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Soul Stream

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I don't give him quite so much credit for taking down links - basically people have to inform him that he's offering something that is in print. He often posts LPs from the Fantasy empire - mostly Prestige and related labels - without making any effort to check if it is available. But since he does respond if you inform him, I mostly keep an eye on that site to help him in his quest to offer only OOP recordings. But its pretty ridiculous when I can find that an LP was issued as part of a two-fer CD in exactly two searches on AMG - pick a song title from the list, see what recordings have it. Its either a huge blind spot, or he makes essentially no effort to really be sure something is OOP before he offers it.

What's really lame though is the reaction of his visitors to the absence of a link or a link being replaced. They're like children having discovered that their Halloween candy was taken away from them. In fact, I can say that my comments aimed at the music thieves (and particularly the responses they got) led him to change his blog to having comments moderated before they are posted.

And to be clear, I don't object to what this guy is doing. If he has nice copies of old LPs that will never (especially now) see the light of day on disc, then I say go for it. The problem is he has attracted a huge number of people who think music should be free, in all cases.

And anyway, his definition of jazz and particularly his fascination with over-produced crap from the late seventies really makes that site hit or miss, the vast majority misses.

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Yeah, Dan.... A lot of his tastes run to that over-produced 70's jazz era. That said, those are some of the sounds that I personally have never dug into...but I've found a few gems in there like Gabor Szabo's "Magical Connection" which sounds like a lost Grant Green album from the late Blue Note period. But something like Wilbert Longmire's "Revolution" LP with Leon Spencer...that's a tough LP to find, and a great one too. I've listened to stuff I never would...and found I dug quite a lot of it. Anyway, at this point in my listening...I'm alway happy to be hipped to something new. For a real bindblower check out Jimmy Smith's "Brown Paper Bag" Verve LP he has on there...Jimmy singing crazy, made up lyrics it seems (I guess you call it that! on every track). Pretty wild!

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actually a lot of that '70s production is lush and interesting - sorta like the funk sountracks on those old blaxpoloitation movies - good stuff and in many cases related to the whole idea of the soundtrack, even when it isnt actually a soundtrack -

and let's face it, Soulstream, nobody can get enough of Hot Dog <_<

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Guys like Jsngry will really dig this spot...! Enjoy!!!

Gee, who knew?

I find it most unusual that this is the only site out there offering rips of rare and/or OOP albums. You'd think that there would be some more.

On a completely unrelated note, I've been listening to Bitches' Brew lately, and now more than ever I appreciate that "Pharaoh's Dance" is one helluva tune. There's never enough Rhodes, it really is my favorite sound, it gets me to singin' & swingin'.

I could go on, but let's stay on topic here.

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and let's face it, Soulstream, nobody can get enough of Hot Dog TRUE THAT! :D

So Jim,...seems like you stumbled on this site before. Any gems you found that you'd recommend. And yes...Rhodes....saw 3 Days of The Condor last night...lots of Rhodes in the sexy 70's love scenes between Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway.

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I hesitate to explicitly and/or over-enthusiastically endorse such sites, since they are offering copyrighted material. As such, endorsing them is a violation of the letter of this board's policy. However, it would be hypocritical of me to state that I have not encountered some items on such sites that in all likelihood I would never encounter elsewhere, save for some stroke of mad collector's luck and/or Japan, especially now that it seems like the traditional "record business" is waving goodbye to itself.

I can only say that if one chooses to explore such sites, one should be mindful of the moral obligation one has to continue to purchase music through legitimate channels, especially if one uses these blogs as a digital-era "listening booth". I have recently "explored" the catalog of The Singers Unlimited, heard much I did not like, enough that I did, and just last week purchased an import 2-CD set of their complete A Capella sessions, a set which I am enjoying immensely, all the more so for having actually purchased it for no real practical reason other than to "make right" the use of that aforementioned digital listening booth.

One could argue that such sites are merely functioning as true determiners of market worth. It may very well be that there is no way in hell that I would pay full price for a new copy of, say, Joe Sample's Carmel, or even $7-$9 for a used one, but that an MP3 copy in less than "audiophile quality" sound is something that I will not turn down, because that's really all it's worth to me at this point in time, and/or that that translates to about $3-$4 for a used copy being a price I would now pay after having "refreshed" my memory of that album.

One could also make the argument that such easy access ultimately devalues all commercially released music, and that that in turn is a big contributing factor to the ongoing implosion of the current music business paradigm.

Truthfully, I think you can make both arguments, but if you make one to disprove the other, then you are ignoring the reality, which, as usual, consists of big parts of both existing simultaneously.

Here's a thought, though, I was in a local Half-Price not too long ago and saw what appeared to be more or less the Miles Prestige box on an MP3 data disc (1 or 2 discs, I don't recall) for $5.95. No packaging, no annotation, just the disc(s). I think this was some EU PD product, but no matter - it might well be that the days of any disc of recorded music being worth $10-$20 to the mass market are over, or rapidly drawing to a close. I'm too close to the old ways to objectively decide if this is a "good" thing or a "bad" thing, but one thing I feel confident in saying is that it is a thing, and it ain't gonna stop any time soon, definitely not in my lifetime.

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My thought about the site is... I could go into a USED record store and purchase an original copy of Gabor Szabo's "Magical Connection" and Gabor's estate still doesn't see a penny of it, some dude in a funky t-shirt just made 8 dollars. All these albums are basically crate digger finds that haven't been issued on CD and I'm all for that. Still, If Jim doesn't dig the thread, please delete it or I will happily if asked. Just trying to turn some folks onto dusty old records.

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A thread was started about this site a few months ago, but it was quickly deleted. But yeah, this is my favourite blog out there since the guy who runs it devotes it solely to OOP music and takes away the download links if the album becomes or is found to be available on CD.

I agree with Dan that he hasn't always been too careful in checking first what actually is available, but he seems to have improved in that regard recently. I also agree that there's a lot of 70s crap there, but there is enough of interest too, to make it very worthwhile. And the transfers are excellent.

It is refreshing that he only makes available OOP recordings. Compare it to another popular and very active jazz blog where they seem to take pride in posting new CD reissues just days or weeks after they have been released, thanking each other profusely for the posts and informing how "great" and "amazing" it is that it was posted. The victims are both "big" labels like Blue Note and Verve and small ones like Classics, which is hanging on the ropes. The funny thing is that there is something that is considered theft on this blog, and that is posting rips that have been posted on some other blog. Then you are a thief! But if you post a new Blue Note reissue, then it is amazing and great!

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I stumbled on this blog a few weeks back and thats how i got to hear Odell Brown and the Organizers

Raising the Roof.

I never download stuff , but i figured what the hell and it worked out great . Now if Mosaic

or Dusty or whoever wants to release this i will be the first in line to buy it.

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I wondered what you going to say Chuck.

Personally, I think it's a drag for the artists involved.

You can't eqaute it with buying a copy a a used record store either. That's a one time purchase to one person at a time who just happens to run across it. This is mass distribution to anyone in the world with a internet connection.

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This kind of thread puts me in a tough place. I know that people want to talk about this stuff and share links, but unfortunately the line between legality and illegality, not to mention the ethics of it all, is very blurry indeed. What's the difference between this blog and the one posted a few days ago that was offering downloads of Nessa Records products? Some of Chuck's catalog is OOP. Does that mean you should be allowed to download it for free from a blog?

I'd like to continue to discuss this, but for right now the rule still stands and I have deleted all links to the blog from the posts in this thread.

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