two recent discoveries that I am listening to almost every day now...if you like modern jazz, check out Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band "Season of Changes" and Christian Scott "Anthem". Highly recommended.
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Terrapin Station - Grateful Dead...the title track is really something Sing to Me Mr. C - Perry Como...wonderful RCA Victor Living Stereo recording from yesteryear. Wonderful sound! Vocals and harmonies that simply shimmer! They don't make 'em like this anymore. The distinctive sound quality makes this a very interesting and worthwhile listen. |
Yes, this has been a really nice thread, Joe. It's been a real pleasure to read what others are playing and share some suggestions as we play stuff in our music library. This evening we've been listening to: Vieuxtemps - "Violin Concerto No. 5" Bruch - "Scottish Fantasy" -- Jascha Heifitz and Malcolm Sargent conducting. (RCA LSC 2603-45 Classic Records 45 rpm reissue) Outstanding performance captured in another excellent engineering job by Kenneth Wilkinson. (Another example supporting the argument that the best of the RCA catalog was actually recorded by Decca.) Paganini - "Il Carnevale di Venezia" and "La Campanella" - Salvatore Accardo -vn, Italiana Chamber Orchestra (Fone 011-45, 45 rpm pressing) Roy Orbison - "Pretty Woman" - single 12" LP 33rpm/45rpm reissue from Classic Records - a nice demonstration of the benefits of 45 rpm mastering compared to 33 rpm. Moody Blues - "Every Good Boy Deserves Favor" Threshold THS 5. Jazz from the Blue Note 45 rpm reissue series from Music Matters and Analogue Productions coming up... . |
A year and a half, and this thread is still going strong! Some tremendous music has been shared among the various posters. Thank you all. Today, so far: Neil Young "Greatest Hits" (Reprise 48935-1) 200 gram Grateful Dead "Live Dead" (Warner 2WS-1830) both Rhino 200 gram reissue and original pressings Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits "The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler - "Private Investigations"" (Mercury 987576-7) Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here" (Columbia HBL 43453) Half Speed Mastered Emerson, Lake & Palmer "Brain Salad Surgery" (Atlantic SD 19124) Manticore pressing is better, not quite as tipped up in the HF as this. After the Rock and Roll: Mendelssohn "Midsummer Night's Dream" Schubert "Rosamunde" Ansermet/L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (London CS 6186) More classical music later.... |
"Antiphone Blues" (Proprius 7744) in honor of Arne Domnerus, the Swedish saxophonist who died this past Monday at the age of 83. A wonderfully unusual combination of jazz saxophone and organ (particularly at the time originally recorded in 1974); you owe it to yourself to listen to this recording. Domnerus' better known recording likely is "Jazz at the Pawnshop." "Thunderbolt Pagoda" (Mutant Music MMLP025) - I've mentioned this LP before and have enjoyed it once again this evening. Thanks again, Ralph! James Taylor - "Sweet Baby James" in the Steve Hoffman / Kevin Gray remastered reissue from Warner Bros. A very worthy improvement over the original pressing. Too bad other reissues from the major labels are not coming anywhere close to the superb quality of this one. The Nylons - "One Size Fits All" (Open Air OA 0301) - just sensational music making and total fun! . |
Simon & Garfunkel - "Bookends" (Columbia KCS 9529) in an early 2-eye red label pressing. This 40-year old LP has been played to death on low-fi equipment and it still sounds great tonight! (My listening partner wouldn't head off to bed until we'd finished playing the second side, and it's her LP that she bought in high school and played to death on an old "suitcase" model Magnavox player. Don't ever tell me vinyl doesn't have longevity.) Joni Mitchell - "The Hissing of Summer Lawns" (Asylum 7E 1051). I've read some rave reviews of the recent Speakers Corner reissue of this LP, but the original sounds great to my ears here. The advantage of the reissue is supposed to be the elimination of compression used in mastering the original, but my original copy sounds very dynamic. Anyone heard the Speakers Corner reissue? The White Stripes - "Elephant" (V2 Records 63881-27148) - OK, I'm impressed with Jack and Meg White. I picked up this LP some months ago and have only gotten around to listening to it tonight. (Somewhat ear shredding in the top end, requiring the addition of a bit of damping on the tonearm to clean up some of the edge, but great overall impact.) Now I have to clean and listen to "Icky Thump." Telemann - "Trio Sonatas" performed by the Ensemble Rameau on Lyrinx 7908-020. Lovely period instrument performances captured in quite good sonics by Lyrinx, a label with consistently good quality engineering, mastering and pressings. . |
