Hey, Joe! Good to see you having time to do some listening.
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Ry Cooder & V.M. Bhatt "A Meeting by the River" Water Lily Acoustics/Analogue Productions APW 29 45 rpm reissue Chet Baker "Chet" Riverside/Analogue Productions APJ 016 reissue Holst "The Planets" Mehta/Los Angeles Philharmonic Decca SXL 6529 "IL Cornetto" works of Italian and English composers of the 16th and 17th century for cornet, viola da gamba, harpsichord/chamber organ and lute/baroque guitar. Klimo Edition Open Window OW004 |
I agree completely. "In a few years I think we will not regret the financial sacrifice of obtaining these remarkable reissues."I'm currently in the process of buying each of the Speakers Corner Mercury reissues as they appear (with a very few exceptions), have been doing the same with the Analog Productions (Acoustic Sounds) Fantasy 45 series, and will be trying to purchase as many of the Music Matters and Analog Productions Blue Note 45s as I can manage. The Cisco classical reissues have also been good, but not quite at the same level of original source material even though their production is every bit as good. This is a renaissance of vinyl I never expected to see. . |
Rushton, My turntable is no where near the status of your Walker however the 45 rpm Ravel, "Rapsodie Espagnole" in my system is every bit as dynamic and detailed as the Prokofiev,Scythian Suite 45 rpm of which I have. I would not be surprised if you found it the equal of Stravinsky/Firebird 45 rpm. Unfortunately I dallied too long in purchasing the 45rpm version of Firebird. If it shows up somewhere the price will no doubt be out of my reach. However I do have the 200g version and am happy to at least have this format. I have just finish paying dearly for a couple of records that nearly doubled in price because there were only a few copies left in stock. Today I just heeded some earlier advice to obtain Starker's Cello Suites/Mercury Speakers Corner before it goes out of print. Acoutic Sounds has it back ordered and some of the other outlets are out of stock. Fortunately Music Direct had it at list price so I did not delay any longer and purchased it today. In a few years I think we will not regret the financial sacrifice of obtaining these remarkable reissues. I remember years ago when Sid Marks of the Absolute sound did his column on Mercury Living Presence and RCA Shaded Dogs how difficult it was to find clean first issue copies. And if you did find them the prices at least for me was prohibitive. To have them reissed with original cover art and superior vinyl is an analog lovers dream. |
Good recommendation and reminder, Montepilot: I recommend opening new records that you intend to keep for personal listening soon after purchase for inspection.I'm unfortunately in that uncomfortable position of having many new records that I've opened for a visual inspection but have not been able to listen to due to our move. I'm keeping fingers crossed as I start going through them: cleaning and then listening. I just looked online for the 45 rpm Ravel, "Rapsodie Espagnole" you mentioned above. I have the 33 rpm, but not the 45 rpm, and the only place I can find the 45 rpm is now asking $75 for it. Guess I should have gotten it a few years ago... If this is anything like the other 45 rpm Mercuries that Classic Records reissued (e.g., Prokofiev "Scythian Suite" and Stravinsky "Firebird"), I'm sure it's everything you describe. In each case, these 45s have been far superior to the rather disappointing 33 rpm versions. Cheers, |
Ravel, Rapsodie Espagnole-Paray/Detroit Symphony (Speakers Corner 45 rpm) After several months I finally opened to listen tonight. WOW WEE! The Habanera & Feria movements will knock your socks off! The reason it took so long to open this record is that I've owned the CD version when it first came out years ago and it always bored me. I could never listen through the entire piece. Now I know it was the CD recording, not the music. Highly recommended in Vinyl format especially the 45 rpm version. Grieg: "Peer Gynt" Oivin Fjeldstad/London Sym. Decca (Speakers Corner Reissue) Sonny Rollins: "Our Man In Jazz"-Classic Records Reissue. Listened to side one, Oleo,25 minutes long. Vivid live Jazz recording. Great improvisation. It is so gratifying when good music & sound come together to put a warm satisfying smile on your face. I recommend opening new records that you intend to keep for personal listening soon after purchase for inspection. I recently ordered the Great Jazz Reunion with Armstrong & Ellington. I rarely open records to play when I first receive them because of time constraints. Fortunately in this case I did. The record looked like it had been stepped on with golf shoes. I cannot imagine how this record could have ever been put into a sleeve and shipped. I did return it to Acoustic Sounds for a replacement. However what would have happened if I kept it unopened as long as the Mercury record listed above? What if it had gone out of print in the meantime? Buyer beware! |
