The Now Spinning/Recent Purchases Thread

Recent purchase, currently spinning:

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The Beatles, Rubber Soul - Disque Americ CD pressing, which contains a flat transfer of the 1965 UK LP mixes, not the 1986/7 George Martin digital remixes.

This is my copy: The Beatles – Rubber Soul (Original Mix, Apple logo, CD)

To my knowledge, the 1965 stereo mixes of "Help" and "Rubber Soul" are officially available on CD *only* on the Disque Americ CD and the mono box set -- apparently, the CDs for "Help" and "Rubber Soul" have 2x the number of tracks; first half is mono mix, second half is 1965 stereo mix. Disque Americ sounds pristine though--the analog artifacts are intact and the stereo separation is wonderful.
 
Finishing up the first part of a Bacharach article for another site, and have the Casino Royale soundtrack spinning at the moment. No time to flip records, so it's the Classic Records HDAD (high-res version) reissue.

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Certainly the best/purest version out there, as opposed to later "doctored-up" versions.
 
Forgot that this was released mid-August. Just playing it now. Side Eye is the name of a concept where Metheny's group is comprised of a rotating group of young up-and-coming musicians, as a means of giving back to the jazz community and honoring the jazz tradition of offering these younger musicians a chance to play with someone well-known, just as Pat had played with Gary Burton's group prior to recording on his own. He last album to feature younger musicians was on his From This Place album from 2020.

This live album features some older tracks (like the title track and "Sirabhorn" from Bright Size Life, the Ornette Coleman-penned "Turnaround" which appeared on their collab album Song X, a Metheny Group favorite "Better Days Ahead" from Letter From Home, and "Timeline," contributed originally to Michael Brecker's Time Is of the Essence in 1999), plus new compositions. Metheny sounds rejuvenated by this group, and may just be his best album since 2014's Kin (⬅➡). The new bluesy slowed-down take on "Better Days Ahead" is a surprise.

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Hadn't played this one in a while--the debut album by Asia. I still remember this being a soundtrack of our senior year in high school, and the big deal made due to it being a supergroup (Carl Palmer from Emerson Lake & Palmer, Geoff Downes from The Buggles, John Wetton from King Crimson, and Steve Howe from Yes). The larger-than-life sound on this record was courtesy of producer/engineer Mike Stone, who was responsible for that similar style on the Journey albums of this era (such as on the tunes "Separate Ways," "Faithfully," etc.). One of the bands I worked with at the time did a cover of "Only Time Will Tell." "Heat of the Moment" was the big hit, and this tune and "Time Again" were my favorite cuts from the record.



 
Hadn't played this one in a while--the debut album by Asia. I still remember this being a soundtrack of our senior year in high school, and the big deal made due to it being a supergroup (Carl Palmer from Emerson Lake & Palmer, Geoff Downes from The Buggles, John Wetton from King Crimson, and Steve Howe from Yes). The larger-than-life sound on this record was courtesy of producer/engineer Mike Stone, who was responsible for that similar style on the Journey albums of this era (such as on the tunes "Separate Ways," "Faithfully," etc.). One of the bands I worked with at the time did a cover of "Only Time Will Tell." "Heat of the Moment" was the big hit, and this tune and "Time Again" were my favorite cuts from the record.




I loved this album I also loved the song " Here comes the feeling" this was a great debut sadly after the follow up song "Don't cry" on their next album they just disappeared without a trace
 
I remember when they debuted the album at the annual NARM Convention in Century City, Los Angeles, in February, well before it was released. Geffen and Warner Brothers were really over the top for the debut album. After they played a few cuts, we all went, okay……It didn’t live up to the hype. It’s a good album, but didn’t fly off the shelves like they thought it would. It’s a solid album, just didn’t have the mass appeal that was expected.
 
I remember Asia but I didn't like them all that well at the time. My favorite song was "Sole Survivor" which I think was on the second album. I remember a review of their first record, where the reviewer said they were "a dead ringer for Toto" which I thought was the dumbest statement of the year, since they sound almost nothing like Toto.

They have continued to release records over the years, having put out some 13 albums. The most recent is Gravitas from 2014. Lately at work I've been hearing their music a lot more, because I have found that Amazon Music will continue to play "similar" songs after you play an old favorite album. Like for example yesterday I played Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and after it was over, I heard the very similar tune "Low Rider" by War. (Yeah their definition of similar is pretty loose.)

So anyway, I like to play Alan Parsons Project from time to time, and a lot of Asia music will pop up in the "similar" tracks that play. I've heard a lot of tunes that I've liked quite a bit.
 
It’s a solid album, just didn’t have the mass appeal that was expected.
It was very popular in my neck of the woods, but I don't know how that translated to local record sales. Although it did top the album chart for nine weeks, won a Grammy for Best New Artist, and was the best-selling album of 1982. I see that it has sold at least four million in the US, so not too shabby for a debut.

I don't think they ever got the same name recognition as the arena rock bands of the day, though, and were never a singles act. I will say they were fresher at that point than the tired records their arena rock peers were putting out by that point. They bucked the odds of being a successful arena/prog rock band when the music at the time was shifting away from the tired relics of the 70s (Kansas, Boston, Journey, Styx, Eagles, etc.) into new wave, new rock, hair bands, metal, etc.