Listening right now to a delightful performance of Beethoven's 7th Symphony: Kajski conducting the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Tacet L 149. A very lithe, dynamic performance; and the all tube recording chain makes for a unique sonic quality - highly recommended! Earlier today: "Blues Jam at Chess" - a great live blues jam captured at the Chess Records studio in 1969 with the original Fleetwood Mac members (Peter Green era) and some great blues players like Otis Spann, Willie Dixon, Shakey Horton, Honey Boy Edwards. A great reissue by Pure Pleasure. "Clair de Lune" - collection of orchestral short pieces performned by Raymond Agoult and the London Proms Symphony Orchestra in another great recording by Kenneth Wilkinson. RCA LSC 2326 (45 rpm reissue by Classic Records) . |
Herrmann "The Mysterious Film World of Bernard Herrmann" Herrmann/National Philharmonic Orchestra (London SPC21137) "Phase 4 Stereo" Rachmaninoff "Concerto No.3" Van Cliburn/Kondrashin/Symphony of the Air (RCA LSC 2355) Tchaikovsky "Concerto No.1, in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23" Van Cliburn/Kondrashin (RCA LM-2252) |
On the table now... Led Zeppelin II (a pretty good George Piros mastering, AT/GP, which I need to compare to my RL ss mastering) ZZ Top, Tres Hombres (early pressing - a bit of surface noise, but good sound otherwise. And great music!) And coming up after being cleaned: Ry Cooder/VM Bhatt, A Meeting by the River, Water Lily APW029-45 . |
Durufle, Suite, op5 - Torvald Toren at the Hedvig Eleonora Church Organ, Stockholm - Proprius 7854 Torvald Toren is an excellent organist playing on a beautiful organ built and voiced in the French "neo-classical" style, a superb organ for the music of Maurice Durufle. When the 32' Bourdon pipes are called upon in this beautifully recorded LP, you absolutely know it and feel it. (For people who tell me vinyl just can't reproduce bass as well as CDs, this is the LP I'm most likely to pull out to play for them.) This LP and it's sequel (Proprius 7855) contain four of Durufle's great organ works in marvelous sound. Highest recommendation if you love large scale French organ music and can find it. . |
Rossini, 6 Sonate a Quattro, Salvatore Accardo and others, Philips 4759648 (2LPs) (This limited edition reissue is one of the most realistic recordings of a string quartet in my collection. Yes, it's expensive. But the performances are superb and the recording quality and mastering are simply outstanding. If you enjoy chamber music, this exceptional 2LP set will rock you back on your heels.) Wagner, Tristan und Isolde, Bohm/Bayreuthe, Nilsson, Windgassen, Ludwig, DGG 2713 001 (a glorious cast in this exceptional performance from 1966) . |
Brahms, Piano Concerto No 2, Reiner/CSO/Gilels, RCA LSC 2219 (Cisco reissue - disappointing sonics, not my ideal performance) Neil Young, Greatest Hits, Reprise 48935 (Classic Records reissue - worth the price of admission) Thunderbolt Pagoda, st, Mutant Music MMLP025 (Worthy LP. See the post by Atmasphere) . |
Haydn, Cello Concertos, Orchestra da Camera Roma Classica with Rocci Filippini, cello - Fone 008-45 "Club of 496" I've been listening to several of these limited issue Fone recordings on vinyl and I continue to be impressed by them, particularly the 45 rpm issues. The recordings are all analog, minimally miked (with tube microphones), no electronic manipulation, and capture the instruments very accurately and naturally. The pressings themselves are one-step masterings, meaning that the lacquer is used to create the stamper directly, destroying the lacquer in the process, so only a limited number of LPs can be pressed from each lacquer. What this typically allows is even greater transparency to the finished LP because two intervening mold/plating steps (father and mother) have been eliminated. For the Club of 496 series, Fone presses only 496 records from each stamper. To make more LPs, a new mastering and new lacquer is required (which may or may not happen). This particular LP has a lot of high frequency energy which sounds like it comes from the acoustically very live, and resonant, recording venue. Once attuned to that balance, the instrumental timbre sounds spot on to these ears, with a marvelously resolved cello that is very forward in the soundstage, but not unpleasantly so. The performances are top drawer, with excellent work by cellist Filippini. After listening to these Fone LPs and the various Music Matters 45 rpm Blue Note reissues, my wife observed that they made many of our other LPs sound "cotton-y" - her expression for a bit of veiling over the sound. And that is very true: these LPs sound very transparent and alive. Quite a joy to hear. . |
