What are you listening to and WHY might anyone be interested? (Vol. XIII)
Posted by: Richard Dane on 01 January 2017
2017 has arrived today, so time to start this thread afresh.
Last year's thread can be found here;
Now Playing......
Jon Balke & Magnetic North Orchestra - Kyanos
Jon Balke (piano, keyboards), Per Jorgensen (trumpet, vocals), Arve Henriksen (trumpet), Morten Halle (saxophone, flute), Svante Henryson (violoncello) Anders Jormin (double bass), and Audun Kleive (drums, percussion)
I am giving this album another spin, received in the mail and played it a few days ago and enjoyed it, I am enjoying the few albums that I have heard of Jon's and will be looking for more in the future.
Solti/Vienna Phil: Strauss Ein Heldenleben - '77 rec.
I'm no fan of Solti ( everything sounds like Wagner ) but I am really enjoying this.
Great dynamics with a dash of attitude and wit ( for Solit ). Expressive solo violin (Rainer Küchl , concert master for Vienna Phil ) surrounded by a gorgeous enveloping orchestra. Solti brings out many vivid colours out of the scores along the way. Upbeat battle scene is full of sharp attacks and percussive impact. Excellent instrument separation keeps the score well organised as well as giving textures creating a vivid sense of war like confusion and confrontation. Weepy violin carries through to a beautiful lofty finale. A nice build.
This is the last of great Decca analogue recording before their production value slid into a rapid decline.
TOBYJUG posted:One of the best 3am albums
:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-13134-1195861883.jpeg.jpg)
oh yeah.. what a blast from the past!
apye! posted:
First listen, so far so good!!
On vinyl...
I have both CD and LP, enjoy the music well enough. As for the vinyl found the bass compression overwhelming, loudness mastered, and frankly a disappointment to the usual SQ I associate with Jackson Browne. That, and why not put the 10 tracks on a single LP rather than a heavyweight double?
Tony2011 posted:naim_nymph posted:Tony2011 posted:
1973 - vinyl - UK first pressing...
Tony,
last week while i enjoyed a good blast from the past listening to my recent purchase of a pre-owned Yes Tales of Topographic Oceans on double vinyl, i read up about the recording of the ablum from Wiki, and found these paragraphs rather amusing:
When the band [Yes] settled into Morgan Studios in Willesden, Lane and Anderson proceeded to decorate the studio like a farmyard. Squire believed Lane did so as a joke on Anderson as he wished to record in the country. Anderson brought in flowers, pots of greenery, and cut out cows and sheep to make the studio resemble a garden as a typical studio did not "push the envelope about what you're trying to create musically". Wakeman recalled the addition of white picket fences and his keyboards and amplifiers placed on stacks of hay. At the time of recording, heavy metal group Black Sabbath were recording Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973) in the adjacent studio. Singer Ozzy Osbourne recalled the Yes studio also had a model cow with electronic udders fitted and a small barn to give the room an "earthy" feel. "About halfway through the album", said Offord, "The cows were covered in graffiti and all the plants had died. That just kind of sums up that whole album". At one point during the recording stage, Anderson wished for a "bathroom sound" effect on his vocals and asked the band's lighting engineer, Michael Tait, to build him a plywood box with tiles stuck onto it. After Tait explained to Anderson that the idea would not work, Tait "built it anyway". Sound engineer Nigel Luby recalled that tiles would fall off the box during recording takes.
Wakeman felt increasingly disenchanted by the album during the recording stage, and spent much of his time drinking and playing darts in the studio bar. He also spent time with Black Sabbath, playing the Minimoog synthesiser on their track "Sabbra Cadabra". Wakeman would not accept money for his contribution, so the band paid him in beer.
In one incident during the last few days of mixing, Anderson left the studio one morning with Offord carrying the tapes. Offord placed them on-top of his car in order to find his car keys, and proceeded to drive away, forgetting about the tapes. They stopped the car to find the tapes had slid off and fell on the road, causing Anderson to rush back and stop an oncoming bus to save them.
Great stuff, Debs. I’ve read stories about Wakeman’s time with Yes.
I still wonder how he survived the band being a steak and booze lover and in the middle of those teetotal vegetarians.
He was very lucky (and so are we, the listeners) - he'd had three heart attacks by the time he was 25.
Having read Debbie's story of the recording of this album, what better way to start a Saturday morning.
I'm thankful for the reminder. This is such a fine album.
A long overdue play of 'Santana' their 1969 brilliant debut album.
Vinyl
On CD:-
Return To Forever - Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy
On for my Spanish girlfriend ...
Premium Bondage, on lovely 1970s Japanese double vinyl LP:
Something to brighten my Saturday, whilst Storm Brian does his best to dampen my mood.
Daft Punk on vinyl.
Great stuff from Kenny Wheeler !
One of Factory's finest: The Durutti Column, The Return of The Durutti Column, original 1979 UK press in the sandpaper sleeve (kept separate from all my other records, natch 
). Why? Because it's one of the most glorious records ever made...
Early morning winds
(...) This is a CD for Baroque music buffs, for people interested in musical oddities, for musicians interested in novel ways of interpreting well-known pieces. Quite simply, a charming release, capable of pleasing just about anyone, including this grumpy reviewer".
Laura Rónai, Fanfare, October 4, 2008 (US)
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - We free kings
- Roland Kirk: tenor saxophone, manzello, flute, stritch saxophone
- Richard Wyands: piano (tracks 3-5 & 9)
- Art Davis: double bass (tracks 3-5 & 9)
- Charlie Persip: drums
- Hank Jones: piano (tracks 1-2 & 6-8)
- Wendell Marshall: bass (tracks 1-2 & 6-8)
A Certain Ratio, Sextet. First UK pressing from January 1982 (Factory Records FACT 55)
Because it's the Weeknd, on red vinyl.
Lizard!!! The Steve Wilson/Robert Fripp remix.
Stanley Turrentine - Look Out. Inspired by a similar thread on another forum.
The David Live 2005 mix on triple vinyl, from The Dame's Who Can I Be Now? mega-box. I don't think I'd got round to listening to it yet.
