some great al***s in 2006

quote:

Originally posted by fred simon:
More correctly, you hate bad new age music. And you probably hate bad jazz, bad pop, and bad classical, too.

Hi Fred!
Of course i was not pointing at you.
I meant no offence.
I started hearing (then with time and effort i tried to improve my ears ability) music when i was 11/12.
I remember old records by the Rolling Stones, Beatles, Mina, Aznavour and a lot of radio.
I did put my attention on all the recorded notes i could find (i live in a 40.000 souls city) and played the guitar for 16 years (my sister played the piano, my dad the squeeze box and my mother was a young singer that recorded only a single vinyl).
Now i'm still making some experiment with my laptop using softs like Ableton Live etc.
Have a pile of recorded projects from the 3 minutes shot to the 40 minutes trip.
Worked in broadcasting, made works for tv, radio spots, worked for gigs organizations in the security crew in front of the stage and behind (nobody did ever take the risk to let me walk on the boards as an artist).

When i get out of this house for something which is not the everyday stuff i do reach a good friend and we spin records till his wife doesn't get a bit nervous or till we can keep brain working (we all get old!).

I've gladly spent any free moment with music and even working i get the rithm and some kind of analogies in the disturbing noises of the factory.
All in life is music.
But..................still i can't stand New Age.
I do remember very good works from labels like Narada or Windham Hill (still have a copy of "Country" soundtrack somewhere).
I can listen to works like this by Alan Lamb

feeling no urge to stand up and get upset in front of the best guitar solo.
Am i crazy?
Yes.
I can't stand modern jazz.
I like the rough sound surface of an old mono record and get really moved but can't stand the most part of the digital perfection of some famous labels.
My respect of course.
I'm not sayin here that i'm so perfect i can take the liberty to judge but i judge for myself.
So your clarification is fair and i do apologize.
But still i can't take the compromise and say that a record is good while the bells in my brain ring the alarm.
Rewievs on magazines (music or hi-fi) makes me sweat and i don't buy them anymore.

quote:

Really, there's no such thing as new age, or jazz, or whatever ... it's all music, and some is good, some is bad.

Right.

quote:

But even if we do accept the term, check out these very fine albums on the grandaddy of all new age labels, Windham Hill

Thanks a lot.
I remember the first works of people like Isham, Spyro Gyra.....................
1988,1989,1990....................
Those were days when the Windham's CDs came with boxed package.
Some with a hole in the corner and very cheap!
But i was 20.
Now that i passed to the "grumpy old age" (see related topic in Padded Cell) i keep eyes on the gips.

Thanks for kind reply and keep on posting.
Something tells me we didn't say it all.

Cheers!
Gianluigi

quote:

Originally posted by DenisA:
Gunnar:

I would like to return the compliment to you and recommend another swedish band moonbabies. Just check the Amazon link for samples and 5 star reviews. The site has 3 quick time videos. I read the review of The Orange Billboard from Darla about 2 years ago and didn't regret it.

Moonbabies are: Carinia Johansson & Ola Frick and musically describe themselves as easy pop beats & experimental underwater moods. The arrangements and musicianship are first class and Definitely not a cheap sounding indie band. One thing to note is each track takes a while to warm up and then change direction, so the videos might be better.

Let me know what you think.

Denis

Denis
This is really, really good. Never heard them before...how could I have missed them! I´m going to buy that album right away today after work.

Great, thanks!

Best regards
Gunnar

quote:

Originally posted by fred simon:
Really, there's no such thing as new age, or jazz, or whatever ... it's all music, and some is good, some is bad.

No such thing as jazz? Bummer... I used to really like jazz.

