What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. X)

Now this one - pleasant.... after the other one...

The Police

"Synchronicity"

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I thought it interesting that nobody had commented on the SQ of this release. I now know why. Digger commented on the other thread that it didn't look like this reissue was taken from the original master tapes as the heading indicated Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab and not Original Master Recording. There is no mention anywhere on the sleeve that this is taken from the original master, unlike the other Bob Dylan 45 reissues, and it would seem to be true. 

On the first needle drop Like A Rolling Stone sounded dire. I had the volume up at 10 o'clock and it sounded distorted. When I pulled back on the volume to around 8o'clock it sounded better. It just doesn't sound good at high volumes and doesn't have the mercurial clarity of the earlier albums like Freewheelin'. It's still very listenable but, compared with some of the others, it sounds like it was taken from something like a 3rd generation tape.

The music is so good that after a while you kind of forget about it. It's one of my top 3 Bob Dylan LPs.

Steve

On CD:-

Drive-By Truckers - English Oceans

On the original vinyl:-

Yes, Yes, Yes.

A lovely album that builds then falls away likes waves.

U2

"Achtung Baby"

iTunes download

Some good music from the past.

Original vinyl, still sounding good.

Perfect for relaxing at the end of Saturday afternoon.

JeffA did you notice I put this up earlier in the week. Really good album IMHO

London Blues Diaries, Nov 97 - Jan 98, with a cuppa on a sunny evening.

Chris

Just back from our daughters BBQ, had to leave as it was getting really childish over the footbal, I hope they don't start this stuff at the wedding in a couple of weeks. 

Anyway some sweet music to make up for it, iMac/iTunes AIFF CD rip:-

As it's a great evening here in Bingham, east of Nottingham - how appropriate is the Cosmic Rough Riders - "Enjoy the melodic sunshine" from 2000. Brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sting

"The Soul Cages"

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The second album of the trio founded by drummer and composer Harris Eisenstadt with Ellery Eskelin (tenor saxophone) and Angelica Sanchez (piano) is a climb of several steps towards brilliancy. And part of the reason resides in the fact that Eisenstadt enables his phantoms (his personal references) to float, like writer Joseph Conrad in the title-track, “The Destructive Element”, composer Arnold Schoenberg in the two parts of “From Schoenberg”, and film director Akira Kurosawa in “Here Are the Samurai”. If the debut CD of the September Trio was about ballads, this one has as main theme the simple / complex paradox. This having nothing to do with the stereotyped oppositions between composition and improvisation, or between massive intensity and small group dynamics: simplicity and complexity are where you less expect it, and sometimes you take one for another. Fabulous, in one word.

Hi Ewen

I did see it, was unaware of it prior, am looking forward to it. As always, thanks for the

info.  As you know, one of my very favorite artists.

be well

Jeff A

Had forgotten how good this vinyl disc was.  Original pressing still sounding good.

Excellent imho

I have to wonder how many of the original masters from this era are any longer of use for quality reproduction. Fifty years old and from a time when everyone in the studio smoked. No doubt a dedicated purpose of the Beatles' catalog remastering in digital was essentially to retire the original tapes from use. A recent release by Small Faces (The Immediate Years) used the original mono tapes and several tracks had audible sound quality degradation. It's a shame to think of how many tapes from those days will never be rescued and archived to a digital medium. Most due to lack of profitability. I guess original vinyl pressings will become the best quality source available.

Taken By Trees

"East Of Eden"

Amazon download

Saxophonist Jon Raskin aligns himself with East Coast modern jazz champion, saxophonist/bandleader Tim Berne on The Bass & The Bird Pond. Here the “Jon Raskin Quartet” featuring the monstrous rhythm section of bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Elliot Kavee inscribe a few more pages into the ever-evolving and expansive idiom some of us refer to as “modern jazz”.

The dual alto saxophonists ruminate as if they were belting out some form of the blues on Tim Berne’s “Bloodcount”. Here, maverick styles provide the all-encompassing framework as the listener now comes to the realization that they are about to embark upon a mesmerizing journey which is enacted by bassist Michael Formanek’s stirring, tension riddled strumming. Or perhaps thoughts of a volcano on the brink of eruption as turbulent gases and boiling lava are brewing within its deep cavity! On “Bloodcount”, the music intensifies in climactic fashion as Berne and Raskin sing to the heavens with blazing fury, while pursuing blistering dialogue and punishing unison choruses. Michael Formanek provides the intro to “The Third Path To No Where” with an extended recital featuring a muscular attack embellished by impossibly swift lines and wavering intonation as students of jazz bass may find themselves cringing with envy! Formanek grants rite of passage to Berne and Raskin as the twin altoists surge onward atop feverish rhythms while extrapolating loosely based themes and beaming choruses. Throughout, Berne and Raskin succeed at apprehending our imaginations.......On pieces such as “The Third Path To No Where”, drummer/cellist Elliot Kavee is a colorist or painter who often counterbalances Formanek and the lead soloists via his crafty articulations behind the kit and shrewd utilization of cymbals. Raskin picks up the baritone sax on the composition titled, “Chapter 269, Death” as a curious sense of condemnation shrouds the dirge-like yet sonorous, and resolute choruses.

The Bass & The Bird Pond may serve as a prime example of what four veteran and dare we say – cutting edge – musicians are liable to accomplish as improvisers and composers who collectively tell a story that may seem starkly real to the discerning listener. With this new release, the “Jon Raskin Quartet” grant judicious reasoning to the notions that music can at times parallel life, ideology or perhaps some of our non-conforming ways as the music does indeed, speak for itself in exalted fashion. Highly recommended! * * * * *

 

Personnel:Jon Raskin; Alto Sax, Sopranino, Baritone Sax: Tim Berne; Alto Sax: Michael Formanek; Bass: Elliot Kavee; Drums, Cello

This is about as 'modern' as my Jazz tastes can be stretched but there is much to be recommended here.

For the first long weekend that officially starts the summer season here in Canada, some classic "Buddy Rock" by Max Webster from the late 70's and early 80's.  They used to sometimes kick off the summer with a concert on this Victoria Day Weekend in cottage country at a location known as the Key (Quay) in Bala, Muskoka, Ontario.  Memories of High School (good ones).

Original vinyl pressing, still sounds great after 35 years.

Van Morrison

"Too Long In Exhile"

cd rip to iTunes

w/John Lee Hooker