The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

Linda Perhacs "Pareelograms" (from 1970 originally on Kapp Records) & did not charted on Billboard Top 200 Album Charts. If you like Joni Mitchell!!
 
This one.

My father played this for me as a child and it instantly became favourite. I've been playing it for my six-year-old who is drawn to all the percussion as well. He particularly likes the marimbas and xylophones. The LP was recorded to 1958 "red seal" standards and is a stunning sonic statement. The natural ambience of the recording hall was accurately captured and when reproduced on two quality loudspeakers ran flat through a simple tube amp reflects the straightforward "hi fi" approach to music reproduction. The stereo effect is accurately reproduced in my listening room, which literally resonates with the multitude of waves forms. I have two copies: an NM RCA LP from that era and the Compact Classic gold CD version from the '90s. I understand there are additional releases available exhibiting newer technologies...including the standard claim of improved sound; yet, it's hard to imagine any substantial improvement. From a delicate single harp pluck to a large-diameter concert bass drum played fortissimo essentially shaking the entire listening room -- and all points between remaining distinct, defined and detailed -- one truly wonders how any substantial improvement can be realized?

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This one.

My father played this for me as a child and it instantly became favourite. I've been playing it for my six-year-old who is drawn to all the percussion as well. He particularly likes the marimbas and xylophones. The LP was recorded to 1958 "red seal" standards and is a stunning sonic statement. The natural ambience of the recording hall was accurately captured and when reproduced on two quality loudspeakers ran flat through a simple tube amp reflects the straightforward "hi fi" approach to music reproduction. The stereo effect is accurately reproduced in my listening room, which literally resonates with the multitude of waves forms. I have two copies: an NM RCA LP from that era and the Compact Classic gold CD version from the '90s. I understand there are additional releases available exhibiting newer technologies...including the standard claim of improved sound; yet, it's hard to imagine any substantial improvement. From a delicate single harp pluck to a large-diameter concert bass drum played fortissimo essentially shaking the entire listening room -- and all points between remaining distinct, defined and detailed -- one truly wonders how any substantial improvement can be realized?

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Found this on Spotify and downloaded it...definitely worth a listen.
 
From a delicate single harp pluck to a large-diameter concert bass drum played fortissimo essentially shaking the entire listening room -- and all points between remaining distinct, defined and detailed -- one truly wonders how any substantial improvement can be realized?
That LP was one of J. Gordon Holt's reference recordings (Stereophile). With the opening track, on a good system, you can hear the drummer entering from offstage during the opening march. It is a fantastic record to demonstrate the imaging and soundstage of a system, as you get cues of not only left and right, but the depth of the stage as well.

The Analogue Productions copy loses the "wooliness" of the original RCA Living Stereo pressing. Back then, those old Westrex cutting heads could slur some of the details, although these RCAs are still better than many LPs from other labels during the same era. Ryan Smith (Sterling Sound) remastered this for AP, and it's stellar. If you ever come across a copy, you're in for a treat! (I had read AP was going to do another release of it at 45 RPM, which would knock it out of the park, but I don't think it sold in big enough numbers to be worthwhile.)
 
Dr. Lonnie Smith has been on a roll for the past few years--this recent release, Breathe, is up there with this best. He can still lay down those greazy, funky grooves like he did back in the 60s and 70s. Even the quality of the recording harkens back to those times--it's not all sterile and surgically precise like many of today's digital recordings are. It's an easy listen.

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Early solid state anything could sound nasty. At least today, there are now so many transistor types, and ways of implementing them, that they can sound really good. I equate early solid state with early digital--at best, a rough facsimile of the original signal.

This latest Lonnie Smith does sound quite good.
 
The Analogue Productions copy loses the "wooliness" of the original RCA Living Stereo pressing.
Reading a little more about it, this version was mastered from the original 3-track master tape as recorded by RCA in Chicago. That explains why there's so much clarity in the vinyl version of this one. Kind of cool--like preserving a piece of history!

That's one cool feature of those classical Living Stereo SACDs. They have a traditional stereo mix, but you can also hear the original three-channel recording (left-center-right) when in surround mode. They did a good job on those releases! Some of the earlier Living Stereo titles recorded only in two channels of course will only have a stereo presentation on the disc.
 
They have a traditional stereo mix, but you can also hear the original three-channel recording (left-center-right) when in surround mode
Seems akin to having a speaker for each track so to speak. I suppose that's why sound reproduction can never match the real thing -- to do so would require a speaker for each instrument in the orchestra per se (and, of course, it's correct spatial placement as well).
 
From 1957 & in stereo, The Dukes Of Dixieland (Vol. 4) "On Bourbon Street". My late dad had that album when I was growing up as a kid!!
 
Two great albums, two bad releases...

I first got Foxy Lady back in 1994 as a review copy, and it was my first exposure to Dr. Lonnie Smith. Totally enjoyed it, even though I'm not a Hendrix fan (I can take a few tracks at a time but that's it). The original Lonnie Smith-penned track "Jimi Meets Miles" is actually based on the same riff that we hear in the track "Stand" from Mama Wailer (starting at about the eight minute mark), and the Doctor also did another version of that riff, as "Track 9," on his new album Breathe.