Hi,
in my opinion 2006 was good year in music My one and only love is cd of Pawel Szymanski 'chamber works' by silesian string quartet - published in poland by emi classics 0946 3 84393 2 5 - I really hope you can (and even should get it outside Poland!

and the others:
classics:
2. szymanowski - Piano Works piotr anderszewski virgin classics 545730-2
3. vivaldi 'concertos for violin strings and continuo" carmignola venice baroque orchestra with marcon - archiv produktion 00289 477 6005AH
4. handel 'mesiah' rene jacobs, the choir of clare college i freiburger barockorchester - harmonia mundi HMC801928.29

jazz:
1. keith jarrett 'the carnagie hall concert' - ecm 1989/90
2. keith jarrett 'tokyo solo' ecm dvd 987 3186 - first ecm dvd - great music.
3. tomasz stanko quartet 'lontano' ecm 1980
4. danielsson/dell/landgren - 'salzau music on the water' act 9445-2
5. haden/forcione 'heartplay' naim cd098
6. leszczek mozdzer/lars danielsson/zohar fresco 'between us and the light' - outside music om cd002 - as far as I know it was published only in poland. it is the second cd of this trio after 'the time' published in 2005.

quote:

Originally posted by munch:
When i was a young kid in the 60s my father used to play his Jazz 78s and his LPs you could define Jazz.Now there are so many variants of the standard form.

Except that pretty much throughout the history of jazz, each new development was controversial. When Dixieland was the rage, Swing was controversial, and when Swing became the standard, Be-bop became the new "anti-jazz." And so on. It's never been cut and dried.

quote:

I dont think there is any bad or good music, its you like it or you dont. Just because you dont like one type or another, does not make it bad music.Regards munch

I disagree with your first statement, but agree with the second, which, in my view, disproves the first to an extent.

As you rightly note, one's personal taste is just that, and no more ... one may not like jazz, but that, of course, doesn't mean that jazz is bad music.

Extrapolating from this, it follows that for certain artists, certain works of art, there is a nearly universal consensus on its quality ... pretty much everyone agrees that Shakespeare, Louis Armstrong, Rembrandt, Beethoven, The Beatles, just to name a handful of artists, can be classified "as good as it gets," regardless of whether this assessment aligns with their own taste. And there are identifiable reasons for this, which can be discovered through the in-depth investigation of the nuts and bolts of their work.

In other words, there is such a thing as good music ... Bach, for instance. Whether one likes his music or not, it's good music, no matter the relatively small audience for it. Conversely, as we all know, there's plenty of bad music out there that is loved by many. Personal taste and critical assessment are two entirely separate tangents, and it's important that they remain separate, especially when they aren't parallel.

Of course, let it be said that there's nothing wrong with liking bad music, nor with not liking good music, although in the latter case if one adheres too rigorously to one's taste, one runs the risk of provincialism, or even philistinism.

All best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by Gunnar Jansson:

To Fred Simon:
The dreamhouse album is...GREAT!
BTW did you get hold of Lena Willemark´s album Windogur?

Gunnar, thanks so much for the enthusiastic words, I'm grateful. Glad you're digging it.

I don't have Lena's album yet, but it is on my list ... so much music, so little time.

All best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by munch:
Out of the 180 cds i bought last year the ones that stand out for me are ...
Fred Simon/Dream House

Munch, thanks to you also for your kind words. I'm gratified you're enjoying the music.

All best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by Gianluigi Mazzorana:

Hi Fred!
Of course i was not pointing at you.
I meant no offence.

Gianluigi, no apology necessary, I took no offense whatsoever.

quote:

But..................still i can't stand New Age. I do remember very good works from labels like Narada or Windham Hill (still have a copy of "Country" soundtrack somewhere).

The inherent contradiction here illustrates my point ... you can't stand New Age, yet you like certain works which are considered New Age. So, as I said, you like good New Age, and you can't stand bad New Age ... I feel the same way.

quote:

I can't stand modern jazz.

What is "modern jazz" to you? I'll bet I could come up with some you'd like, at least as I define it.

All best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by fred simon:


What is "modern jazz" to you? I'll bet I could come up with some you'd like, at least as I define it.

