The Magnificent Goldberg

Oh God. One of the 'B-Ark' crew.. Yes - run more water, please, No 1. MG

As Mike said, the LJQ was first out on New Jazz. Same is true of "Red Garland- Live" and the John Wright LP, according to my Goldmine guide. "Lil' Darlin'" may be the only one that was Status-only... not sure. That's definitely what it looks like. I'm going by the Michel Ruppli Prestige dioscography from 1980. I do know that he had imperfect info on a number of points, regarding sessions not issued at the time, but I assumed that as far as what had actually come out, he was accurate. MG

This one took its time coming But I'm glad it got here at last. MG

I haven't heard this. Something to look for. What album is it on, Jim? MG

For that reason Orrin Keepnews once produced a reissue compilation of several David Newman Prestige sides with the orchestra parts mixed down - just Newman with rhythm, no problem as the orchestra parts were overdubbed later. The irony is - he was the original producer just as well ..... Yes - I have the CD without strings, as well as the two original LPs with strings. I prefer the originals, actually. The music seems to me to have been conceived with them in mind and it sounds incomplete without. Maybe that's just because I had the LPs for so long before the CD came out... But, as all here know, I DO like commercial music very much! MG

George Melly Merry Frodo

Some of their stuff is a LOT better than that! Playing Aretha Franklin - I never loved a man the way I love you - Atlantic WEA Canada edition King Curtis plays the great Memphis hits - Atco orig Stereo MG

You get postal deliveries on a Sunday????!!! Watch out for Topkapi! MG

The only way people are "held accountable" on a bulletin board is for other people to reply with their arguments or reproaches. That's what you do to clem, so in that sense you are "holding him responsible." I think you want more people to do the same--but unfortunately, none of us can control how anyone else posts. You want others to back you up against clem and do it publicly. If they don't, what are you going to do? What can you do? Again, my advice is--drop it. Ignore him. Let it go. I don't think that's unfortunate - I think it's grand. We're all just people here and we have our foibles and our irritating hobby horses, which we never fail to mention at least once a month - it's instead of PMT and sometimes our tone leaves much to be desired. And so what? If we were in a bar, blows might occur. Here they don't and that's a damn sight better. MG

Lucille Mapp The Chartbusters Charles Atlas

I think there's a big, or biggish, problem with this type of recording from the late sixties to the late seventies. The problem is with the orchestrations. They're mostly awful; awful in the sense that they tend to over ride what the soloist is doing. One feels that the soloist - who is our main reason for buying the album, after all, is constrained by the arrangement. And that they're not, therefore, playing what they feel as freely as they might with a small group. This leads to a conclusion that the music isn't as honest as it might or should be. Now that's true. But it's only true to an extent. First, there are exceptions. "Bigger and better" is one of those, in which the arrangements are pretty spare and don't really seem to constrain Fathead - at least, not to the ear of a non-musician. Somewhat earlier than that period, Hank Crawford's "Soul of the ballad" is another. Second, there is sometimes a positive benefit in constraints. I would expect musicians to appreciate this more than non-musicians. Third, and this is the real killer for me, there are some musicians who, on some occasions, can rise above it all. Sonny Criss managed it on "Warm and Sonny". Fathead managed it on "Scratch my back", in which his solos absolutely SOAR over pure, mechanical disco music. Grant Green always seemed to manage it, but particularly on "Easy", his last recording. Blue Mitchell's "Summer soft" is another. And there are one or two Stanley Turrentine albums of that nature - one I was playing the other day with great satisfaction is "Everybody come on out". Everything is wrong with these albums, from a jazz purist point of view. Not only are the arrangements intrusive and/or over-produced, but the material is what is usually described as "pop trash". And the packaging (except for "Scratch my back" of course) doesn't inspire. Gotta go. My wife's turn on the PC MG OK - I didn't have too much more to say except that, if you want to appreciate some of these albums - and I don't mean specifically YOU Jim - you have to ditch some ideas about what jazz is supposed to be about. It's not like looking into a sow's ear to see if there's a silk purse in there; it's more like trying to get into a frame of mind that is attuned with the general non-jazz-loving population out there - the people who, in another era, bought Fat Waller records in huge quantities, and who, in the sixties and seventies, bought Motown recordings - NOT just, I hasten to add, the Stevie Wonders, but the Diana Rosses and Temps etc. Those albums were really AIMED at that market, not the jazz market. And that market responded. Lots of these albums were hits. Lots of them opened people's ears to music they wouldn't otherwise have considered. MG

