What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. XI)
Posted by: Richard Dane on 31 December 2014
On the cusp of 2015, we start a new thread...
Anyway, links:
Volume X: https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...-be-interested-vol-x
Volume IX: https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...16#22826037054683416
Volume VIII: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...nt/12970396056050819
Volume VII: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...6878604287751/page/1
Volume VI: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878604097229
Volume V: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878605140495
Volume IV: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878605795042
Volume III: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878607309474
Volume II: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878606245043
Volume I: https://forums.naimaudio.com/di...ent/1566878607464290
On CD:-
Great stuff, Dave. Top album along with Headhunters.
Verrrryy laid back. Comfy slippers stuff.
...and talking of new albums, in case you didn't know, there's a new Zombi album out tomorrow:
https://soundcloud.com/relapserecords/sets/zombi
Verrrryy laid back. Comfy slippers stuff.
Ooh, didn't know about this... Now ordered.
Verrrryy laid back. Comfy slippers stuff.
Listened to this yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. A good mix of Americana bordering on the country-blues. Exceedingly enjoyable!
Yes it is very nice.
Now on this...
First of 2015's two Beach House albums...
^ Upping their game after the snazzy glow-in-the-dark cover for 2012's Bloom, that's a very tactile velvety triple gatefold. Sounds very Beach House (same dreamy song, on repeat) and possibly their finest since Devotion.
I'd love to explore some of his 1960s stuff - JuJu, Night Dreamer, etc. - but every time I've searched on eBay, prices have been ridiculous. I'm very keen to hear the MM Speak No Evil. I've become very sceptical of reissues - I'd say 4 out of 5 have been disappointing, mostly because of a certain polished-but-boring sound - but I've heard nothing but good about this latest MM series.
Thanks for the Jackie McLean recommendation. I went through a phase of exploring his stuff a few years ago, mostly in other groups (Grachan Moncur III, et al). He's one of many artists I first discovered in the obituary column 
Speak No Evil is on its way along with Freddie Hubbard's Hub-tones.
With Music Matters 33s reissue no need to spend $$$ on the original reissues.
I see what you mean by most reissue disappointing especially on classical titles.
MM's mastering and sound quality vary by the condition of tape as well as how Rudy recorded them and probably sound different from the original pressing but I sure like their mastering decisions.
Polished and boing they aren't. Dynamic and kicking yes.
I now know that I stay away from certain reissue labels.
I think that McLean did the best work at Blue Note pre new management
Kuma,
After getting back into buying records in the 00s – the 90s were a desert for me in that regard – I bought a bunch of reissues, one after another, taking sound quality entirely on trust. It took a while before it dawned on me that almost all were boring as hell to listen to, kind of like the original Compact Disc experience all over again. For me, Simply Vinyl is the worst offender. I have all three of Nick Drake’s studio albums on SV, resting against my record shelves, waiting until I can be motivated to list them – last time I checked, they were fetching decent prices on a popular auction site. I haven’t bought many classical reissues, but one of my favourite reissues of all happens to be Classic Records reissue of the Rimsky Korsakov Antar.
Nowadays I won’t buy any reissue unless it comes recommended by someone whose ears I trust, or unless the music simply can’t be had (affordably) any other way. In most cases, with vintage music, I find second pressings to be the sweet spot – a bit like a second hand car, where someone else has paid handsomely for the new car smell. Given how tapes have degraded over the decades, I think the odds will be increasing stacked against reissue labels, although MM’s recent efforts seem to contradict that. I’ve signed up to their email list, and will be watching out for any future Wayne Shorter releases.
Colm
(2014) CD
Providing some toe tappin' to get through a small bit of work before calling it a day.
I Musici: Vivaldi 6 Flute Concertos Op.10 1983 recording
A decent early Phillips digital recording much better sounding than their earlier record.
The ensemble sounding less flat but still too polite and overly civilised for my taste.
I can hear a nugget of interesting thing going on musically but they all seem sort of incomplete. Bach took a lot of Vivaldi's idea and worked it into more finished work it seems.
I very much like the first 3 Concerti particularly 'La Notte' and No.5 where he took arias from his own opera.
But after a while, some of the tunes start to sound a repeat of the ones I just heard.
I am still not certain if this is due to the performer or composer's penchant for reworking the same tunes over and over.
This morning listened to this...
