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

Now Playing......

Mark Knopfler - One Take Radio Sessions

Just enjoyable songs, great guitar, great music, just a super album.....

Last fine album of the day...

More pre-amp testing! The less dense recordings always work well and this is no exception. I always thought Naim amps weren't meant to excel at three-dimensional sound stages. Well this album proves that to be fake news.

A+ 24/48.  Roger Waters - The Wall

Now Playing......

Joe Jackson - Look Sharp!

Picking up the beat with a little Joe Jackson...... In preparation for Saturday Night "Look Sharp!"

Now Playing......

Elvis Costello - North

First time listening to this album and was intrigued after reading the review from Tidal below. I needed to take Elvis's 'North' out for a spin.

North, Elvis Costello's 20th album of new material, follows the deliberately classicist When I Was Cruel by a mere year, but it feels more the sequel to 1998's Burt Bacharach collaboration, Painted From Memory, or even 1993's roundly ignored classical pop experiment, The Juliet Letters. Costello has abandoned clanging guitars and drums of Cruel -- abandoned rock & roll, really -- to return to a set of classically influenced songs, all "composed, arranged and conducted" by the man himself (on The Juliet Letters, he was merely the composer and voice). The songs on North are pitched halfway between traditional torch ballads and arty contemporary Broadway writers such as Stephen Sondheim. This isn't so much a shift in direction after When I Was Cruel as much as it is an extension of the Bacharach album (in this context, Cruel seems like the aberration), but it's also a reflection of Costello's new love for Canadian jazz singer Diana Krall. It's not just that North is somewhat of a song cycle, starting with the despair of a failed relationship and ending with the hope of a new love, but that it's somewhat written in the style of Krall's music: self-consciously sophisticated and slightly jazzy. Ultimately, North is not jazz-pop; it's classical pop, with Costello more interested in the structure, arrangement, and words of the song rather than mere catchiness. It's a very writerly album, in regards to both the music and lyrics. Consequently, it takes a bit of effort to get into the album, since it purposefully lacks hooks and songs as immediate or tuneful as those on Painted From Memory or "Jacksons, Monk and Rowe" from The Juliet Letters. This is not a flaw, per se -- it's simply what the album is, a collection of subtle songs performed with an elegant understatement. Unlike The Juliet Letters, North never feels like an exercise, nor does it feel like Costello has something to prove. It's a specific, personal album with serious ambitions that it fulfills. If the album ultimately winds up being something to listen to on occasion rather than a record to spin repeatedly, that doesn't make Costello's achievement with this song cycle any less admirable. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Jeroen20 posted:

Midnight Choir

Checking out this unknown band for me. They sound a bit like the Jayhawks.

 

Great Norwegian Band. Their best album is Amsterdam Calling used to be played a lot in my house. First track of it sounds a little AHA ish but get past that and it is a gem of an album.

Jeroen20 posted:

Lindsey Buckingham - Out of the cradle.

From allmusic.com

Lindsey Buckingham quit Fleetwood Mac after the release of their Tango in the Night album in 1987 and spent the subsequent five years working on his first post-Mac solo album, Out of the Cradle. Perhaps because he was now focused on his solo career, Buckingham reined in the experimental style of his first two albums, producing more conventional, accessible material, much of it similar to his later work with Fleetwood Mac. The inventiveness this time was heard largely in Buckingham's electro-acoustic guitar style, which combined the power of a rock guitarist with the delicacy and precision of a classical nylon-string player. Perhaps the biggest difference from his previous solo work, however, was that Buckingham actually wrote a group of songs that were about something, not just riffs full of aural tricks. Unfortunately, Buckingham had never fully established himself in the public mind as a separate entity apart from Fleetwood Mac, so taking eight years between solo albums made Out of the Cradlea tough sell. Which means that, although this is his most listenable solo album to date, not many people heard it.

IMHO his best solo album.

Gianluigi Mazzorana posted:

Wish they would release this on cd as I have been looking for one for years.

Now Playing......

Elvis Costello - When I Was Cruel

Spinning another album from Elvis......

dave marshall posted:

Everything!

Watching last night's "25 years of Jools Holland's Later", which I recorded.

You forget how many of today's better known acts first appeared on this programme, and, in many cases, how much affection they feel for the format, and return to play "live" again and again. 

Thanks for the memories Jools. 

Oh, and by the way, the Beeb are doing a 25th. anniversary concert this evening. 

I have recorded tonight's 25th too but sneaked a preview. Gregory Porter singing Nat King Cole - stunning!

seakayaker posted:

Now Playing......

Elvis Costello - North

First time listening to this album and was intrigued after reading the review from Tidal below. I needed to take Elvis's 'North' out for a spin.

North, Elvis Costello's 20th album of new material, follows the deliberately classicist When I Was Cruel by a mere year, but it feels more the sequel to 1998's Burt Bacharach collaboration, Painted From Memory, or even 1993's roundly ignored classical pop experiment, The Juliet Letters. Costello has abandoned clanging guitars and drums of Cruel -- abandoned rock & roll, really -- to return to a set of classically influenced songs, all "composed, arranged and conducted" by the man himself (on The Juliet Letters, he was merely the composer and voice). The songs on North are pitched halfway between traditional torch ballads and arty contemporary Broadway writers such as Stephen Sondheim. This isn't so much a shift in direction after When I Was Cruel as much as it is an extension of the Bacharach album (in this context, Cruel seems like the aberration), but it's also a reflection of Costello's new love for Canadian jazz singer Diana Krall. It's not just that North is somewhat of a song cycle, starting with the despair of a failed relationship and ending with the hope of a new love, but that it's somewhat written in the style of Krall's music: self-consciously sophisticated and slightly jazzy. Ultimately, North is not jazz-pop; it's classical pop, with Costello more interested in the structure, arrangement, and words of the song rather than mere catchiness. It's a very writerly album, in regards to both the music and lyrics. Consequently, it takes a bit of effort to get into the album, since it purposefully lacks hooks and songs as immediate or tuneful as those on Painted From Memory or "Jacksons, Monk and Rowe" from The Juliet Letters. This is not a flaw, per se -- it's simply what the album is, a collection of subtle songs performed with an elegant understatement. Unlike The Juliet Letters, North never feels like an exercise, nor does it feel like Costello has something to prove. It's a specific, personal album with serious ambitions that it fulfills. If the album ultimately winds up being something to listen to on occasion rather than a record to spin repeatedly, that doesn't make Costello's achievement with this song cycle any less admirable. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Elvis and Diana live near us (sometimes). I thought I'd listen to this after seeing your note. Just starting now.

Streaming Tidal (MQA).   Crosby, Still, Nash & Young - Deja Vu

Streaming Tidal.   Alicia Keys  -  Songs In A Minor

Now Playing......

Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms

Its getting latter on a Saturday evening, some Dire Straits sounds about right.....

Erich posted:

Streaming Tidal (MQA).   Crosby, Still, Nash & Young - Deja Vu

Great album one of my favorite

Some inspiration while packing

Waking up with Julia Fordham - a perfect start to a Sunday morning!

John Eliot Gardiner - Vivaldi and Handel