xybert

Thanks for the heads up. After getting over the initial 'what the...?' i'm quite looking forward to this. It'll be a fun listen.

So glad i have this set and the small group set. It was expensive at the time but... a good investment.

Sorry if this has already been posted earlier in the thread but, John McLaughlin Is it Mc-Lock-lin or Mc-Loff-lin? Cheers.

I think VR is the next big thing. Goddamn GTA lll was a dream come true when it came out. I bought a PS2 specifically to play it and it was glorious. But gameplay/playability will always be a thing. I couldn't care less about realism. Realism has nothing to do with playability (although a game can be realistic and playable). This is something that a lot of people don't get. Playability is like the mythical 'swing' in a lot of respects.

Interesting. Most people i know with big houses don't have big record or book or DVD or whatever else is being supplanted by digital collections. So i don't see that particular correlation. Still, i can see the trend for being less materialistic happening, but i don't see everyone moving in to Japanese style capsule hotels due to streaming just yet.

Bud Powell - Bouncing With Bud (Delmark)

This came up between a friend and me. We basically came to the conclusion that games are an artform and are easily up there with movies. There are so many creative people working in games as their chosen artform. It's like, "you don't need to adapt this game to a movie, just play the game! It is the definitive way to experience the material."

Any more impressions of the Corea/Hancock gig Justin? I've got tickets to see them at the end of May. Can't wait!

It's funny, i actually have been referring to a guide just to get me through those early stages that i've played so many times so i can get through them as quickly as possible without missing any helpful items. I think it slightly reduced my enjoyment, as rather than hunting around and enjoying the ambiance i've just been making a beeline for what i need to get/do etc. Now that i've reached a point in the game where it's less travelled territory i'm going to try and smell the roses a bit more but i'll still google it if i get completely stuck. I so need to suss out some emulators for old school games. Totally on my to do list. At one point i acquired a modded xbox that had every NES and SNES game on it. I bought it off a friend that was going overseas; i had coveted it for so long and finally had it in my grasp, but i bricked it somehow after like one day. With a lot of the games after 5 minutes the nostalgia faded and it was on to the next game but i think that was partly a symptom of having such a massive library of games, whereas when you're a kid you have that small selection of games that you're stuck with and play to death before moving on to the next one. If you rented a game and it sucked, that was still your game for the weekend and you made the most of it.

I'm not much of a gamer these days but i still maintain an interest. Recently while looking for something to kill my brain with at night other than reading/watching TV/surfing the net i fired up my old Nintendo DS and started playing Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I've had it for years but have never finished it. Always get to a certain point and abandon it. Zelda games are something that i've always loved the idea of but have never really been able to get in to. I think part of it is due to the fact that i just don't really enjoy the Dungeon side of things: in the past have just found them kind of tediously solvable rather than enjoyably challenging. I've just gotten to the point where i've rescued the first princess in the Dark World and it's now marked 7 or so other dungeons on the map with princesses to rescue, and it just induces fatigue rather than "yay! 7 more dungeons!". I think this is the point where i usually give up, but i really want to complete this game once and for all. However much i have a love/hate relationship with this game the music still induces massive nostalgia.

Yeah i thought of Sun Ra as well. I associate Ellington and Sun Ra in my head (within reason), am often reminded of Ellington when listening to Ra and vice versa.

Exciting. The sample track sounds really good. Keen for more info.

Some recent purchases and pre-orders: Steve Coleman - Synovial Joints The Bad Plus Joshua Redman Alexander Hawkins - Trio and Song Singular Allen Lowe - Mathew Shipp Plays... Chick Corea - Song of Singing

