captainwrong

*golf clap* I was a holdout, still buying records into the 90s when either the pressings got worse or I just noticed how bad they'd been all along. Recently, I've started buying new vinyl again out of nostalgia and a thinking that this so called resurgence means quality has gone back up. Nope. I got a couple warped discs, several that crackled and a couple that just sounded flat and lifeless. To be fair, my Classics Soul Station sounds great. But that's the only one I was 100% happy with. And it was about three times what the same CD would have cost. So, I think I'm done with new wax again. Too much hassle. It's funny how I can buy $5 platters from the 60s that have visible signs of wear and they smoke all these modern pressings straight out of the shrinkwrap. This whole vinyl making a comeback thing irks me more than it should. The part that gets me is just this blind "vinyl sounds better" mantra. Yes, some records do sound better than the CDs. And the opposite also holds true in many cases. But I really love when some hipster with a piece of shit $99 turntable and cartridge combo is trying to convince me vinyl sounds better. I just can't believe anyone in their right mind would prefer the sound of that to any halfway competently mastered CD.

The great Jack Ashford of the Funk Brothers. The only tambourine virtuoso I can name.

So, they can't clean up the recording, but they can some how coax enough out of it to capture all the nuance and feed it into a Disklavier? Ooookay...

I about fell out of my chair when I heard Roy Haynes on the jazz channel. The one that really gets me is Roy Ayers on Fusion. He really seems into the character of the game, even bringing his vibes in the studio and punctuating his comments with a few runs on the bars from time to time. Way cool! (I finished the story of GTAIV a few nights ago. Good stuff!)

A friend and I were talking about this last night. This one is pretty open and shut. Radiohead don't have any right to force Prince to do anything in this instance. While it may be their song, the rights of that performance belong to Prince. As long as he pays the proper royalties to Radiohead's publishing company for what ever he wants to do with it, it is his version to do with what he will. We came to the conclusion that Radiohead, who have been in the biz long enough to know that's the way it works, are tweaking the Purple One's nose a bit, probably because of his ferociousness in shutting down fan sites and whatnot.

I can see where you're coming from on that point, but, if someone is using his beat, and just his beat, and creating a new work around it, I feel there should be some compensation made to the guy who actually played and developed the bit being sampled. Especially when we're talking dance/hip hop type stuff where the beat sometimes is the composition. I know that's not the way it works, and again, this may be my prejudice as a drummer coming through, but I just don't feel it's right. Aside from that, we're talking about recordings made in the era where the closest thing to sampling was those old Buchanan & Goodman "break-in" records. No one in 1969 could have conceived that 20+ years later, people would be taking bits of records and basing new works around them. It just strikes me as a bit harsh and unfair to say that because someone didn't have the crystal ball to see something no one could have imagined at the time that they are SOL.

IIRC, I've recently read an interview with Idris Muhammad where he talks about "Alligator Boogaloo" being sampled a ton. Specifically, his playing on that song is what's been sampled. Regardless, he said the way things worked, any money from licensed samples went to Lou Donaldson, as he is credited as the composer, and the record company. He mentioned being give a one time check out of sympathy by Lou for $2500, but implied a lot more money had been made off the track and he wasn't seeing a dime of it. Again, IIRC, the way it shook down was that Idris got paid scale for the session and it was considered work for hire, so his claims on the work were over and done back in the day. He was quick to point out in the interview that the beat that gets sampled was his idea, but because it was in Lou's composition, Lou gets the credit. So, the way I understand it, if the track is registered as a Joe Farrell composition, his estate stands to benefit, even if it's the drum bead that is sampled. IMHO, this is messed up (full disclosure, I'm a drummer, so this kind of stuff hits close to home) and clearly the system hasn't adapted to the world of sample based music.

Too bad Jack Gilfoy passed a few weeks ago. I always think of him and Indy Jazz with all the projects he's done highlighting obscure Naptown jazz connections and just all the history he knew about.

That's actually a very good point, especially since I've seen the RVGs on shelves where I never saw an OJC.

*snort* I don't know if I should out myself or not, but what the hell? I'm a former Half Price Books employee. I didn't stay long enough to be trusted at the offers counter, but that didn't stop people from accosting me over the insulting deals they were offered for their stuff. Heh. Great place to buy stuff, actually quite a good place to work, but lousy to sell things there. If I may brag, the coolest thing I got while I was there was a copy of the double EP version of the Lighthouse All-Stars Oboe/Flute album autographed by everyone playing on it, except Max Roach. One catch, the records are missing, which means it was in the trash when I found it! Had I not been at work that day, it would have been out in the back and I would have missed them. The guy working the records is a long time friend of mine, and usually looked out for me, so I had to blow him shit about almost tossing that gem. Sorry for the derail.

Yeah, I really wonder about the sales too. A lot of these seem to me to be recordings that if you wanted 'em you'd have 'em by now. Are they picking up that many new sales or people re-buying them for the new remastering? Inquiring minds... It's also interesting to me that eMusic still has the OJC versions of stuff in their catalog when a RVG or Keepnews has replaced it at retail. So far, I haven't noticed any former Fantasy now Concord titles leaving eMusic, and knock on wood, I hope they don't start pulling titles. Having access to almost all the Fantasy stuff as insurance against Concord letting it go out of print is a major reason I'm with eMusic.

