Alexander

The sound on this disc is GREAT. I don't think the Beatles have ever sounded so immediate. They should release the Naked versions of "The Long and Winding Road" and "Let it Be" as singles. I swear, they'd chart in a heartbeat. Besides, if Elvis can do it, the Beatles can too!

"Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" is one of my childhood favorites, for obvious reasons. Don't sweat it, dude. These things always seem to happen all at once. Within a week you'll be wondering what you were worried about, I swear.

At least half (maybe more) of the first disc of "Let It Be...Naked" is made up of alternate takes, not the original versions of the songs stripped of their strings. I have A/B'd several tracks, and I can say conclusively that "I've Got A Feeling," "The Long and Winding Road," "Let It Be," and "One After 909" are different performances. I haven't gotten around A/Bing the other tracks yet (although I'm fairly certain that "Two of Us" and "For You Blue" are the same as the original record). This doesn't annoy me so much as the fact that this is mentioned NOWHERE in the liner notes. In fact, the liners are just so much dross. This is a shameful product, designed to take advantage of the fact that most people won't know the difference. While I don't regret getting it (the sound is great, and these alternates are almost as good as the orginal performances) I am annoyed that a lot of people will buy this thinking that they are getting the original "Let It Be" album *as the Beatles intended*. The Beatles may very well have prefered these takes over the ones issued by Specter, but why not say so?

Yeah, most of that list also appeared to be remasters and compilations. Not exactly the kind of "real world" experience that would prepare one for recording live sessions at the Vanguard. Compare these discs to Vanguard recordings from the 60s. Those guys had fewer technical advantages, yet they made much better sounding albums. I wonder if Kurt has a hearing problem.

Right. Couldn't remember which.

Perhaps he monitored on headphones only, and since all models sound different, it may have sounded fine on his, but not on others or speakers. If so, a newbie's error ..... Very possible. BTW, Lovano defended Lundvall in a recent letter to (I think) Downbeat. He said that he wouldn't have released something he felt was inferior.

Both Moran's "Bandwagon" and Lovano's "On This Day" were engineered by Kurt Lundvall, none other than the son of Blue Note President Bruce Lundvall. I have a feeling that anyone else would have been canned had they engineered two live discs (by high profile talent, to boot) that sounded this crappy. I listened to "Bandwagon" on headphones recently, and I found that it improved the listening experience. I picked up a lot more than I had on open speakers.

I've always thought that "Stompin' at the Savoy" was ripe for an organ trio version. I don't know if anyone else has done it. How about doing an organ version of "I'm Just a Gigalo/I Ain't Got Nobody?" That could be a lot of fun! Of course, you'd base it on Louis Prima and not David Lee Roth... Speaking of Louis Prima, "Sing, Sing, Sing" would be a groove on organ too.

It doesn't matter how common it is to see a title in stores (and I've seen all of the titles mentioned in stores myself). As long as the item is in print, it should be available through any store, anywhere. You just have to ask them to special order it for you.

Ray Charles Donates $1M to University NEW ORLEANS - Ray Charles has donated $1 million to Dillard University for the creation of a program about black culture, the school announced Monday. The donation will create an endowed faculty position and program devoted to the musical, culinary, artistic and linguistic contributions of black Americans, Dillard spokeswoman Maureen Larkins said. Charles received an honorary degree in May from Dillard, a private, predominantly black school associated with the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ. The 73-year-old singer donated the money in the name of the Robinson Foundation for Hearing Disorders, a laboratory he founded in 1987 for the treatment and research of hearing problems.

One of my favorite recordings of this song (aside from Evans' own, of course) is Johnny Hartman on "The Voice That Is." I sing this song to my daughter every night, by the way (her name is not Debbie, btw, but Samantha). When she asks for it, she asks for "Own Sweet World." Even though she's three and a half, she still wants me to hold her when I sing it. Imagine her shock when I was playing the Bill Evans/Tony Bennett album and that song started to play. She came running out of her room and cried, "He's singing "Own Sweet World!"" Like all kids, she probably assumed that I made that song up for her. It's so sweet!

I was not terribly impressed the first time I saw "The Matrix." I saw it again, shortly before "Matrix Reloaded" came out on DVD, and it clicked. I realized that it is live action Anime! I mean, Keanu Reeves is a horrible actor, but he makes a great Anime hero (he even looks like an Anime character. Kind of asian, but with western eyes). Once I had that realization, I really enjoyed it, and liked "Reloaded" even better. So I'm looking foward to seeing "Revolutions." I was supposed to go see it tonight, but my wife and daughter both have colds. It's a pity, since my daughter was supposed to go visit my mom for the weekend! We were gonna have a weekend to ourselves! Whaaaaaah! Even though my daughter feels better today, my mom still won't watch her because she doesn't want to catch anything.

