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Patricia Barber - Cafe Blue is an effects album

Drives me a little nuts how many still praise this album as the end all Jazz album for audiophiles. 

Mind you, I really like Miss Barber's music, and some tracks on Cafe Blue, but Cafe Blue, the darling of many an audiophile, isn't even close to her best album.  At best its Audiophile bait. At worst it's preternaturally sterile and lab grown. 

Live at the Green Mill for instance is just such a better album to listen to.

 

 

erik_squires
robert53
404 posts
 

Live: A Fortnight in France is a great CD. I also like the Companion CD.

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o_holter
950 posts
 

Thanks, all! Yes she is a great composer, musician and artist. Like Dianna Krall. Why are female artists so often overlooked by the men-mostly audiophile community? Even in 2023?

immatthewj
1,051 posts
 

I bought Cafe Blue HDCD back in the '90s when I first heard her cover of "Ode To Billy Joe" on a public radio station I listened to, and I honestly never listened to it much.  (So I cannot really explain all the other Patricia Barber CDs I bought during that same period of time, except, perhaps, that I am somewhat OCD.)  In the last few years I have gained a new appreciation for Cafe Blue & I have picked up a couple of different SACDs of that release and I listen to them frequently and I enjoy the experience. 

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