Over the last few weeks i've been on a bit of a Chick Corea kick. The kick is winding up now after much listening, and i just wanted to get some thoughts down (and avoid doing some actual work for a bit). I decided to order the Five Trios box set and the A Week at the Bluenote Origin box set. Previously i'd never thought of these as essential, but if you are a Corea fan i highly recommend getting these boxes. I was pleasantly surprised by how consistently engaging the Origin box was, despite the multiple repeats of the same songs. Probably still a good idea to check out the single disc which is available separately first. If you sufficiently dig that, get the box (it's worth noting that the recordings on the single disc are not culled from the box so there's no double up). The Five Trios box set is excellent. I always kind of thought that it would be slightly dispensible and tossed off, 'solid' but uninspired performances of standards. On the contrary the five albums by five different trios all feel highly inspired and are all worthy stand alone Corea albums in their own right. The album with Hadrien Feraud is a fine companion to The Vigil and made me appreciate Feraud's contribution to the Vigil sound much more (would be interesting to hear a Corea/Feraud/Gilmore trio album as Corea has done in the past with the rhythm sections from his larger groups). I won't go on and do reviews of each individual disc but if you're a fan this is all very much essential Corea. Interestingly, just before the Five Trios box arrived i was listening quite a bit to the early McCoy Tyner trios on Impulse. I was enjoying them so much, but it was quite interesting when i started getting in to the Five Trios box. I think while i was still fresh from basking in the light of Tyner i heard for the first time what some people don't like about Corea's playing. It just sounded kind of 'fruity' compared to Tyner on those early records. Tyner sounded like... don't know how to put it right now but like someone who was kicking arse while Corea sounded like someone with his head in the clouds. Apples and oranges i guess and I acclimatised pretty quickly but it got me thinking and yeah it was quite interesting to me. In the end i get something different from both artists. Apart from that, may as well document the fact that The Song of Singing is finally being reissued in Japan in June of this year. It can probably be found cheaper elsewhere but new copies of the previous release start at $187.24 on Amazon as of this writing. This is a great opportunity to get this album new at a reasonable price if you're keen.

Song of Singing! Yes!

Hi Allen, just sent you an email, just want to confirm total amount to pay for CD + shipping if the advance sale offer is available to New Zealand. Cheers! Edit: Thanks, paypal sent.

Saw this on Facebook, and they commented that they wanted people to share, so here goes. I've never really watched Game of Thrones, but fans may get a kick out of this. This is a video of my cousins performing the GoT theme on accordians: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM35A3uDCes

Wow, i was going to say in jest "aren't these the guys that do their own CDRs? If yes, where's the supply issue?" but didn't want to cast aspersions, especially as i couldn't remember if these were the guys. Dang.

It's all up to Enos now. RIP.

Ha ha. At a glance it doesn't include all of his GRP albums (no Paint the World, for one... no live Akoustic band). Jesus guys this had the potential to be the next Beauty is a Rare Thing level event and they totally squandered the opportunity. When oh when will Corea's GRP material be given the proper care and reverence that it deserves!?! This stuff should be in the Smithsonian! /s Sigh, i actually love this period of Chick's career, more and more as each year goes by.

Grant Green - Matador Used to have this but traded it years ago. Liked it enough but this was back in the day where trading was a necessity for me if i was going to be able to get new stuff. So, liked it but not enough to hold on to. Was at a restaurant the other night where a jazz mix was playing in the background and the version of My Favorite Things from this album came on. Not quite a spiritual experience but holy hell did it hit the spot. Instant must have in my collection ASAP.

Thanks all for the feedback on Heineken. I caught up with a friend last night; he used to tend bar and knows his stuff when it comes to alcohol. I asked him about Heineken, and yeah he brought up a lot of the points raised in this thread, and yeah he doesn't really like it either, although he'll drink it if it's there (he's a big drinker). I was like "how am i only finding this out now?" I asked him what he considered to be a good mass market beer, and he rattled off a massive list with a ton of caveats for each (only if it's on tap, only if it's brewed in such and such country, only if it's the version with the black label etc etc). I'm not a huge beer drinker but i do enjoy a couple of quiet ones every now and again; i've decided i'm going to do a bit of an experiment: drink various beers and keep a diary rating them and noting some impressions. I'm actually quite looking forward to drinking Heineken again just to see what i think of it from a more critical standpoint.

Yeah i remember renting Battlefield Earth for a laugh and not being able to get through it.

Whoa that Farrell set looks mighty tempting. Have always wanted to get some of those albums but have always held off. A budget set might be just the ticket.

One thing abut Heineken is that they have slacked somewhat in the quality control of what is brewed outside of Holland. I have lived places in the world where the local Heineken tasted absolutely nothing like the mother country brew. I was wondering about that, whether the quality varies around the world.