ajf67

No, issimo means "very". So pianissimo is very soft. Fortissimo is very loud. Organissimo is very organ! As in "Organissimo goes to 11"

I just had to get out my mono copy of December's Children Leeway. THis is a group that could haveseriously benefitted from a George Martin-like figure that the Beatles had. But, these LPs sound so much better than the horrid CD versions that Abkco put out originally. The new remastered ones are superb, but I still like the Lps better than the CD layer though. I don't have an SACD player so I can't comment on the sound of those.

Amen. I don't really get the 180g thing. I think it is hype b.s.

The way our culture is headed, we may get these anyway!

Man, those Stones early LPs sound great.

I don't really think of the various periods of Monk's music to be different qualitatively as much as I think of them as just being different. Each period brings its own rewards. But, I do tend to think of the Blue Notes as a kind of Rosetta Stone to his music, the "originals" that he expanded on thoughout his career. I also want to echo the comments on the Columbias, particularly "It's Monk's Time," "Monk"s Dream," and the Solo album.

Count me as paranoid too. I think the Classic Records re-issues are generally very well done, and they certainly sound analog to my ears. I was even getting paranoid about the Mosaic Herbie Nichols set. I have the LP version, and in the back of the book only the LP sides are listed, no mention of what is contained on the CD version, although it was also issued on CD. However, the only reference to the recording is "Recording engineer: Rudy Van Gelder Digital transfers: Ron McMaster That's it. I have no other vinyl of Nichols to compare it to, but I was always under the impression that Mosaic's LPs were always from the analog sources and were put through the LP manufacturing process entirely in anolog. Am I just being paranoid?

WIsh I could see that. Guaranteed fun.

You just had to go and point this out, didn't you? Now I'm $150 poorer than I was 5 minutes ago... But oh, so very happy! Glad you got it. It's very well done, and $150 is a very fair price. The sound on them is fantastic.

I am so bummed that I can't get up there for that. I've been wanting to hear them live for a long time.

Unlike everybody else, I don't think this format is necessarily a bad thing. The kind of radio station that plays this isn't very interesting to people who like music, anyhow. I was amused by the compost reference, as "culture" means the act of growing something (as in agriculture) and culture at the oldies/hits level is really more or less ideological compost--a medium that people exist in, and otherwise grow (though probably not through the action of the compost, which is probably there more for drainage--these songs can inspire soppiness!-- than nutritive purposes). I am interetsed in whether Dan is right. I'm thinking this is the new Muzak. Music that everyone will complain about (discerning folk are supposed to complain about such things, and we all want to appear to be discerning), but most folks will actually find innocuous or rather pleasant, in a cultural composty sort of way. After all, these are the same folks who watch television. --eric Flawless lagic, but I still don't like it

Albert Ayler Spiritual Unity ESP mono

Man, that was intense reading it. I can't imagine what it must have been like to experience that. What a great piece.

Holy Schmoley. Man that's tempting. As an aside, it always kills me when people bid up titles that are still in print. The Bitches Brew box is already up to about $70 I think. This guy's a good seller and all, but why not just buy a new one at Mosaic? I can see if you can get it for less, but I bet it won't go for less. Maybe I'll be wrong, but we'll see.

The Miles Davis Prestige box is available here if anyone is interested.

I've never used this site, but a friend has and has liked it. I browse there occaisionally and he gets some interesting stuff. Edit added: Expensive. recordsbymail

Yep. This is a good one. Of the Grappellis I have, its the one I return to most often (which isn't all that often actually).

Can't help on the Columbia Journalism Review, but I bet it would be interesting and worth a try if you have the $$. I used to get a bunch, but now I get three magazines: 1) The New York Review of Books, 2)Shambhala Sun (a Buddhist magazine), and 3) I also get their Buddhist practice quarterly but I can't remember its exact name! I think it's called Buddhist Practice or something like that. I used to get some audiophile magazines, like The Absolute Sound and Stereophile, but I found that I really didn't keep reading the detailed reviews of the equipment. I did like their album reviews though.

Sweet. I'd love to have that one. I've lost on E-Bay quite a few times on it.

Thanks for posting this. Neat link to the "50 Years of Living Presence" site.

I was going to add my take, but Rooster pretty much covered it for me. Nicely said.

I'm looking forward to this one. The only Pullen I have is his Montreaux date and "Milano Strut"

I'm going to commit Organissimo heresy, because I've decided to skip this one.

The rest of tonight has been: Jackie McLean Right Now Black label re-issue with the light blue Blue Note on the side. Has the Van Gelder though. Sounds great. Larry Young Into Somethin' New York mono The Piano Choir Strata East.

Ditto on the Hammond. It looked great on stage also.