WOW! Dexter Gordon's "Dexter Calling" 45 rpm reissue from the Blue Note reissue series by Hoffman and Gray produced by Analogue Productions and Music Matters. This piece of vinyl is simply phenomenol! Blue Note 4083-45. Did you see that the first two records in the Music Matters series are now sold out? The mail order retailers who still have a few copies have already increased their prices. When these are gone, they will never be seen again. . |
Spinning Tape Project tapes at the moment. 10.5 in reels at 15 ips,,, Jacqui Naylor "The Number White" (TP-001, s/n 061) Dave Alvin "Blackjack David" (TP-002, s/n 061) Earlier this morning: Schuller "Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee" Dorati/Minneapolis SO (Mercury SR90282) Liszt "Sonata: Piano Works" Robert Silverman (Stereophile STPH008-1) |
Late afternoon listening began with, and has moved on through: Roy Orbison, "Lonely & Blue" (Classic Records mono reissue - always a sonic disappointment compared to the Steve Hoffman mastered "All Times Greatest Hits..." on Pure Pleasure.) ZZ Top, "Tres Hombres" (not the reissue) Bruce Springsteen, some sides from "Live/1975-1985" James Taylor, "Sweet Baby James" (Rhino reissue and original) Malcolm Arnold, "A Sussex Overture" / "Beckus the Dandipratt" / "The Smoke" / "The Fair Field" - Arnold/LondonPO, Reference Recordings RR48 Respighi, "Ancient Airs and Dances" - Dorati/PhilHungarica (Mercury SR 90199, Speakers Corner reissue) Dvorak, "Cello Concerto" - Dorati/LSO, Janos Starker -vc (Mercury SR 90303, Speakers Corner reissue) Debussey, "Iberia" and Ravel "Alborada del Gracioso" - Reiner/CSO (RCA LSC 2222, Classic Records reissue) . |
Hank Mobley: "Soul Station" - Blue Note 4031-45 (Music Matters 45 rpm reissue) (This series of 45 rpm reissues continues to amaze. If you love jazz, and if you love vinyl, you will regret not getting these while they are available.) Frank Sinatra: "September of My Years" - Reprise FS-1014 ("smiling Frank" label, no sonic wonder but Frank is still Frank) Fleetwood Mac: "Fleetwood Mac" Stevie Nicks: "Bella Donna" "Musique Judeo-Baroque" Cohen/La Camerata de Boston - Harmonia Mundi HM 1021 James Taylor, "Sweet Baby James" - Warner Bros 274300 (Because Sound Matter reissue - another excellent mastering job by Steve Hoffman.) . |
Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five, Vol. 1 - Columbia CL 851 (wonderful music making from 1925 and 1927!) Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 1 - Kletzki/PhilharmoniaO, Pollini -pf, EMI ASD 370 (Testament reissue - superb) Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown; Lightfoot! Shelby Lynne, Just a Little Lovin' - Lost Highway 80009789 . |
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Actually, last night: Mahler's 4th Symphony...especially, the 3rd & 4th movements. Columbia Masterworks series. Bernstein conducting the NY Philharmonic. Reri Grist is the soprano soloist. Don't think it is that great a recording from a sonic or engineering point of view, but I greatly enjoy the "Poco Adagio" 3rd and Reri's singing in the 4th. |
Hit the area yard sales yesterday. Spent part of today cleaning and listening. Mussorgsky - Ravel "Pictures at an Exhibition" Wallenstein/Virtuoso Symphony of London (Audio Fidelity FCS 50,004) Corigliano "Concerto For Piano and Orchestra" Hilde Somer (Piano)/San Antonio Symphony/Alessandro (Mercury SR 90517) This one is a Marc Aubort engineering effort. Enormous dynamic range, looked like it was in pretty good shape. Ran it through the Loricraft and played it. Tons of noise throughout. Sounds almost like breakup or distortion, possibly due to some gunk deep down in the grooves. I am going to work on this one as the recording itself is superb, and the performance interesting. |
