The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread
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I was over-the-top excited about that Santana IV album, and I have never been so disappointed in an album compared to what I was expecting. The opening track (Yambu) is boring and repetitive, and the whole LP is pretty much devoid of good melodic hooks. Gregg Rolie's vocals don't even sound like the same guy; I didn't like the vocal tracks much at all. It was nice to hear the Hammond organ sound in the band again -- I forgot how much I missed that -- but beyond that, there's not much to like. Given the title, I was expecting it to sound a bit like Santana III, with that great mysterious vibe and all. But no, it's basically a jam album with one or maybe two songs on it that I ever care to hear again. Very, very disappointed.
I thought maybe after 40-some years, Santana could have learned a new guitar solo... 
I found a few good tracks but I guess I can say that about most Santana albums, as I'm not that big of a fan anyway. I think what kind of kills many new albums in the past couple of decades is that they have way too many songs on them. Santana IV as an 8- or 10-song record would work. 17? That is asking too much of listeners, especially if so many sound the same. It tends to drone on endlessly that way. Take away half of those songs on Santana IV and keep the best eight or nine, and I bet we'd have a different impression of it. And I'd say the same about many albums, actually.
Then again...
I found a few good tracks but I guess I can say that about most Santana albums, as I'm not that big of a fan anyway. I think what kind of kills many new albums in the past couple of decades is that they have way too many songs on them. Santana IV as an 8- or 10-song record would work. 17? That is asking too much of listeners, especially if so many sound the same. It tends to drone on endlessly that way. Take away half of those songs on Santana IV and keep the best eight or nine, and I bet we'd have a different impression of it. And I'd say the same about many albums, actually.
Then again...
DeeInKY
Well-Known Member
Last spin of the night: Randy Van Horne and His Swinging Choir: Clef Dwellers. If I mention the Flintstones theme, or Esquivel's Other Worlds, Other Sounds, then you know who this is. 
Just did a needle drop of it; I need a better copy, though. It took me some time to find this one (which unfortunately was in worse condition than advertised).
Earlier I was in a George Duke mode, spinning Dream On, After Hours and Muir Woods Suite.
Just did a needle drop of it; I need a better copy, though. It took me some time to find this one (which unfortunately was in worse condition than advertised).
Earlier I was in a George Duke mode, spinning Dream On, After Hours and Muir Woods Suite.
Dave
Well-Known Member
The funds are low, the debts are high... More recordings to have, hear and enjoy before I die... Got a good load of organist Lenny Dee's early works on vinyl, as well as at least his first eight albums collected on two 2 CD sets, plus a number of non-LP singles, and even his first recordings once only available on 78's... And his Christmas album, Happy Holli-Dee album, also on CD, including more first recorded material... (And a few newer songs also sneaked in...)
-- Dave
-- Dave
I agree on that. When Fleetwood Mac's Say You Will came out, it was 16 or 17 songs and around 75 minutes, or thereabouts. I made my own version where I excised about 2/3 of the songs, put in one of the "bonus" tunes from the deluxe edition of the album, and added in a few Christine McVie songs that had previously appeared only on their box set. Made a really good 40 minute album out of it, although the Christine stuff (having been recorded years earlier and probably without Lindsey Buckingham) didn't quite fit in, productionwise. But it was still an improvement.
Funny, I was playing Santana IV in the car today, and I identified maybe eight or nine songs that would have made a nice, listenable album. I'm going to rearrange them and try playing them in the car that way. The weak tunes really seem to wander aimlessly IMHO and it saps the strength out of the album.
Say You Will never appealed much to me--it could be that same problem. With Tusk, I tend to like many of the songs on it, but we all knew at that point that a studio 2-LP set from Fleetwood Mac was not a regular occurrence.
It may not even be the number of tunes so much as the time involved. Albums in the 60s were maybe 30-35 minutes and averaged maybe 10-12 songs. In the 70s, 35-40 minutes was about average, with some pushing 45 minutes, with 6-10 songs being the norm. (Prog albums could run longer--many Genesis albums up through Duke ran near the 50 minute mark, as one example.) 40 minutes seems to be a sweet spot for album timing. Anything up to an hour, and beyond, is in most cases a stretch.
We got to around 87 degrees today; last week we were still running the furnace. I guess spring happened during that half hour stretch when I took a nap.I don't think nature knows what season it is right now. I keep hearing reports of snow - Michigan, Cleveland, etc. Maybe we'll get to spring eventually.
No rain here--could have used the cooling since the AC was out for two days, and today the temps hit 88 degrees at the house. The "chance of rain" was merely sprinkles a couple of times this morning.
Seeing today is Miles Davis's 90th birthday, I'm hitting assorted tracks on various albums. "Pharaoh's Dance" 'from Bitches Brew is playing at the moment (from the high-res download).
Been playing this one a bit lately:
Four80East is a duo out of Toronto, and the music is somewhere along the lines of acid jazz, groove music, trip-hop, funk and soul (they call it "trip-jazz"). Nocturnal is their second album. Heard the lead-off track "Shakedown" on my customized Pandora station and that got me interested. That track and "Wake and Bake" are my two favorite cuts.
Seeing today is Miles Davis's 90th birthday, I'm hitting assorted tracks on various albums. "Pharaoh's Dance" 'from Bitches Brew is playing at the moment (from the high-res download).
