After a (weeks) worth of listening...


What lp would you recommend the most to other members here?

I belong to several music threads and have gained much knowledge and have just as much to share..

Here is a chance to post what you've imagined is your (one) most enjoyable moment/lp of the past week of listening.


Having to choose, right now, and getting this thread started, I'd choose..

Gary Wright "The Dream Weaver"


128x128slaw
My neighbor gave me a couple of boxes of his "lifetime" vinyl. Included in those boxes were several great titles. After cleaning, I've heard some really great stuff I had planned on buying. Out of the ones I've heard, I'm recommending two now...

Taj Mahal  "S/T" original pressing
John Prine  "S/T"  original pressing
Frank Zappa's "Sheik Yerbouti" and Tull's "Aqualung (Live)"  are getting a thorough workout this week! 
Not everyone's cup of tea....

If you're looking for a demo lp ..here it is...

Blake Mills  "Heigh Ho"....nice...real nice!
Just finished 4 days with Iron and Wine's new album Beast Epic. It sounds so good. Lots of great, intimate vocals and mostly acoustic instruments with almost none of the electronic treatments he's known for.
First of all, I Love Live Recordings. I also love great Americana and Alt-Country. This week I've been listening to Jame McMurtry and the Heartless Bastards - "Live in Aught-Three". I love this record! Makes me wish I was in whatever "bar" this was recorded at, standing at the bar, drinking' a few beers and enjoying the show........

Great songs and well played.......
Last week it was Alison Krauss, Windy City. I love the purity and pathos of her voice.

This week it's Sharon Van Etten, Epic. Especially Save Yourself. Eerily beautiful overdubbing herself.
I have 3 this week.

(1) A blast from the past, Steppenwolf "Live, at the Matrix". This has some very good songs. An imperfect recording as it’s heavy on the right channel and the vocals come solely from the right. Good to hear it again.
(2) My original copy of Iron Butterfly "Heavy". The sonics are extremely good. One of rocks great singers here as well.
(3) I just scored a EJ "Madman Across the Water" on DCC. Wow! Now I can listen and enjoy all of the greatness I had been missing.
@2channel8,

Thanks for the Sharon Van Etten post. I’ve got my copy out for another listen.

Slaw - Iron Butterfly's "Ball" lps is to die for. What an exceptional recording. Can't keep my feet still. 
Ride- "Weather Diaries"
Snarky Puppy- "Culcha Vulcha"
Kings of Leon- "Mechanical Bull"

Madman Across the Water is a great album. Tumbleweed Connection is also a fantastic one from the same era.
rockyboy,

I admit to never hearing "Ball" yet.

"Metamorphosis" has always been one of my personal (best) lps ever! I own three copies, one is a WLP!
The Doobie Brothers - "What Were Once Vices are now Habits". Just Wow! Great record that I've been enjoying for about 40 years or so....... Listened to it several times over the last week or two.
Nik Bartsch "Ronin Live"...
but, seriously, all this would be so much more informative if we would follow up such advices by some "background check". Like posting our fav albums (three would be enough), to show our own preferences?...
i go first:
Wish You Were Here
Within the Realm of a Dying Sun
Khmer
otherwise its like following the "best" reviews on Amazon, you end up with Top 30 ;-(


@reubent,

I listened to it again last weekend...agreed! I don't own one bad sounding Doobie Brothers lp. They were always consistently well recorded.


Here’s my pick, one I haven’t listened to in at least 25 years...

John Fogerty "Centerfield". The sonics are extremely good and what a voice!
Here's my close 2nd choice...

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians  "Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars"

It was great then and still hols up well now!
@slaw 
K D Lang "Live by Request" is also awesome; but I don't have the LP. Does HDCD count?
@slaw & @toddverrone,
I own no Pearl Jam. I wonder why; but I heard "Black" on the car radio the other day and decided to fix that situation. So which do you think has better SQ, "Ten" or "Rearview mirror"? 
@2channel8,

Your HDCD counts. (I listen only to vinyl.)

I don't own "Rearview Mirror" so I cannot respond.
I'm on my 4th listen of Roger McGuinn's - "Back From Rio" this week. Really outstanding recording, all the way through. Can believe I shelved it for the last 10 years. Maybe I need to take a look through my collection for more hidden gems. It's a winner........
Bad Company  "Burnin' Sky". My all time favorite BC lp! I'm listening to my promo/DJ timing strip copy. I think it's my best sounding BC lp as well.
Beck - "Morning Phase" 

Holy Cow! I don't know what I was doing in 2014 when this was released, but somehow, I missed it. Got a copy on vinyl for my birthday on New Year's Eve, but didn't get a chance to listen to it until this week. Well, since then I listened to it 4 times and it is incredible. I had head of the record and knew it won a couple of Grammy Awards, but I put no faith in the grammys. Well, they got this one right! It's a fantastic album and I love the way it sounds. Big, wide, wall of sound, with lots of big, wide overdubbed vocals and strings. Really good stuff IMHO.
@reubent 

I share your appreciation for Beck's "Morning Phase".  The arrangements along with song writing and musicianship are truly excellent.  Note that his father is credited for string arrangements.  If you've not listened, try his "Sea Change".  Somewhat similar in feel to "Morning Phase".  These are the only 2 recordings by Beck that I own.  Wish he'd round them out as a "trilogy".

