What's Playing Now

[SEAWOLF97]

looks like the Seawolf is going to learn to talk with Landwolves ?

I like music boxes & the 4 seasons..the other 2 are gambles...

[MikeBrewster77]

I do ! I was actually spinning one of her greatest hits LP's today. Theres something vulnerable yet strong about her vocals I find alluring.

Best,
- Mike

Gonna find out if I still like Judy Collins...

[whizzer]

Back in the 1960's, during that period before there were such things as Moog synthesizers and such, there actually were (and had been for awhile) composers of what was called "electronic music." Typically, these composers had to cobble together their own instruments, using a variety of control interfaces for analog circuits, usually a series of oscillators. One day, I think it was in 1966, in a record store, a Nonesuch album entitled "Tragoedia," by a person named Andrew Rudin, caught my eye, The liner notes disclosed that it was a piece of "electronic music" based on the concept of Greek tragedy. Furthermore, it was the first ever piece to have been specifically commissioned by Nonesuch for recording. I bought it and loved it. I played it often, much to the confusion and bewilderment of Wolf, my German Shepherd puppy who would stare in dumbfoundment at one of my Altec 886a's in a close copy of the RCA Victor dog, as well as to the chagrin and annoyance of my room-mates. Unfortunately, in a fit of utterly baseless and misguided generosity, I allowed a drama student to "borrow" the album to use as the backgound music for her senior presentation, and, to make a long story short, never got it back. That's what happened to my original copy of Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies' "American Metaphysical Circus," too. Anyhow, I searched for years in vain for another copy, and, finally, it occurred to me to Google Andrew Rudin, who, as it turns out, is now a professor of music at a small school in Connecticut. Unbelievably, he had none of his old albums himself, but he directed me to a website that specializes in locating out-of-print vinyl, and I was able to procur a copy still in its cellophane for little more than twice its orignal price (+ shipping, of course). I've now transposed it to cd and am happy to report it's just as interesting today as it was back in "the day," even though I no longer have Altec 886a's, but some custom, DIY-made narrow, but deep and tall wonders with four little aluminum cone woofers in a 2.5-way configuration along with a soft dome tweeter--a system that's admittedly very un-Lansing-like, but it doesn't sound bad at all. The first real synthesizer album I owned, "Switched On Bach," actually appeared not long after Rudin's "Tragoedia," and I thought at the time that the widespread availability of the new instrument would usher in an era of inventiveness and boundaries expansion, but somehow, that just never happened (oh--there were some exceptions, like Rick Wakeman's "The Six Wives of Henry VIII"), but, by and large, the old-line "electronic" stuff STILL sounds more avant garde. Oh well. Now if I could just find a copy of Ruth White's "Flowers of Evil"....

[MikeBrewster77]

About Judy Collins ... I listened to her over the weekend along with Joan Baez, and decided I definitely like Baez better - they're comparable vocally, but I just prefer her delivery, and frankly I think she selected better songs.

As to what's playing now, Al Stewart's Past Present, and Future is on the turntable. Simply awesome album, but then again, I've only ever heard one album of his that I think was a total miss.

On another note, as I was going through my record collection this weekend, I came across a Beethoven record, and thought to myself "huh - I don't remember this one." Well, it's no wonder - it's still fully sealed!!! I can't wait to play it (there's simply nothing like new vinyl ) but for some weird reason, I haven't been able to bring myself to open it. It's damned bizarre - somtimes I wonder about myself ...

Best,
- Mike

[SEAWOLF97]

Well, it's no wonder - it's still fully sealed!!! I can't wait to play it (there's simply nothing like new vinyl
- Mike

You gotta clean it anyway.(or at least wipe down the surface) .surprising how so many sealed records open dirty.

whats your phono setup Mike ?

[MikeBrewster77]

You gotta clean it anyway.(or at least wipe down the surface) .surprising how so many sealed records open dirty.

Yup, happens all the time. Little bits of paper from the liner inserts, dust, etc. FWIW, it's still sealed as I haven't been able to actually bring myself to open it.

whats your phono setup Mike ?

It's the weak link in my system right now unfortunately . My standard table is a Luxman PD-284 with a Sumiko Pearl cartridge. Sadly, while adjusting the cartridge a few months back, one of the leads snapped. I intend to have it completely re-wired, and in the interim, I'm using a back up JVC with an Ortofon Super 10 cartridge. I modded it to remove all of the "automatic" functionality (since as we all know that puts unnecessary resistant pressure on the tonearm towards the inner grooves) but the recent upgrades to my system have really made it clear that it's the weakest source component I own.

