erwbol

My unbelieving European ass knows nothing about Pentecostalism, but I get Coltrane and Ayler just fine. But I will listen to these clips posted here later on Monday.

I read three of his books (Dutch unabridged translations) and think Murakami is a very overrated.

Get Up With It (from The Complete Columbia Album Collection)

Authority by Jeff VanderMeer

A note of warning on the cover would have been appreciated. As it stands I have waisted my money and the local landfill is one piece of plastic richer.

I'm not talking about applause. It sounds like it was recorded on a lung cancer ward with all that coughing.

This brings back memories. I'm never getting on an Indian bus again as long as I live!

O.P. (tk2) Next:

An album with this much audience noise should never have been released.

I plan to upgrade my current amp & CD player eventually. My speakers are properly placed and will remain in any upgraded system. I like the acoustics of my current room. My old speakers were with me through several changes of address, and I can attest to the difference a change of living room and/or positioning can make for the same equipment.

Steve Lehman Quintet ArtificialLight

I agree with "garbage in, garbage out." My experience though is that people often upgrade their amps to something expensive and fancy, keeping their shitty speakers, invite you over to have a listen, turn to you and grin saying something along the lines of "sounds great, right?" The advise I was given is if you have a fixed budget of say €2000 for a stereo system, is to spend over 50% of that money on speakers. I believe the figure I was given was 70%, but I can't be sure. Anyway, it's my experience that this is correct. Just make sure you buy a quality budget amp & CD player, like the best NAD or Marantz available for that money (possibly a discounted but new slightly older model). Don't get carried too away with cables.

Semper Fi, Semper Funky

I've been reading mostly non-fiction lately after a spring full of disappointing novels. I thought I'd re-read some fiction instead trying anything new for now.

That's insane. And a Dear Leader to adore and ban anyone on a whim.

I experienced vinyl as a child in the 80s and I still hate it. Like Kevin said, a slight moment of inattention and it's gone forever. I have turned my living room into a listening room. I don't miss having a tv there. Nothing but lowest common denominator garbage.

Either way, they'll only sound great if your speakers are, and if your setup is correct.

And there haven't been various issues with vinyl releases? Hah! Bottom line. People like to invest in a fancy amp or cd player and percentage-wise put less money in speakers than they should. And even then they refuse to sacrifice living room space for a proper setup.