Been playing this one a bit lately:
Four80East is a duo out of Toronto, and the music is somewhere along the lines of acid jazz, groove music, trip-hop, funk and soul (they call it "trip-jazz"). Nocturnal is their second album. Heard the lead-off track "Shakedown" on my customized Pandora station and that got me interested. That track and "Wake and Bake" are my two favorite cuts.
jfiedler17
Well-Known Member
Totally agreed on Fleetwood Mac's Say You Will. The best stuff on it is truly good stuff, but the album is just way, way too long. I myself would have edited it down to "What's the World Coming To," "Thrown Down," "Miranda," "Say You Will," "Peacekeeper," "Silver Girl," "Steal Your Heart Away," "Bleed to Love Her," "Everybody Finds Out," and "Say Goodbye."
jfiedler17
Well-Known Member
Picked up a really eclectic mix of stuff in the last two weeks: Quincy Jones' Mellow Madness and I Heard That!, Bruce Cockburn's Humans, Paul Young's No Parlez, Frank Zappa's Weasels Ripped My Flesh, David Bowie's Space Oddity, Larsen/Feiten Band's self-titled debut, Elton John's Rare Masters, Brian Eno's Another Green World and Wrong Way Up (with John Cale), Miami Sound Machine's Primitive Love, Gene Pitney's Greatest Hits of All Time, Karla Bonoff's first two albums, Herbie Hancock's Secrets, Madonna's self-titled debut, Roberta Flack's self-titled '78 album, Arcadia's So Red the Rose, XTC's Apple Venus Vol. 1, Cat Stevens' Izitso and Footsteps in the Dark, a Morrissey best-of, Beck's Mutations and Midnite Vultures, Abba's Arrival and Super Trouper, Agnetha Faltskog's Wrap Your Arms Around Me, King Crimson's Discipline, a 3-CD Rhino box of Bacharach-David covers, The Band's The Last Waltz, Luther Vandross' double-disc first hits compilation, Jean Michel Jarre's Equinoxe, Queen's A Night at the Opera, the first two Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam albums, Rickie Lee Jones' Pirates, etc. Like I said, it's a pretty eclectic mix of stuff! Haven't really blown as much money as it sounds like! - nearly all of these are ones I picked up either on vinyl or CD for $1.00 or less at book sales in the area. (Also simultaneously found a signed copy of Shania Twain's autobiography at one of those sales, too!)
Mostly been listening to older releases lately. Been having a lot of trouble finding new releases this year to warm up to, even the ones from artists I normally like. The new Santana, I agree, is really disappointing. Just listened yesterday to the new one from Elton John, but it's similarly really disappointing, unfortunately; he and his band still sound good, but it's hard to not get the feeling that the songs themselves were written in a hurry, as if they realized an hour before they started recording that they still hadn't written anything. Has anybody else heard that album and had the same reaction? I got Vince Gill's newest at the same time, though, and that one is actually fairly good, so that made up for it. Anyone here have any 2016 releases to recommend? Sure seems like it's been a really lackluster year for music so far. (Certainly as far as albums go, anyway. I have heard a few singles I've really enjoyed, though, like St. Lucia's "Dancing on Glass" and Mayer Hawthorne's "Love Like That." Haven't heard the parent albums to either of those yet, though.)
Haven't really blown as much money as it sounds like! - nearly all of these are ones I picked up either on vinyl or CD for $1.00 or less at book sales in the area. (Also simultaneously found a signed copy of Shania Twain's autobiography at one of those sales, too!)Mostly been listening to older releases lately. Been having a lot of trouble finding new releases this year to warm up to, even the ones from artists I normally like. The new Santana, I agree, is really disappointing. Just listened yesterday to the new one from Elton John, but it's similarly really disappointing, unfortunately; he and his band still sound good, but it's hard to not get the feeling that the songs themselves were written in a hurry, as if they realized an hour before they started recording that they still hadn't written anything. Has anybody else heard that album and had the same reaction? I got Vince Gill's newest at the same time, though, and that one is actually fairly good, so that made up for it. Anyone here have any 2016 releases to recommend? Sure seems like it's been a really lackluster year for music so far. (Certainly as far as albums go, anyway. I have heard a few singles I've really enjoyed, though, like St. Lucia's "Dancing on Glass" and Mayer Hawthorne's "Love Like That." Haven't heard the parent albums to either of those yet, though.)
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BTW, I found an earlier recording of Randy Van Horne's that I bought a week ago Friday, and it arrived early last week: Swingin' Singin', RCA Victor LPM-1321 (mono only--no stereo version) from 1957. Slightly different in feel--the songs are more obscure than those on Clef Dwellers, and I would say that Clef Dwellers has the more recognizable sound (if you're familiar with The Flintstones' and The Jetsons' themes). Both albums are flavored this way, but Swingin' Singin' is even more like big band/jazz harmonies set to voices rather than horns. Their recording of "'S Wonderful" (using 16 vocalists) was the demo heard by RCA which got them signed to the label.
This one is in better shape than Clef Dwellers--the vinyl is NM or VG++ in appearance with minimal wear. Still looking for a better Clef Dwellers.
This one is in better shape than Clef Dwellers--the vinyl is NM or VG++ in appearance with minimal wear. Still looking for a better Clef Dwellers.
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