The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

Picked up a British import cd of Ray Charles' Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music Vols. I and II. Has a couple bonus tracks also.
 
I've owned this on SACD since it was first released (in 2004...where did the years go??), but am finally getting around to giving it a good listen tonight:

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It didn't strike me much back then, but I'm enjoying it now. Some of the tunes on this album are the first she co-wrote with her husband (Elvis Costello). The others are covers of more modern songs (Tom Waits, Joni Mitchell, etc.). A nice change of pace.

Next up will be the Elvis Costello/Burt Bacharach Painted from Memory.
 
Just heard Monkey House CD's "Headquarters" (2012) & their latest CD "Left" from last year. Rik Emmett (formerly of Triumph) & Kim Mitchell (formerly of Max Webster) plays guitars. Singer Sarah Slean is mentioned in the "Headquarters" booklet!! I do love Sarah!! The only thing that I am missing is "Retrospective" which can be downloaded only on the CD Baby website at: www.cdbaby.com & just write the name of the group. Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
Took a break from Stravinsky to give this a spin (Terry Evans, with Ry Cooder--Blues For Thought):

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This version is the Classic Records HDAD version (basically a DVD with a lossless audio track--they were a "thing" before DVD-Audio came along).
 
Ummmmm....okaaaay....

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Tidal has this for streaming. This is definitely a "one and done" album. :laugh:
 
This record happened about four years after Little Green Thing, as it has "What Now My Love?" as one of its tunes. The only track not from the TJB catalog is "Lost Bull." He doesn't use any TJB arrangements--all he has is some guitar strumming in a Mexican style, maybe some maracas here and there. So it is kind of cheezy. :D Not really bad, but he is also no Jimmy Smith. :laugh: Discogs only shows three albums for Lewis (some of the releases, like singles and the TJB tribute, being on the Jerden label) but I have a feeling he recorded more locally in the Seattle area, nothing with a national release in other words.
 
Here is something to chew on. :laugh:

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The Philips Years is a 20-CD (!) set of recordings from the Philips label, all conducted by Dutch-born Bernard Haitink. He is best known as being principal conductor for the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Netherlands) for 25 years, as well as the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This box set (and the set below) were both released in 2014, as part of his 85th birthday celebration.

His performance of the Debussy Nocturnes is in this set (same as the SACD I linked earlier in this thread), which was my "gateway drug" to his conducting many years ago when I bought the first-issue Philips CD of that work. I have enjoyed his conducting--the performances seem to have a warmer, more humanistic touch without the bombast or clinical sounds that many newer conductors seem to impart on the orchestras.

I actually do not yet own this set, but am streaming it via Tidal at the moment--Vol. 10 with the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 2.

The other set (which is not yet available on Tidal) is a bit more imposing--the 36 CD (!!) The Symphony Edition, which includes the complete symphony cycles of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler, Schumann and Tchaikovsky.

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That makes the rather small The Art of Bernard Haitink 7-CD set look minuscule in comparison. :laugh: But given the low prices of all of these sets, it's hard not to recommend them--they can be had for less than $2 per disc. One of the advantages of buying during the last gasp of the CD. :wink:
 
Still two long-time favorites of mine. The CDs aren't the greatest sounding versions, but they'll do for now. Stupidly gave away or traded my vinyl of Breakin' Away:

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Still two long-time favorites of mine. The CDs aren't the greatest sounding versions, but they'll do for now. Stupidly gave away or traded my vinyl of Breakin' Away:

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These are two of my favorite jarreau albums jam packed with wonderful tunes his (A Rhyme) This Time is identical to Earl Klugh's original version from "Finger Paintings"
just a little slower and with words. I Like both equally.
 
I had to turn the volume up on the CD "Breakin' Away" by Al Jarreau because it hasn't been remastered since 1984 or 1985!! Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
Also got on CD Walter Becker "11 Tracks Of Whack" (from 1994 & no longer made) & his last CD "Circus Money". Matt Clark Sanford, MI
 
Perfect to end the evening with. Off Duty by Four80East:

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Yep.

They still got it. :agree:



New album coming in March, followed by a tour. I just may have to buy the earplugs and take my youngest to this one. I wasn't sure how good they would be in concert until I recently watched a couple of their most recent BluRay concerts.
 
I just got the UK remaster of Fleetwood Mac's Mirage, which is not my favorite album of theirs but it contains a couple of my favorite songs ("Hold Me," "Straight Back" and a few other marginal faves).

The biggest attraction for me was that one of the "bonus" tracks was the "original album version" of Stevie Nicks' "Straight Back," which was inexplicably altered years ago when the original CD came out. They added a bunch of multilayered background vocals to the bridge and totally made a mess out of the song, in my opinion. I've been wishing for that "original" version to come out for years, and finally here it is. (The same thing happened to "Silver Springs" years ago...they added more vocals to the mix and screwed it up, and now the original single mix is not available anywhere to my knowledge.)

There are a lot of other "work in progress" bonus tracks too which are fascinating for a couple of listens.

The other big flaw in the original CD was, it was mastered way too low a volume. The new remaster makes it sound much better and closer in volume to the other FM remasters of late.

Packaging is nice too, with a nice booklet and a 3-panel gatefold cardboard sleeve.
 


The 2-channel version on the DVD-Audio release sounds pretty much the same, unless I'm missing something.
 
Aside from some other records, I gave part of this one a spin earlier this evening:

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Mine is the ORG 180g/45RPM reissue (as pictured here) and it sounds fantastic. I have the original RCA cut and this one is so much clearer. Have to remember that those old RCA records were cut using a Westrex cutting head, which had its own slightly murky sound. (Not that it is overly bad, but it did put a slight veil on the sound at times.) I grabbed this one at AXPONA last year, on clearance.

This record is a lot of fun to listen to. Clooney's voice cuts through clearly, and Prado's crack band of L.A. session musicians and percussionists keeps things percolating. And of course there are the occasional yelps from Prado ("Dilo!").
I also gave the RSD pink vinyl reissue of the Pink Panther soundtrack a spin (pictured, partially, in my avatar). Kevin Gray did a nice job on this one, but I wish the vinyl were of better quality (as colored vinyl I've found is usually slightly noisy). I am looking into getting the 45RPM Analogue Productions cut of this title.

Back to Bill Evans for now. Tonight is Explorations, and Moonbeams. Both from SACD rips.
 
James Moody, originally released as Sax & Flute Man but reissued as The World is a Ghetto (as he covers that song by War). Kind of a typical 70s funk/fusion recording, but "First Thing in the Morning" is a nice, mildly funky track that keeps coming up on my Pandora "Fusion" channel.

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The 2-channel version on the DVD-Audio release sounds pretty much the same, unless I'm missing something.
I've never heard that DVD-audio version. The main differences are in the background vocals - especially toward the end. The part where she she sings "I'll follow you down...." is where it really departs from the original -- after listening to the linked version above, I think the vocal is the same but it's mixed much more out front than on the single, and there's more of a pronounced guitar solo during the fade.

I've also heard that the version on the 25 Years: The Chain box set is the original. I'll have to check that out.
 
A few spinning while I work from home today, awaiting the furnace dude (for inspection).

But Dino, what about last time?

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Very nice sounding version of this classic Capitol album. Bought the vinyl last year and also have an SACD rip. There is not a lot of the Capitol reverb here. You get a great sense of the studio it was recorded in.

Also, these two by Oregon:

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Crossing dates to 1985, and Northwest Passage 1997 (featuring original members Ralph Towner, Paul McCandless and Glen Moore).

Favorite track from Northwest Passage:
 
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