Stefan Wood

I would second the Gene Shaw Argos. What about the Human Arts Ensembles that Arista released in the 1970s? Or the Sam Rivers Tuba Trio from the mid 70s?

Got it, and it is different than their first album, more traditional arrangements, but still beautiful listening.

It is an enjoyable album.

So that's what the "III" stands for in Griffin's name - 3 1st round picks. Check their front office to see if they dug up George Allen as GM. edit - Actually George Allen would trade picks for an old guy. Never mind. Seriously, it was a bold and necessary move for a team that has been the laughing stock of the league for the past decade. Now, with regards to the salary cap fine that the skins and the boys just got slapped with, I call BS and there will be a lawsuit.

The real question for the Rams is will they have to go out and get a new defensive coordinator?

This is news to me. It must have good financial backing; the Lincoln Theater has had money problems for a while.

They swapped 1st rounders, and are giving up a second rounder and 2 future 1 rounders. A steep price, but they won't have to cough up a ton of cash for a rookie player under the new rules. Last year they were successful in drafting lower round picks, and they have a ton of money to spend on free agency. I don't see this as a bad thing for the team.

You can't go wrong with this box -- the difference is that these were taken from the masters, direct from the RIAS vaults. Just listened to the fourth disc - Bruckner's 8th and it is a powerhouse!!

I've listened to the first four discs of the Furtwangler Audite box. The music is great, the sound quality is outstanding for the time period.

Into the abyss.....

I bought the Furtwangler for the performances and the much improved sound quality. For the most part I have ignored the historical performances because most of them were from dubious or second hand sources. I'm on the fence on the Beethoven box -- I think I'll wait for a better price, or maybe it will show up on broinc.com or daedalus.

From the Kindred Spirits website: Touki Ba Banjul is a compilation of the Gambian psych sensation Guelewar who played a major part in the development of the Afro Manding sound. From 1979-1982 the band released four albums, featuring some of Gambia's best funk tunes. This official first time ever reissue features the highlights of their career. Before Guelewar, Laaye N’Gorn, the lead singer of the band, was already one of Gambia’s most celebrated artists. He was the centre figure in The Supreme Eagles, with whom he played as the main act in one of Gambia’s succesful clubs ‘The Bambo No.1 Night Club’. In return for the succes the clubmanager offered them instruments, after which they renamed their band to the Super Alligators. Due to the mixture of western influences such as soul and funk with traditional and regional rhythms like boogaraboo and sawrouba, The Super Alligators had a unique sound. The result of this blend is known as the psychedelic sound of Gambia (Senegal). In 1973 the Super Alligators decided to rename the group to Guelewar, Wolof’s for ‘noble warrior’. After a turbulent couple of years with many musicians joining and leaving the band, Laaye managed to reform the band in order to record their first album in 1977. Over the course of the following five years Guelewar released a total of four albums, which are all filled with deep psychedelic funk gems. Due to the limited pressings, these albums are very much sought after by collectors. Kindred Spirits compiles the highlights of these albums which are presented on this double LP. Touki Ba Banjul is not only a must have for collectors of African music, but for music lovers worldwide. TRACKS: 1. Sama Yaye Demma N'Dar 2. Sunu Makaan 3. Ya Mom Sumaray 4. Njarama 5. Tasito 6. Wollou 7. Kele Fasane On a different subject, the second of four of this group has been reissued:

Thanks for the links. -- I ordered the Furtwangler.

Does it have to be in a box format? Could it not be in a triple cd jewel case, or as mentioned a digipak? Having said that, would that make the costs less or not a difference?

An entryway into Morton Feldman's music: And something more challenging:

Has anyone heard or own these? These have gotten rave reviews, but I can't find any sound samples.

RIP. Loved his playing......

More amazing music from this group:

A little early on the mid century mark (c 1949), but well worth exploring:

The 2nd will lift the fog away.

OK, a bit of hyperbole, but I really enjoy his music! The Arditti version is supposed to be excellent. I originally heard the Composers Quartet play it on Nonesuch, and then the Julliard, on Sony. I have recently ordered the Pacifica/Naxos, an award winning set, and equal in quality to the Arditti. The first, considered a landmark in American music, is breathtaking in its complexity and innovative use of counterpoint. Quoting from Carter's notes from the Nonesuch recording, he states: Like the desert horizons I saw daily while it was being written, the First Quartet presents a continuous unfolding and changing of expressive characters -- one woven into the other or entering from it - on a large scale. The general plan was suggested by Jean Cocteau's Fil Le Sang d'un Poete, in which the entire dreamlike action is framed by an interrupted slow-motion shot of a tall brick chimney in an empty lot being dynamited. Just as the chimney begins to fall apart, the shot is broken off and the entire movie follows, after which the shot of the chimney is resumed at the point it left off, showing in its disintegration in mid-air, and closing the film with its collapse on the ground. A similar interrupted continuity is employed in this quartet's starting with a cadenza for cello alone that is continued by the first violin alone at the very end. On one level, I interpret Cocteau's idea (and my own) as establishing the difference between external time (measured by the falling chimney,or the cadenza) and internal dream time (the main body of the work) - the dream time lasting but a moment of external time but, from the dreamer's point of view, a long stretch. In the first Quartet, the opening cadenza also acts as an introduction to the rest, and when it reappears at the end, it forms the last variation in a set of variations. As a visual artist, listening to this music for the first time was a revelation. I heard forms fragmenting and reforming, harmonizing and reacting against one another. I was used to the Bartok quartets, but these were something different. A different form of sonic storytelling, so to speak.

Best string quartet music of the late 20th century. Period.

Or any disc from this outstanding series from Bridge records. Gorgeous music, this disc contains his well known piece, "Voice of the Whale." Fabulous playing by the group ICE.

Was Aretha "assimilated" when she signed on to Atlantic? Did the Atlantic people involved recognize that she had a talent that could (and should) not have followed her predecessors (like Dinah Washington that Columbia was trying to groom for her? Was it simply that Atlantic had the right writers and musicians for Aretha to become "the Queen of Soul"? How truly free can one assimilated artist be when the end goal was to have a top 10 hit? I'm with you to a point.

I don't know if she didn't understand what she was getting into, but rather she came of age during a time where soul music had shed its roots and was becoming more produced or synthetic, washed down or removed of everything that made it what it was.