Miles Davis: Live Evil
What a great album, and the japanese pressing is brilliant.
What a great album, and the japanese pressing is brilliant.
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 |
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. |
Bobby Jaspar & Herbie Mann - "Flute Flight" [Prestige mono LP '57] With Tommy Flanagan piano, Joe Puma guitar, Doug Watkins or Wendell Marshall bass, Eddie Costa vibes, Bobby Donaldson drums Terry Gibbs Quartet - "Plays The Duke" [EmArcy mono LP '58] With Pete Jolly accordian, Leroy Vinegar bass, Gary Frommer drums, Gibbs play marimba and xylophone in addition to vibes. Got that big mono sound to love, and I don't believe this has ever been released on CD. Donald Byrd With Clare Fischer & Strings - "September Afternoon" [Discovery stereo LP '82, orig. rec. '57] Originally done for Warner Brothers but, as per Fischer's liners, "the company started to release the album and then withdrew it and stuck it in the can where it has remained about twenty five years", calling it "...in essence a time-capsule -- made, buried, lost and finally recovered." Then he actually apologizes for the fine early stereo sound, which to me is far preferable to the sound of most albums recorded at the time of his writing. Now of course long since OOP and I don't believe has ever been made available on CD. Gary McFarland - "Soft Samba" [Verve mono LP '64] This is good for a disbelieving chuckle: Inside the gatefold liners where producer credit is listed, Creed Taylor's familiar trademark signature appears on a small sticker placed over where his name presumably is also printed underneath sans script, which I guess must not have been good enough, maybe even violated terms of his contract, meaning Verve must've had to go to this retroactive trouble for every copy shipped Freddie McCoy - "Peas'n'Rice" [Prestige stereo LP '67] The Challengers - "California Kicks" [GNP Crescendo promo mono LP '66] Charlie Rich - "Sings Country & Western" [Hi promo stereo LP '67] Deep Purple - "Shade Of..." [Tetragrammaton LP '68] Julian Bream & George Malcolm - "Sonatas For Lute And Harpsichord" [ RCA Red Seal LP '69] Bach and Vivaldi. It never occured to me before how similar these two instruments can sound. |
Oh, what shall it be? I feel like the sailor charged with KP duty and told to sort several bushels of potatoes into small- medium- and large-sizes. Hours later he was to be found with his head in his hands and bushels of potatoes yet to be sorted. When asked why he'd not made more progress, he responds: "Decisions! Decisions! Too many decisions to make!" I have an opportunity to go listen to an audio system with a complement of equipment I very much look forward to hearing. The host tells me, "Please bring some vinyl you'd like to hear." Yikes! What do I choose? My listening partner says, "It doesn't matter. Whatever we listen to, we'll know in about 15 seconds what we think the system is doing or not doing. Let's just listen to something our host enjoys." Oh, don't I wish for those ears of hers sometimes! . |
Dutilleux/Lutoslawski: Cello Concertos - Rostropovitch, Baudo/CzechPO, Lutoslawsk/OrchParis -EMI ASD 3145 A marvelous recording, perhaps one of the best cello concerto recordings in my collection. The Dutilleux is particularly attractive and interesting musically, not just sonically. I see the Arthur Salvatore finally found this recording and gave it special recognition as "FINEST CELLO CONCERTO RECORDING" in March 2011. http://www.high-endaudio.com/RECENT.html#Aug (and scroll down) . |
The Incredible String Band - "Wee Tam" [Elektra LP '69] Roy Loney & The Phantom Movers - "Contents Under Pressure" [War Bride LP '81] Ahmad Jamal - "The Piano Scene Of Ahmad Jamal" [Epic mono LP '59] Joe Williams - "The Exciting Joe Williams" [RCA Victor stereo LP '65] Like the title sez! Huge punchy sound with of course the voice and performances to match (except for the last track on side 1, not a song worthy of the rest of the album), plus one of the absolute sauvest cover shots ever Dizzy Gillespie + 21 - "Perceptions" [Verve mono LP '61] Composed and arranged by J.J. Johnson, conducted by Gunther Schuller Antonio Carlos Jobim - "The Composer Of Desafinado, Plays" [Verve mono LP '63] The Walter Wanderly Trio - "Cheganca" [Verve stereo LP '66] Supercharged, space-age Hammond organ bossanova, in sound so tubey-luscious, it's like a coffee caramel that melts in your ear |
