Dmitry

I demand a personal retort to my post! None of that drive-by crap. Thank you.

The greatest living jazz musician of today has died. Think about this - there's no-one else who started playing and recording in the 1960s and is still alive today, and can compare his bona fides with Chick. He knew and heard the people who were there in the 1920s, 100 years ago. He hung and played with the best musicians and the greatest creators who played in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s. In the 1970s he employed (and in instances created careers of) musicians that are considered the masters today. With him leaves irreplaceable evidence of what was essential about this music, creativity and originality.

I've had mis-graded records sold to me enough times to stop buying on-line. The used vinyl I'd feel safe buying on-line are the Mint-described Mosaic sets. People who bought those new, generally didn't listen to more than one or two records out a multi-record set, in my experience. I've stashed away probably about 1,000 used records , so I'm not buying much these days, anyway.

I by 'new records' you mean NEW records... But if you mean new USED records, I have not had great luck. Over the last 2 decades, I bought maybe, at most, 2 dozen used records on-line. Most of them were not the way they were described. I don't buy any more used records sight-unseen.

Why, with all the technology, with all the advanced production tools, THIS IS NOT EVEN CLOSE - [For Christ's sake, look how many people are on the stage, playing and singing, must be over 30.] - to THIS in energy, objective beauty, and just emotion. A masterpiece.

This has to be a Penus Records release.

It's probably all flat country, so the signal does travel, especially at night, when there are not as many electrical interferences. True story - I was setting up a new cartridge on my turntable about 15 years ago, when I caught a radio station broadcasting from Birmingham, Alabama. I don't have a tuner; somehow the wiring of the cartridge and the tonearm acted as an antenna for a station broadcasting over 1000 miles away. The signal was not very good, but I could listen to DJ's announcements and the music they were playing. It was far out....and only happened once. I couldn't reproduce this phenomenon afterwards.

Excellent post, thanks a lot! This is brilliant stuff. So before FM radio became mega-corporate, aside from some college stations and a handful of indies, a DJ could mess with things if he/she wanted to. I'm sure they were still revenue-driven, and played the hits, but as you say, they were the ones creating the hits...no radio play - no hit. I wonder if that sword swung both ways - could a producer or an artist end DJ's career? After Spector's death, and when this thread started, I watched a 2-hour long interview with him, done by a BBC affiliate during his first trial. Jim, you would really get a lot of insight from it. I can't find it on YouTube any more. It's described here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/10_october/25/spector.shtml There are only snippets of it available now....like this. In all his craziness, he was still a brilliant, unique-minded music man in his later years. One of the things he said, and I'll never forget (this was during the time of Obama's first presidential run), something to the effect that he supported, but at the same time was suspect of it, because every organically-occurring political movement is a complex that has music associated and created along with it...but that one did not. Regarding the stereo - I suppose a portable suitcase player, with a 10 gm. tracking weight tonearm is the preferred mode. Or a mono radio, in a back seat of a whale-sized 1960s Detroit car. Playing this material on my stereo IS somewhat of a WTF experience; my current speakers cost more than my first car, a P.O.S. 1983 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera I bought very used, when I was very young. The only thing that didn't break in it WAS the radio.

Regarding the SQ of the original Be My Baby 45 vs. the BTM CD...it would be foolhardy to rely just on one song for any kind of verdict, but the sound between them is not 'night and day' different. They are pretty darn close sonically...lo-fi...probably sounded all right on single-speaker car radios. Why bother with the stereo mixes, when you only play it on a mono machine...

Tedesco and Pitman ...I didn't know Phil wrote soul jazz tunes. I did NOT expect this. It's getting more interesting. The title is implying Tommy Tedesco and Bill Pitman...some kind of an inside joke, probably. Why would Spector put this on the flip side of a massive hit?

