The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

[Bobberman]

Here's one that I'm sure a few of you might like:



45 RPM 2 LP set from our pals at Analogue Productions, one of my 50% off grabs from their Acoustic Sounds store. No need to mention that it sounds awfully good here.

Since I'm off for the next few days, tomorrow morning is starting off with this one by Mrs. Elvis Costello, which I picked up on vinyl from the recent sale:



Frim fram sauce?

You can't go wrong with these Miss Patsy Cline is Truly awesome and so is Mrs Costello.( Diana Krall)

 

[Rudy]

Seems to be a Diana Krall evening here.

When I Look In Your Eyes
Quiet Nights
The Look of Love

It's soothing for all the work I'm having to do around the house.

 

[Rudy]

Not sure about this CD...



I have Wives and Lovers in its original Kapp LP release. The CD sounds very strange. It seems kind of choked off. Typical side effect of digital noise reduction. (Who was ever afraid of tape his anyway? ) That and there is a very strange digital side-effect that gives it a very faint "twangy" sound to the highs and transients. Funny how such a minor thing can take away the pleasure from hearing music. It just sounds unnatural. I'm four songs in and ready to turn it off.

Going to compare it to what is on Tidal, as that is a more recent release.

BTW, Tidal is currently offering a free 12 day subscription, no credit card required. Try it out! Remember to set it to "HiFi" so you can hear everything lossless (uncompressed CD quality).

 

[Rudy]

Nope, the Tidal is the same mastering. The strings in the right channel on "Toys In The Attic" sound so bad that they seem like they are under water.

No wonder some of us prefer LPs over this digital garbage...

 

[Harry]

If you're in a Jack Jones mood, one of my favorites is his take on Larry Marks' "L.A.Break Down (And Take Me In)". The LP is fairly rare, so I'm told. I was surprised when I put it up on YouTube and got some great reaction:

 

[Rudy]

If you're in a Jack Jones mood, one of my favorites is his take on Larry Marks' "L.A.Break Down (And Take Me In)". The LP is fairly rare, so I'm told.

Interesting! I'll keep an eye open for that one in my travels. Can't say I've seen it yet, but anything is possible.

 

[Rudy]

Got this going on Tidal:



Typical Fantasy/OJC reissue (not the greatest sound, but also not drenched in noise reduction), but the music is still pretty good.

 

[DeeInKY]

Got this going on Tidal:



Typical Fantasy/OJC reissue (not the greatest sound, but also not drenched in noise reduction), but the music is still pretty good.

Nice. I had to go and listen to that one. I like Vince anyway - was listening to A Charlie Brown Christmas this afternoon. Good stress relief. Finished my last program for class (theoretically, unless they find bugs) and now sweeping leaves off the patio in the rain.

 

[Bobberman]

Got this going on Tidal:



Typical Fantasy/OJC reissue (not the greatest sound, but also not drenched in noise reduction), but the music is still pretty good.

I have this on CD along with other Guaraldi classics including the Peanuts themed albums and impressions of Black Orpheus among several others I'm so glad I have them all on CD I don't think they will ever be reissued again in any physical format let alone be remastered in a good way.

 

[Rudy]

The Guaraldi Black Orpheus was on a gold DCC CD back in the 90s, mastered from the original tapes. The difference between this and Fantasy's original CD release is drastic. One of these days I should post a sample of each and upload to YouTube.

 

[AM Matt]

I just finished up hearing Hanson "Finally, It's Christmas". The songs "Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer" & "Jingle Bells" are played on a transmitter radio & both songs are short. In the Rudolph song, it goes "As they shouted out with glee, yippee!!" You gotta thank probably Mark Hudson (formerly of The Hudson Brothers 1974 song "So You Are A Star") of a fine production!! It begins & ends the CD also played on a scratched record. Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[Rudy]

Quite an eventful playlist today. Antal Dorati/London Symphony Orchestra, the complete Nutcracker, from the two SACD set. This is from one of those classic Living Presence releases on Mercury. I like this interpretation, as it's very lively.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

The only new music I've picked up this holiday season are the new Christmas CDs by Herb Alpert and Cheap Trick both of which I've talked about elsewhere...been quite the dry spell. I keep reverting back to "old" music since I don't have anything "new" to listen to these days.

 

[Rudy]

The only new music I've picked up this holiday season are the new Christmas CDs by Herb Alpert and Cheap Trick both of which I've talked about elsewhere...been quite the dry spell. I keep reverting back to "old" music since I don't have anything "new" to listen to these days.