Welcome back Albert! (In lesser news, misspelling "suavest" not exactly a suave move on my part -- certainly not deserving of Joe Williams' hounds-tooth & pipe ;^) Barney Kessel - "Plays Carmen" [Contemporary mono LP '59] Subtitled "Modern Jazz Performances From Bizet's Opera". Group includes Buddy Collette, Andre Previn, Shelly Manne, Herb Geller and Victor Feldman, adapted and arranged by Kessel, who is in fine form on guitar. Warm and intimate, quite dynamic and very clean, reasonably extended sound by Roy DuNann The Paul Winter Sextet - "Jazz Meets The Bossa Nova" [Columbia stereo LP '62] Redundantly-titled, percussion-crazy swell set, capable of generating a spread of sound seemingly greater than the width of the room far in excess of the speaker positions, without the help of added reverb either |
1. procol harum--exotic birds and fruit. post-trower; generally ignored, but actually quite excellent--less arty, more concise than their earlier stuff. "the idol" and "new lamps for old" are among the best songs they ever recorded. 2. thin white rope--exploring the axis. the great lost guitar band of the 80s--brilliant, hooky, twisted psychy stuff in the same general ballpark as meat puppets and television, but entirely unique. the leader, guy kyser, is a genius. 3. sex clark five--strum and drum. really melodic, rem-ish one-minute pop tunes with clever, if incomprehensible, lyrics. 25 years after first hearing this, i still remember these songs. |
Tinariwen Tassili +10:1 I keep thinking this band is repetitive from album to album - it all sort of sounds the same (like some folks think jazz just sounds like noise) but the more I listen, the more addictive it gets, and you start picking up on how different these tunes that sounded "all the same" really are. |
Mozart, Exsultate Jubilate, Hogwood/AAM, Emma Kirkby, L'Oiseau Lyre 411 832 (just a gorgeous performance with the remarkable Ms. Kirkby) Marais, Pieces for 2 Viols, Savall/Coin/Koopman, Astree AS39 Albeniz, Suite Espanola, De Burgos/NewPhilO, London CS 6581-45 (ORG 45rpm reissue - simply delightful. Bravo) Neil Young, Sugar mountain, Live at Canterbury Hourse 1968, Reprise 51263-1 . |
Norman Connors - "Love From The Sun" [Buddah LP '73] With Herbie Hancock, Hubert Laws, Eddie Henderson, Gary Bartz, Buster Williams, Carlos Garnett, DeeDee Bridgewater, in a celestial set from before the drummer/leader switched to pop-soul crossover mode Phil Upchurch - "Lovin' Feeling" [Blue Thumb promo LP '73] The bluesy jazz guitarist better known as a sideman (Carmen McRea, Chess records house band) and for his "You Can't Sit Down" instro pop hit of the early 60's, delivers a funky pop-jazz set somewhere between Grant Green and George Benson Lonnie Smith - "Drives" [Blue Note LP '70] Hot organ quintet set by Benson's one-time Hammond man (not to be confused with better-known keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith) Sergio Mendes - "The Beat Of Brazil" [Atlantic LP '67] Arranged by Antonio Carlos Jobim, recorded by Philips in Rio de Janeiro with Brazilian sextet. Bossa nova of course, but with very credible straight modern jazz aspects as well, more so than on Jobim's own stuff. Quoth Sergio: "I've never heard an American drummer who can play Brazilian rhythm correctly...When you hear the sound in Brazil, there is no basic rhythmic pattern - no straight tempo - it's loose - there are shifts...It reflects the same kind of feeling that American drummers have when they play jazz. But for some reason, when they attempt Brazilian rhythm, it just sounds like a 'nice' beat." |
Willie Nelson - Red Haired Stranger, Columbia Waylon Jennings/Willie Nelson/Jessi Colter - The Outlaws, RCA Debussy - Preludes, Bk 1 - Michelangeli, DGG Boccherini - La Musica Notturna delle strade di Madrid Sammartini - Sinfonia in F ... - Stuttgart Chm Orch, Tacet L74 Dvorak - Cello Concerto - Munch/BSO/Piatigorsky, RCA |
OK it's not music but last night I listened to both sides of Firesign Theater's "How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All". I was laughing out loud to tears without any medication and/or false drugs (thank you Pastor Rod Flash). Some of us are doomed to eternal adolescence. |
Girls - Father, Son and Holy Ghost - average pressing on white and black vinyl; band from SF bay area. Impossible to describe - every song transcends the next. Best LP of music of the year so far. Don't shy away from the pressing, it won't get better than this for bands in 2011. Lamb - Lamb - Debut record on Fontana by trip hop drum and bass duo from England. Great if you can find the vinyl -hard as heck to find from 1996. Dead Can Dance - Spiritchaser - Mofi reissue. Great pressing, great recording, great music. |
Ahhhhh..., simply marvelous to be listening to such a sinfully, delightfully delicious LP: the 45rpm reissue of the Falla Three Cornered Hat from ORG's London/Decca reissue series. Just incredibly GOOD! THIS is why we spend so much energy, time and money getting our audio systems set up and tuned well. . |