They didn't have the commercial staying power beyond that second album, though--Alpha was the last to feature the original lineup until the Phoenix album in 2008. Their lineup and style shifted so many times that it probably confused all but diehard fans. The only constant has been Geoff Downes.

It also doesn't help that during the years when John Payne sang lead vocals and played bass (essentially replacing John Wetton), it ended up in the group forking off into two entities. Under an agreement with the band's four founders around the time of their 2006 reunion, the alternate Asia was allowed to continue as "Asia featuring John Payne," and still tours under that name to this day. Partly out of respect for Wetton's passing in 2019, this version of Asia will release future recordings as Dukes of the Orient.

My favorite song was "Sole Survivor" which I think was on the second album. I remember a review of their first record, where the reviewer said they were "a dead ringer for Toto" which I thought was the dumbest statement of the year, since they sound almost nothing like Toto.
That doesn't make sense at all. Typical of a reviewer who probably hated both bands (Toto were never the critics' darlings). Toto was a group of Los Angeles studio musicians, many who came from musical families (the Porcaros, and Paich...and even today, singer Joe Williams is the son of composer John Williams). Asia was a supergroup of UK prog rock artists with their own impressive histories. Both IMHO were good, but the two couldn't sound more different.

Yet ironically, their single "Days Like These" featured Toto's Steve Lukather on lead guitar. 😁

"Sole Survivor" was the third track on the first Asia album.

So anyway, I like to play Alan Parsons Project from time to time, and a lot of Asia music will pop up in the "similar" tracks that play. I've heard a lot of tunes that I've liked quite a bit.
I feel like Asia's music has held up well, compared to other music around that time. And their tunes grow on you.
 
This one's nostalgic for me. That awful store moved into town round about 1974 and I recall digging through the Herb Alpert bin when they opened...Coney Island, and YSTSB were present. At that age (10-11) I presumed based on the album cover art that these LPs were not going to sound like the Herb Alpert I wanted to hear...then, 40 or so years later, on Mike B's recommendation, I took the plunge and now fully enjoy these two wonderful '70s TjB LPs as much as their '60s cousins. Knowing my circa 1974 musical taste, I should have asked my dad if he could buy one for me as I know once I heard Fox Hunt or Promises, Promises my face would have lit up with happiness and excitement -- which was always a hallmark of the TjB spirit.

 
This morning:

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Except I skip "Smile of the Beyond" since it has vocals on it.
 
I know it! I get stuck in these rabbit holes and start finding a lot of music I'd never known existed.

The one thing I'm thankful for is Qobuz having very reasonably priced lossless downloads for some of these recordings, where import CDs would be several times the cost if you can even find them. (I'm lucky to have gotten all the Tamba Trio CDs as inexpensively as I did, along with the Luiz Eça & Cordas LP on vinyl since the CD is rare and the few copies I'd seen at the time were $150+.)

Granted I don't get a physical copy, but I just rip them to the server and stick them right into storage anyways.

Qobuz has a surprising number of albums, but they don't have everything. So I still have the need for Discogs and buying CDs or sealed vinyl (when a digital version never existed, or is too expensive).

Back to the music, though--Philips in Brazil during that era was trying to copy the aesthetic that Elenco started. Elenco was signing many of the young artists back in the day and, due to their limited budget, used the stark black and white graphics on their album covers. Philips was a bit old school in comparison, but tried tapping into that same market by signing similar artists and mimicking the cover art style, which is why many of the early Elenco and Philips LPs look so similar. Philips was fortuitous to have the early Tamba Trio, Sergio Mendes and Edu Lobo recordings on their label. And these lesser-known groups like Os Gatos as well. Even if some of these early albums on either label weren't all that good, at least they were interesting.
I've become a fan of discogs.com lately. I've been trying to get mono Brasil '66 albums. I'll give Qobuz a try.
 
I've become a fan of discogs.com lately. I've been trying to get mono Brasil '66 albums. I'll give Qobuz a try.
Drop a note in one of my Qobuz threads if you have any questions or impressions of it. A few audiophile pals of mine had warily considered trying it, but then ended up liking it once they got to use it for a while. I use the Qobuz Store for all of my download purchases now--it's nice to know that I'm getting a lossless file.
 
Little Bird is supposed to be Pete Jolly's "hit" album, and I have to agree that it's probably one of his finest recordings. The title track sets a great tone for the entire album. This would have been released in 1963 on the Ava label, and the VSOP label reissued it in 2011. The trio includes Chuck Berghofer on bass and Larry Bunker on drums. The guitar is courtesy of Howard Roberts, and Kenny Hume handles percussion.




His version of "My Favorite Things" leaves many others behind. This one sounds like he was having a blast playing it.

