I am very pleased with the results I am getting from this temporary Denon cart! it is quite musical. It allows me to hear just how good the new turntable is. After only a few LP's, I can say that it is blacker, quieter and has really dropped the noise floor over the Scout. The music leaps out at you from the silence. It's so quiet that I don't realize how high the gain is as the lead-in grooves are so silent - then, boom... Who would have thought an old medium output DL300 still had so much life left? I shudder to think what a new upper end cartridge is going to do.
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Tonight, some Reggae. 1. Soundtrack from the movie "The Harder They Come" on Mango Records, Distributed by Island Records. Featuring young Jimmy Cliff, other listed artists are "Maytals", "Melodians", and "Slickers". Snippets of the film plays in my mind's eye every time I hear this album. 2. Exodus- Bob Marley and the Wailers. Good old warhorse sounds fresh still. |
Rush, If you don't my chiming in here, I really enjoy Bob Marley and the Wailers "Rastaman Vibration" (Island PS 8383) If you like compilation LPs, "Legend: The best of Bob Marley and the Wailers" (Island A1 90169). This one is nice as it contains some of the Wailers' most recognizable songs: "Jamming", Exodus", "Get Up, Stand Up", "No Woman, No Cry", etc. |
Hello Rushton: Your question is very hard on my brain. I had to go through my Reggae section to give you an answer. If I were to buy only two reggae albums, I would buy 1)"Bob Marley and the Wailers Live!" 1975 Island Records ILPS 9376. 2)Third World "You've Got the Power", Columbia FC3774 "Legend" as described by Slipknot, is a fine compilation of Marley's work. I prefer "Live" because I am partial to recordings of live performances, and I prefer the slightert faster tempo at which the songs are played on "Live". Third World gets a nod, because while the entire album is good, "Try Jah Love" (Side One Track One-written by Stevie Wonder) is an ultimate test of one's groovenosity/life force quotient. If you don't dance or at least get your head bobbing when this track is played at a good volume, you are likely in a coma. However, don't obsess over the choices. Your approach, IMO is unimpeachable-buy two, play them to death and get them inside you. Then buy just one more/Repeat process. I have to go blast Third World now. Happy Listening. Michael |
Have the day off, everyone is out of the house (even the dogs). So, we have: Art Pepper "Meets The Rhythm Section" (Contemporary S7532) Rhythm Devils (Hart/Kreutzmann) "Rhythm Devils Play River Music" (Passport PB 9844) Emerson, Lake and Palmer "Trilogy" (Atlantic P-10113A) ELP "Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends" (Manticore MC 3-200) Shostakovich "Symphony No. 12 "1917"" (Melodiya/Angel SR-40128) |
Doc Watson "Home Again!" (Vagauard VSD-79239/Cisco reissue) Don't miss this one folks. Incredible, clean, pure recording. Mendelssohn "Mendelssohn in Scotland Symphony No. 3, Fingal's Cave" Maag/LSO (Decca SXL 2246/Speaker's Corner 45 rpm reissue) Another great one. This recording is demonstration quality. |
Life beyond audio this past week: Olympics coverage is taking precedence for my discretionary time! Some incredible stories happening throughout the competitions. Glad to hear you like the Doc Watson and Mendelssohn LPs, Joe. They are awfully nice! I still need to get Doc Watson's "Southbound" and the two Cisco reissues of the Joan Baez LPs. Aaggh, my wish list at Red Trumpet is getting longer again. . |
Rushton, Two Reggae titles for you Judy Mowatt - Black Woman Black Uhuru - Dub Factor, The I would love to hear what your table might bring out of the Black Uhuru disc. If you like Black Woman, you would probably like all of Judy Mowatt's titles. I do. If you don't like Black Woman, you might still like some of her other titles. Neither of the above titles are representative of classic Reggae IMO. Two that are Bob Marley - Natty Dread Bunny Wailer - Bunny Wailer Sings the Wailers |
I just finished listening to "Trouble Man" (Tamla T322L). This Marvin Gaye's outstanding soundtrack to the most forgettable movie of the same title. Maybe it's just my mood, but this is in the top 1% of all my albums. Just a wandering, fabulously inspired performance with an inexplicable ending. Actually parallels his life, I guess. |
An afternoon of music with friends; what a treat! Ray Brown Trio: Soular Energy (Pure Audiophile) Laudate II (Proprius) Menotti: Violin Concerto (Reference Recordings) Rochberg: String Quartet No 3 (Nonesuch) Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 8, Borodin Qt (Decca) Shostakovich: Sym 5, Previn/LSO (EMI) Holly Cole: Romantically Helpless/One Trick Pony (Grooveland) Supertramp: Crime of the Century/School All analogue, all vinyl, all great music to share. . |
