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

The Hugo was the game changer for me Tony. It's the most analogue digital source I've listened to. It's also allowing me to explore more music that isn't easy to obtain on vinyl, or is too pricey. You must come for a listen.

Linford Detweiler of Over the Rhine solo instrumental disc.

As per our brief chat the other day, I must find time to come and see you. So much to listen to,  so little time!

2Cellos, 2Cellos, not as good as the second album but still thrilling and a joy to listen to. I really enjoy these guys

Dug out the concert thats on the second disc and playing it now.

Christ you re digging out the old ones Tony. Haven't heard this album in gods know how long.

 A friend's good deed,  Ewe. Allowing  me anywhere near and  borrowing some of his records.   This one being one of them. 

On vinyl.

Paul McCartney. NEW. On vinyl from 2013. Basic, easy to like McCartney-esque melodies. Impressive sound quality with a nice, wide soundstage; the vinyl has nearly twice the dynamic range of the CD .

Sleater-Kinney  One Beat on vinyl.

Grateful Dead:  Dave's Picks Volume 11

Century II Convention Hall, Wichita, KS   11/17/72

CD 1 of 3 (soon to be onto disc 2)

Because, apparently, there is no such thing as having too many live shows. 

The Doors. Morrison Hotel. On original red label Electra vinyl from 1970. Likely an original pressing, near mint, and easily the best SQ of any of my Doors LPs. I was lucky to unassumingly stumble upon this gem several years ago when I first began picking through used vinyl. Loaded with musicality and prat, and seems to get better each time I hear it. Very good use of stereo from a mixing standpoint.

I still love Reiner's 1949 Brandenburg Concerto recording particularly the No. 5 played with an exceptional vigor and rhythmic precision. I am not a big fan of harpsichord but Sylvia Marlowe in this set is rocking! 

Rather enjoy her solo part without having a notion of homicidal thought.

Now onto the Doors self-titled debut from 1966. On Elektra butterfly label from the early 70s. SQ can't compare to Morrison Hotel, but decent dynamics nonetheless. I always found the blackness and detailed mixing of 'The End' pretty impressive, especially for its time.

joerand originally posted:

"The Doors. Morrison Hotel. On original red label Electra vinyl from 1970. Likely an original pressing, near mint, and easily the best SQ of any of my Doors LPs. I was lucky to unassumingly stumble upon this gem several years ago when I first began picking through used vinyl. Loaded with musicality and prat, and seems to get better each time I hear it. Very good use of stereo from a mixing standpoint"

This was the first Doors album that I bought as a student (a couple of years or so after it was released) and so perhaps because of this it has remained one of my favourites, beaten only by "LA Woman".

I think I have 4 or 5 of their LPs but fairly recently bought the Qobuz He-res download set of their albums. Pretty decent sound quality (an improvement on the original CDs) although I wouldn't have paid full price for them. Qobuz were offering a pretty amazing deal of around 23 Euros for the lot. Now that was well worth the money and I would highly recommend it if the offer is still on. 

Something a little different for me this morning.

Angela Hewitt - "Bach:The art of Fugue"

A high-res download from Hyperion.

@Hmack,

The Doors box set released in 1999 play as HDCDs, though that seems to be rather little known. They sound quite nice for CD replay and there are subtle differences to be heard in those mixes. They were mastered by Bruce Botnick and Bernie Grundman at 24/96 resolution. I wonder if they are the same as Qobuz?

joerand,

I don't know if the origin of this bundle is the same or not, but the offer is still available at Qobuz - 9 albums (24 bit - 96.00 KHz) for £23.

I certainly wasn't aware of the earlier 'HDCD' box set. I don't know about you, but I had (still have) an HDCD capable CD player, and invariably found that the sound quality of HDCD encoded discs was very good by comparison with standard CD. Not a view held by everyone, but I was alwys very disappointed that the format was not more widely adopted.

I love the sound of HDCDs on my 5x. I have more than 20 Neil Young HDCDs and they sound superb. NY's Americana released in 2012 was HDCD, so the format is not dead, just very rarely used anymore. I can only speculate that there are few folks around with HDCD compatible players and so little market to appreciate them. It's a shame it didn't become the norm.

To continue with my classical music theme this morning, a rather beautiful album by Rachel Podger:

I'll move back to my 'less sophisticated' musical tastes shortly.