All best,
Fred

Hi Fred!
It is all on what i feel when i listen and, again, where the player can take me.
I feel that modern players are too much technical.
When i listen to some Coltrane, Peterson, Evans, Stitt, Rollins, Sheep, Holiday, Coleman, Tyner and many others i can't recall to mind now............i feel the soul.
I feel the consistency of the instrument and the soul of the player.
May i say that old jazz is like a piece of an artisan?
I love those recordings and i love them coming from my very good Naim today as i loved them 25 years and more ago coming from my grandma tubes radio.
Sayin what i feel is a bit hard and makes me fall to mouth rethoric.
But i don't have the same feelings with modern players and composers even when they play old scores.
They're cold.
That's what i feel.
I do remember the first years of GRP.
Some took its production and the influences in it as the natural evolution of jazz music but during the years it tended to repeat itself.
Is it the market or the lack of ideas?
Is it the method in recordings, the recording machines in themselves, the digital vs analogue?
I don't know.
Of course if you have some records to suggest
the purchase of i'll look for them and i'll tell you what i think and feel.
Thanks again for kind reply!

quote:

Originally posted by Gianluigi Mazzorana:

I feel that modern players are too much technical.
When i listen to some Coltrane, Peterson, Evans, Stitt, Rollins, Sheep, Holiday, Coleman, Tyner and many others i can't recall to mind now............i feel the soul.

It's ironic, because most of the players you've mentioned here were once considered "modern jazz," and disparaged as such, and, in fact, are still considered "modern jazz" by some folks.

But, you know, there have always been technicians, and there have always been players with soul. By the way, these are by no means mutually exclusive traits ... if there ever was a technician with soul it's certainly Oscar Peterson. And there are many more.

By the same token, a player who isn't a technician is not ipso facto full of soul ... that's a romantic myth.

But to dismiss current players as technical/devoid of soul in one fell swoop is undiscerning, to say the least. Some are, many aren't. Rather than overwhelm you with a long list, let me start out with just one recommendation, which, coincidentally, is from my list which launched this discussion:


Quartet - Larry Goldings



As I said in my original list, although you'll find this album in the jazz category, it transcends genre while staying true to the spirit of jazz. Larry Goldings is a pianist and organist, composer and arranger; the ensemble includes Ben Allison on bass, Matt Wilson on drums, and someone unknown to me until this album, John Sneider on trumpet and cornet ... and a wonderful discovery it was. Madeleine Peyroux sings one song, W.C Handy's Hesitation Blues.

There's something so deep about this album, its profound humanity, its sheer musicality, its true soul. It manages to look forward to the future as it simultaneously acknowledges the past, making a powerful statement about the long and incredibly diverse journey that is the history and proliferation of jazz.

In addition to wonderful original compositions, they cover composers ranging from the aforementioned W.C handy, to Thelonious Monk, Gabriel Faure, Abdullah Ibrahim, and even Bjork. There are meticulous arrangements, as well as completely unscripted group improvisations. And it ends with an intimate and hopeful version of We Shall Overcome.

To me, this is modern jazz at its finest. Given the musicians you list as being some of your favorites, Gianluigi, I just can't imagine that you wouldn't love this album.

All best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by fred simon:
It's ironic, because most of the players you've mentioned here were once considered "modern jazz," and disparaged as such, and, in fact, are still considered "modern jazz" by some folks.

Of course people make up their minds by experience.
I'm sure that some of them were listening to music when i was in the cot.
Right now i'm giving another spin to Motian's Garden of Eden and..............i don't like it.
I gave it several chances in the months but still it tells me nothing.
I'm giving a spin to Susanne Abbuehl's Compass and...........nothing.
I have to change.
I like more the last days Billie Holiday's voice.
The voice of a smoker, alcoholic, doped beautiful lady than a whispered, filtered, insipid (yes! insipid) voice that doesn't express any pain while singing pain and no happiness while singing happiness.
There are piles of catalogues of records by singers that talk in the microphone filtered by dozens of digital effects and people buy them because they think they are singing.
You don't know how many hours i spent tryin' to give substance to a voice using machines only because the "boss" wanted that voice to become a real voice.
You know Diane Schurr i'm sure.
I can't go further than a couple of tracks of her records.
And that's why i think she doesn't sing but scream and she hits my nerves.
But for the people buyin' records she's a legendary queen.
In my town she became famous because she is blind and sold a lot of CDs.
I'm truly sorry for her but this fact doesn't make her a better singer to my ears.
I hate Tom Waits records.
Yes Sirs!
I hate Wait's records from the very first to the last.
His voice is fake.
I do prefer The Pogues: at least they really get drunk.
Sometimes i think that the days of genuineness are over and everytime i feel the need to buy records i start shivering.
Reviews is a lot of words that always instil the suspect in me that somebody did pay.
Once there was a record shop here where one could listen to records before taking them home.
The man, a friend, died and the one that took it just destroied it and now put on sale.
So i'm buyin remasters and independent labels.
Maybe all the stuff i find new in other shops is "modern" for me.
I don't know.