I finally axed my other account, then loaded up on the $5 Circuit City cards (which I'm still not through.) My May was insane: Famous L. Renfroe Children Various Disco Italia EP Build An Ark Peace With Every Step Black Devil Disco Club In Dub Maceo Parker Roots & Grooves Red Light Driver Drinks for the Delayed Karl Berger & Dave Holland All Kinds of Time Gil Scot-Heron From South Africa To South Carolina Gil Scot-Heron Spirits The Chi-Lites The Ultimate Charles Earland In Concert Sonny Stitt and Don Patterson Legends of Acid Jazz, Vol 2 Sonny Stitt Low Flame Jo Jones Smiles Cerrone By Bob Sinclair Shirley Scott Soul Sister Eric Kloss First Class! Eric Kloss About Time Coleman Hawkins The Hawk Flies High Pat Martino El Hombre Jon Appelton Human Music Archie Shepp/Horace Parlan Reunion Larry Willis A Tribute To Someone Cedar Walton Spectrum Sonny Red Red, Blue and Green Illinois Jacquet The Man I Love Jay Z Reasonable Doubt John McLaughlin My Goal's Beyond Ed Thigpen Element of Swing Little Richard The Georgia Peach Various Fallin' Off The Reel II Ike Turner A Black Man's Soul Ike & Tina Turner His Woman, Her Man Lee Dorsey People Sure Act Funny The Bar-Kays Black Rock/Gotta Groove Guilty Simpson Ode to the Getto Roots Radics/Kind Tubby More Dangerous Dub Barrington Levy Here I Come Frankie Paul Pass The Tu-Sheng-Peng / Tidal Wave Luther Thomas / Rune Larsen Busking In Christiania Luther Thomas Banana Phil Ranelin The Time Is Now! Orlando Julius Super Afro Soul Archie Shepp & Ritual Trio Conversations Baby Elephant Turn My Teeth Up! Jay Dee Jay Deelicious Various Soul Brothers Various A Trip? Just A Little....Beat Linval Thompson Ride on Dreadlocks: 1975-1977 Taper Zukie In Dub Horace Andy Good Vibes Various In Kraut Vol 3 Charles Earland Living Black! Various Kid Creole - The August Darnell Sessions Billy Higgins Mr. Billy Higgins Libra Shock Booker Ervin Gumbo! Don Patterson / Booker Ervin / Houston Person Legends of Acid Jazz Santogold Santogold Shirley Scott Legends of Acid Jazz Return To Forever The Anthology

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Of course, my favorite Neil Young period is the Stars and Bars/Zuma time, so maybe I'm not into the nuance... Same here, coincidentally. LOL As much as I love Cortez the Killer, it ain't exactly reference material.

I've often found Joe Morello a bit stiff and cold. Some of the later stuff, like the Brubeck 25th anniversary album swings a little harder making me wonder what was up during the "classic" period. There...I said it. LOL

I'm still showing expected between 15-27. I have something else on the order that was even a pre-order which also seems to be in order limbo. What are the odds I'd put two items on one order and have them both be perpetually out of stock?

Who has time (or interest) to listen to all this? I mean, I like Young and all but sheesh. Also, I've always found his audiophile tendencies curious considering I'd never think to grab a Neil Young record if I wanted to test a piece of gear.

Booty boot, to be sure. UB&B isn't arranged in any particular way. And the Baby Dodds LP on the Smithsonian's label is pretty groovy too.

There's another series I like called Dusty Fingers which focuses on Pete Rock samples. Also highly recommended.

eMusic people with a Circuit City close by should check this out. They are offering essentially a 65 track booster pack for $4.95 this week. It's a little box that says starter subscription, but you can use these with an existing sub. Good luck with the help at CC, but it's in the circular for reference.

Basically these are the cornerstone of Golden Age hip hop. There's tons of good tunes on these.

This is may be my favorite Miles disc. So much so that when my first copy I was luck enough to find at a used shop vanished (I'm pretty sure I lent it to someone who won't own up to having it) I bought it again when I was in Tokyo on my honeymoon. I don't know exactly why I like this so much. There's just a fire in Miles horn that I haven't heard too many other places. And the music is kind of on the cusp of full on electric and 2nd quartet. Just an all round winner and add me to the list waiting for the rest of this to come out.

I've never been a big fan of upgrading, but I had all of those in the old "Columbia Jazz Masterpiece" versions (the covers had a blue border, Kind of Blue had a completely wrong cover.) I bought the speed corrected KOB when it first came out and it was a tremendous improvement. The other two, I have as part of the Miles & Coltrane set and, again, they sound a million times better.

I'm pretty sure I've read the stereo was an afterthought, as seemed to be the common thought for almost all pop and rock of the era. The early stuff was 2 (and later 4) tracks to begin with. The first two albums, if you hear the UK stereo, basically have all the vocals on one channel, instruments in the other because that's how it was recorded. You can play Beatles karaoke with the balance control turned all the way to the right (I think that's the direction.) I also know Rubber Soul's stereo mix was a rush job. EMI was pressuring them to have it out for the holidays, so the stereo mix for that album is really patchy as they put more time in getting the mono right. I grew up with these on old mono US albums, so not only does the stereo sound weird (still) the UK track listings are still foreign to me. Oh and you want a really good mono vs. stereo example, try any Motown in the 60s. Berry Gordy clearly put his A-team on making those mono mixes sound wonderful and left the stereo mixes to whoever was free. Some of those Motown stereo mixes are really awful.

Weird, it is gone. I saw they added it again the other day, but now they're both gone.

This is pretty much the deal in my what I've seen. I'm a live and let live guy. If someone thinks they can hear a difference between an expensive power cord and the one that came with the component, more power to 'em. However, I don't, none of the few pro-audio guys I know seem to care about this stuff and I can't find any scientific reason why there would be a difference. And that's good enough for me.