The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

I'm back from AXPONA, and Hatari! is in the house! The 45 RPM cut is superb. This is how good vinyl sounds! It even bests the SACD (also by Analogue Productions). Here it one of the cuts from the album on its second play through my system:



Beyond that, I finally caved and bought the Analogue Productions 45 RPM set of Brubeck's Time Out. The realism is fantastic.

Morrow Audio is a cable manufacturer, but they have also opened their own used record store in their hometown. They brought a portion of a major haul of records that I believe came from a large university library. I found two classical titles (a Bartok "Symphony for Orchestra" on RCA, and a Stravinsky "Le Sacre du Printemps" on the DG label) in nice condition. I also picked up Count Basie Orchestra's Li'l Ol' Groovemaker...Basie! on Verve (which was arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones), and the Pete Fountain A Taste of Honey LP, on the Coral label. I will need to needle drop that title track from Pete Fountain's record--it directly "borrows" the TJB arrangement. The rest of the album is sometimes a bit hokey (typical 60s MOR record in a way) but I haven't heard it in 40 years. It's nice having a scratch-free copy to play now.

I also discovered a lot of new music in the numerous listening rooms at the show. Analogue Productions had released a 12" 45 RPM single with two old Louis Armstrong tracks on it--not my cup of tea by a longshot, but it was popular. Three titles I did like, however, stood out. There was a 2007 record Orbit by Neil Larsen, which features Robben Ford on guitar--a fusion-ey, funky gig that sounds excellent. (The 180g vinyl is unobtainium now, sadly, and the CD long out of print.) Kenny Rankin's album Because Of You was also a stand out (at least the couple of tracks we heard from it). In the Von Schweikert/VAC Amplifiers room, I walked in to a recording of the Poulenc Organ Concerto in G Minor that was stunning.


Rudy, nice finds good friend. On Kenny Rankin, if you do not own "The Kenny Rankin Album". You need that one in a hurry on vinyl. Recorded live to two track tape, no overdubs. Kenny and Don Costa at their finest. "A House Of Gold" gives me goosebumps. I've never in recent years had to pay more than $1 for a near mint copy. Like you, I have a soft spot for Pete Fountain. I own quite a few of his Coral LP discs, His arrangement of "Estrellita" made me a fan from then on, and it's been over 45 years ever since. You and I have amazingly similar musical taste, by the way. A superb post.
 
Nick De Caro and Orchestra -- Happy Heart

I bought this a few years ago when Mr. Bill and I were in the Yokohama Tower Records shop. It's soft pop and easy on the ears. I like it.

My favorite song on this album is track 9 "Amy's Theme".

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Mike

Around 8 years ago, I scored a near mint mono promo of this LP. I like it, and it's grown on me as the years have gone by.
 
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!

I found a near mint Stereo pressing of "Michelle" for $.25 a few months back in Chattanooga. I really like it. And will give his other World-Pacific output a try. I like the Mariachi Brass better albums in this vein a lot, especially "A Taste Of Tequila". .
 
It's organist Lenny Dee...

Little that I can find here, so a small collection, so far, of mostly favorites from late-'60's, to mid-'70's, most mail-ordered and even a few tunes I've video-ed...

(Have on Facebook, and would like to someday share here...)



-- Dave

I like the later Lenny Dee LP discs from "Little Green Apples" and later on. Selected earlier ones also. His organ is always a nice listen.
 
Hey, there's the tag line for your radio station! :cheers:

Until the gimpy, physically challenged broadcast engineer gets called to the transmitter site at 3:00 AM when the station is off the air. I know about getting these calls, the gimpy, physically challenged, often spastic broadcast engineer is me when business calls in the wee small hours of the morning.
 
Not sure about this CD...

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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? :shrug: ) 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).

Kent's law on Jack Jones. If it's on Kapp, it's worth listening to, time and time again. Jack in this era made awesome records from the second Kapp LP onward (the first, while less good, has it's moments). I own many of these in original pressings, and enjoy them to this day.
 
Kent's law on Jack Jones. If it's on Kapp, it's worth listening to, time and time again. Jack in this era made awesome records from the second Kapp LP onward (the first, while less good, has it's moments). I own many of these in original pressings, and enjoy them to this day.
The vinyl seems to be the way to go, as that CD had way too much digital noise reduction. Mine was the typical $1 thrift store find and it was spotless. :)
 
The vinyl seems to be the way to go, as that CD had way too much digital noise reduction. Mine was the typical $1 thrift store find and it was spotless. :)

I have rarely had to pay more than $1 for my near mint copies, many cost me $.25 or even $.50. As LPJim will tell you, in my area, Edward McKays Used Books can sometimes yield nice records for cheap, especially lounge, easy listening, and classical goodies.
 
You're lucky down there--up here, just about all thrift store vinyl is destroyed. They are usually the types of records that were never stored in their jackets, and are filthy and beaten up. I'm envious of other parts of the country where others find jazz or classical collections in top shape for pennies on the dollar.
 