Falla, "Three Cornered Hat" - Ansermet/OSR, Decca SXL 2296 (Speakers Corner reissue) Greg Brown, "The Poet Game" - Red House RHR 68 Billy Joel, "An Innocent Man" - Columbia QC 38837 Copland, "Appalachian Spring" - Susskind/LSO, Everest LPZ 2034 (DCC reissue, Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray remastering) (truly excellent sonics in this DCC remastering; betters the orginal in many respects) |
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Hi, Larry (Cello). No, I only use the highest quality stereo catridge I can afford. I can hear a difference for the better using a comparably high quality mono cartridge, but I'd rather spend those resources elsewhere on the system at this point. Also, the Walker TT is, at least for now, a one tonearm table. . |
Tonight has been a jazz evening with: Miles Davis, "Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet" Prestige 7166-45 (Analogue Productions 45 rpm reissue) - great recording, fantastic sonics. John Coltrane, "Ballads" Impulse AS-32 (Speakers Corner reissue) - very nicely re-mastered. John Coltrane, "Live at the Vanguard" Impulse AS-10 (Universal Japan reissue) - perhaps it's the quality of the underlying recording, or the live venue, but not as nicely rendered as the Speakers Corner reissue of "Ballads." Still, a great recording musically in 'Trane's more avant garde vein. Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, "The Big Beat" Blue Note 84029-45 (Music Matters 45rpm reissue) - just one word: GET THESE WHILE YOU CAN. This is going to be a great reissue series judging by what I'm hearing in the first two releases of the series. These will not last. Playing now: Creedence Clearwater Revival from the 45 rpm box set. What? You didn't get this box? You're missing some sonics about as close to hearing the master tape as I can imagine. This is rock music about as well recorded as rock has ever been recorded, and available on vinyl with sonics I couldn't have imagined when I listened to this music so many years ago. Still available. . |
A friend of mine gave me a bunch of LPs on the condition that I transfer them to my music server and burn him some CDs. So it may come as a surprise to those of you who know my classical tastes, but the first few evenings of this undertaking have consisted of listening to a box of the entire Beatles catalog (Japanese pressings of the English albums). Got through Beatles for Sale last night, starting with Help tonight. What I find to be a lot of fun is reading the liner notes for the first two albums and wondering if in his wildest dreams the writer would have predicted what the Beatles would have become. Not all of the albums I'm recording are of this quality, of course. For example, I also recorded the multicolored vinyl of the Temple City Kazoo Orchestra's Thus Spake Kazoosthra, truly a high water mark of the US recording industry. |
Congratulations on finding a copy of Il Cornetto! The Doc Watson records are great sonically. I use Home Again regularly as a demo record for people new to my system. Musically, Doc Watson is one of the great figures of traditional American acoustic folk guitar and banjo music. He is an excellent guitarist (both flatpicking and fingerpicking style) with excellent interpretations of the traditional music he plays on these two albums. His albums are a good first exposure to this kind of music. . |
Montepilot- You won't regret either of your two purchases. With respect to "Il Cornetto", the sonics and performance are wonderful. keep in mind that the music is very delicate, but very revealing of inner detail - a great test for your systems abilities to resolve all that is there. A great listen for fans of early music performed on original instruments. "Home Again" is another performance and sonics blockbuster, showcasing Doc Watson's mix of folk and front porch bluegrass style. His picking on "Matty Groves" is beautiful. His sense of humor is really evident in his take on "Froggy Went A-Courtin'" It's great to hear "Il Cornetto" is still available. I recommend it to anyone reading this thread who enjoys early music, without reservation. |
I started at the very beginning of this thread to review all the entries made over past couple of years and came across some excellent selections. One entry was Rushton's recommendation of IL Cornetto. This generated great interest at the time, only to find out that slipknot had probably purchased the last copy at Elusive disc. Well here is some good news. Just for the heck of it I went to Elusive disc online site and purchased a copy today. They currently have it in stock. Hope you acquire a copy if you came up empty handed many months ago. Another entry was 2 albums by Doc Watson. Home Again & Southbound. Since my interest is largely jazz, classical and some rock my knowledge of folk music is extremely limited. I would appreciate any input on these two records musically & sonically, as I am sure copies will not last indefinitely. Most recent listening: Stravinsky's Pulcinella on Argo Gil Evans: Out of the cool. Speaker's corner impulse reissue. |
