loussier Trio) and the drummer Kenny Clarke (MJQ).
Then pursuing that further, additionally noticed that ex-pat Clarke also had a music credit for "An Occurence At Owl Creek Bridge" (an Oscar-winning French short of the Ambrose Bierce story, picked up here as a last-season Twilight Zone episode), which I haven't seen since we were shown it in grade school but well remember, so great an impression did it make on me at the time...Things you never knew! |
Bill Evans Trio - "With Symphony Orchestra" [Verve/Polydor (France) LP reissue '66/'7?]
Count Basie & His Orchestra - "One O'Clock Jump" [Columbia LP '56, rec. '42-'51]
Xavier Cugat & His Orchestra - "Viva Cugat!" [Mercury stereo LP '61]
Small Faces - "The Autumn Stone" [Immediate (England) 2LP comp. '69]
The Turtles - "Wooden Head" [Rhino LP reissue '70/'84]
The Dramatics - "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get" [Volt LP '72] |
Ascenseur pour l'echafaud
Elevator to the Gallows
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia....
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud is a 1958 French film directed by Louis Malle. It was released as Elevator to the Gallows in the USA (aka Frantic) and as Lift to the Scaffold in the UK. It stars Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet as criminal lovers whose perfect crime begins to unravel when Ronet is trapped in an elevator. The film is often associated by critics with the film noir style.
The score by Miles Davis has been described by jazz critic Phil Johnson as "the loneliest trumpet sound you will ever hear, and the model for sad-core music ever since. Hear it and weep." |
That's a great box set! Although I had to by mine myself... my wife thinks I'm nuts/overly OCD when it comes to music!
To wit, my before-bed listen (and new acquisition):
Miles Davis - Ascenseur pour l'echafaud |
Grateful Dead - The Warner Bros. Studio Albums
My Girlfriend suprised me with this set. She loves me a lot !!!!! |
Les Fleur De Lys - "Reflections" [Turning Point/Abraxas (Italy) LP comp. '03, rec. '65-'68] British group best remembered for their hot Jimmy Page-produced cover version of the Who's "Circles", they went through many lineups and related offshoots under other band names (Rupert's People, Chocolate Frog) as well as backing singer Sharon Tandy, at various times including Pete Sears and Gordon Haskell (King Crimson) among other notables
Mott The Hoople - "Wildlife" [Atlantic LP '71]
Howard McGhee - "Shades Of Blue" [Black Lion LP '7?, rec. '61] With George Coleman, Junior Mance, Jimmy Cobb. A quite excellent 'comeback' recording in the straight-ahead hard-bop vein from this lesser-known trumpeter, originally hailing from the 40's big-band and bebop eras, after sitting out most of the 50's due to unspecified personal issues (which might be guessed at since "rehabilitation period" is mentioned), but the otherwise detailed liners fail to indicate why this clearly deserving album apparently didn't see release at the time
Gerry Mulligan - "Night Lights" [Philips/Polygram (Japan) LP reissue '63/'7?] With Jim Hall, Art Farmer, Bob Brookmeyer
Dizzy Gillespie - "Soul & Salvation" [Tribute LP '69] Outright funky pop dance groove with electric bass and rhythm guitars, and even some female soul background vocals, featuring James Moody (sounding more like Jr. Walker and Maceo Parker) and Joe Newman
The Jazz Crusaders - "Lighthouse '69" [World Pacific Jazz LP '69 (duh!)]
Ann-Margret - "Songs From 'The Swinger' And Other Swingin' Songs" [RCA Victor mono LP '66] She'll melt your transistors, bub!