I've found so much over the past year from various decades that I could easily skip "new" music and still have a backlog of stuff to listen to. And that's just one year for me. If you think about it, out of hundreds of thousands (millions?) of recordings that have been made over the decades, there is a lot that we have all missed, and many more we will never have time to hear even if we listened to something new every day.

The only remotely "holiday" themed music I played this year was the complete Nutcracker above (and that is a 60s recording). And once through that one was plenty.

 

[AM Matt]

"Electric Dreams" movie soundtrack (1984) & "Dune" movie soundtrack (music by Toto) (1984) is what I am playing. Both movies starred Virginia Madsen. Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[Rudy]

Tonight over my desktop system are all four of the Rachmaninoff piano concerti. These feature Vladimir Ashkenazy piano, Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink. With the house to myself all day tomorrow, I need to give them a proper play over the "big system" and get the KT120s heating up the room.

 

[Rudy]

Streaming a station out of Mexico...they're playing a lot of Perez Prado at the moment.

 

[Rudy]

IbMePdErRoIoAmL and other favorites from the spousal unit of Diana Krall...

HDTracks:

SACD:

...and this stunning SACD arrived today:

 

[Karen Carpenter Fan 2012]

Been listening a lot lately to Laura Branigan's catalog, from Meadow (her first group) to Remember Me (a CD EP of songs Laura had been working on to release as a new CD). Laura had an awesome voice, that like Karen, is instantly recognizable....

 

[AM Matt]

Just finished up U2 "Songs Of Experience" (deluxe edition with 4 bonus tracks on CD) which runs 67:48 in length. The song "You're The Best Thing About Me" is my favorite song. Another great album by U2. Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[Rudy]

It's been a strange week. Musically I'm all over the map.

I've been playing various versions of the Rachmaninoff piano concertos. It is interesting to hear all of the variations and how the players approach them. (All of the following have recorded concertos #2 and #3, while Hough and Ashkenazy have recorded all four.) Van Cliburn's took a little more gentle approach than the others. Byron Janis (on a wonderful sounding Mercury Living Presence recording) burns it up with the fastest renditions of some of the runs, and is a more dynamic player. Stephen Hough (with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra) is a mix of both. My recent discovery is Vladimir Ashkenazy (Concertgebouw Orch. conducted by Bernard Haitink) and his approach is different still from the others. This is what I've been spinning most this week of the four.

So aside from that...

From the creative world of Stan Kenton comes Adventures in Time, Artistry in Bossa Nova, and a few tracks from Viva Kenton. These albums feature that controversial mellophonium section.

And beyond that I've been picking away here and there at numerous things.

 

[AM Matt]

Listening to Rick Braun latest CD "Around The Horn" which runs 52:20 in length. Guitarist Peter White plays on 2 tracks. Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[Rudy]

Classics!

 

[Mike Blakesley]

For some reason I've been spinning a lot of Doobie Brothers lately. My favorite albums of theirs are Stampede, which has them at the top of their game, and also Takin' It To The Streets, which, if this was a Doobies board, would ignite a huge argument over whether Michael McDonald ruined the band or not. I actually think he DID have an adverse effect on the band, since his tunes on Streets were the best ones he ever provided them, IMHO. After that his output got a little forgettable (with a few great exceptions, natch) and they didn't have a really good album again until Tom Johnston returned for Cycles. For my money, the most consistent songwriter in the band is Pat Simmons -- to me he doesn't get enough credit for writing many of their greatest "album tracks." His song "Chinatown" is one of the best on the otherwise-middling Livin' on the Fault Line LP. Their more recent album World Gone Crazy is outstanding.

 

[Rudy]

I'm good with any Doobie Bros. era, but I have to say that after listening to One Step Closer a few months ago, I can see why they took a time out afterward--that one does nothing for me anymore. The others with McDonald I pretty much like--even "the big one" (Minute By Minute) has a killer side 1 on the LP. Of the pre-McDonald era, I've been partial to Toulouse Street as a favorite but in honesty, they're all pretty darned good. Their two Best of the Doobies albums are indispensible if someone doesn't have any of the individual albums, especially the first volume.

Patrick Simmons and Michael McDonald both had a couple of post-Doobies hits in the 80s. McDonald's was the popular "I Keep Forgettin'". Patrick Simmons' single kind of got lost in the fray but was a lot more interesting musically, and way out of left field stylistically (which is why it probably appealed to me): "So Wrong" (from his album Arcade). Still have 12" promo singles for both.

Mobile Fidelity did a great job remastering five of those earlier albums for SACD: Stampede, Toulouse, Vices, Captain & Me and Takin' It. The rest can be had in high-res 24/192, and Minute By Minute was on a gold Audio Fidelity HDCD several years ago that sounds excellent also. Good to see there is still interest in their catalog!