Jump to content

ECM Touchstones


montg

Recommended Posts

The first batch of those 'Touchstones' have just appeared on e-music!!!!!!

Apparently not available in the U.S. (yet?).

23 titles are up - including things like Facing You, Open, to Love, Solstice and American Garage. And my favourite vocal disc of all time - Norma Winstone's 'Somewhere Called Home'.

Not all Touchstones - some newer titles too from Miroslav Vitous and Iro Haarla.

These things cost £7 a time via iTunes. With my monthly account of 100 at £19.99 I could pull in 10-12 of these.

I'll certainly be be acquiring 2 or 3 when my units refresh at the weekend.

Edited by Bev Stapleton
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 116
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Well, I really hope they resist going to downloads only. What an awful way to acquire music! Give me the entire physical product please.

Honestly, with the ECMs, there's not much to go with the "physical" part - just the artwork. No liner notes or anything that can't be easily found on places like AMG.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I really hope they resist going to downloads only. What an awful way to acquire music! Give me the entire physical product please.

Honestly, with the ECMs, there's not much to go with the "physical" part - just the artwork. No liner notes or anything that can't be easily found on places like AMG.

I mean the disc itself. I don't trust hard drives or CD-Rs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I really hope they resist going to downloads only. What an awful way to acquire music! Give me the entire physical product please.

I imagine they'll do both until the market for the physical CD dries up.

Even then ECM are a label likely to continue to run a specialised 'connoisseur's' line in the physical CD. I'm not sure they could sustain more than their biggest sellers that way though.

The download approach works for me, however.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I really hope they resist going to downloads only. What an awful way to acquire music! Give me the entire physical product please.

Honestly, with the ECMs, there's not much to go with the "physical" part - just the artwork. No liner notes or anything that can't be easily found on places like AMG.

I mean the disc itself. I don't trust hard drives or CD-Rs.

With emusic, you don't have to trust hardware. Everything you have ever paid for is saved in your profile. If your hard drive fails, you've got everything "backed up" on their server.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can always burn a safety copy of the music...or 2....or 3.

Downloading is in its very early days and I'm sure the various glitches surrounding it will rapidly be solved. I can't see any way that it won't become the major way of acquiring music in the near future.

But just as things are still put on vinyl, so I imagine there will be CDs for quite a while, though I can't see them having the range of choice that downloading will offer.

I'm sure with every change in technology - 78 to LP, the end of the mono option, cassette, 8 track etc, many people have been sad to see the old format go. That's understandable (I still miss the LP sleeve, though not the records themselves). But after 20 odd years of the CD model dominating all and other formats falling flat (SACD anyone?), I'd wager that this is the one that will overtake the CD.

I've just got to get past my need to burn it on a CD-R and make a cover for it! Still locked into that model when I know others are already working from digital squeezboxes and the like.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Speaking of downloads and ECM...http://www.amazon.com/Rarum-Box-Set-Selected-Recordings/dp/B0013XQI0E/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1221284112&sr=8-1

ECM is a label I've always dabbled with and enjoyed what I've heard but the releases I come by always seem kind of accidental (pick up Standards Live at a pawn shop, find Bight Sized Lift at a thrift, etc.) Soooo...those of you with a little more knowledge, would that rarium set be a good place to start exploring more ECM or should I check out some of these Touchstones instead? At $18 for the set, it's almost a no-brainier anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of downloads and ECM...http://www.amazon.com/Rarum-Box-Set-Selected-Recordings/dp/B0013XQI0E/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1221284112&sr=8-1

ECM is a label I've always dabbled with and enjoyed what I've heard but the releases I come by always seem kind of accidental (pick up Standards Live at a pawn shop, find Bight Sized Lift at a thrift, etc.) Soooo...those of you with a little more knowledge, would that rarium set be a good place to start exploring more ECM or should I check out some of these Touchstones instead? At $18 for the set, it's almost a no-brainier anyway.