+1 @reubent, @ghosthouse ,

I recently listened again. One of his great lps for sure. I've always been a big fan of "Mutations".
@slaw 
OK.  Thanks.  I'll give Mutations a try.  Never listened to it before.

Are you or @reubent into Moby at all?  I am totally clueless (and happily so, I think) about the IDM/club scene but Innocents and, to a lesser degree, Wait For Me are occasionally enjoyed.  
@ghosthouse and @slaw - I don't have Mutations, but I will check it out. I'm slowly building a complete catalog of all of Beck's standard studio records.

GH, I'm aware of Moby, and I hear his work occasionally on Radio Paradise. However, I've have not yet invested any time or effort into exploring his work. Am I missing anything? 
@slaw 
Diggin' Mutations right now (1st track, Cold Brains, anyway).  Thanks for the recommendation.  The sound and feel are more similar than expected to Morning Phase & Sea Change.  Not sure what year it came out relative to MP and SC, but maybe this completes the trilogy I was hoping for.

@reubent 
Beauty is in the ear of the listener, I suppose and I don't know his full catalog by any means (hence my comment about the IDM/club scene).  Innocents works for me and I'd suggest it as a place to start even if not typical of the rest of his catalog.  Sonics could be better but I like the feel of many of the tracks.  Especially Track 3, Almost Home, with Damian Jurado on vocals.  

@ghosthouse ,

There are so many bands/music I have yet to discover and Moby is one of them.
@slaw - Little Village is indeed a Super Group. A Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe, Jim Keltner and John Hiatt combo could not be described as anything less. I've had the S/T release on CD since it was release back in 1991. I've always enjoyed it, but I've also always felt it could have, and should have, been better considering the talent. That said, "Big Love", "Do You Want My Job" and "Don't Think About Her When You're Trying to Drive" are good enough to keep me coming back over all these years.

Thanks for the reminder. I played a bit of it this morning while cleaning records......
@reubent ,

You should try and find the lp. It is a reference recording!

Happy Listening!
@slaw - 
You should try and find the lp. It is a reference recording!
I think i will.........
slaw & reubent, I feel safe in guessing you both know that Little Village were first together on John Hiatt's Bring The Family album. It's now available on a Mobile Fidelity LP, and is actually better music imo than their s/t album (Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner are not songwriters). I am so grateful I got to see LV live, on a Burbank sound stage to an industry-only audience. When they did "Lipstick Sunset", time stood still for me during Ry's guitar solo. The single best musical moment of my life!
@bdp24 - Yep, I was aware that it is the same lineup. Awesome that you got to see them together. I can totally understand why it was a memorable music moment for you. I'm jealous...
@bdp24 ,

When anyone writes such a memorable musical moment, I am in awe!

I bought my LV (lp) when it first came out.. it's a UK (import). Sounds fantastic!
@slaw - I only have "see the Light" on CD, but I like it. Always have.......
The Stone Roses - "Second Coming"

I just bought it on CD. It was $5 and I wasn't sure I was going to like it, so I did not invest in the LP. Anyway, LOVE IT after 4-5 listens. It might be better than the S/T album. A few more listens will be need to pick a win, lose or draw......

TT
Well, this week's most played LP has been The Guess Who "Share The Land". I had never heard it before, but was familiar with the hits. Anyway, found a copy in the "new today" used record bin at my LRS and picked it up for a few dollars. Love It! I've been all the way through it 4 times so far this week. Great stuff......
Pure teenage rock n' roll!

Still holds up as their (best to me) effort..

Def Leppard  "High'n' Dry".... give it another spin...
@bdp24, @ reubent,

I have a retraction. We were discussing "Little Honey" recently. I thought it was on this thread but, here goes. It was not IMO, her best in terms of SQ and it was very noisy. I remember reubent commenting on this as well. I just put it through a very slow, extended US cleaning. It really, really helped, I now enjoy listening to it. (If I were to pick it apart.. it is somewhat compressed and more inconsistent song by song compared to the majority of her lps I own). It is pressed off-center as so many lps are these days as well.

US cleaning is the best thing that’s happened to the end user of vinyl in a while.
Beth Hart/Joe Bonamassa  "Don't Explain" (lp)

This lp was my first introduction to both artists. I liked it then (it's been several years since I've listened to this one)...it prompted me to pursue Beth's output.

Listening today..wow..... It's an almost perfect lp. They compliment one another almost better than any two artists' colaborations I can think of. To top it off, the vinyl is quiet, the sonics are extremely engaging. You have the warmth associated with an analog recording. Very, very nice. A strong recommendation!