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The trio features John Abercrombie (very familiar to ECM Records followers) and Marvin "Smitty" Smith. Abercrombie's unusual and atmospheric playing is actually a perfect fit here, as he takes the solos through some unusual twist and turns, vs. trying to copy every Hendrix lick in the book. Smitty's beat is on point as well.

The following album, Purple Haze, was part of the same session--I couldn't really own one without the other. 😁

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Now, the two bad releases? These had an SACD release. I was ecstatic....until I heard them. It only took about 30 seconds of "Foxy Lady" to realize something was really wrong. Someone not only threw the sound through a limiter (similar to how the 45 RPM singles in the 60s were "pumped up"), they also brickwalled it. And given the capacity of SACD, these could have been combined onto one disc with room to spare. (Thankfully I only borrowed these turds--I wouldn't spend a penny on them.)

The CDs unfortunately are no prize either, as they were mastered at too low of a level, but even so, they still sound much better and untampered with.

A great jam:

 
Someone not only threw the sound through a limiter (similar to how the 45 RPM singles in the 60s were "pumped up"), they also brickwalled it.
Oh, good grief! The never-ending, frustrating world of non-musical management within the realm of music recording.
 
The old loudness wars rearing their ugly heads again. I don't know how this reissue label felt this was an improvement.

OJC (Fantasy) put some weird limiting on some LP reissues they did of a couple of early Cal Tjader albums. (They were limited edition, pressed on red vinyl, from a couple of decades ago.) Can't complain since they were given to me, but frustrating since I could have had clean copies that sounded good.
 
I've been impressed with something I found on Spotify rather by accident...I was looking for Sergio Mendes' "Dance Moderno"... I have the CD, but wanted to listen to the album on my phone while I was at the doctor's office. Couldn't find it, I don't think it's ever been released in the US, but I DID run across a pretty decent alternative, the Brazilian Love Affair's Dance Moderno Revisited.

If you're not familiar with the album, it's basically the original 1961(I've also seen 1960) recording being given sort of a Rewhipped treatment. The music responds well to the updates for the most part, and a delightful bonus for me, at least is the fact that the remastering really enhances some of the really dreadful sound quality of the original recording.

Evidently this album wasn't ever released here in the Big PX, either...

I did find a review at jazzchill.com, I tried to post a link but it said that the page no longer existed. You might have to Google it to find production notes and a review.
 
The original Dance Moderno was mono and recorded in Brazil, so it's not the best but it's pretty good for its age.

Qobuz shows the Revisited version but I can't find it through Roon player for some reason. Seems like they pretty much buried the original recording as much as they could--Sergio's piano is so distant and muddy that it's almost difficult to hear (especially on my favorite track, "Nica's Dream").

Still, it's from my favorite era of Sergio's recordings. 👍
 
Here's one I just discovered among the new releases. Streaming now via Qobuz:

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Linda May Han Oh impressed me on Metheny's disappointing From This Place album, so it'll be interesting to the rest of the tracks on this album later this evening. Not a fan of the politically-charged song titles, so this one may not make it once it's all said and done. (And the real irony is that the song titles on this piano trio record do not at all relate to the music.) I can't help but glance at the Roon Player and see some butthurt song title staring me in the face.
 
Qobuz shows the Revisited version but I can't find it through Roon player for some reason.
Solved it. Seems the player buried it under Sergio's Dance Moderno album as an alternate version. (Usually the alternate versions are different releases, not remixes and such.) And I only found this by fetching the album in the Qobuz app, favoriting it, then having it appear in the Recent section of Roon Player.

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The version of DANCE MODERNO that I picked up years ago is this one:


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It's always sounded rather "gritty" with lots of distortion in places.
 
A lot of recordings out of Brazil around that time on Philips or Elenco sound similar--they didn't have the best of recording technology in those days. I don't think we really heard Mendes all that well until the Capitol LP with Wanda Sa--he doesn't get the clearest tone on these early recordings, although the style is unmistakably his.

On the other hand, I've heard worse recordings than these. 😁

Can't remember which CD I got---it was ripped and stored away immediately. Pretty sure it was the Philips version though. I wish Discogs had an order history as I'm sure I bought it through there. I can't imagine any of the other versions out there sounding much different. And the Philips would probably be the "purest" of the bunch.
 
Discogs lists my version as possibly "unofficial", but I just added an IFPI code that's in the plastic hub. It sure seems official, except there's no UPC bar code. I wonder if it might have been part of a box set or bundle, which is why no bar code. Don't know.
 
I dug mine out, the 1998 Japan version:


It has a blue Philips label with track information (I'll post it below from the phone), and the barcode was on the OBI strip, not the CD case. I wonder if they sound different.
 
We've talked about this one sporadically in the past, but while looking through hundreds of 12" singles on Discogs, this one came up:



Since this was posted with embedding turned off, you'll have to hop over to YouTube to listen to it.

The backing is an all-star lineup:

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