I only recently got into Wilson. I had gotten a promo copy of "Belly of the Sun" about a year ago and didn't listen to it more that a couple of times. Recently I put it on, and I really liked it. I wound up picking up a copy of the Verve "Standards" compilation, which I enjoyed. That led me to checking out "Blue Light Til Dawn" and "New Moon Daughter." I liked both of those, so I got "Traveling Miles" (which is often unfairly miligned, in my opinion) and finally "Glamoured." So, after all that, what do I think of her new one? I like it, not as much as "Belly of the Sun," but I think it's quite good. To me, Cassandra's Blue Note albums are very much of a piece (of course, that may be a function of having gotten most of her BN albums within a week of each other). Each new album is like an installment in a continuing story. Her voice is wonderful, of course, and she has a wonderful rhythmic conception. Plus she's very attractive!

Man...this could become like baseball cards! "Hey, man, you got a Teddy Wilson? I'll trade you my Jimmy Rushing!" Seriously, very cool, Chris.

Those are two of my favorite albums! I wouldn't change a thing! I used to hate "jazz with strings," but I got into it after hearing these two albums. Now I have several. Some are better than others, but all of them are good for what they are. I really like "Desmond Blue" by Paul Desmond. That's a lovely "strings" album!

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I have the Mosaic Box, and I think that it's a pretty amazing collection. Lots of truely wonderful music. As far as a single disc collection goes, I have a nice one called "Souvenirs," which collects twenty of Django's Decca recordings. Again, amazing music, and no duplications with the Mosaic box. Django's version of "Honeysuckle Rose" was one of the first Django recordings I ever heard (it was playing in a Tower Records Jazz department in Boston) and it remains one of my all-time favorites.

I've tried it. I did start the CD at the third roar of the MGM Lion...and I don't think it worked. I didn't notice anything, to be honest. I think it only works when you're high...

I'd be careful around Art Blakey from now on. Apparently, he killed Charlie Parker.

A friend of mine did some checking on-line last night. Seems there's a lot of discussion of this site on other boards and in blogs. The general consensus is that the whole site is a fake. There's no such thing as "Fellowship University," for one thing. For another, the only reference anyone can find to this "Dr. Richard Paley" that anyone can find is in relation to this site! So the whole thing appears to be a very, very clever hoax. Check out this bit from the "kids" page! Spiritual Safety Tip What should you do if you find an Atheist? If you find an Atheist in your neighborhood, TELL A PARENT OR PASTOR RIGHT AWAY! You may be moved to try and witness to these poor lost souls yourself, however AVOID TALKING TO THEM! Atheists are often very grumpy and bitter and will lash out at children or they may even try to trick you into neglecting God's Word. Very advanced witnessing techniques are needed for these grouches. Let the adults handle them.

We had really happening Halloween this year. Lots of kids at our door (I set it up so that "Blood Money" by Tom Waits was playing outside when the kids approached. Created a very spooooky atmosphere). This was the first year my daughter (3 1/2) went trick or treating. She was dressed as Snow White and I wore a pair of bunny ears. We went around the neighborhood, and she kept saying things like "This is kinda scary, huh daddy? You're not supposed to walk around at night! You're supposed to sleep at night!" She loved getting candy, and every time we'd finish at one house, she'd race off to the next. At one point, as we were walking, I started making ghostly moaning sounds, all the while pretending I didn't know where they were coming from. Didn't fool her for a minute. She kept saying: "Stop it, daddy. I know that's you." Finally she said: "Daddy, you're being a real pain in the butt!" I completely lost it! It was so funny and cute! Great Halloween! Best ever!

Check out the rest of the site. They're for real. And they are crazy

Perhaps the non-Americans can chime in here, but a lot of stuff I've read suggests that pornography outside the US is often even more extreme. Guy I'm not saying it isn't. I'm saying that considering the amount of money we spend on porn (and I'm no different. I've certainly seen my fair share of dirty pictures), Americans seem to spend an awful lot of time talking about how WRONG porn is. How BAD and SINFUL. Now look at Denmark or the Netherlands. They have serious porn over there. In fact, they have live sex shows, gay bath houses, and legalized prostitution in addition to porn, and their society doesn't go around trying to shame people out of doing it. Americans buy a lot of porn, jack off to a lot of porn, and then turn around and say that porn is bad. Porn may be degrading to women, but what in American pop culture isn't? Have you looked at MTV lately?

Exactly. LP shelves were too deep for CDs. I guess retailers were unsure of how long CDs would last (I'm sure a lot of store owners got burned by 8-track in one way or another), and they didn't want to convert to CD-friendly shelving until they were sure they would be around awhile.