Dmitry

Yeah, I tried to pacify JLHOOTS. But I'm sticking to my guns...and swords too. Has to have the featured artist or at least a performing musician on cover.

Nice! Chewy, his full name is Robert Alfonso Crocker, and he is 91. Time for a phone call! We see owners names quite a bit on old records, and rarely to almost never on albums from the 1970s onwards. One thing I can think of is when they were living in college dormitories, getting back their loaned albums would be easier. Or they belonged to record clubs...

Thanks. I appreciate the time taken to explain what you'd meant. Certainly this perspective needs to be taken through the prism of the time passed. Mid to late-sixties was a period of civil unrest and racial tension in the USA, and the Western World in general. I wonder how Louis Armstrong would be appreciated, had he been a current entertainer, touring and performing while the BLM protests and other sundry movements were taking place in America's cities.The 'scribes' of today, those who are firmly perched on our tv screens and write, seemingly day and night, for uncounted internet news publications, would they call him Uncle Tom?

The most interesting statistic for me is the following: in the first six months of 2020 physical sales plunged 23% to $376 million. That's CDs, LPs, probably tapes too. Alas no 78s. granted, the pandemic took a large toll. Vinyl records accounted for $232.1 million of music sales in the first half of the year, compared to CDs, which brought in only $129.9 million. Doesn't sound too bad, until the following sales figure comes up - streaming, which includes the revenue of paid streaming, ad-supported streaming and streaming radio, grew 12% to $4.8 billion during the first six months of 2020, RIAA found. $360 million in physical sales vs. almost $5 billion in streaming. Of that jazz amounts to less than a pittance. https://static.billboard.com/files/2020/07/NielsenMID-YEAR-2020-us-1594300786.pdf?_ga=2.169663138.2012381347.1600015734-2030702033.1600015731 Scroll to next to last page, for stats on jazz sales media types to finally appear. You won't find jazz anywhere else in the Billboard report, in terms of the real $ figures. The figures are so small that they don't bother printing them. I reckon the same applies to classical music. Jazz album sales have been very poor for years. It's the death spiral now. Bonafide old people and those soon to be old farts, like most of us here, are doing all the heavy lifting, according to the highly-scientific statistical analysis I painstakingly undertook in the How old are YOU thread. The writing is on the wall. Bird Lives, but we are dying. I blame everything and everyone.

Well, the Impressions LP is a VG, play-graded by yours truly. It's going into the for ale/trade box. I'll have to find an alternate source for the After the Rain. What's surprising with these early to mid-1970s Impulse! ABC reissues, is that the covers are thick, laminated, and well-made, just like the originals, while their vinyl itself was thin and flexible, they kept their cover quality high.

That's pretty nice that they support their products this way. McIntosh does as well, although I wouldn't bet that they still repair the 30 year old cd players. One other thing I liked about Naim is that their gear is low profile in terms of sizing. This must go a long way in the smaller European apartments. I've never heard their speakers though.

Since the first time I laid my eyes on it, I've liked the look of Naim gear, with military-grade, drab-colored housings, and simple, no frills interfaces, a total opposite of McIntosh, which is what I run. The little magnetic puck you'd put on the cd spindle, the cd tray that you need to open and close by hand...terrific. My best bud has one of these.

Yesterday I stopped at our local record emporium, Sunset Records, run by the friendliest proprietor, Bob Boyer. This is what I left there with - Johnny Smith - Designed For You, blue label Roost mono Phil Woods - Images Benny Carter - Jazz Giant, a 1979 Contemporary reissue, pre-Fantasy/OJC Coltrane - Impressions, 1972 pressing. It's been 'played', but I've got my hopes high. Tis was an impulse buy [no pun intended]. , and a book by Ashley Kahn - The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. Grand total just a hair over $40. Addendum - he was playing Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information LP on the store rig; I fell for it from the first couple of minutes. This was his only copy, so I went home and right away bought the cd on Discogs. Bob says whenever he gets a shipment of reissues of this LP, they always sell out fast.

Well, it's 17 years later, and I finally changed my mind. There are so many phono stages on the market now, that going with the unit I suggested is not very productive, considering the gain adjustments, cartridge loading, etc. can only be made by removing the cover, and playing with the various switches. The BAT VK-P5 can now be had for under a $1000 on the used circuit. i wish the manufacturer had put these switches on the back of the unit, and not inside the box. i was just hyping the unit then, I guess, because I don't remember what made me recommend it. I'm sure it sounds excellent. The current production very versatile Parasound Halo JC 3 Jr. is a "budget" favorite, at about $1400 new, and possibly even less. Like the BAT, and many other phono stages, it accommodates the inputs from only one tonearm, and if you have two turntables or two tonearms on the same table [discussed recently in the MONO thread], you'll need to switch the cables every time you are listening to a record on another machine. Either that, or do what I did, and purchase a phono selector switch specifically designed for RCA phono cables, like the one made by Rek-o-Kut, which is what I'm using Also, I'd wager that any reputable manufacturer's preamplifier with MM and MC phono preamp section will do well for most listeners.

Saepe stilum vertas, Chuck! Merry Christmas!

Yeah, if the rest of it is like the DDBC, I'm in! Love the in/out stylistic. Like Sidewinder says, if it's out early next year, I'll buy the DDBC for sure, otherwise the threefer might be the ticket. I suspect many of us suffer from the same disease - hoarding. Like the man sang - Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time. Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines

Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information

Can you describe the music of the other two albums on that threefer? I've seen it on the internets.

I agree; that O was the wrench in the works. And not just on billboards.

This is far out. Jackie Mclean, Tony Willams 15 or 16 y.o., Ray Santisi. Connolly's Star Dust Room Roxbury, MA https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10225042336709490&set=a.4846320039768

Up-taun?! Nau I shou you daun-taun,

Addendum: The R-to-R market is crazier than vinyl today. The hardcore audiophiles are now listening to reels. Copies of master tapes sell for hundreds. Allegedly they sound much better than records. I have a friend who is obsessed with them. https://store.acousticsounds.com/c/397/Reel_to_Reel Now, that would be effing awesome!