quote:

But, you know, there have always been technicians, and there have always been players with soul.

In any musical fields.
There are some young electronic performers that can create inimitable atmospheres and never get a single lesson on an instrument.
Maybe passion and soul come first.

quote:

By the same token, a player who isn't a technician is not ipso facto full of soul ... that's a romantic myth.

I agree.

quote:

let me start out with just one recommendation,
Quartet - Larry Goldings

I'll get the record and i'll write what i feel.

quote:

To me, this is modern jazz at its finest. Given the musicians you list as being some of your favorites, Gianluigi, I just can't imagine that you wouldn't love this album.

Let me dive in the lot and i'll post some titles i'd like you to listen to.

Ciao!
Gianluigi

Some issues with system brightness in 2006 which I now realize seriously impeded by album buying. Starting 2007 with a new set of ears (aka speakers) and anticipate it being a watermark year for buying new (to me) music.

Even with limited purchases some definite treasures in 2006:
- John Fahey reissue of the The Yellow Princess. Other than Peter Bellamy this is one of the few artists whose work I find both mentally and emotionally challenging.
- The Lemonheads; If I ran the world these are the kind of tunes which would be playing on rock/pop stations.
- Gram Parsons; The Complete Reprise Sessions More definitive proof of why the Eagles will be relegated to elevator/supermarket background music by 2025 (and not a moment too soon!).
- Tom Waits Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards. Only been through one disc but a definite four star, full couse meal in a time of competitive eating competitons.

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF
I forgot Scribbled In Chalk by Karine Polwart - that was released last year and is very very good (not quite as good as Faultlines).

Definitely worth searching out is Tales of Light and Darkness by Angie Palmer

First impressions...
Don't know if it is just me, but I find the highly compressed and mushy sounding audio streamed on the Angie Palmer site hardly encouraging me to listen more. Compare and contrast the audio on the Karine Polwart site.

/dl

quote:

Originally posted by Gianluigi Mazzorana:

Sometimes i think that the days of genuineness are over

Not really true, but it's a feeling expressed by some in every generation. Have no doubt, people expressed it no less during the age of the music you feel is genuine.

Incidentally, I don't care for Dianne Schurr, either. Tom Waits is another story ... I'm not crazy about his singing voice, but he has written some brilliant songs. You may feel his voice is fake, but it isn't ... he's the real thing.

I'd caution not to invest too much into the romantic myth of the "smoker, alcoholic, doped beautiful lady" nor the Pogues actually being drunk. First of all, Waits was no less drunk during the making of many of his early records, if being drunk is really the benchmark you want to use. But more importantly, drugs, including alcohol, are tools, and risky ones at that ... they have helped open creative doors for many artists, but have slammed doors shut for just as many.

All best,
Fred

quote:

Originally posted by parmenides:

3. tomasz stanko quartet 'lontano' ecm 1980

Absolutement!
Plus, Bobo Stenson's Goodbye on ECM and Charlotte Gainsbourg's 5'55".

quote:

Originally posted by fred simon:
Not really true, but it's a feeling expressed by some in every generation. Have no doubt, people expressed it no less during the age of the music you feel is genuine.

