The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

[Rudy]

Bud Shank is one of those unappreciated players that seems to fly under the radar of many listeners. My mother had a copy of an album of his called Braziliance that I need to give a spin one of these days. Good stuff!

 

[Rudy]

A fitting day to spin these...

Both on SACD.

 

[Rudy]

After doing a switchover of my turntable system and giving it a complete setup and dial-in, I've been spinning LPs all day while working (aside from the Coltrane titles above). In no particular order:

Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays: As Falls Wichita...

Michael Franks: Passionfruit

Dizzy Gillespie: New Faces (great album w/ Branford Marsalis and Kenny Kirkland)

Nat King Cole: Just One Of Those Things (S&P 180g reissue)

Brenda Lee: Bewitching-Lee (S&P 180g reissue)

Coming up next:

Andreas Vollenweider: "Pace Verde" 12" single

Live: Throwing Copper

Robert Plant: Shaken and Stirred

 

[Mike]

Oh what a treat today, I'm spinning a new SHM-CD issue of "Antonio Carlos Jobim: Wave". Captain Bacardi (the song, not the Mod) never sounded better; it's blasting out of my speakers in full get-your-groove-on mode. Dynomite!

Next up is "Night Train: The Oscar Peterson Trio".

Mike

 

[Mr Bill]

Captain Bacardi (the song, not the Mod) never sounded better;

 

[Captain Bacardi]

I always sound great!

 

[Rudy]

Steely Dan always sounds great too. While working today, I played all nine studio albums in order.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

They sounded great until Everything Must Go....then it went.

 

[Rudy]

That was a weak one IMHO. The band had no soul to it: seemed a little too slick and professional, a little too buttery smooth when it could have used a swift jolt of bourbon. I don't know, though, maybe it was produced with too laid back of a sound to it? It doesn't seem to pop out of the speakers like the previous albums have.

The songwriting is OK, but little of it has the acerbic bite that even Two Against Nature had. Overall I would say it is a pleasant album, but not really essential or noteworthy. On this year's tour, they aren't even touching material from the last two albums.

I enjoyed Fagen's Morph The Cat more than this one.

 

[Mike]

Now spinning! Hugh masekela - Hope

I was a little underwhelmed by this CD when I first bought it years ago, and yet, when I played it today with the volume cranked up a little higher than normal I really got into it. This album reminds me of Main Event Live.

Next up: Cal Tjader - Solar heat

All the best,
Mike

 

[Rudy]

I haven't played Solar Heat in ages. I can't find my CD of Soul Burst, but am spinning a compilation with a few tracks from it, and Along Comes Cal.

 

[Mike]

That's great Rudy!

After spinning Solar Heat I put on "Cal Tjader Sounds Out Burt Bacharach" . It's a Japanese re-issue on CD and when cranked up on the volume it really gets the toe tapping.

Mike

 

[Rudy]

My favorite of those Skye-era albums is Plugs In At The Lighthouse. I am no fan of most live recordings, but Tjader always had good ones.

My favorite era overall has to be the Verve recordings. Those are the ones I grew up with. Of course, two of those they haven't reissued on CD yet are my favorites, and it's hard to find any clean vinyl copies of his albums. Most are trashed.

 

[Mike]

Harry's Watertown thread has put me in the mood for Frank Sinatra!

Now spinning: Frank Sinatra - Ring-A-Ding Ding! And, I'll follow that with "Songs for Swingin' Lovers!"

Mike

 

[Mike]

Now spinning: Cal Tjader -- Last Bolero in Berkeley (Japanese CD released in 1999 by Victor Entertainment VICP-60795)

Track nine is The jackson's "I Want You Back" and Cal's version of this song is smokin' hot!

Mike

 

[Mike]

First up today: The Flying Burrito Brothers -- Gilded Palace of Sin

A lot of country twang and clever lyrics; pretty good but not great.

Mike

 

[Bruno]

Barry Manilow: 15 Minutes

His first selfwritten album in ten years - a great concept album about "Fame - can you take it?" Very rocky, very guitar-driven, so unusual for Barry! Interesting sidenote: In one of the songs, Amy Winehouse get's mentioned (15 Minutes was released before her death).

Amy Winehouse: Back To Black

The only song from this album I know is REHAB, which got a lot of airplay here in Germany. I received the CD yesterday and didn't have the time to listen to it yet..... Rest in Pecae, Amy!

