Great thread.
An unexpected surprise was Ambrosia - "Life Beyond L.A."; pop-progressive (heavy on pop) best known (only known?) for the ultimate "old girlfriend" homage, "How Much I Feel".
I was surprised how good the production values are on this old '78 release. Good balance of instruments, soundfield placement, timbral reproduction and weight, eclectic variety of genre (for an LA pop outfit), an enjoyable listen. And David Pack's blue-eyed soul should have gotten more notoriety in his day.
Most disappointing for me was Gino Vanelli's "Nightwalker". I always thought if they had brought Gino's voice down in the mix and brought forward Vinnie Colaiuta's excellent drum work (he throws in more fills than a Foster City housing development on this release), this could have been a rockin' outing. But alas, just another Vegas-sounding album.
But hands down my biggest surprise was when I dusted off my old records after upgrading from a Technics table to my VPI with a good cart, and discovered this old big band album I had inherited from someone years ago and never played. I Disc Doctored it, cued it up, turned up the volume...spank me and call me Martha...I think I soiled myself.
It was the M&K Realtime release, "For Duke". I had NEVER heard anything that stunning from recorded music before.
An unexpected surprise was Ambrosia - "Life Beyond L.A."; pop-progressive (heavy on pop) best known (only known?) for the ultimate "old girlfriend" homage, "How Much I Feel".
I was surprised how good the production values are on this old '78 release. Good balance of instruments, soundfield placement, timbral reproduction and weight, eclectic variety of genre (for an LA pop outfit), an enjoyable listen. And David Pack's blue-eyed soul should have gotten more notoriety in his day.
Most disappointing for me was Gino Vanelli's "Nightwalker". I always thought if they had brought Gino's voice down in the mix and brought forward Vinnie Colaiuta's excellent drum work (he throws in more fills than a Foster City housing development on this release), this could have been a rockin' outing. But alas, just another Vegas-sounding album.
But hands down my biggest surprise was when I dusted off my old records after upgrading from a Technics table to my VPI with a good cart, and discovered this old big band album I had inherited from someone years ago and never played. I Disc Doctored it, cued it up, turned up the volume...spank me and call me Martha...I think I soiled myself.
It was the M&K Realtime release, "For Duke". I had NEVER heard anything that stunning from recorded music before.