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

An original copy of the cd. 

Last play before it finds itself a new home.

Scheherazade & Other Stories  

Hybrid SACD - DSD         

Muzio Clementi's delicious music, a prelude to a sundown.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Hypnotic Eye. On CD, released today in the US. A decent effort with a tight sound, though I felt there wasn't really anything new or progressive we haven't heard before from Petty. SQ is decent enough, but it has that plodding, thick bass, rather than the lighter bouncy bass I prefer. Kick drum is somewhat lost. Compression I guess?

On vinyl. Classic indie rock from the 90s. Really effing god.

+1. First heard Leviev on Art Pepper's Live at Ronnie Scott's. He played beautifully, so I started looking for his other albums. First I've heard of this pairing with Haden, and would really like to find a copy. Thanks for posting this Haim!

ATB.

Hook

The Beatles. Please Please Me. From the MFSL Collection. Because my RP6 is up and running again

OK - what's the story behind this one?  Import? Bootleg?  Can't find it!  Looks very intriguing!

Boston. Their 1976 debut LP on 180 g Legacy vinyl from 2008. The heavy vinyl is dead flat and quiet with a solid sound, bit I'm not convinced my well-worn original LP doesn't sound better for overall dynamics.

It is a sbd recording of the CSNY gig of that evening from tapes made by the legendary Bill Halverson who worked on a lot of their early albums. It is unavailable for sale.

This is Ryan Topanga's exact words re the release of this disc which for me shows the current attitude by mastering engineers as far too many cd's have this approach used on them. The latest Zepps spring to mind.

"The CD has peak limiting, as is every CD I've been involved with since I started working with Tom on Highway Companion. It's not the loudest CD out there, and most people (at least those that listen to it without analyzing the waveform) seem to like it. I've been railing against the loudness wars for years and we think the best way around it is to make CD's that are competitive in the marketplace level-wise and offer alternatives for those that are really into the best possible sound -like you all! 

As with The Live Anthology, Mojo and Damn The Torpedoes (deluxe edition) the Vinyl, FLAC, Blu-Ray and HD Tracks versions do not have any peak limiting (as will the Pono version which will be available when Pono comes out in the fall). They are the same resolution that we made the album in -and in the case of Hypnotic Eye it's 24bit 48K (due to the fact that the Avid Venue system we use for tracking at the Clubhouse has a max sample rate of 48K). The increased bit depth is what really makes a difference, that's why we wanted to offer more than just a 16 bit CD. The deluxe vinyl is 180 gram, has a bonus track and deeper grooves with about 2-3 db more level. It also has a very cool etching on side 4. It's for those that want the very best. The 2 sided vinyl is 140 gram and for those on more of a budget. It still was mastered from the full resolution digital files (no peak limiting)

the bottom line is than we're making music for the real world, in the best way we know how. Music for someone who listens on shuffle on an iPhone with low powered earbuds, just after playing The Black Keys, as well as those have the best 5.1 systems and $10K turntables."

Presence on vinyl

Thanks for sharing that, ewemon. It explains a lot. I was sitting there listening to Hypnotic Eye with two disparate thoughts: one; "I'm glad I paid only $9 for this on CD", and two; "Should I have waited until September and spent $27 for the vinyl, and maybe gotten better SQ and more enjoyment?". Given my initial thoughts on the music itself, the CD was probably my better choice. Not one I'll probably play a lot relative to Petty's earlier LPs that I listen to on vinyl, but a good choice to play in the car on a long road trip. Familiar, and better than much of the tripe being released these days.

Thank you Tony, "The Narrow Way" is my favourite track on this album, purely for the guitar work. 

    

ZAPPA/BEEFHEART/MOTHERS    -     BONGO FURY  -    on cd.

 Not so much like listening to your mother, more your slighty mad uncle. Insane, funny and a bit scary.

STEREOLAB  -  MISS MODULAR  -  4 track cd from the "Dots and Loops" album.

SONIC YOUTH -  WASHING MACHINE  -  on cd.

I love the structure of this album.

On original 1998 double vinyl. Absolutely awesome. Was this the best album of the 1990s?

Just felt like a bit of Zep, so both vinyl LPs from the recent III set:

I'll put my brother on the case - and maybe I'll have a copy on CD one day!  Thanks for the info!