Hi Fred!
That's the matter.
I try to follow the generations because i know that every new movement or current or "style" brings the genuine in it till ti becomes a matter of businness.
i like people like Scott walker because they made their own road forgetting about market, spending time making experiments and putting their talent in few unforgettable things.
I like everything, but if i do realize the trick in it i leave it.

quote:

Tom Waits is another story ... I'm not crazy about his singing voice, but he has written some brilliant songs. You may feel his voice is fake, but it isn't ... he's the real thing.

Sorry but everytime i listen to him i feel it artificial.
I remember when my sister brought "Blue Valentine" and "Heartattack and wine" home.
It was a kind of litany and i felt he was tryin' hard to seem just like suffering but i did not believe him that time and i can't do it know.

quote:

I'd caution not to invest too much into the romantic myth of the "smoker, alcoholic, doped beautiful lady" nor the Pogues actually being drunk.

That's not the point.
I'm not chosing music by artits addictions.
That was only an example.
But whiter teeths si not better voice.

quote:

if being drunk is really the benchmark you want to use.

No, no at all.

quote:

But more importantly, drugs, including alcohol, are tools, and risky ones at that ... they have helped open creative doors for many artists, but have slammed doors shut for just as many.

Please Fred.
Spare yourself the lecture!


The only way would be to sit down in the same room bringing our own records and talk about them just i like i do with my good friend.
That's the only way but i see no chances.
So i'll keep on posting "what i'm listening now" with all the other guys and i hope you'll do the same.
Best thing in music is sharing.
And i have no other way!

Cheers!
Gianluigi



All best,
Fred


[/QUOTE]

quote:

Originally posted by David Legge:

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF
I forgot Scribbled In Chalk by Karine Polwart - that was released last year and is very very good (not quite as good as Faultlines).

Definitely worth searching out is Tales of Light and Darkness by Angie Palmer

First impressions...
Don't know if it is just me, but I find the highly compressed and mushy sounding audio streamed on the Angie Palmer site hardly encouraging me to listen more. Compare and contrast the audio on the Karine Polwart site.

/dl

Yes you're right - the Angie Palmer CD is much clearer though than the on-line samples - however, if I had only bought one of these CDs then I would have bought Karine's Scribbled In Chalk. That's no disrespect intended to Angie, it just shows how highly I regard Karine - I'd go as far as to say she is the same league as Shirley Collins and Annie Haslam plus she writes her own material, whereas Shirley and Annie don't.

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF
- the Angie Palmer CD is much clearer though than the on-line samples -

I would **!!&#** hope so too! No idea how the AP samples were being streamed, but even poor quality MP3's (OK, not really really bad ones) sound better... Maybe someone should tell her she's potentially loosing customers.

/dl

Have to agree with Fred re "Love"

...as so many have said I was extremly dubious about such an idea but boy does it work!
A genuine "hairs on the back of the neck experience"!
..and the 5.2 DVD-A version sounds excellent.(sorry purists)

Ray LaMontagne - Til the Sun shines black
The Black Neon
Brightblack Morning Light
(do I detect a trend????)
Jet - Shine On
Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
Arctic Monkeys
Elton John - Captain and the Kid
Counting Crows - New Amsterdam
Comets on Fire - Avatar
Elope - 3WD
Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers

and my favorite of 2006 that my kids also love...(with a great antiwar message)

Michael Franti and Spearhead - Yell Fire

quote:

Originally posted by munch:
5.2 DVD-A Version ?? Munch

This one goes to 5.2 ... it's one tenth wider, isn't it?

Fred

I was trying to channel Spinal Tap.