"Barbarella" O.M.P. Soundtrack [Dynovoice LP '69] Music and songs by Bob Crewe and Charles Fox |
Lloyd Cole night:
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions - Rattlesnakes
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions - Mainstream
Lloyd Cole - Lloyd Cole
Lloyd Cole - Broken Record (new 2010 release)
What a genius - part Verlaine, Cale, Lou Reed........Lloyd's the man!! |
McCoy Tyner - "Reevaluation: The Impulse Years" [Impulse!/ABC 2LP comp. '73, rec. '62-'65]
Max Roach - "Max Roach Plus Four On The Chicago Scene" [EmArcy/Mercury mono LP '58] With Booker Little, Bob Cranshaw, George Coleman
Elmer Bernstein - "Paris Swings" [Capitol mono LP '59]
Webb Pierce - "Cross Country" [Decca stereo LP '62] Totally awesome cover shot of Webb in front of his modern ranch house, decked out in a baby blue cowboy suit emblazoned with gold lame gingerbread, climbin' into his custom convertible ride, the interior of which is upholstered in fancy tooled-leather (including the sun visors, dash and door panels) and cowhide, and festooned with big ol' silver dollars afixed almost everywhere, a pearl-handled silver-plated pistol for the column shifter, horseshoe pedals, and a stitched leather saddle crowning the center console between the bucket seats that looks like it's sized for a junior buckaroo to ride shotgun
Nilsson - "Harry" [RCA Victor LP '69]
Tin Tin - "Toast And Marmalade For Tea" [Polydor (Canada) LP '71] Produced by Maurice Gibb
Alice Cooper - "The Last Temptation" [Epic/Sony (England) LP '94] |
Allison Krauss and Union Station's latest effort, "Paper Airplane". Excellent record! |
Stevie Ray Vaughn - Texas Flood
Billie Holliday - The Complete Recordings (just found this wonderful box at a local Houston Record store. Black Dog Records)
Van Halen - 1984 (new 180g pressing. Really rocks)
Fleetwood Mac - Rumors (new 45rpm, 180g pressing, finally found one, they are getting hard to find) Great sounding record.
The Replacements - Tim (new 180g pressing. It was just "Achin' to Be")
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds |
Maty Fahl, The Other Side of Time
Tinariwen, Imidiwan: Companions
Herbie Hancok: Imagine Project |
Joe, Saturday was eclectic music choices day, for sure. Around here this evening:
Chausson, Piano Quartet - Les Musiciens - Harmonia Mundi HM 1116
Gunther Schuller, Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee - Mercury SR 90282 (Speakers Corner reissue - superb!)
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Rush- What a wonderful line up last Sunday! Must have been a nice day for the group.
This week (over the course of a couple of evenings as the power grid is kind of sketchy in this unending heat):
Gene Ammons "Blue Gene" - OJC reissue
Jerry Garcia "Garcia" Original Warner Bros. green label
Moody Blues "Every Good Boy Deserves Favor" Threshold release
David Crosby "If only I Could Remember My Name" Atlantic label
Poco "Cantamos" original from Epic
Jefferson Starship "Blows Against the Empire" |
Janis Joplin "Kosmic Blues" (Got dem Kosmic Blues Again)
Reminded me again how amazing Joplin really was. If you haven't listened to this recording in a while, you should.
If you have never heard this record, you need to. It's one of the greatest Blues records ever made. Joplin apparently did this one somewhat sober and it shows. She had ditched Big Brother and the Holding Co, and for good reason. The players in this band are much better musicians, the compositions and arrangements are much more sophisticated than anything BBHC ever did, and the production is top notch. Her new band played into her strengths and supported her in the way she deserved. I suspect this record received a lot of bad press because many thought it was "uncool" of her to ditch her band just as Hendrix did.
Kosmic Blues is not poppy predictable stuff and (thankfully) didn't produce a big hit like "Piece of my Heart" or "Bobby McGee"
Joplin's vocals here move in and out of strong to soft and delicate at times in the same breath.
Joplin to this day has stood the test of time, untouched and in a league all to herself. To think she was only 25 when she did this recording leads one to ponder many questions, not just of her, but of the music industry in general.
Whats on my turntable tonight?
A 42 year old recording that sounds as relevant today as it did two years before she vanished into the ether. |
Yesterday here with the local audio group...
Alan Parson Project - I Robot - MFSL UHRQ
From the RCA "Witches' Brew" - 45rpm vinyl reissue
..Malcolm Arnold - Overture from Tam O'Shanter
..Mussorgsky - Gnomus from Pictures
Atlanta Rhythm Section - Champagne Jam - MFSL
Steely Dan - Aja - the Cisco reissue on vinyl
Laurindo Almeida - Virtuoso Guitar - Crystal Clear d-t-d 45rpm (superb!)
Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold - from "Songbird" LP
Malcolm Arnold - 8 English Dances - Lyrita LP
Art Blakey - Night in Tunisia - 45rpm reissue
Hank Mobley - Soul Station - 45rpm reissue
Joni Mitchell - Hissing of Summer Lawns - LP
Ella Fitzgerald - Live in Berlin/Mack the Knife - Japanese pressing LP
Louis Armstrong - St. James Infirmary - 45rpm resissue
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Radiohead - The Bends
Pixies - Bassanova
Santana - Abraxas (MOFI)
Bryan Adams - Cuts Like a Knife
Jimmie Hendrix - Are you Experienced |
Green Linet Recortds 25 Years of Celtic Music |
Ellington, This One's For Blanton
Eva Cassidy, Songbird
Durufle, Requiem
Yep, the system is ready for the local audio group to join us here tomorrow!
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Marian McPartland With Strings - "Silent Pool" [Concord Jazz CD '97] Piano trio with full string section arranged and conducted by Alan Broadbent, performing all McPartland originals from throughout her long history. Beautifully written, played and recorded (with just a couple minor fall-offs in each of those areas, relatively speaking, from the notably high standard), this has been in near-continuous play since I picked it up a few days ago. Projects of this type, quality and expense aren't attempted too often anymore in the present day, fewer still this successfully IMO. This luscious and timeless-sounding treat deftly straddles the spaces between conptemplative "lounge" piano jazz (in the vintage Bill Evans or Ahmad Jamal sense), standards-inspired melodiousness, and classical romanticism -- not to mention between small-group, ensemble, and concerto -- while scrupulously avoiding any poppy, show-tuney, exotic, new-agey, or virtuosic missteps or affectations. Highly recommended! |
Mozart string quintets, Barchet quartet with Kessinger on viola Vox (records labled Yorkshire!) my later pressing is in simulated stereo, lousy mastering, but what a great performances! |
Macdadtexas, your comment about the Beatles sent me spinning off in that direction, too...
The Beatles (white album)
The Beatles - Let it Be
The Beatles - Abbey Road
all just the generic US pressings, but enjoying 'em.
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Duke Ellington, This One's For Blanton
Tannahill Weavers, Cullen Bay
Clannad, Clannad in Concert
Brendan Mulvihill, The Flax in Bloom
Leon Redbone, Double Time
Chopin, Ballades - Moravec
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Porcupine Tree - "Fear of a Blank Planet"
St. Germain - "Tourist"
Miles Davis - "Round About Midnight"
Joni Mitchell - "Blue" 180 gram |
Jerry Van Rooyen - "At 250 Miles Per Hour" [Crippled Dick Hot Wax comp. LP '96 (Germany), rec. '67-'68] Soundtrack selections arranged and conducted by the Dutch composer, from producer Pier A. Caminnecci's Aquila Films euro-sexploitation titles "Succubus" (AKA "Necronomicon"), "How Short Is The Time For Love", "Death On A Rainy Day", and "The Vampire Happening"
Jacques Brel - "Le Formidable..." [Vanguard LP '67]
Charles Mingus - "The Clown" [Atlantic LP reissue '57/'84]
The Birthday Party - "Junkyard" [4AD LP '82]
Shostakovich/Symphony No.6 - Boult/LPO [Everest stereo LP '6?] |
Thank God people are beginning to come out of the closet with respect to the Sheffield 24 "Firebird" It is my personal favorite, even over the Classic reissue of the Dorati/LSO. I have never even noticed the lack of a hall sound probably due to the fact that I am sucked into the performance that Leinsdorf wrings out of the orchestra and the enormous dynamic swings on that LP.
Russ - glad to hear you are enjoying the Albeniz from ORG. If it's any consolation, I played the TP tape head to head against the LP yesterday for a friend, and they preferred the LP..... |
Thanks for the report on the Albeniz ORG 45, Russ. Sounds marvelous! Your experience with this record tracks with what I've heard privately from a few other friend's whose ears I trust. Now, where can I find the cash.....??? :-) By the way, I just played the Albeniz ORG record yesterday and was stunned at how much better it sounds than either the King or Speakers Corner reissues, which I thought were pretty good in their own right. . |
I find those Sheffield recordings to be remarkable in how they portray the timbre of the instruments as well as their dynamics. I'm not bothered by the lack of a hall sound; in a way, I think many of today's classical recordings are focusing too much on that aspect of the sound.
