Best software shop of 2005

Posted by: Huwge on 27 December 2005

At the end of the day, whatever we spend on hardware is pointless if there has been nothing to play on it. So, what have been your best software purchases of 2005?

For me:

Cowboy Junkies - Early 21st Century Blues
The National - Alligator
Robert Plant - Mighty Rearranger
June Tabor - Always & At the wood's heart

Omar Sosa - Mulatos & Ballads
Bollani / Bodilsen / Lund - Gleda
Bill Frisell - East / West
Lizz Wright - Salt & Dreaming wide awake
Trovesi & Coscia - Round about Weill
Monk & Coltrane - Carnegie Hall, 1957
John Coltrane - Live at the Half Note
Tony Kofi Quartet - All is know
Solveig Slettahjell & the slow motion quintet - Silver & Pixie dust

Bebo & Cigala - Lagrimas Negras
Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté - In the heart of the moon
Salif Keita - M'bemba
Kronos quartet & Asha Bhosle - You've stolen my heart

Il Giardino Armonico - La Casa del Diavolo
Viktoria Mullova - Vivaldi violin concertos
Lise de la Salle - plays Bach & Liszt
Vivaldi - Orlando Furioso & Opera arias
Tackás Quartet - late Beethoven quartets
Haydn - Paris Symphonies (Harnoncourt)

Over to you

Posted on: 27 December 2005 by Gianluigi Mazzorana

If you ask about shops............
http://www.dotshop.se
They might not have everything but prices are very low and service is incredible fast.

Posted on: 27 December 2005 by Huwge

Trying to mimic "shop" post on the equipment forum seems to have been too confusing I guess. Not being able to edit the title, I can't change it to the less cryptic "Your best music purchases of 2005"

Posted on: 27 December 2005 by Gianluigi Mazzorana

quote:
I can't change it to the less cryptic "Your best music purchases of 2005"

I do apologize.

Posted on: 27 December 2005 by sjust

I know this will be you (Huw), me and maybe Gianluigi, even if he stumbled into the wrong "room"

I can sympathize with more than the half of what you named, and would add:

Ahmad Jamal - After Fajr
Albert Mangelsdorff - Purity
Anouar Brahem - Barzakh
Barbara Jungfer - Berlin Spirits
Branford Marsalis - Eternal
Cycle - Canto De La Vida
Dave Holland Big Band - Overtime. Musik-CD
Dino Saluzzi/Jon Christensen - Senderos
Enrico Rava/Stefano Bollani/Paul Motian - Tati
Ferenc Snetberger - Nomad
Gianluigi Trovesi Nonet - Round about a Midsummers's Dream
Guy Klucevsek - Well-Tampered Accordion
Guy Klucevsek - Tales from the Cryptic
Joshua Redman Elastic Band - Momentum
Keith Jarrett - Radiance
Mangelsdorff/Andersen/Favre - Triplicity
Marcin Wasilewski/Slawomir Kurkiewicz/Michal Miski - Trio
Michel Godard; Christof Lauer; Wolfgang Puschnig - Cousins Germains
Oregon - Prime
Pat Metheny & Ornette Coleman - Song X: 20th Anniversary
Paul Motian Trio - At the Village Vanguard
Pino Minafra & Sud Ensemble - Terronia
Rabih Abou-Khalil/Joachim Kühn - Journey to the Centre of an Egg
Slettahjell/Slow Motion Quintett - Silver
Sf Jazz Collective - Sf Jazz Collective
Sonny Rollins - Without a Song (9-11 Concert)
the Sisters Euclid - Run, Neil, Run
Tok Tok Tok - Ruby Soul
Trio Rouge - Trio Rouge
Wynton Marsalis - Live at the House of Tribes
Xavier Joel/Ron Carter - In New York
Zulya(and the Children of the Unerground) - Waltz of Emptiness(and Other Songs on Russian Themes)

Sorry, classix omitted, here (not well documented, so I don't know what has been bought in 2005 and what earlier.

Haim, take this list, and send it to JPC. I'm quite sure you will like most of this stuff, based on what you report here as music that you like...

cheers
Stefan

Posted on: 27 December 2005 by Huwge

Stefan,

I forgot Mangelsdorff's "Triplicity," which whilst not recorded in 2005 is a great testament. I also echo most of your list - the Rava is really growing on me but is some way behind my featured list in terms of frequent replay.

i would have added the Joel / Carter disc as well, if it played on my CDX2 without having to be ripped and burned to a CD-R because of the spinning noise the original disc makes.

Huw

Posted on: 27 December 2005 by sjust

Yours too ? I have two discs in my original CD sleeve. The original and the copy. The original is unplayable on the CDS3.

Funny, this...
Stefan

PS: How about raising a thread about if not ALL CD's should be playable on a Naim player ?

(not: smiley used, here...) Since we are alone, "here", I can safely ask this question, right ?

Posted on: 27 December 2005 by HR

quote:
Originally posted by sjust:
Haim, take this list, and send it to JPC. I'm quite sure you will like most of this stuff, based on what you report here as music that you like...

cheers
Stefan

Stefan,

I have only 3 CDs on your list (Brahem, Klucevsek and Saluzzi). I am going to have to refinance my home to buy all this music...