Fred

Having only just joined I'm dreadfully late with this. However, as I thought it was a really good year for music...here goes:

Nominations:

Joanna Newsom - Ys. Blissful orchestration by Van Dyke Parks, song structures that wander all over the place, vocal phrasing that borrows from Beefheart and that little-girl voice with added squeaks and quacks. So maybe not for everyone. I think it's a classic in the making and one of those albums that leaves me wanting more more more when it ends.
Pure Reason Revolution - The Dark Third. If the Beach Boys had done prog, it might have sounded like this. Even better than last year's mini-album.
Neil Young And Crazy Horse - Live At The Fillmore East 1970. Class live album - I was mostly disappointed by Living With War.
Loop Guru - Elderberry Shiftglass. I was initiallty very disappointed by this in that for the first few listens it sounded like a bunch of backing tracks. But listening to it as a whole it creates a great atmosphere. Needs to be listened to with joss sticks.
Lambchop - Damaged. Return to form after the disappointing Aw C'mon. Very mellow in a bleakish way, wonderful tunes though.
Calexico - Garden Ruin. Even though there's hardly any mariachi here the tunes are excellent.
Espers - Espers II. So-called wyrd folk, a cross between Pentangle and something post-rocky.
Pumajaw - Becoming Pumajaw. If Portishead did folk it'd sound a bit like this.
Circulus - Clocks Are Like People. Psych-folk reminiscent of Forest or Principal Edwards Magic Theatre.
Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther. Old-fashioned straight-ahead tuneful stuff.
The Feeling - Twelve Stops And Home. Power pop that has the distinction of being the first album EVER that all the family likes.
Mammatus - Mammatus. Yanks do Amon Düül 2 circa Yeti. Squalling guitars and feedback stomping all over the place like a baby dinosaur let loose in your living room.
James Blackshaw - O True Believers. Long raga-style solo acoustic guitar. Mesmeric. File under: if you like John Fahey and Jack Rose.
Voice Of The Seven Woods - The Withering Of The Boughs. Similar to James Blackshaw, though cheating a bit as it's an e.p.
Banco De Gaia - Farewell Ferengistan. Again a much better album than the previous You Are Here.
Astralasia - Away With The Fairies. Hard not to love a combination of poppy trance with the addition of ex-Hawkwind and High Tide violinist Simon House.

Almost there: Just a few duff tracks.

Fallout Trust - In Case Of The Flood.
Tom Verlaine - Songs And Other Things
Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55

Can't judge:

The Beatles - Love. Wonderful sound, superb collaging, but I have no proper perspective left - they were unique.

Was expecting better from:

Stereolab - Fab Four Suture. One or two excellent tracks but more just so-so.
Hybrid - I Choose Noise. Perhaps I need to try harder but this just sounds dull every time I play it.
Tom Verlaine - Around. This was his instrumental album. Dull.

quote:

Originally posted by Gary Shaw:
Neil Young And Crazy Horse - Live At The Fillmore East 1970. Class live album - I was mostly disappointed by Living With War.

Picked this up yesterday, simply wonderful.

I so vividly remember being in college at this time and picking up NY& CH "everybody knows this is nowhere" on vinyl. Then, shortly thereafter, doing some clubbing in nearby Kent Ohio (home of the infamous Kent State Univeristy/riots of early 1970 on which NY's "Ohio" is based) and going to a club called the Cove to hear a band called the James Gang - original members Joe Walsh, Jim Fox and Tom Kriss and having them do a 20+ minute cover of "Down By The River" on which Walsh was simply amazing. Listening to NY jam on this Fillmore album brings that all back so quickly (along with CSNY "Four-way Street").

Priceless

Jeff A

quote:

Originally posted by DenisA:
Porcupine Tree - stupid dream; Like most of Steven Wilson's music creation, this re-release has slowly won me over. I was introduced to PT 3 years ago on this Forum by Nick Lees and it has been the most rewarding musical journey I've ever had. Musical Progression is what drives Steven and the breadth of his output has no boundaries.

Denis

Denis,

If you like PT, I strongly recommend the album Let's Get This Mother Outta Here by Ship Of Fools. It's a re-mixed conflation of the two albums they made in three 90's (before going on amongst other things to form Cradle Of Filth but please don't let it put you off).

It's similar to that mid-period spacey PT (before Mr Wilson discovered Norwegian Death Metal). It's a one-off but it's a belter. Sadly I can find no better samples than here, so you'll have to fill in the blanks a bit with your imagination.