By the way, I just played the Albeniz ORG record yesterday and was stunned at how much better it sounds than either the King or Speakers Corner reissues, which I thought were pretty good in their own right. Very similar in improvements to the Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture/Scottish Symphony 45 rpm reissue over the standard Speakers Corner reissue. Now if only you didn't have to get up every ten minutes to change records in a listening session to get that kind of sound (and don't tell me to get the Tape Project tapes, Joe, that's a bit beyond my current means!). |
Al, I'm glad to hear of someone else valuing this Leinsdorf/Sheffield LP. It is underrated, imo. I often hear it disregarded precisely because it so accurately captures the dry acoustic of the recording stage. Audiophiles are expecting the lush acoustics of the Concertgebouw or Vienna. Instead they get the dry non-reverberant acoustics of a large movie sound stage and don't know what to make of the sound. That acoustic environment contributes nicely to the crystal clarity of this recording - not necessary pretty, but you sure can hear everything that's happening.
The Pierre Verany recordings are typically marvelous and the "Images Galantes de la Renaissance" is certainly one of their best sonic efforts. I wish I had more of this label's recordings in my collection.
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07-04-11: Rushton
Nice records for today's listening, Al. Love 'em! Thanks, Rush. Yes, all three are wonderful recordings, musically and sonically. Among a great many things that could be praised about them, two small specifics were so striking to me that I must single them out for mention: 1)In the Firebird Suite, the transition from Berceuse to Finale was absolutely magical, due to a combination of Leinsdorf's conducting and the crystal clarity that was maintained by the recording as the volume of the music descended to a near whisper, before building up beautifully. 2)Although the sonics of the Renaissance recording were outstanding in pretty much every respect, I particularly found the sonics of the drum to have been captured with definition that is simply amazing. Best regards, -- Al |
Neil Young Official Release Series Discs 1-4 |
Nice records for today's listening, Al. Love 'em!
Happy 4th of July to all
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"Images Galantes de la Renaissance"
-- l'ensemble Polyphonia Antiqua (Pierre Verany PV4791)
Schubert, "Piano Sonata in B Flat, Opus Posth., D. 960"
-- Leonard Shure, Piano (Audiofon 2010)
Debussy, "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun"
Stravinsky, "Firebird Suite (1910)"
-- Erich Leinsdorf conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic
(Sheffield Lab 24, Direct-to-Disk)
Best regards,
-- Al |
Morton Gould's "Spirituals for String Choir and Orchestra"
Copland's "Appalachian Spring"
...... Susskind/LSO, Everest, reissued by DCC
Strauss, "Till Eulenspeigel"
Strauss, "Salome: Dance of the Seven Veils"
Strauss, "Death and Transfiguration (Tod und Verklarung)"
...... Karajan/VPO, Decca SXL 2261
Strauss, "Sinfonia Domestica"
Strauss, "Death and Transfiguration (Tod und Verklarung)"
...... Mehta/LAPO, Decca SXL 6442
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Reiner's "Spain" - Classic Records 45rpm reissue
Hank Mobley Quartet - Music Masters 45rpm reissue
Paul Simon's "The goes Rhymin' Simon" |
Sorry, me again!
Someone just getting into vinyl and posting earlier this week got me into a Beatles mode so:
The Beatles (white album) - MOFI box set, my fav, sorry Fiel, I know it's not your fav, but I love it
The Beatles - Sgt Peppers (MOFI box set)
The Beatles - Revolver (MOFI box set)
The Beatles - Hey Jude (Japanese pressing of this odd mix of songs, put out by Capitol)
Marshall Crenshaw - MOFI, never heard before I bought it, love it
The Police - Ghost in the Machine (Japanese Pressing)
Deep Purple - Machine Head (new 180g pressing, great album)
Happy 4th weekend. |
Music Direct Delivery; is there ever anything better waiting for you at home? Well, guess that depends on the house, but anyway...
Billy Squire - Don't Say No (great new pressing, love this album)
Radiohead - The Bends (was this recorded digitally? Sounds so freaking good on vinyl)
KC and the Sunshine Band (MOFI - makes the kids laugh when Mom and Dad dance around like fools)
Pixies - Bassanova (MOFI - rocks)
Marshall Crenshaw (MOFI - classic record) |
Jacintha, Here's to Ben. 2 lp 45 rpm. Just set up my new (to me) Pro-ject 9.1 with my new (2 weeks) ModWright LS100 with phono pre. Loving life tonight! Glad to here about the Rumours lp, I've been tempted. |
Kind of Blue on now - I'm seeing Jimmy Cobb tonight in NYC, so doing a bit of "pre gig prep"! |
