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

Harpsichord notes to face the white landscape outside.

Gustav Leonhardt proves that he still can perform with erudition and freshness with these pieces by Frescobaldi and Louis Couperin. The sophistication of the music is all there, and so is the sense of improvisation. In the Frescobaldi, Leonhardt shapes phrases and sections of music to sound as if they were spontaneous dialogues and conversations between refined intellectuals. Even so, and at a moderate pacing, they are actively involved and not dryly academic. The refinement is also a strong feature of Couperin's highly stylized dances. Also at a moderate pacing that rarely varies, even between movements of the suites, his music comes across as being used for dances at the highest levels of society. It is as if only the finest people, dressed in the finest silks and satins, would dance to Couperin's music, and yet Leonhardt still infuses it with some warmth so that it is not at all staid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26EzKYruFDk

EMF - Schubert Dip on vinyl

Having a nostalgic afternoon.

David Leisner - Facts of live

Dire Straits - Love Over Gold

Original vinyl.

Thanks for the pointer, [@mention:1566878603872495]. I like her playing much more than the selected pieces, but a very enjoyable listening, nevertheless.

Immediately followed by (a real grower on me)

Putting up the tree so...

Now That's What I Call Christmas - Various Artists

dav301 posted:

On CD:-

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

A classic

james n posted:

Putting up the tree so...

Now That's What I Call Christmas - Various Artists

Thank God I don't have a tree.

Richard Hawley - Lady's Bridge

Years ago I used to drink at Lady's Bridge in Sheffield with my mates Stu and Phil, so a fond memory of them this afternoon. One particularly session the landlord gestured at Stu's unfinished pint in an attempt to get us out of the door at closing time. Stu: 'Listen man, I'm from Yorkshire, I've paid for that and I'm 'avin it.' More than twenty years later, I felt the same about bypassing the power amp in my NAIT XS and adding a NAP200.

When a man is running from his boss
Who holds a gun that fires cost
And people die from being old
Or left alone because they're cold
And bombs are dropped on fighting cats
And children's dreams are run with rats
If you complain you disappear
Just like the lesbians and queers

I had this verse going round and round all yesterday afternoon. Now I have the chance to play it. Maybe not the best recorded album, but arguably the best rock album ever!

Now Playing............

Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Steve Swallow - Trios

Carla Bley (piano), Andy Sheppard (saxophone), and Steve Swallow (bass)

Streaming from NAS.......  Simply wonderful on this cold, damp, and gray Saturday morning!

Note on ECM Records: Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard and Steve Swallow revisit classic Bley compositions in an exceptional album recorded in Lugano last year by Manfred Eicher. Included here are spirited new versions of “Utviklingssang” and “Vashkar”, and the suites “Les Trois Lagons”, “Wildlife” and “The Girl Who Cried Champagne”. Carla’s robust tunes are vividly conveyed, all members solo compellingly, and the trio has never sounded better. “Trios” is one of the outstanding jazz albums of the season and marks the first time that a new Carla Bley album has appeared on ECM itself (rather than the ECM-distributed WATT label, which has been her primary platform for 40 years).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th-ZS-qC6Kk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzB6gNecEjc

Christopher_M posted:

Richard Hawley - Lady's Bridge

Years ago I used to drink at Lady's Bridge in Sheffield with my mates Stu and Phil, so a fond memory of them this afternoon. One particularly session the landlord gestured at Stu's unfinished pint in an attempt to get us out of the door at closing time. Stu: 'Listen man, I'm from Yorkshire, I've paid for that and I'm 'avin it.' More than twenty years later, I felt the same about bypassing the power amp in my NAIT XS and adding a NAP200.

Chris, is this a serious contemplation?

After Quadrophenia, some more from the guitar and pen of Mr Townshend - 'By Numbers'.  My vinyl copy is rather tired, so playing today the CD through NDS. Not far off the excellence of 'Who's Next' IMHO.

seakayaker posted:

Christopher_M posted:

Richard Hawley - Lady's Bridge

Years ago I used to drink at Lady's Bridge in Sheffield with my mates Stu and Phil, so a fond memory of them this afternoon. One particularly session the landlord gestured at Stu's unfinished pint in an attempt to get us out of the door at closing time. Stu: 'Listen man, I'm from Yorkshire, I've paid for that and I'm 'avin it.' More than twenty years later, I felt the same about bypassing the power amp in my NAIT XS and adding a NAP200.

Chris, is this a serious contemplation?

No. I've been a little way up the ladder, I'm happier where I am now and enjoying my music more.

2 x CD Harvest/EMI 1994 reissue : )

A rose tinted glasses snow goggles nostalgia trip for me; The 11th album of Pink Floyd released 30th November 1979; and a welcome release that we listened to extensively via the tape cassette player of my friends Ford Capri, during the cold snow swept shit-slush winter of  79/80 . The experience has somewhat enthused into my mind that this album is best enjoyed during snowfall. Purchased myself a double vinyl copy in January 1980 which IIRC cost around half a days wage in them dark cold bleak old hard working days we got paid a pittance for...

Debs

Back to something more mellow. An album i probably didn't appreciate fully when it was first released but one that has grown to become a favourite in my collection over the years. 

George Michael - Older

A nice collection of seasonal music from the December issue of BBC Music magazine. A nice change from the usual carols.

Now Playing.....

Jan Garbarek, Egberto Gismonti, Charlie Haden - Magico Carta de Amor

Jan Garbarek (saxophone), Egberto Gismonti (Guitarist), and Charlie Haden (bass)

Streaming from NAS .......  CD 2

Listened to the first CD last evening and continuing on with the second half of the album this morning, just wonderful!

Note From ECM Records: A fascinating set from three strong and contrasting musical personalities: Norwegian saxophonist, Brazilian guitarist-pianist, and US bassist making purposeful and creative music together on this previously unreleased live recording. “Carta de Amor” documents music captured at Munich’s Amerika Haus in April, 1981. Two years on from the much-loved albums “Magico” and “Folk Songs”, the trio’s improvisational empathy and sensibilities were further honed by experiences as a touring group. Repertoire includes five pieces from Gismonti’s pen, with the title track heard in two variations, opening and closing this enthralling double album. Also heard here are Garbarek’s folk song arrangements and an extended, freewheeling version of his composition “Spor”. Charlie Haden brings in “La Pasionaria”, from the repertoire of the Liberation Music Orchestra and “All That Is Beautiful”, not previously documented on disc. Recorded by Manfred Eicher and Martin Wieland in 1981, mixed from original analog tapes by Eicher and Jan Erik Kongshaug.

(2017)

A night early but it's time to get on with some Finking.

Free 16/44 download that came with the vinyl (cat sleeping on me, so digital is easier to use), Dusty in great voice, very appealing album.

Eoink posted:

Free 16/44 download that came with the vinyl (cat sleeping on me, so digital is easier to use), Dusty in great voice, very appealing album.

A lovely Dusty album for sure. 

Fred Hersch: Songs Without Words:

"The Nonesuch is a three-CD set, with separate volumes focusing on original works, classic jazz, and, finally, songs by Cole Porter. Hersch's suite of six "Songs Without Words" can't help but highlight his background in classical music, but his lyrical pieces still have the "sound of surprise" that differentiates jazz from all other forms of music. "(AM)

Highly recommended.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOIDC72NwQ0