At $18 you've got a marvellous range of the label on those 12 CDs. It's so inexpensive that even if you don't like what you hear you've hardly lost anything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of downloads and ECM...http://www.amazon.com/Rarum-Box-Set-Selected-Recordings/dp/B0013XQI0E/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1221284112&sr=8-1

ECM is a label I've always dabbled with and enjoyed what I've heard but the releases I come by always seem kind of accidental (pick up Standards Live at a pawn shop, find Bight Sized Lift at a thrift, etc.) Soooo...those of you with a little more knowledge, would that rarium set be a good place to start exploring more ECM or should I check out some of these Touchstones instead? At $18 for the set, it's almost a no-brainier anyway.

That was an amazing deal! Thanks for letting us know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I really hope they resist going to downloads only. What an awful way to acquire music! Give me the entire physical product please.

Honestly, with the ECMs, there's not much to go with the "physical" part - just the artwork. No liner notes or anything that can't be easily found on places like AMG.

I mean the disc itself. I don't trust hard drives or CD-Rs.

With emusic, you don't have to trust hardware. Everything you have ever paid for is saved in your profile. If your hard drive fails, you've got everything "backed up" on their server.

Then you just have to worry whether they will keep the label or album. I downloaded one, lost the media when a drive failed, and was unable to redownload it because they stopped carrying the album. I have successfully re-downloaded a bunch of others though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of downloads and ECM...http://www.amazon.com/Rarum-Box-Set-Selected-Recordings/dp/B0013XQI0E/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1221284112&sr=8-1

ECM is a label I've always dabbled with and enjoyed what I've heard but the releases I come by always seem kind of accidental (pick up Standards Live at a pawn shop, find Bight Sized Lift at a thrift, etc.) Soooo...those of you with a little more knowledge, would that rarium set be a good place to start exploring more ECM or should I check out some of these Touchstones instead? At $18 for the set, it's almost a no-brainier anyway.

Yes, a great deal - and a really marvelous sampler. This is the same one available for $10 on that "Canadian deals" thread, but I'd pay the few extra bucks to grab it from Amazon because the Puretracks user interface sucks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

OK, I'm going to buy a few more of these Touchstones. I am not in the market today for more of the classic "ECM sound".

So I'm sure to get Gnu High, which I gather is a straight ahead quartet date.

Some years ago I got Gateway II, if memory serves. I remember enjoying it, but I haven't been able to put my hands on it for years. So I think I will get the original Gateway as well.

Can you recommend any other albums that are not ethereal from the Touchstones list?

PS - I will wait till October 28 when the next batch is available.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, I've decided not to wait till the 28th unless there is something from that batch that you guys recommend.

I've decided to get the Norma Winstone in addition to Gnu High and Gateway.

Is there another non-ethereal one you guys recommend before I place my order?

Last call!

Conception Vessel

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OK, I've decided not to wait till the 28th unless there is something from that batch that you guys recommend.

I've decided to get the Norma Winstone in addition to Gnu High and Gateway.

Is there another non-ethereal one you guys recommend before I place my order?

Last call!

There's a treasure trove of great releases on ECM. Among my favorite "non-ethereal" Touchstones:

Bass Desires - Bass Desires

Gary Burton with Pat Metheny - Dreams So Real

Chick Corea / Miroslav Vitous / Roy Haynes -Trio Music, Live In Europe

Jack DeJohnette - Special Edition

Dave Holland Quartet - Extensions

Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock / Jack DeJohnette - Standards Live

Ralph Towner - Solstice

Kenny Wheeler - Gnu High

John Abercrombie / Dave Holland / Jack DeJohnette - Gateway

Bass Desires - Second Sight

Chick Corea - Children's Songs

Keith Jarrett / Gary Peacock / Jack DeJohnette - Bye Bye Blackbird

Charles Lloyd - The Call

Paul Motian - Conception Vessel

Enrico Rava - The Pilgrim And The Stars

Tomasz Stanko - Balladyna

Ralph Towner - Batik

Collin Walcott - Cloud Dance

Norma Winstone - Somewhere Called Home

Terje Rypdal / Miroslav Vitous / Jack DeJohnette - Rypdal-Vitous-DeJohnette

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...