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

Sigur Rós - Von was the debut album of the Icelandic post-rock band 

Tony2011 posted:

1968 Vinyl - US first pressing...

Nice to see you back Tony..

ATB Graham

Lindsey Buckingham  -  "Under The Skin"  (2006)

GraemeH posted:

Jeroen20 posted:

I only have one recording of the Modern Jazz Quartet, so I am not very familiar with their music.

However, this recording I enjoy very much.

Get 'Dedicated to Connie' - An even (much) better, more fluent and bristling live set. TLC a bit formulaic by comparison imho.

G

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll check it out.

Regards, Jeroen.

WAv CD rip. I played this in the car earlier, an auto rip from the river music app, decided it deserved a better sound quality. As is usual with Christy, a combination of self-penned songs and sensitive covers.  I love the cover of Shine On You Crazy DIamond, without Gilmour's beautiful guitar work taking centre stage, the lyrics shine through. The album finishes with a live version of Rory is Gone, his tribute to Rory Gallagher. A lot of fans felt this was the weak point, I love it, it's simple and unsophisticated yes ("Rory's gone to play the blues in heaven."), but Christy sings it with love of the man and the music, and Deccy Sinnott's bluesy guitar licks make it a great live sing-along.

And after the Rory tribute song, there is only one place to go for the next album.

ewemon posted:

I thought I recognised the voice - from Phantom Limb. And what a voice.

I wonder if Phantom Limb are still going or if she has now gone solo?

I think I like this offering more than Phantom Limb but will need a couple more listens.

Vinyl. One of the finest of all guitarists, fantastic vocalist, equally adept at his own excellent songs and traditional blues covers, this is a brilliant live album showcasing his talents, I think he'd only recorded 2 of these numbers before, so when it came out it was effectively a live "studio" album. Life affirming music, I cherish the two times I saw him, for me one of the great live albums. 

Great Polish rock with lovely guitars and native songs.

Tony2011 posted:

1969 -  Vinyl - U.K. First pressing.,.

subsequent pressings not that good. i have the original (bought uh, around 1974) and a newer 180g copy -- which doesnt sound as good. ah well... so i play the original mostly --its seen better days but the LP12/Aro/TKR still does it plenty of justice!

enjoy

ken

Another of those great Blue Note recordings. This one was recorded in 1960.

Filipe posted:

ken c posted:

this is one of 2 vinyl classical records i bought (i think in HMV Oxford St) when i was at Uni -- i.e. a looooong time ago.  i was a frequent browser in that shop -- spent more than i should have there, given limited grant funds etc..

the other vinyl was Beethoven Violin Concerto -- i will find it and post later. As i recall, it took some time to get used to it -- and one my friends was surprised i was even venturing into this  'Classical' stuff.  "Stick to Jethro Tull, Ken"...

But these 2 records i now consider quite special in my collection -- and i have since bought the CD version of Beethoven Violin Concerto...

enjoy...

ken

One of the concertos was modified by Flanders and Swann as the "Ill Wind" (French Horn Song) to great comic effect. https://g.co/kgs/ULIfZZ

I also have this LP and the earlier Dennis Brain version of the 1950s in mono.

Phil

how is the Dennis Brain mono version Phil?

enjoy

ken

MJQ - Pyramid. CD rip. Thanks to the postings above.

Matthew Ryan  -  "East Autumn Grin"  (2000)

Recorded in 1959.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sRcsW37MvE

Arcadi Volodos in a carefully considered, no-stone-left-untouched programme of late Brahms. I read a somewhat lackluster review of this in the Guardian, from a reviewer who obviously wanted to hear Kempff play these works - or was redacted to appear so. Whichever - this is a great record.

Cheers

EJ

Vinyl. Continuing the Rbiory binge, he's one of the very few musicians to have 2 great live albums. On this, he showcases his amazing ability to blast out guitar lines (I'm pretty sure nobody said shred back in the '70s) more than on the earlier Live in Europe, but it's never an ego-trip "look at me"' just fantastic guitar in the service of the music.

very cheap on Amazon -- worth it if only just for the wonderfully syncopated "Three to get ready" but there is more!

enjoy

ken

I'm listening to the new Diana Krall album. It really is very good. 

ewemon posted:

Half a dozen trax off the new Roger Waters album.

What do you think? I've only heard three, but I like what I've heard so far.

I have to listen to these SHM-CDs I got today again, I enjoyed them so much first time round. Both sound absolutely superb.

Joining the MJQ club of today, with a famous one....

Michael Stanley  -  "In A Very Short Time"  (2016)

Hungryhalibut posted:

I'm listening to the new Diana Krall album. It really is very good. 

I've played it a few times since it first arrived yesterday & its got my vote for her best album.  Its not anything close to upbeat, its slow & low & it does exactly what it says in the title, 'Turn Up The Quiet'.  Everything about it is right,  her voice & her own  distinctive piano,  the choice of instruments in the various backing combo's,  the individual song selections,  then the superb recording quality,  its all just so right.

Mozart Horn Concerti played by Dennis Brain on vinyl 

[@mention:1566878603872123] You have prompted me to listen to this recording for the first time. It been sitting there to be cleaned for a while. I cleaned it with the Loricraft PRC4 just a few days ago and then realised it was mono and put it aside for when I get a mono cartridge for the Thoren TD124 MK 2 that is being restored and replinthed by Loricraft.

Lurking in my memory was the fact that it was better, but hearing it it's actually hard to realise that this is the same music as the Tuckwell recording. The musicality he brings to the instrument is in another league. Perhaps being a member of a dynasty of Horn players makes a difference. He was a child prodigy. I found this insightful review by Christopher Howell.

Perhaps there is little to say here. Dennis Brain is one of those artists, like Lipatti, Ferrier and Kapell, whose tragically brief lives have raised them to myth status. Not all myths stand up to investigation but this one does. You won’t hear these concertos played with a more nobly projected tone, more innately musical phrasing or more sheer sense of what they are about. Listen to the dynamic shading around the development section of the opening movement of no. 3. In some hands these works can seem a bit of a muchness, but Brain finds a different character for each one; joyful in no. 1, Magic Flute-ish in no. 2, more intimate in no. 3 and grander in no. 4. It may be noticed that in this last work, while not sacrificing the mellow purity of tone displayed elsewhere, he adds just the tiniest trace of vibrato to give greater body to the sound. He is well assisted in all this by Karajan who shows his customary care for detail without the over-preening which sometimes damaged his later Mozart readings. Add to this a recording which still sounds extraordinarily well – at times I seemed to be hearing stereo definition, an illusion which a few of the very best mono discs were able to create – and you have a winner.

This is unquestionably one of the "Great Recordings of the Century". At the risk of muddying the waters though, I have to point out that post-war Britain was extraordinarily well-endowed with horn players and that the recordings by Civil/Klemperer and Tuckwell/Maag are also in that category. Nor do I wish to suggest that players from other countries, and some more recent performers, have not produced fine recordings too. There are also earlier recordings by Brain of some of the concertos and a notable one of no. 3 by his father Aubrey.

 I did not at any time feel that the mono recording lost anything playing it with my stereo cartridge.