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

I certainly know what you mean, at one point I forgot it was playing, but I'm going to give it a few more listens this week. It has certainly been reviewed well. One wonders if the indivdual players were wary of appearing to dominate the super group which resulted in EVERYBODY taking a back seat?

okish, a bit of a yes copy....

Lindsey Buckingham

"Out Of The Cradle"

cd rip to iTunes

prompted by GraemeH above

Brilliant album Andy. One of many excellent recommendations from Stu on this thread over the years.

Graham.

1st play...

After two acclaimed trio albums (The End of a Summer and Imprint), pianist Julia Hülsmann proposes a different project for her third ECM release In Full View, motivated initially by a performance by Berlin-based, English trumpet and flugelhorn player Tom Arthurs: "I found the music so beautiful that I asked him on the spot to collaborate..."

Arthurs, who has worked with musicians including John Surman, John Taylor, Iain Ballamy, Thomas Strønen, Jack DeJohnette and Kenny Wheeler, and cites influences ranging from György Ligeti to filmmakers Andrei Tarkovsky and Jean-Luc Godard, gladly accepted. After first rehearsals had established musical compatibility, Hülsmann called upon the services of her trusted rhythm section of Marc Muellbauer (double-bass) and Heinrich Köbberling (drums). Thus the Julia Hülmann Trio became the Julia Hülsmann Quartet - with a prominent role for Tom Arthurs as a strong new frontline voice that not only inspires Julia Hülsmann as player and arranger, but also had a stimulating effect on the composing activities within the quartet, with all members bringing compositions to the table.

The programme is rounded off by the additions of "The Water" from Canadian singer-songwriter Feist ("I like these simple, clear melodies, with a totally unique charm" says Hülsmann), "Richtung Osten", penned by Heinrich Köbberling's wife Fumi Udo, and Manuel de Falla's "Nana" from the Siete Canciones Populares Españolas cycle of folk song arrangements.

 

"German pianist Julia Hülsmann gave - for my taste - the best performance of her already enormously varied career. In trumpet player Tom Arthurs she has found a wonderful counterpart for her poetic ingenuity." - Ulrich Olshausen, reviewing the Julia Hülsmann Quartet at the Münster Festival

 

Personnel: Julia Hülsmann (piano), Tom Arthurs (trumpet), Marc Muellbauer (double bass), Heinrich Köbberling (drums

I know what you are talking about. It's a bit more in the direction of less excitement in the 2nd part - nevertheless I like it, not every jazz album needs to breath for me.

2nd part of the album is better than okish....

Sarah McLachlan

"Shine On"

Spotify

Cara Dillon, one of folk’s leading lights, returns with the captivating album A Thousand Hearts on her own Charcoal Records in partnership with Sony Music.

 

Well worth the wait, A Thousand Hearts, follows the acclaimed ‘Hill of Thieves’, released in 2009 and named the Radio 2 Folk Album of the Year in 2010. Produced and arranged by husband Sam Lakeman, the album features guest vocals from Timothy B Schmit (The Eagles), American singer/songwriter Aoife O'Donovan and English folk musician John Smith.

 

The eleven songs on this new disc are an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary loosely themed around affairs of the heart. These include songs such as ‘Avalanche’ a stunning cover of the Shawn Colvin song, ‘River, Run’ a cover of little known 90’s indie pop act Suddenly Tammy! which is a beautiful song about River Phoenix –and also a number of traditional songs including ‘As I Roved Out’ continuing Cara’s the practice of taking better known folk songs and making them her own.

Between 1974 and 1981 Marcia  she was a member of the I Threes, a trio of backing singers, which supported Bob Marley & the Wailers. She also had a big hit with Young Gifted & Black as Bob & Marcia.

Melissa Etheridge

"Fearless Love"

Amazon download

Roland Hanna: Everything I love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJgv6eqyQIU

Nostalgia trip

Terrific Mac album. Second only to Rumours IMO

MDS

If I could have only one Supertramp album this would be it.  Excellent recording quality, too.

Indeed. I know we are supposed to say why we are listening to the album but when it comes to TITN I don't need a reason.

I normally steer clear of female vocal jazz, mostly because the genre is so vastly over populated with mediocre recordings that one doesn't know where to start but I make an exception for a few (Claire Teal, Carol Kidd etc.,) and this album is so beautifully recorded...

Mixed using Lindsey Buckinhgam's BMW car stereo by an aquaintance of mine who always laughs at the extent we types go to for perfect replay! G

Brilliant, just makes me love it more.

It opens up an interesting debate imho; I have albums that I adore that are dreadfully recorded and I have albums that are superbly recorded that I listen to even though they are not necessarily my usual cup of tea but I adore. It makes me question everything. I wonder if hi res files, despite their technical accuracy, will ever be able to reproduce the emotive element so important to musical reproduction, but then I guess this same question was asked of CDs when they came out and we know the answer to that.

To provide an analogy more close to my field of expertise, given a choice between a rare first edition copy of a volume of poetry and a charity shop copy, I would choose the charity shop copy on the basis that the emotive content remains the same. The rare first edition does not provide any more insight than the charity shop copy, It only presents the same emotive content in an improved format, doesn't it?

An interesting debate.

Dire Straits

being the owner of a Qute2 for about a year now, I can honestly say I love this piece of kit everything I play is just marvellous on it. The best pound for pound hi fi kit I have ever bought.