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

Crosby Stills Nash and Young

Deja Vu - Tidal HiFi

Edward

Fleetwood Mac- Tango in the Night

Mainstream, cheery, frothy, anodyne,  likeable. 

A lovely mellow HIp Hop album with a understated Jazz tinge with great guests on it......worth checking out

Hoor Barock - Telemann, Corelli & Bach

Allmusic.com:

The new Swedish historical-instrument group Höör Barock (the name comes from that of a village in southern Sweden but also connotes the idea "hear Baroque") is a project of recorder virtuoso Dan Laurin, already noted as one of the world's top players on his instrument. Here, joined by second recorder Emilie Roos, he is able to shape his ensemble of ten players into a unit capable of keeping up with and pushing his blistering speeds. The program opens with a work that contains recorder parts but isn't a recorder concerto at all, and it's quite interesting: the Overture-Suite of Telemann entitled "Wassermusik," or Water Music, had origins entirely different from Handel's work (it seems to have been a kind of attempt to map some Greek myths onto Hamburg's landscape), but the overall effect is surprisingly similar. Höör Barock's reading of this work is a bit stiff, but the fun starts with the CorelliConcerto for two recorders and orchestra, Op. 6, No. 4: sample the zippy duo passagework in its third and fourth movements. The Bach Concerto for harpsichord, two recorders, strings, and continuo, BWV 1057, is an arrangement of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in F major, BWV 1049, and Höör Barock's performance here is likewise a masterpiece of close high-speed ensemble work. The Corelli Christmas Concerto, Op. 6, No. 8, loses a bit of lyricism, but in the main this recording announces a distinctive new Baroque group, nicely recorded.

Now Playing........

Boz Scaggs - My Time

Streaming on TIDAL........  Kicking off the day with some Boz........

Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa - Seesaw

This CD fell through the letterbox today and has been much anticipated by yours truly.

For me me this is a case of where the end product is greater than the sum of the parts. Beth and Joe work so well together and their very different musical and vocal skills complement each other wonderfully. A creative synergy if you will. I probably still just prefer their Black Coffee album, but it is close and Seesaw is awfully good.

Recommended.

I have seen a lot of excellent blues recommendations on here recently and this is another..

Hoodoo Man Blues is the 1965 debut album of blues vocalist and harmonica player Junior Wells, performing with the Junior Wells' Chicago Blues Band, an early collaboration with guitarist Buddy Guy.

Vinyl

(1971)

King Crimson - Islands

Classic prog-rock from KC in their pomp. 

Not played this for a while it's better than I remember. Originally released September 2015.

Vinyl 

Now Playing.......

Alela Diane - Cusp

Streaming on TIDAL.......    I placed this in the TIDAL queue a few days ago and not taking it out for a spin. The first track 'Albatross' is quite lovely......

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827):  Donka Angatschewa (piano)

Piano Sonata Nr. 23 in f-minor op. 57
Piano Sonate Nr. 27 in e-minor op. 90
Eleven Bagatellen op. 119
Rondo alla ingharese quasi un Capriccio in G-major

Sound is a very integral part of the act of music making and so I do have my favourite pianos.  While I always wish for my own expectation of a benchmark piano, I do like to hear other pianos and as of late it seems more and more artists are flying the flag of different piano manufacturers.  Here we have Beethoven on a Bösendorfer.

Other than a Hamburg Steinway and a New York Steinway (probably combined form 95% of the classical piano world recordings) I can think of recordings I have representing Bösendorfer, C.Bechstein, Blüthner, Steingraeber & Söhne, Grotrian, Schimmel, Seiler, Fazioli, Stuart & Sons, Petrof, Yamaha, Kawai, Baldwin and maybe others (like Erard and other extinct brands) I can't think of now.  I believe Mason and Hamlin is well respected but I can't for the life of me think of a recording that I have or remember seeing being stated in the notes.

The reason I mention this is that every recording for me starts out with a qualifying impression of the sound produced and captured.  Great playing is negated by poor sound and vice versa.  I like this pianist and this recording and I've just added her other recordings to my Wish List of eventual purchases.

As one of the oldest (if not the oldest) piano manufacturers still around I am glad to hear many recordings of it being used.  It is funny that after Bösendorfer the latest trend is for many to use Fazioli.  These two are almost like book-ends of the opposite sort.  Bösendorfer being the oldest was founded in 1828 and Fazioli is probably one of the youngest and was founded in 1981.

For those who can connect the dots this means that Bösendorfer came into existence one year after Beethoven died and would have been familiar to all the greats that followed like Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt etc.  Quite extraordinary really.

I've been working hard for decades planning what to do after winning the lottery and it really never has changed.  Simply because I don't want my mansion to be too overly large I would only want the following grand pianos within the various music rooms:  Hamburg Steinway, New York Steinway, Bösendorfer, C.Bechstein, Blüthner, Steingraeber & Söhne.  Each would have a special characteristic about it that would make it unique for different styles or periods of music.  Chicken feed for some who have the money but would have no desire or inclination to actually want to spend the time learning or playing an instrument.