[Ducatista47]

Mike, that looks like a higher end model of the line containing my old LA-55. Is it direct drive with a Hall Effect generator to keep the rotation smooth? I know what you mean about upgrades showing it lacking.

I used the table until I started using nice triode power, which showed it up to be very noisy. It sounded fine with my Marantz and Denon amps. (It is amazing to me what most SS amps hide. At the end of the day, I don't care how good they are, triodes simply resolve detail better and are, if done right - no negative feedback in the preamp - so quiet.) I broke the bank and went for a Rega P5 and a Dynavector Karat moving coil cart and matching phono preamp. Expensive but dead silent. I don't think vinyl is anwhere near its potential without a really nice modern turntable, but OMG the cost...

Vinyl is such a good news/bad news story. I love it but it ticks me off that it craps out at 35hz. Acoustic bass...sigh.

So to get back to topic and to prove what a sucker I am, I recently acquired Bill Evan's Quintessence on a 45 RPM limited edition. And I already had it on a vintage 33 RPM. What an album, what a piece of music and what a great candidate for a 45. That is what's playing now, my friends.

Clark

[MikeBrewster77]

Mike, that looks like a higher end model of the line containing my old LA-55. Is it direct drive with a Hall Effect generator to keep the rotation smooth? I know what you mean about upgrades showing it lacking.

Clark,

Yup, it's a DD, though not quartz locked (it actually has variable pitch control which is an odd feature on their tables.) I mean for what it is, it's not bad, but I miss my Luxman already. Completely OT, but if anyone knowns of someone who restores TT's and can vouch for their work, please let me know.

I don't think vinyl is anwhere near its potential without a really nice modern turntable, but OMG the cost...

Vinyl is such a good news/bad news story. I love it but it ticks me off that it craps out at 35hz. Acoustic bass...sigh.

I have a complete love/hate relationship with vinyl. At least a dozen times over the course of as many years, I've threatened to drop it all off at Goodwill and be done with it! It's heavy, it's bulky, it's impossible to keep perfectly clean, it snaps, crackles, and pops, it wears out after repeated playback, it posseses pretty substantial sonic limitations, inner groove distortion sucks, no one seems to know how to master it right anymore so it's a total crapshoot to buy new music on vinyl, the price point for decent playback equipment is outrageous, pivot turntables are inherently flawed (thus "null" points) and they're an absolute bitch to configure: VTA, tracking force, anti-skate, arm height, mirrors, protractors, magnifying glasses ... you practically need a degree in Physics and a laboratory to set one of these damned things up right!

But when the entire confluence comes together just right... and it can be a rare experience - it's pure magic! It's realistic, it has an unbeatable musicality and presence, plus it's tangible and involving - creating the perfect storm of an audio reproduction experience.

Now playing: Autograph, John Denver (on vinyl, of course )

[SEAWOLF97]

Well it was beautiful today, low 80's ..the first day for T & shorts,,so did the vinyl bike safari ...3 stores - no joy (guess I've mined them all out )

Anyway ..had the pod going and listening to the Moody's and really marveled at how good the album was...problem was that I get their albums all mixed up as there are so many compilations/permutations...so came home and looked it up on wiki by cut...it was "Every good Boy deserves Favour" ...wiki is cool as I also learned where the title comes from..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Every_G..._Favour_(album)

The title is taken from the student mnemonic for the lines of the treble clef

When the G-clef is placed on the second line of the staff, it is called the "treble clef". This is by far the most common clef used today, and the only G-clef still in use. For this reason, the terms G-clef and treble clef are often seen as synonymous. It was formerly also known as the "violin clef". The treble clef was historically used to mark a treble, or pre-pubescent, voice part.
The lines on the treble clef staff correspond to the letters E G B D F, and can be remembered with the sayings Every Good Boy Does Fine, Every Good Boy Deserves Fun/Favour/Fudge/Fruit/Football , Every Good Bird Does Fly, Elephants Grow Big Dirty Feet or Ernie Gave Bert Dead Frogs.

I'm glad the MB's had the good sense not to call their album
"Ernie Gave Bert Dead Frogs"

But I did also listen to "Virtual Moodies" ..which seems to be Haywards singing paired with an orchestral background...The highlight of that was "Tuesday Afternoon" in Spanish.

[SEAWOLF97]

What a great image. Leica lenses! Is there any better?

The little Leica strikes again ..68/69 ? fixed 200mm , no zoom, you get what you gots.

[Ducatista47]

Back in the 1960's, during that period before there were such things as Moog synthesizers and such, there actually were (and had been for awhile) composers of what was called "electronic music."

