All Activity

I had The Natives Are Restless on CD about 25 years ago — and I must have been pretty disappointed in it, because I apparently traded it off 10 years later before I moved to DC. I kinda remember Natives looking INCREDIBLE on paper — but it never really clicking for me (like maybe it frustrated me SO much how it didn’t click for me, that I finally gave up on it). At least that’s my vague memory of it. You say the entire Feb 18, 1966 Half Note recording is much better?? I may have to investigate. BTW, I’ve only listened once to this first track from Silver in Seattle — and I have to say I’m a little nonplussed about it. Seems like a lotta smoke, but maybe not much fire. Joe and Woody are blowing hard, but (maybe?) not really saying much.

No, not at all. The debate reared it's ugly/beautiful head several hours ago as I knew it would when I started the thread. Anyway you're starting a whole new debate, old v new vinyl sq!!

🤙

That first Richard Davis record is First Ballot Hall Of Fame. And IIRC, there was Muse CD reissue that added a track! Oh, back in the day. $30.00 would have bought me about 5-6 records, not 1.

I hope my comments aren't interpreted as a return to that tired debate. I'm just wondering whether these newly reissued Muse LPs will sound better than the original issues. And, if so, is it a significant improvement?

My God, how did I not notice this recent thread activity?! I've been on a binge of R.E.M.'s IRS records in recent weeks...long story, *long-time* fan. These albums remain absolutely transcendental to me, all these years (decades!) on. Been thinking a *lot* about these two albums recently and how newly-relevant they sound (Document in particular). I was living here in Bloomington as a student when the band came to town to record Lifes Rich Pageant. Here's an article i wrote about it for Bloom Magazine, subsequently expanded for Indiana's Musical Family Tree site: Talk About The Pageant: When R.EM. Came To Bloomington In 1986

$17.96 at DeepDiscount, so one of their coupons will bring it down to $15-16.

It will be interesting to see whether these new LPs sound better than the originals due to the remastering & pressing processes. Muse was never known for having great-sounding LPs. Great music? Yes. No doubt. But I would describe them as serviceable AQ-wise. But nothing more than that. I'm wondering how the new ones will sound. EDIT By way of comparison, many of the Elemental Xanadu reissues sounded MUCH better than the original issues. There was a lot more music on the tape than what made it into their vinyl pressings, IMO. (However, those Xanadu reissues were in CD format rather than LP. Nevertheless, the mastering made a HUGE difference, I think.) For example, if you compare Sonny Criss' Saturday Morning on vinyl (the original issue) with the remastered CD, there's no competition. The new CD flogs the original vinyl. (BTW, I'm NOT saying that CDs flog LPs absolutely. Not at all! I'm just saying that things like the quality of the pressing and (re)mastering process can have a massive effect on AQ.)

Epistrophy... is free-ish jazz (despite the vintage song titles) and quite bracing, though very much a case of YMMV. I found it jarring when I first got it back in the day, as I expected something quite different. To me, the other Muse RD albums are too subdued and cases where the whole is less than the sim of the parts, though again YMMV.

so it took 14 hours for "the great format debate" to enter the thread this time round, we're slacking, surely not getting tired of the debate...

Great find, BBS!

If there remains one great classic REM Americana album it is for my taste "Fables of the Reconstruction" - haunting, moving, timeless!

I absolutely can comprehend that "not everyone is a committed audiophile desperate to shell out approximately a dollar per minute of recorded sound" - we all have different priorities. I have no issue with that. I also have no issue with CD's. There's a reason why I have collected several thousand of them, and will never part with them! But, saying that vinyl reissues, sourced and cut from the original master tapes, inherently sound no better than the sound of a CD...is just not an accurate statement. It's all subjective, of course...but there are many variables involved that would determine whether a record sounds better than a CD - the most important of which being the mastering, of course, and the system that the music is being played back on. Not looking for an argument, and nobody wants to get into a discussion of the "minutiae of audiophilia" here. I get that. My issue is with the statement that $30 is somehow overpriced for a record in 2025...when in reality, it's really no more expensive than it was 50 years ago. The cost of everything has gone up. Records are no different. That being said...I do find it unfortunate that this new Muse reissue series isn't being released on CD along with the vinyl. Good point. And I won't be paying list price for any of these new Muse reissues, either. I'll pick up a few of them, but will wait for a price drop, as I do with most reissues.

That goes for some Muse titles yes. But the more desired ones can get very pricey. Roy Brooks' The Free Slave, Woody Shaw's Moontrane and Clifford Jordan's Night of the Mark V are some examples.

Muse is owned by Concord and the OJC they have reissued are $38 list (although some are discounted) so the price for these, $39, are in that range. That seems to be the going price nowadays for reissued Jazz vinyl. It’s not that difficult to find Muse records. Kind of like Pablo. You can pay $38 (no thanks) or buy used Pablo way cheaper.

Alexis Cole and Bucky Pizzarelli “A Beautiful Friendship” Venus cd Bass, Vocals – Nicki Parrott Clarinet – Anat Cohen Guitar – Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank Vignola Trumpet – Warren Vaché Vocals – Alexis Cole

Damn, well done!

Fabulous, deep remembrances from Chinen and Souter.

The 2026 Big Ears lineup will be revealed Tuesday, September 9 at 9:00am ET.

Oh yeah. I LOVE The Almoravid.

I quite like the Richard Davis LPs on Muse, even As One (with Jill McManus, whose Symbols of Hopi album is also excellent).

FWIW, this material is very good, but, honestly, it's nowhere close to the intensity and creativity of the same band captured six months later at the Half Note, 2/18/66, playing four songs from he Cape Verdean Blues. A tape of this (from an Alan Grant radio broadcast) has circulated for some 40 years, which is how I first heard it. They were issued on an unautyorized CD, Horace Silver Featuring Woody Show -- Live at the Half Note. on the Hi-Hat label, and I think one tune ended up on the Emerald release. I'm glad Blue Note is putting out what they are, but it's a missed opportunity to not have found a way to include the 1966 Half Note broadcast, which has some of the best Woody and Joe that I know.