More chamber music tonight starting with Franz Berwald's "String Quarter in g" played by the Chilingirian Quartet on CRD 1061. The CRD label (England) is well worth searching out for those who enjoy chamber music. Most of the recordings are by the excellent engineer Bob Auger who consistently captures exceptionally natural sounding, simply miked and transparent recordings. . |
Music of William Alwyn, twentieth century English composer: Rhapsody for Pf Qt Str Qt 3 Str Trio (1962) > the Quartet of London, on Chandos ABRD 1153 - yes it's a digital recording, but it sounds great "Naiades," Fantasy-Sonata for Flute and Harp Divertimento for solo Flute (1939) Mirages, Song Cycle for Baritone & Piano > on Lyrita SRCS 61 - wonderful recording! In the process of breaking in a Walker Audio Velocitor and new power cord supplying the turntable and phono stage. All I can say thus far is: "Wow!" This device is not leaving our system. |
It's nice to see that after 4 years and over 1200 posts, this thread still has life! Thank you to everyone who has contributed your listening choices. I know that my eyes have been opened to investigating music I might not otherwise have tried; thanks to what I have learned here. Keep those posts coming!! |
We just replaced the input tubes in our amps, so we've been listening this afternoon to a lot of old favorites (forgive me for so many repeats): Malcolm Arnold "Eight English Dances" with Arnold/LPO on Lyrita SRCS 108 Ravel "Rapsodie Espagnole" and Rachmaninoff "Isle of the Dead" with Reiner/CSO on RCA LSC 2183 (Classic) Beethoven "Kreutzer Sonata" with Heifitz on LSC 2577 (Cisco) Shostakovich "Age of Gold Ballet suite" with Martinon/LSO on RCA LSC 2322-45 (Classic) Holst "Savitri" with I.Holst/J.Baker/ECO on Argo ZNF 6 Holst "Double Concerto for 2 Violins and Orchestra" with I.Holst/ECO on Lyrita SRCS 44 Holst "Planets" with Previn/LSO on EMI ASD 3002 Sibelius "Finlandia" Mackerras/LondonPromsO on RCA LSC 2336-45 (Classic) . Conclusion about the new input tubes? Big improvement: greater clarity; lower distortion; far less congestion during orchestral peak volumes when everyone is going for all they're worth. Next, go back and put Extreme SST on the tube pins and allow that to break in, then on to replacing tubes in the phono stage. Regards to all, |
Looking at Storm Thorgerson's book "Mind Over Matter 4 : the Images of Pink Floyd" (Omnibus Press, ISBN 978-1-84609-763-8) and listening to David Gilmour "On an Island" (EMI 0946 3 55695 1 3) Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" (30th Anniversary reissue) Pink Floyd "Delicate Sound of Thunder" (Columbia PC2 44484) |
A good part of today was spent doing some turntable finetuning in anticipation of making a few additional changes in the system in the next few weeks (rolling some tubes, adding a Velocitor, power cord, and HDLs). So, today's listening was to multiple repeats of Ravel's "Rhapsodie Espagnole" with Reiner/CSO on RCA LSC 2183 ("The Reiner Sound" Classic Records 33 rpm version). (Yes, the 45 rpm version is better, but we used the 33 which sounded pretty phenomenal after a careful cleaning with Prelude.) Final result after 3 hours? No changes, just satisfaction that we already had everything aligned as optimally as we could achieve. Is this anal retentive or what? ;-) We also spent some time confirming for Ann my earlier conclusion that the Walker Prelude 3-step cleaning process makes a very material improvement over our long term standard cleaning fluid and that the Talisman makes a consistent improvement and is well worth using before each play. Tannahill Weavers "Tannahill Weavers" - Green Linnett SIF 3101 Dvorak "Cello Concerto" - Dorati/Starker/LSO, Mercury SR 90303 (Speakers Corner reissue) Rimsky-Korsakov "The Tale of the Tsar Saltan Suite" and other pieces - Ansermet/OSR, Decca SXL 2221 (Speakers Corner reissue) "The Reiner Sound" Reiner/CSO, RCA LSC 2183 (Classic Records reissue) . |
Rush- I had that same Vaughan Williams in my hands earlier this evening, but slid it back in the rack in favor of "Golden Dance Hits of 1600" (Archiv 2533 184) Others this evening: Haydn "Symphony No. 99 in E Flat" Woldike/Vienna State Opera Orchestra (Vanguard SRV-129) Beethoven "Concerto in D Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 61" Bernstein/New York Philharmonic/Isaac Stern (Columbia MG 31418) Rick Wakeman "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" (A&M SP 4361) Benjamin Britten "Peter Grimes Highlights" Britten/Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Decca/London OS 26004) Ry Cooder/V.M. Bhatt "A Meeting by the River" (Water Lily Acoustics/APO APW 29) 45 rpm reissue. |