 
Drop a note in one of my Qobuz threads if you have any questions or impressions of it. A few audiophile pals of mine had warily considered trying it, but then ended up liking it once they got to use it for a while. I use the Qobuz Store for all of my download purchases now--it's nice to know that I'm getting a lossless file.
Alright, I like it. They had The Sandpipers , Burt Bacharach and many albums of MPB4. At first I couldn't find my music and I was getting a bit frustrated. I run a mac mini server headless, so my VNC has a lag and it doesn't help. I directed it to save to my storage disc and really had a difficult time.
 
Alright, I like it. They had The Sandpipers , Burt Bacharach and many albums of MPB4. At first I couldn't find my music and I was getting a bit frustrated. I run a mac mini server headless, so my VNC has a lag and it doesn't help. I directed it to save to my storage disc and really had a difficult time.

I don't use the Qobuz app often since I use Roon Player throughout the house here, which integrates Qobuz into my ripped and downloaded collection on the server. (There are a couple of other players that can also integrate Qobuz. I really need to put together a series of articles about digital playback and streaming.)

But I can see where it might be an issue using the app. I fire it up when I need to compile Qobuz playlists for sharing, and use it on one of the phones when I need to. I've used the offline storage on my phone--our spare car has a Bluetooth head unit, so it's easier to download a few albums to the phone rather than convert files to WMA format and arrange them on a USB thumb drive.

I know Qobuz doesn't have as much as Spotify, but it's so good to hear everything lossless, and many of the recent albums come to me as high-res. These are good times! 👍
 
Little Bird is supposed to be Pete Jolly's "hit" album, and I have to agree that it's probably one of his finest recordings. The title track sets a great tone for the entire album. This would have been released in 1963 on the Ava label, and the VSOP label reissued it in 2011. The trio includes Chuck Berghofer on bass and Larry Bunker on drums. The guitar is courtesy of Howard Roberts, and Kenny Hume handles percussion.




His version of "My Favorite Things" leaves many others behind. This one sounds like he was having a blast playing it.


Never heard (of) this before, but I like the title track a lot!! :cool: :righton:
 
I don't use the Qobuz app often since I use Roon Player throughout the house here, which integrates Qobuz into my ripped and downloaded collection on the server. (There are a couple of other players that can also integrate Qobuz. I really need to put together a series of articles about digital playback and streaming.)

But I can see where it might be an issue using the app. I fire it up when I need to compile Qobuz playlists for sharing, and use it on one of the phones when I need to. I've used the offline storage on my phone--our spare car has a Bluetooth head unit, so it's easier to download a few albums to the phone rather than convert files to WMA format and arrange them on a USB thumb drive.

I know Qobuz doesn't have as much as Spotify, but it's so good to hear everything lossless, and many of the recent albums come to me as high-res. These are good times! 👍
Lossless is a must because I can hear the difference between apple lossless and a wav (or that's what I tell myself. I just tried to sign up for streaming and I'm having trouble with integration. The Qobuz app is playing everything at 10x speed. I need a voucher for Audirvana integrate. I'm waiting for a response.
 
Yea, that's a bit weird. But Audirvana should get it sorted. Of all the different devices I've used Qobuz on, it's played at the correct speed. It almost sounds like a driver issue, or like it's changing the sampling rate 10x of what it should be.
 
Yea, that's a bit weird. But Audirvana should get it sorted. Of all the different devices I've used Qobuz on, it's played at the correct speed. It almost sounds like a driver issue, or like it's changing the sampling rate 10x of what it should be.
I'm guessing at 10x, it was so fast it was crazy loud. I finally got it added as a streaming service in Audirvana and it will play for a while and then stop when it changes songs. I've had to restart Audirvana a couple of times.
 
Another classical CD arrived. This time music by French composer Gustave Samazeuilh (1877 - 1967).
Was introduced to his name and music through a 12-inch 78 in my collection (don't remember how I got it, might have been in a stack of records I got real cheap, from a record store clearing their stock). It had 12-year old Yehudi Menuhin playing this piece "Chant d'Espagne" from 1925 (recorded in 1929), and I was intrigued by the (to me) unusual piano chords. It starts rather dark and gloomy and then, after almost a minute, it gets a bit lighter and that's where the intriguing piano chords start pouring in... (on that photo Yehudi was older than 12, of course)



After I discovered that piece I wanted to hear more from this composer, but it proved very difficult to find any of his works 15+ years ago. Then I came across a guitar recording by Andres Segovia. Turned out that the piece was actually written for Segovia back in 1925, but he didn't record it (as far as I know) until 1975. Again, chords that intrigued me. Personally I like this version better, sonically:



For years, other kinds of music and artists crossed my path, but this year I got back to Samazeuilh and found a CD with his complete piano works, which I ordered recently and listening to it now

"Samazeuilh - Complete Piano Works, Olivier Chauzu" (Discogs)

Greg
 
This is the most exciting A&M era song I've heard in a while. I've just begun exploring more of Julius' work.

"Madagascar" certainly was an unusual tune! Almost sounds like an outtake from a 60s film soundtrack. Also one of the rare BMB tunes with a sax.

I don't know if you saw it a while back, but I posted Cal Tjader's version of "Fresh Air" that improves on the Baja version quite a bit (opens it up a bit for solos, and less cluttered IMHO).

 
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