Thanks - I'd better look into that one. MG

Laurie Holloway Marian Montgomery Monty

Well... the thing is, we are mostly talking about assets that, while difficult to sell at face value, are very unlikely to default. (Even subprime-based ones.) So it seems to me that at worst, these vulture funds will be able to redeem them at maturity. That is, assuming that the vultures aren't financing the purchases through heavy borrowing. On the other hand, you are right -- these vultures could find that in the short term prices will continue to fall, making them wish they had waited longer before buying. Guy The feeling I get is that the bust is going to come with defaulted mortgages, as the silly deals that people were offered to get them to buy what they couldn't afford reach the stage of the more realistic conditions that should have been attached from the start and there ain't enough profit in the price rises to take out another silly mortgage to cover the debt. In that sort of scenario, and I gather it's huge, there seem to be few hiding places. MG

Is that Joe Thomas? MG

There seems little doubt that a bust is coming. I've been warning my son-in-law that he's investing in a new self-build house at the wrong time. The big difficulty with busts is noting when the bottom arrives. The Great Crash of 1929, 1930, 1931, was just that - it didnt just happen in October 1929; it was a series of falls, lasting for years, each of which swept up the bottom-feeders who thought they were picking up bargains. This bust looks to me as if it might go the same way. Too many things look as if they could go wrong within the same broad timescale, producing a feedback loop. MG

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis - Hey Lock! - Vogue twofer orig Lonesome Sundown - Lonesome Sundown - Excello repress T-Bone Walker - The truth - MCA UK issue of Jet stream LP MG

Do you owe it back wages? I don't even owe it front wages! MG

Absolutely. But there is probably a price at which this idea might work for many - even many of us. It might be zero, or zero at the point of delivery, with adverts paying for the music. What concerns me about ideas like this is all the music that isn't and won't ever be put into digital form, because it's from some place 80% of Americans can't find on the maps they don't own. As ever, the evidence of this article is that the guy thinks there is only one market - US/Canada, Europe, Japan - and is only observing the trends in that market. OK, it's the biggest market at the moment. But it won't be for long. And all those billions of other people, whose rising prosperity can't be avoided, are NOT going to want Rubin's model; not for a bloody long time, at any rate. MG

No, in the link you posted, there's a thing that says [ right ][ snapback ] 372298 [ /snapback ][ /right ] And I keep seeing it and don't know what it is. And when I quoted it in my earlier post, nothing showed. So I've stuck spaces in there, this time. MG

A technical question first: What is this thing I keep seeing (and it's in the post you referenced) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> ? And now a non-technical question: Who is Prof. Irwin Corey Theory, and if so, why not? MG

Probably, but it's Sunday and the computer shop here doesn't open until Monday And maybe it's not the mouse but something else. MG

I think it's a serial mouse. It doesn't connect to a USB port, just a little round socket with lots of holes in it. MG

That's because he doesn't write in English. I call it faux literature. Anyway, I've had my run-ins as well. I guess we've made our truce too, but there's a basic dishonesty in much of what he posts. I am willing to eat my words here if I am proven or persuaded to admit wrong on that point. For example, if memory serves, I believe he is in his late 30s to early 40s, but he likes to come across as someone older. He likes to conflate name dropping with erudition. No, I do not support banning him at all. We've got to have the resident know-it-all asshole, I guess. I think he's OK. I don't care about his real age. I think he's the same age as all of us - he's learning stuff here (really), which makes us all pupils, so to speak. MG

Are you always talking about yourself in the third person? (Sorry MG, couldn't resist...) Someone of us is MG