I don't know but am guessing that the state of the art here in the Naim Statement is cheap or at least in a similar price range of just one state of the art grand piano.  Only one of these is a work of art.

With up to 12,000 parts and made mostly of selected woods, a grand piano takes about a year to a year and a half to build.

Sloop John B posted:

thebigfredc posted:

SJB,

I too am surprised you missed Jimmy Ried.

The man in your avtar used to play him a lot, sometimes from original 7inch singles. that's how I became aware of Jimmy Ried. He sometimes gets criticised for all his songs being similar but you can level that at a lot of the blues singers from the30s/40s/50s.

Ray

Most of my blues from this period was provided by ACE reissues, particularly of the Excello catalogue, I have over 100 ACE CDs and only one Jimmy Reed track on them! But I can see much of the Excello sound in these Jimmy Reed tracks  

This album is on Tidal, any recommendations as to where to go back catalogue wise. This one is a bit pricey at £34.

.sjb

  Jimmy Reed - Five Classic Albums + Singles.

  This 4 CD set is really all the Jimmy Reed you'll ever need. 

  Seriously though, it's from the good folks at Real Gone Music, who have reissued tons of classic blues albums.

  Generally, they've all been re-mastered, and up to now, on the ones I've bought, the re-mastering actually does add to the SQ.

  Cheap as chips over on The River.

(2014)

Goat - Commune

Some early Goat from when they were good i.e. before their last album! 

  Cara Dillon - Wanderer.

  Following the advice of my trusted recommendeers, I've just returned home to find this had been delivered earlier today.

  Now ripped and playing, and first impressions are very good indeed ............. thanks chaps. 

Tabby cat posted:

A lovely mellow HIp Hop album with a understated Jazz tinge with great guests on it......worth checking out

 

I really this kind of mixture between Jazz and Hip Hop. Also worth checking out in this genre is US3! 

Regards, Jeroen.

The evening show from this excellent set. The King is in imperious form, the baxkking band are on fire. On CD.

dave marshall posted:

  Cara Dillon - Wanderer.

  Following the advice of my trusted recommendeers, I've just returned home to find this had been delivered earlier today.

  Now ripped and playing, and first impressions are very good indeed ............. thanks chaps. 

Glad you like it Dave.

Now Playing........

The Be Good Tanyas - Blue Horse

Streaming on TIDAL........  This is one fine album.......

(1997)

Hallucinogen - The Lone Deranger

Those of us old enough to have been well into Ozric Tentacles back in their early days have a natural affiliation with the work of Simon Posford in his various guises (Hallucinogen, Shpongle, Younger Brother etc.). Punchier and more dance n' trance orientated than the Ozrics his music nonetheless has that same vibe albeit with more of an Indian Goan vibe. 

  Imarhan - Temet.

  More Tuareg music, this time from Algeria.

  Strong Funk / Rock  tones make this quite a departure from the usual trance desert blues, and I'm liking this a lot.

Double CD. Amazing recording of an amazing show (I was there, on the 8th August 1980). In a way, I prefer it to the studio version:

(2016)

Heron Oblivion 

Their eponymous debut release was one of my favourite albums of 2016, they capture the Bay Area psychedelic vibe of the late 60's perfectly. 

I'm thoroughly enjoying this band right now. This is my second album of theirs and cannot stop playing it. It's a bit like Gong without lyrics. Some great music though.

dave marshall posted:

Sloop John B posted:

thebigfredc posted:

SJB,

I too am surprised you missed Jimmy Ried.

The man in your avtar used to play him a lot, sometimes from original 7inch singles. that's how I became aware of Jimmy Ried. He sometimes gets criticised for all his songs being similar but you can level that at a lot of the blues singers from the30s/40s/50s.

Ray

Most of my blues from this period was provided by ACE reissues, particularly of the Excello catalogue, I have over 100 ACE CDs and only one Jimmy Reed track on them! But I can see much of the Excello sound in these Jimmy Reed tracks  

This album is on Tidal, any recommendations as to where to go back catalogue wise. This one is a bit pricey at £34.

.sjb

  Jimmy Reed - Five Classic Albums + Singles.

  This 4 CD set is really all the Jimmy Reed you'll ever need. 

  Seriously though, it's from the good folks at Real Gone Music, who have reissued tons of classic blues albums.

  Generally, they've all been re-mastered, and up to now, on the ones I've bought, the re-mastering actually does add to the SQ.

  Cheap as chips over on The River.

Thanks Dave, but I generally try to avoid EU grey CD versions. Jimmy himself long gone but there could be some children or grandchildren who should be benefiting. 

I’ll explore further on Tidal as see where that takes me  

.sjb