Bruno

 

[Mike]

I've been on a serious Cal Tjader kick lately; today I'll be spinning these CDs:

Soul Sauce
El Sonido Nuevo
Plugs In
Here and There
The Shining Sea

Mike

 

[Mike]

I'm still spinning in a world of Cal Tjader. Now up and soon to follow:

Latin Kick
Latino!
Cal Tjader & Stan Getz - Sextet (Super Audio CD)

Mike

 

[Rudy]

Now spinning: Cal Tjader -- Last Bolero in Berkeley (Japanese CD released in 1999 by Victor Entertainment VICP-60795)

Track nine is The jackson's "I Want You Back" and Cal's version of this song is smokin' hot!

Mike

Do you have a vinyl copy of the Tjader album (1971) on Fantasy? It's the one that has his cover of "Fresh Air" (Baja Marimba Band) on it, along with some pop/rock hits of the day (Beatles, Supremes, Donovan, etc.). I have Last Bolero also, on LP. One thing that bothers me about some of the Fantasy CDs is that when they doubled up albums on one disc, they were leaving one or two tracks off of the disc. Thankfully I have his entire collection on LP, in addition to many of the CDs. (Not sure how many of the Concord titles I have on LP, but everything else I have.)

Interesting how I got it. I was in touch with one of the early members of our Cal Tjader forum. He'd offered to help me out with listing some of the album information on the site. After that, I never heard from him. A couple of years later, I get an email out of the blue--it's from his widow (!), and she was asking if there were any titles in his collection I might want. And, she wanted my mailing address to send me a list of what he had. About two months later, a large box shows up on my porch--she had put his entire Tjader collection (all of Tjader's albums!) in there and sent them along. "Just enjoy them!" The mono LPs were worn, but the others were decent.

BTW, I just got the SACD of the Tjader/Getz album a few weeks ago.

 

[Rudy]

This arrived on Monday:

Two 45 RPM 180g edition of Rumours. For an album I burned out on many years ago, I can't stop listening to it! It's that good. "The Chain" sounds so good, it's goosebump-inducing.

 

[Harry]

This arrived on Monday:

Two 45 RPM 180g edition of Rumours. For an album I burned out on many years ago, I can't stop listening to it! It's that good. "The Chain" sounds so good, it's goosebump-inducing.

Significantly better than some other versions we've been exposed to?

Harry

 

[Rudy]

Significantly better than some other versions we've been exposed to?

Far better. I had a CD-R that came from a "source" who worked on the LP, but it turns out that the CD-R may have been just a copy direct off the master tape, without any of the mastering work applied to it. (The theory is that a CD-R copy was made so the engineer could have a sample to work with, while figuring out the best way to master the LP).) The version on this LP (the 33-1/3 RPM version has the same mastering BTW) sounds way better. The bass can rattle the walls--it's not boomy or anything, but just very clean and solid. The dynamics really show through (which may be a side effect of it being analog and not digital), and the detail on songs like "The Chain" is breathtaking at times. The mandolin at the beginning of "The Chain" is a good example--you can slightly hear the string rattling on the fretboard. And at the end, you really hear the "string" of the bass guitar. The snare drum before that bass guitar is nearly a whisper--you can hear the drumsticks tapping the top of the drum head ever so lightly. The guitars on "Never Going Back Again" really sparkle--sounds very much like it is in the room, but not artificially boosted.

I have the LP set, but one of my friends made a needle drop in high-res (24-bit, 96kHz), which would either need to be downsampled for CD (which would probably lose some of the detail) or burned to an audio DVD that will play in most standard DVD players.

One caveat though--this LP set was also released in Europe (in both speeds), but is not the same mastering. The U.S. set, with the gold foil sticker on the front that says the album was pressed by Pallas, is the one to get.

Another good one is the Van Morrison Moondance; released only in 33-1/3, but it is also very nice. It's a regular spin around here.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Just put on Freddie Hubbard's Hub-Tones CD, one of his best!

 

[Mike]

Per Rudy "My favorite of those Skye-era albums is Plugs In At The Lighthouse. I am no fan of most live recordings, but Tjader always had good ones."

Yeah, Cal Tjader Plugs In is great! It's hard to believe it's a live album, it sounds so crisp and clear. A lot of good tracks, I especially like track 5 "St Croix".
The only thing bad about Plugs In is the cover art; looks like a first graders cut and paste job.

Mike