What are you listening to? (VOL VI)

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Originally posted by Huwge:

You should try this one Haim, it is the saxophonist and the harpist who is currently standing in for the injured guitar player from QN.

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Originally posted by Lontano:

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Originally posted by droodzilla:

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as close as you would want to go to smooth without being smooth. done with style, a very good album, all IMHO.

So far, so good. Slightly nervous that someone sings on track 9.

I know what you mean - I am never a fan of female vocals on albums like this but I think you'll get through it unscathed.

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Originally posted by Huwge:
Am enjoying this, even if the repertoire is light

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Originally posted by MilesSmiles:


... once more 'cause it's such a fine recording. The Clash will have to wait for the afternoon.

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Am enjoying this, even if the repertoire is light

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Originally posted by Florestan:

I like Emanuel Ax and am looking forward to hearing this one.

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Originally posted by Haim Ronen:


I was sadden to read that Bernard Coutaz, the founder of Harmonia Mundi in 1958 has passed away.

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Originally posted by Nathaniel:

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Originally posted by MilesSmiles:


... once more 'cause it's such a fine recording. The Clash will have to wait for the afternoon.

What's on it? The cover pic of Karajan is the same shot used on the DG recording of Mahler's ninth symphony by Him/BPO that I have and love, so if a snippet of that same recording is on this disc, and the rest is only half as fine, I can understand why you'd give it repeated plays.

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In 1986, at age 32, Baker was traveling in Peru when, as he says, “I got in the
middle of somebody else’s war.” A terrorist bomb (the Sendero Luminoso or
“Shining Path” Maoist group) blew up the train he and some friends were riding
on. Several passengers died, including a German boy and his parents, who were
sitting next to Baker. Though he nearly bled to death, Sam survived but suffered
a constellation of injuries and aftereffects—shrapnel in his leg, renal failure, brain
damage, even gangrene.

“Right now, the loudest thing I hear is the ringing in my head,” he says of the
Tinnitus, which will never go away. The other obvious reminder of the blast is
his left hand, the fingers of which are permanently scrunched and twisted.
Fortunately, he has enough dexterity to grip a pick—after re-learning to play
guitar left-handed (fretting with the less-injured right hand)—so that he can sing
and play some of the most vivid, compelling, truly original songs of any artist
working today.

The brain damage he initially suffered affected mainly the part of the brain where
words are stored. Which is ironic, since it’s the stories and images he paints
with words that brought him acclaim—first with his 2004 debut, Mercy, and
now with its 2007 follow-up, Pretty World (both self released). Of forging a
career out of writing and singing his own songs, Baker beams, “To start this at
this age is a real interesting thing. I’m 53—a great age. It’s a fabulous age. Just
to be, as they say, ‘walking the face of the earth’ is a miracle—no matter what
age you are. I’ll take it every day.”

He describes his recovery as “a climb up a steep embankment”—including
numerous surgeries, learning how to walk and talk, and getting parts of his
memory back. “I could remember things in the past; I just couldn’t remember
words. I couldn’t remember the word for ‘chair’; I would have to say, ‘I need
that thing for sitting.’ I couldn’t focus [my attention]. For twenty-something
days, I couldn’t move, couldn’t get out of bed. My hands were blown up, so I
couldn’t do anything with my hands. I couldn’t use my legs. I couldn’t read,
couldn’t hear, and couldn’t think of words.”

He pauses and adds, “It was an interesting time. Very introspective. The only
thing that came in loud enough to really get through that haze or fog or internal
trauma I was dealing with was the raw suffering of others.”

As for words, still, “I have to find them; they don’t just come. I have to go out
and pick them. I’m more like a worker in an . . . orchard. I had to go find that
word ‘orchard.’ Words certainly don’t fly out of the sky and land on my table.”

Just as that searching influences the way he writes, it distinguishes Baker’s vocal
delivery. “I think I have to collect the words, a lot of times. I have to go get
them, and then hold them, and then put them out, and then go get some more. I
don’t think there’s a steady stream coming in; I have to gather them up.

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Originally posted by Voltaire:
Anyone interested in stripped back acoustic, raw, country / blues might give it a try.

Gordon