Regards,

Haim

Posted on: 27 December 2005 by HR

I am going to make it short and really try to select. The best music I bought in 2005 is:

Classical:

*Aguirre / Los Otros & Hille Perl / DHM
*Iberia / Albeniz / Marc Andre Hamelin, piano / Hyperion

Jazz:

*The Ground / Tord Gustavsen Trio / ECM
*The Piano / Herbis Hancock / Columbia

World music:

*In The Heart Of The Moon / Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate / Nonesuch
*Espiritu / Guilherme Verguerio & Carlos dos Santos / Naim

Music that I bought in 2005 and could not get into it at all:

*Angles Of Repose / Maneri, Maneri & Phillips / ECM
*In Winds, In Light / Anders Jormin / ECM

Regards,

Haim

Posted on: 27 December 2005 by Bruce Woodhouse

Huw

Since I have enoyed the other two African albums on your list, tell me about Bebo and Cigala.

Incidentally I also bought Ali Farke Toure 'Red' and 'Green', re-released as a package this year. Essential.

Bruce

Posted on: 28 December 2005 by Gianluigi Mazzorana

quote:
I can't change it to the less cryptic

Hi again Huwge!
My list is too long and a lot of them is in my friend house as well a lot of his are here.
This way his wife will never be able to understand how much money we spend on cds!

Posted on: 28 December 2005 by sjust

quote:
Originally posted by Bruce Woodhouse:
Huw

Since I have enoyed the other two African albums on your list, tell me about Bebo and Cigala.

Incidentally I also bought Ali Farke Toure 'Red' and 'Green', re-released as a package this year. Essential.

Bruce

Before Huw wakes up, I can jump in, a bit, if I may: Bebo & Cigala is definitely one of the 5 best purchases of last year ! It features Cuban piano player Beo Valdes - a true fossile of Cuban music (Jazz, if you want) and Dieguito el Cigala, reknown for his new approaches in Spanish Flamenco singing. Imagine this combination ! And there's more: On selected tracks, you'll hear Paco D'Rivera (tenor), Federico Brites (violin), Caetano Veloso (!) (vovals), and many others.

This CD is a whole universe for itself. If you are into clear, direct music, giving you tons of standing hair on neck, arms, head, and whereever else you (still) have hair, buy this record !

Oh, and: Agreed on your comments on Green & Red, but Bebo & Cigala has nothing to do with African music...

for the sake of MUSIC !
Stefan

Posted on: 28 December 2005 by hungryhalibut

Stefan

The Bebo and Cigala looks interesting. If I order it today I can escape my self imposed ban on CD purchases in January.

A few of my very favourite CDs of the year is Marc Johnson's Shades of Jade on ECM, Tord Gustavesen's The Ground, and the Monk/Coltrane Carnegie Hall record.

On the African front, as well as the Toure/Diabate, I have really enjoyed Ballake Sissoko's Tomora. He is Toumani Diabate's cousin I believe.

Nigel

Posted on: 28 December 2005 by Bruce Woodhouse

Thanks folks, I might check it out, although I'm not a great cuba/latin fan. Curiously I do like Ry Cooder's 'Chavez Ravine' though.

Just another African tip; along the lines of 'In The Heart of The Moon' is 'New Ancient Strings', Ballake Sissoko and Toumani Diabate performing some marvellous acoustic pieces in very similar style. Bit of an old recording now, and if I recall correctly it was made in the small hours of the morning in the Mali parliament chamber-the only suitable space with a decent acoustic apparently.

Bruce

Posted on: 28 December 2005 by Huwge

Bruce,

sorry if the clustering was misleading. All you need to know about Bebo & Cigala is in Stefan's reply. It is an interesting mixture of old and new Hispanic influences, Flamenco and Cuba. In many respects there is a line that can be drawn from Spanish Flamenco and African string music, thanks to the Moors. I don't think you will be disappointed.

I have the Ali Farka Toure albums you mention on vinyl. If you don't already have them, then both The River and Niafunke are worth checking out, as is the disc with Ry Cooder.

I am away from home currently and so can not list them all but I have some older discs with Toumani Diabate as well, a good one is Songhai (which also blends Flamenco) and Kaira (which is now a very worn out piece of vinyl).

If you like African music then you must listen to Salif Keita's latest disc and the new Cheikh Lo - "Lamp Fall."

Happy listening
Huw

Posted on: 29 December 2005 by miles_b

I made a number of good software purchases in 2005. I was particularly impressed by how many electronic bands came out with 2nd albums that were at least as good as, if not better than the group's first release:

Fischerspooner - Odyssey
Imogen Heap - Speak For Yourself
Röyksopp - The Understanding
Télépopmusik - Angel Milk

Also, totally worth the purchase were:
Everything But The Girl - Adapt or Die
Savath & Savalas - Apropa't
Ani Difranco & Utah Phillips - Fellow Workers
Pink Martini - Hang On Little Tomato
Orchestra Baobab - Specialist in All Styles
Morelenbaum²/Sakamoto - A Day in New York
Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble - Silk Road Journeys
Inti-Illimani - Antologia II 1979-1988

I bought that Bebo & Cigala album last year, and it is quite good. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes Cuban music.