Mastering tapes for vinyl, among many other tricks would involve summing bass to mono, so the cartridge wouldn’t fly out of the groove, limiting dynamic range, EQ’ing. If you look at any known LP mastering lab, there will be multiple machines used to adjust various parameters in order to make vinyl records from tape. If it weren’t the case, you’d just see the reel to reel deck plugged directly into the cutting head amplifier. It’s a very flawed, imperfect format. I should know, I’ve got a lot of records, and still buying.

It’s the business decision based solely on the “let’s capitalize on this vinyl thing” . I don’t see any other reasons for releasing digitally-recorded music on LPs. Labels would happily churn out music on 78s if they started to become popular again.

They tried that with Cape Kennedy, and the Tappan zee Bridge is now called Governor Cuomo Bridge, or something. No-one calls it that. The ultimate artist's tribute is when someone listens to their music when they are long-gone, not their name on some bridge. If Tony had a sense of humor he'd build a cardiac care hospital in San Francisco, and stipulated in his will to have his heart, pickled in a jar. in the lobby.

It's $how BU$INE$$. I don't doubt that he couldn't give a shit about Queen Latifah, Faith Hill or John Mayer. At least he was probably in the studio with those people when they recorded, unlike Sinatra and someone called Bono. I haven't listened to the 100 LP albums he's recorded, nor do I intend to. I'm sure there's some great stuff there. To me, personally, his 'tear your heart out on every tune, no matter how shitty it is' style got pretty redundant. He's one of those people that the media defined as a 'very nice guy'. Remember, both him and Miles did a lot of drugs; everyone talks about how Miles used and abused, no one says that about good ol' Tony.

Well, I got the BACK TO MONO 4-cd set, and I love it! Not being exposed to this music when it first came out, I can only imagine how it affected the hearts and other, more vital organs of American teenagers. Spector is possibly responsible for more teenage pregnancies than anyone I can think of. Some of the songs I've heard many times before, but didn't associate with him; others were my first listen. This has been in rotation for a few days now. It's excellent, energizing weekend morning music. As far as the sound of the set, I think his Lo-Fi approach is delicious; it doesn't bother me a bit. Being of a scientific mind, I went out and bought two old Philles Ronettes 45s - Be My Baby / Tedesco and Pittman Is This What I Get For Loving You? / Oh, I Love You I'll play these, and will let you know how the sound of the 7" compares to the BTM cds. Haven't read the massive booklet, or listened to the Christmas cd yet, but this set is a very nice start to my new year. Question - many, if not most of the old 7" singles have no Side A and Side B marked on the labels. How do we know which one was the hit side, adn which was a flip side, without referring to discographies? Why wasnt that reflected on the record labels to begin with?

Alzheimer's is probably largely a genetic condition...I still wonder if mountains of magic dust he snorted had anything to do with his diagnosis. 2.5 years ago I was at his concert in Providence. He performed with a local group of sidemen that often backs him. It was a thoroughly enjoyable concert, he still had surprisingly reliable chops, and remembered the lyrics. He did sang one tune twice, and that's ok. His daughter, on the other hand, is certainly not a god's gift to singing, she opened up for him. Nature rests on the children of the greats... The only album of his that I will save forever, is the first Bill Evans collaboration, on Fantasy. I'm sorry to say, I have not heard the follow-up. Some Other Time speaks to me, makes me cry inside.

In case you are still considering a Rega P1 [or P2, for that matter], the cartridge they supply with these tables, the Rega Carbon, is a rebadged Audio-Technica AT3600L, which retailed for $11 not too long ago, and may still be found in that price bracket, if one asserts oneself.

Here, fixed it for you.

Japanese BMG RCA K2 24bit mastering, BVCJ-37281, BVCJ-37282, BVCJ-37283 . In as new condition, complete with inserts and obi. $60 post paid in the USA.

Home demo for a 250 pound turntable?! I’m sure they’ll dispatch their best technician to deliver and set it up at Bol’s residence.

Did you inject the said groceries into your flesh? When i was effused, infused and CAT scanned in the ER, one of the nursing staff said to me she wasn't getting vaccinated, because she didn't feel like injecting anything into her body that was 'thrown in together in a few weeks', without an appropriately-long trial.