!!goingplaces!!
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Looking forward to the vinyl release in mid-November
Best album for 30 years? That would denigrate some very fine albums ....
Me too. I have fat thumbs, which don't work too well typing on the phone.I really liked it. I think it's a better album than In the Mood.
Would write more but I hate phone typing!
As for "Take The 'A' Train", I'll use the word originally picked to describe Herb's trumpet on the back of the LONELY BULL lp:I think dreamy is a very good word to describe the recording. I have the same reaction to it having listened to it in several passes so far. Lush is another word that comes to mind - not surprising as that is a trait I attribute to all of his solo music. I inagine this "record" will sound good performed live. If any of his folks read this blog, my best wishes for their visit down the rowd from me to Austin next week!
I got mine today. Impressive looking package! It is copying to my iPod right now so I can listen tomorrow between Minneapolis and Orlando.
I have a Zune 120 and it uses the same Toshiba 1.8" hard drive. I still think it was a terrible idea to put a fragile spinning hard drive inside of a portable device but back then, that was the only way to get the high capacity. The replacement drives are still easy to find, and cheap, but they really need to do a better retrofit with a SSD. (There is an adapter that will convert the 40-pin ZIF PATA socket to a Micro SATA connector and use a M-SATA SSD, but it's questionable if that would all fit into a portable music player.) Battery life would go way up, access times would be cut in half, and they'd be way more reliable. I may go that route if mine ever bites the dust, provided it fits.You'd better enjoy that iPod while it lasts. Especially if it's an iPod Classic.
Mine IS an iPod Classic. I've had it at least 8 or 9 years, I'm not even sure how long. Maybe longer than that. It has a pretty cushy life -- it lives in my pickup's glove box, and the truck is garaged every night, so it never gets very cold. The worst extremes it ever sees are hot summer temps, but it has never had a problem outside of needing a reboot every once in a blue moon. The only time it ever leaves the pickup is to get updated from my computer, or when we go on plane trips maybe once or twice a year.You'd better enjoy that iPod while it lasts. Especially if it's an iPod Classic.
This guy didn't listen carefully enough. This is a great album (although two voices are missing!). I love CFWM, Love Affair and Night Ride to name but three - I'm surprised that Love Affair didn't get more votes in the poll. I also don't think he's followed Herb's work - to say that he's not known for taking chances is just wrong.DownBeat magazine just released its new issue (December 2015) and did a review of Come Fly With Me. Unfortunately, one of their curmudgeons wrote a lackluster review:
**1/2 (out of 5)
Herb Alpert continues to deliver the sunny sound he inaugurated in 1962, when his work with the Tijuana Brass propelled him to fame and fortune. Here, he leavens reimaginings of chestnuts spanning "Take The 'A' Train" and "Danny Boy" with semi-catchy originals. It's a winning formula from which Alpert rarely strays. But it's a formula; he is not known for taking chances.
His tone remains bright, his phrasing lean. Those can be admirable qualities, but if they're virtually the only ones, as they are here, they make for an album that lacks dimension and variety. Passion takes a back seat to precision - this album is produced to within an inch of its life - and only a few cuts suggest a greater range.
"Night Ride," which Alpert says was inspired by Tito Puente, approaches excitability through Alpert's multi-tracked trumpet, Scott Mayo's pushy sax and co-writer Michael Shapiro's drums and percussion. "Love Affair" huffs and puffs and eventually dramatizes, setting Alpert's piercing trumpet against plush strings in a widescreen arrangement by Eduardo del Barrio, a keyboardist and one of the recording's six engineers.
Otherwise, this is jazz as trinket souvenir, with a frequent island touch. It also feels like the last breath of summer, with its reggae overlay (which works for Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" and the catchy original "Cheeky") and its overall jauntiness. It is always pretty, even on duds like the lackluster takes on Duke Ellington's "A' Train" and George Harrison's "Something."
This is expertly played; the musicians include the cream of smooth jazz, and there's not a note out of place. Come Fly With Me is ideal for cruise ships, its music going down like happy hour bubbly. - Carlo Wolff