In the 1950's and early 1960's, Pre-Moog, I occasionally heard the work of electronic music composers. There were at least a couple of widely heard works. One was the soundtrack of Forbidden Planet. That one was definitely in the more pop music camp of the genre, but was terrific work nonetheless.

The other one I remember was a stunner. At a World's Fair (I don't remember which one, but Wikipedia points to it being the 1970 Osaka Fair. I remember it being much earlier, perhaps Brussels. So much for memory.), the great one presented his music daily. I saw some national news coverage and I can still see and hear him saying to the audience, with a smile, "My name is Stockhausen." The emphasis was on "haus", by the way, not "Stock." There is nothing like hearing someone pronounce their own name to finally get it right. (Porsche, anyone? Its "e," despite every sickening Yuppie I ever met, is not silent.)

That is correct, one of the greatest composers of our time was, among other things, heavily into electronic music. I don't own a damn thing of his and will try to rectify that at the next Public Radio vinyl sale.

Then it will be what's playing now.

Dig this Stockhausen idea:

In lectures such as “Music in Space” from 1958 (Stockhausen Texte 1:152–75), he called for new kinds of concert halls to be built, "suited to the requirements of spatial music". His idea was

a spherical space which is fitted all around with loudspeakers. In the middle of this spherical space a sound-permeable, transparent platform would be suspended for the listeners. They could hear music composed for such standardized spaces coming from above, from below and from all points of the compass. (Stockhausen Texte 1:153)

As far as electronic instruments, except for the soundtrack of The Outer Limits, I never heard anything as pretty, or as musical, or as intriguing as the Novachord. It ends up that was a Novachord.

Clark

[Ducatista47]

Mexican Moon. I can't think of another heavy guitar-bass-drums trio fronted by a brilliant, unique contralto. While sounding nothing like them, the only group that reminds me of The Pretenders (also lead by a brilliant, unique contralto). I like to think this is their masterpiece.

I have to watch it with this old favorite. I can't use the Stax headphones because I want to turn it up high enough to hurt my hearing. I am forcing restraint by playing it on my Hammer Dynamics. I did switch the amp from triode to pentode, though.

It is always a shock to suddenly hear Jim Jones ranting.

Apart from the music, Johnette Napolitano is allergic to entertainment business BS and assholes in general, see her prove it here: http://www.fullinbloommusic.com/johnette.html I like her attitude - and she has plenty of it. She reminds me of a 4313B answer to a stupid question. She also reminds me of a lot of my friends, teachers included, in Art School all those years ago. Hope her real estate investments went OK.

Clark

[Ken Pachkowsky]

Have any of you come across this artist yet?

Wow....talk about playing with passion. She gives me goose bumps to say the least. Take a listen to "Emanuelle" on Chris Botti's new Boston Live DVD or CD.

Or, search for her on UTube and watch her play a killer violin solo and break into "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Led Zepplin. This girl is a prodigy.

PS: Catch her playing with Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull)

Ken

[Ducatista47]

George Benson, Beyond The Blue Horizon. 1971. Some of you, it occurred to me, might be too young to know that George Benson was a first rate Jazz guitarist before he made mainstream records. I am listening to a sterling example right now, on vinyl. CTI6009. Got it for a dollar at a record sale year before last.

Among the sidemen are Ron Carter on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums.

Clark

[whizzer]

[quote=Ducatista47;248949]I
The other one I remember was a stunner. At a World's Fair (I don't remember which one, but Wikipedia points to it being the 1970 Osaka Fair. I remember it being much earlier, perhaps Brussels. So much for memory.), the great one presented his music daily. I saw some national news coverage and I can still see and hear him saying to the audience, with a smile, "My name is Stockhausen." The emphasis was on "haus", by the way, not "Stock." There is nothing like hearing someone pronounce their own name to finally get it right. (Porsche, anyone? Its "e," despite every sickening Yuppie I ever met, is not silent.)
In lectures such as “Music in Space” from 1958 (Stockhausen Texte 1:152–75), he called for new kinds of concert halls to be built, "suited to the requirements of spatial music". His idea was

a spherical space which is fitted all around with loudspeakers. In the middle of this spherical space a sound-permeable, transparent platform would be suspended for the listeners. They could hear music composed for such standardized spaces coming from above, from below and from all points of the compass. (Stockhausen Texte 1:153)

Stockhausen's idea was based on what Edgard Varese had actually done a few years previously at the World's Fair. It predated stereo. Every instrument in the composition had multiple channels, so there was not only the illusion of space, but also of movement. Check out Frank Zappa's Tribute to Edgard Varese site for more details.