Ray, VPI offers the advantage of a platter that fully supports the LP and is sturdy enough to use as a platform for "scrubbing" the surface of the LP using your preferred cleaning fluid and brush (e.g., Disc Doctor or Records Research). I've used a VPI Model 17 pretty intensively for 18 years, and it still runs like a champ; they are very sturdily built. Either the VPI 16.5 or the 17 would be a great addition. OTOH, the manual cleaning process with Disc Doctor works pretty well without a vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner adds a lot of convenience, but a more important key to excellent cleaning of your vinyl is using a good cleaning fluid and and good brushes, like the Disc Doctor. I say this after having been a dedicated user of home brew cleaning solutions with my VPI for many years, and being a DD skeptic. NO MORE! After an experience at Lloyd Walker's house, where he took one of my "clean" records, plopped it on top of his VPI 17 and cleaned it with Disc Doctor fluid using a DD brush, the improvement in clarity was so immediately apparent that I become a convert on the spot and have never looked back. . |
Today: John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman, Impulse AS-40, Speakers Corner reissue (from the analogue master tapes) Fleetwood Mac: Fleetwood Mac Wild Child Butler, Analogue Productions Original recording, d-to-d. If you like blues and you haven't listened to the APO releases, you are missing some wonderful performances in great sound! Pettersson, Sym 8, Commissiona/BaltimoreSO, DGG 2531 176. Great music, excellent performance, fanastic recording - this is NOT the typical DGG sound. Recorded under the direction of Robert Wood (Telarc), this recording has a natural soundstage, extended frequency response, very good dynamic range and no obvious mult-miking. Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Perlman and Ozawa/BSO, DGG. Very nice performance by a young feisty Perlman. Unfortunately, typcial DGG multi-mike mess for sound. Berg Violin Concerto - wonderful work for lovers of great 20th Century music. From the same LP above. . |
Today I installed the 1" Cellular shades as called for by Rives Audio http://www.rivesaudio.com They are insulating room darkening shades. So, I played the standard large orchestral warhorses: Mussorgsky "Pictures At An Exhibition" (RCA LSC-2201/Classic Records reissue) Stravinsky "Firebird complete ballet" (Mercury SR90226/Classic Records reissue) Mendelssohn "Symphony No. 3, Fingal's Cave" (Decca SXL 2246/Speaker's Corner 45 rpm reissue Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" (Columbia CS 8163/Classic Records 45 rpm reissue) As good as things have been sounding, the window treatments have taken it to a whole new level. All the residual glare from the 6ft and 10 ft windows is gone compliments of the 1" insulated cellular shades. |
Ray Brown Trio, "Soular Energy" Pure Audiophile PA-002 Bill Berry, "Shortcake" Pure Audiophile PA-004 (again!) Whatever Stan Ricker is doing with his revised half-speed mastering process on these Pure Audiophile LPs, the results are simply stunning. I just had to come back to these LPs again tonight both for the superb musicianship and to wallow in the incredible sonics! The inner detail, leading edge transient response and dynamics on these LPs are very special. . |
So far today: Rickie Lee Jones: "Rickie Lee Jones" Rickie Lee Jones: "Pirates" (thanks Sbank !!) Sonny Rollins: "Way Out West", Analogue Productions 45 rpm reissue "Die Rohre - The Tube, A Baroque Delight for the Ears" Tacet L74 (all tube recording and mastering chain, delightful Baroque music in every good sound) Itzhak Perlman & Pinchas Zukerman: "Duets for 2 Violins" - a surprisingly good Angel pressing (S-37406) of this 1977 collaboration. |
Some friends over today. The feast: Crosby, Stills and Nash - CSN "Helplessly Hoping" Donald Fagan - The Nightfly "Walk Between Raindrops" Allman brothers Band - Fillmore East "You Don't Love Me" Louis Armstrong - Satchmo Plays King Oliver "St. James Infirmary" Eva Cassidy - Songbird "Fields of Gold" Joni Mitchell - Hejira "Coyote" Dead Can Dance - Into the Labyrinth "Yulunga" Patricia Barber - Modern Cool "Constantinople" Stravinsky - "Firebird" Dorati/LSO |
hello Rushton,american IV :the man comes around,,,2002 american recordings,LLC,man. and marketing by Lost highway records,rick rubin,there is also a box set of his last recordings,but ive only seen it on redbook cd,hopefully theyll release it on lp also,if not i will buy the cds,most of it is prev.unrealesed i believe,powerful stuff!! |
Ray: Thanks! For those interested, I just checked to see if American IV is still available on vinyl, and it is: http://www.redtrumpet.com/software/item.php?item=17745&sid=1170596972 |
Ella Fiztgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Songbook, Verve - the lady is incredible! Even through the surface noise of these 50 year old records, I just get lost in her incredible singing. And a supporting cast that includes Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins, Johnny Hodges, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Petersen, Ray Brown, and more is nothing to sneeze at. [I'd love to hear the Speakers Corner reissue for even better sound quality: I just can't quite justify the price for the 4LP set. :-( ] Doc & Merle Watson's Guitar Album, Flying Fish FF301 Joan Baez, Volume 2, Vanguard VRS 9094 - just a wonderful vocalist and her guitar, mono. . |