Arturo Delmoni: Songs My Mother Taught Me Bill Evans Quintessence Analogue Productions 45 rpm, esp. Sweet Dulcinea Prokofiev: Love For Three Oranges Suite, Classic Records 45 series. Has anyone heard the Buck Clayton album "How Hi the Fi" on Pure Pleasure Records? I have heard the performance is outstanding. What about the sonics? Thanks, |
Last night was a Celtic night again with: Ossian - "St. Kilda Wedding" Iona IR 001 Ossian - "Seal Song" Iona IR 002 - a great traditional music group with Billy Jackson on harp and some good "new" folk from the '70s with John O'Connor "Songs for our times" on Flying Fish FF 331. The 30 minutes spent with Mary O'Hara just doesn't count. Tonight is starting with Haydn symphonies played by Neville Marriner and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields on Philips. I really enjoy Marriner's way with Haydn. It's not period instruments, but it has the light touch and sympathetic performance of Marriner and the Academy that I find very enjoyable: Haydn, Symphonies 52 and 53, Marriner/ASMF, Philips 6500 114 . |
Allow me to reiterate this thought: if you love classical chamber music, you will never forgive yourself if you fail to get this 3LP set of the Bach "Suites of Solo Cello" while it is still available. J.S. Bach, "Suites for Solo Cello" - with Janos Starker, cello, on the superb Speakers Corner reissue of Mercury SR3-9016. (An outstanding 3LP set to get while you still can.) |
I can enjoy "played LOUD" but tonight has been a softer evening after last night's close with The Who's "Who's Next" played loud (Classic Records reissue, and it is really good). Tonight's softer listening has seen: J.S. Bach, "Flute Sonatas" - with Simon Preston, Jordi Savall, and Trevor Pinnock in an excellent Bob Auger engineered recording on CRD 1014/5. (Bob Auger is another of a small cadre of recording engineers who consistently achieve outstanding and supremely natural sonic results from a minimalist and minimally miked recording technique. Of course, it certainly helps when recording world class performers such as Savall, Pinnock and Preston.) J.S. Bach, "Suites for Solo Cello" - with Janos Starker, cello, on the superb Speakers Corner reissue of Mercury SR3-9016. (An outstanding 3LP set to get while you still can.) . |
Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power I just got a new and fairly ratty CBS pressing of this classic slab of proto-Punk ca. 1973. David Bowie rescued this imploding/exploding combo from drug-induced oblivion just long enough for them to wax this great, great record. I hear the inspiration for every Punk band from the Sex Pistols to the White Stripes. As Jimmy Miller used to instruct folks when listening to the Stones, this record should be played LOUD!!! |
Tonight... Ben Webster, "Soulville" - Verve 8274 (Speakers Corner reissue) - yeah, it's great. Skip James, "Today!" - Vanguard VSD 79219 (Pure Pleasure reissue mastered by Hoffman and Gray) - very clean and natural sound; recommended. John Lee Hooker, "Sings the Blues (ThatÂs my story)" - Riverside OBC-538 (Analogue Productions reissue) John Lee Hooker, "Burnin' (1961)" - Get Back GET7502 (buy for the music not the sound, which is grainy and aggressive) . |
Hi Larry (Cello), That sort of list is likely to change next week, but based on what I've been listening to lately here are some LPs I could offer at the moment given their outstanding sonics and performance/music content (all based on my listening priorities of course)... Shostakovich - "Symphony No. 1" coupled with "The Age of Gold Ballet Suite," Martinon/LSO, RCA LSC 2322-45 (Classic Records 45rpm reissue, not the 33rpm) Shostakovich - "String Quartet No. 8," Borodin Quartet, Decca SXL 6036 (Speakers Corner reissue) Stravinsky - "Firebird Ballet" (complete), Dorati/LSO, Mercury SR 90226-45 (Classic Records 45rpm reissue) (I've mentioned this LP many times.) Stravinsky - "Petrouchka," Danon/RPO, Chesky CR42 (180gram) (Alternatively the Ansermet performance on Decca SXL 2011 (Athena ALSS 10004 reissue) is also excellent. I haven't yet listened to the Speakers Corner reissue of this to compare to the Athena.) Beethoven - "Septet in E, op20," Members of the Vienna Octet, Decca on King SuperAnalogue 9111 reissue. Louis Armstrong - "St. James Infirmary" from the Classic Records 45rpm reissue of just two cuts from "Satchmo Plays King Oliver" on Audio Fidelity ST-91058 -45. (Seems like this LP always comes out for new visitors here.) Duke Ellington - "This One's for Blanton," with Ray Brown, Pablo 2310-721 -45 (from the Analogue Productions Fantasy 45rpm reissue series.) (This is just an example as virtually any from this reissue series would be on my list. They're superb; get them while you can. Same for the new Blue Note series from both Music Matters and Analogue Productions.) "Musique Arabo-Andalouse," Paniagua/Atrium Musicae de Madrid, Harmonia Mundi HM 389 (Music of Arabic-Spain of the 9th-13th Centuries) "La Spagna," Paniagua/Atrium