I've been listening to the new Paul McCartney album, Egypt Station. Outside of a small amount of political stuff which gets sort of annoying, it's probably the best he's done in quite a few years, although there are a couple I've missed. Good to see him regularly putting out music still. He hasn't lost his touch for the pop hooks. The songs "Fuh You," "I Don't Know" and "Come On To Me" are all over some of the Sirius artist channels.
 
I've been thinking of giving Paul's latest a spin. :thumbsup:

And yes, the political crap gets old really fast. But at least I can skip those. :wink:
 
We have a really nice thrift store here - Pop's Resale. They examine all the vinyl and grade it. Put the disks in sleeves if they need it. You can get really good stuff for $2 or $3. They sell new and used stereo equipment and do repairs. They also threaten to kick your butt if you dig in the ungraded boxes. :D
 
At some thrifts, mainly larger operations like SalArmy and Goodwill (not sure how StVDP operates), the incoming items get shipped down to a central warehouse for the area. Many times, employees get first shot at whatever comes in. Goodwill now sells things of value at auction rather than sending them out to the stores. SalArmy disperses stock back out to the stores. In some cases, the managers and regular employees of the thrifts have made friends with some of the regular customers (those who come in and buy the same items regularly, like records, stereo and video components, etc.) and will occasionally set aside prime items before they go out on the floor. So it's not like everything that comes in, shows up at the stores.
 
I'm not much of a Blue Note fan (most of what I've heard is too "out there" for my tastes), but I've really been getting into this one, largely due to Ike Quebec's melodic playing, and the backing of Grant Green, Philly Joe and Paul Chambers fits the mood perfectly. I can see why many consider it Ike's best album. It is definitely less "sleepy" than the Soul Samba album I posted above.

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This is one I'm considering finding in its 2-45RPM pressing from Analogue Productions, or possibly the SACD in its place.

This one is also a nice runner-up to the other two:

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This one features the organ of Freddie Roach, so it has a different vibe to it.

It's nice to have these three albums cover varied styles. Too many times, an artist will record pretty much the same style of album ad nauseum.
 
Fun time! :D



The album version is still my favorite, and I've heard half a dozen versions of it.

On a more serious note, here is "Stimela (The Coal Train)", from the live album Hope recorded at Blues Alley in Washington DC in 1993. It makes the round of the demos at the audio shows due to its dynamics.

 
Unissued single B-side from the hit "Don't Let Go." (Available on the album CD, Don't Let Go, as a bonus track.) The lyrics, the performance, even the horns and strings backing Isaac Hayes on this are perfect. Too bad it was buried on a B-side all those years.

 
I guarantee, one or both of these might be the creepiest (or coolest) things you'll see today. :D (The first one kind of fits in with Halloween, even.)



Creepy, but Danny Elfman has said that this is like a social commentary in a way, and poking fun at various groups. Still...creepy! (It definitely has a lot of the experimental Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo feel to it.)



As many know, Elfman went on from Oingo Boingo to score many prominent motion pictures, having won both an Oscar and an Emmy for his work. The lead guitarist in both videos is Steve Bartek, who is essentially Elfman's right-hand man who orchestrates these film scores. Their association has gone on for nearly 40 years now (Bartek joined Elfman's group in 1969). Bartek may also be familiar to fans of 60s music: he was once a member of Strawberry Alarm Clock, having co-written songs as well as playing flute and singing backup vocals on their two 60s albums.
 
Lindsey Buckingham has just released a retrospective of his solo work called Solo Anthology: The Best of Lindsey Buckingham. While he is definitely a brilliant guy, his solo albums have been spotty affairs to me; I usually find one or two gems in the mix of each one, and almost all of those gems are collected here.

The big attraction is, this is the first time in many years that the song "Holiday Road" (from the original National Lampoon's Vacation) has been available anywhere.

The set is available 2 ways; a regular edition with 21 tracks, or a "deluxe" with a second disk of solo songs, including several more movie tunes that haven't been available in years; and a third disk of live recordings that covers some of his greatest Fleetwood Mac hits but done with his own band on solo dates.

I'm not sure if the deluxe is available streaming, but I'd assume it is.

There is also a new album out from former Journey frontman, Steve Perry. This is one that I'll probably listen to "streaming" first - his stuff has never been "must own" for me.
 
Yep, Qobuz has the deluxe version available for download or streaming, so I'm guessing the others likely have it.
 
So here's something new. Some know I am not a fan of Xmas music, and tend to listen to it only a couple of days before the holiday (since the stores, radio, etc. have burned me out on it permanently), but every once in a while, something comes along that is so original and fresh that I can't resist it.

JD McPherson's Socks! is just such an album. My green vinyl copy arrived last week and, while having the day off, I finally gave it a spin. McPherson's style is like old school 50s R&B and rock, with a few other elements thrown into the stew. It's definitely a retro sound but has a very slight modern vibe to it. All of the tunes on this record bounce full of energy, and all of the tunes are originals written or co-written by McPherson. The title track has a nod to humor that also carries the other tracks well. This one is a fun listen! The few early reviews I read gave me a clue as to what the music was like, and I couldn't resist it. :)

Here's the title track. Enjoy!!

 
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