Musicae de Madrid, BIS LP 162/163 (Music of 15th, 16th and 17th century Spain.) Mozart, Horn Concertos, McGegan/PhilBarO, Greer -hn, Harmonia Mundi/USA HMU 7012 (Superb recording by Peter McGrath, with performances by Lowell Greer on natural (valveless) horn that blow me away.) Vivaldi, Flute Concertos, McGegan/PhilBarO, See -fl, Harmonia Mundi/USA HMC 5193 (Another superb recording by Peter McGrath.) "Italian Violin Music 1600-1750," Banchini -vn, Darmstadt -vc, Klimo Open Window OW 002 (for baroque violin, exceptionally well played and recorded) So, here's just a smattering of LPs that immediately come to mind as ones I'd hate to be without. There are many more that could be listed, and next week my list might be different, but these are what I've been pulling back out for listening recently. On another front are those really outstanding reissue classical LPs that are still available new from one or another of the mail order retailers. Many have already gone out of print and others are near to doing so. I recently pulled together a list to recommend for a friend. If this is of interest, let me know. Cheers, |
Listening yesterday with friends over. After some of the usual LPs to orient folks to the sound of my system, we moved on to... Malcom Arnold - ÂEnglish, Scottish, and Cornish Dances - Lyrita SRCS. 109 - Cello and I must be on the same wavelength. We played the second English Dances and I don't think I've heard it sound better than yesterday. Keith Jarrett - "The Celestial Hawk" - for orchestra, percussion and piano. We all sat through the entire first side without a word - intriguing music making. (ECM 1175) Ry Cooder - "Jazz" (Reprise) - fun stuff with influences from all over the place. Wagner - Various Orchestral Only pieces, Leinsdorf on Sheffield Labs LAB 7, direct to disc. . The greatest enjoyment is always sharing music and conversation with friends. |
. A Sunday Morning  . Louis Armstrong - ÂUnder the Stars 33 rpm Verve . Louis Armstrong -  Under the Stars Classic Records 45 rpm re-issue . Phoebe Snow - ÂPhoebe Snow Shelter Records - SR2109 - great recording ..I have a sealed copy of the DCC version think I've got to open it, clean it and compare the two. . Malcom Arnold - ÂEnglish, Scottish, and Cornish Dances - Lyrita SRCS. 109 - a recent repeat, but too good not to... . Rachmaninov - Symphonic Dances / Vocalise - Dallas Symphony Orchestra / Donald Johanos Conducting - Athena Analogue Recording 1988 ALSW -10001 - Another repeat, but again, well worth it. . Art Garfunkel - ÂBreakaway Columbia 1975 . Henryk Szeryng  Brahms Violin Concerto - London Symphony Orchestra / Antal Dorati Conducting - Mercury Living Presence Stereo from 35 MM Magnetic film Recording. . |
Hi David, I know the Command label through some of their classical recordings. As I recall, the classical records sound as though the master tape must be pretty well engineered, but they were pressed on poor vinyl and I've never found any that sound very good from my used purchases due to their poor condition surfaces (even after a good cleaning). I now don't try to buy them. I agree with you about a pattern with the DGG recording engineers. I need to go back and listen with this in mind, too. I have found a few later DGG orchestral recordings that I thought sounded really good, so I'll have to do some comparative listening and find the key. FWIW, the recording I thought was well engineered was recorded by Hans-Peter Scheigmann, Stravinsky's Violin Concerto with Perlman and Ozawa (2531 110). I've also liked some of the work by Werner Wolf and Klaus Scheibe. All three tend to deliver a more natural listening perspective in their recordings. Right now I'm listening to a recording made by one of my heroes, Kenneth Wilkinson, on Lyrita: Alan Rawsthorne's Symphony No. 1 on Lyrita SRCS 90. Really nice that he could be making recordings such as this at the same time as he was making some excessively over-miked muck for Decca in LA and Chicago. This recording harks back to his premier earlier days with Decca. . |
Indeed, Rushton, that's a lesson I've learned the hard way. Based on a few great recordings I stumbled across, I made the erroneous assumption that all DG vinyl must be pretty good. I bought a lot of them back when my rig wasn't nearly as revealing and I'm only now realizing I wasted my money on many of them. I should do some study to see which DG engineers did the good stuff and which the bad. There's generally a pattern, as we've all learned. I also have to put in another plug for the Enoch Light recordings on the Command label. Sirspeedy turned me on to these; I actually had a few in my collection but it had been years since I'd listened to them. It's lounge music/space age bachelor pad/exotica stuff, so it's not to everyone's taste, but the sonics are absolutely stunning. The width and depth of the soundstage is hard to believe. The two series I have are Provocative Percussion and Persuasive Percussion; there may be more. Even if you don't like the music, they make great demo discs! David |