dave9199

October 26, 2005. Happy 60th Birthday Sterling Smith!

Don't know if it means anything, but the Cellar Door set is not listed at Amazon at the moment.

I almost became a victim of this. I got an email that asked me to fill out my personal info for Amazon, but what was suspicious was the heading read not Dear Dave, but Dear dave9199@... and they asked for my PIN number which Amazon obviously doesn't need. I got another one saying because of the "phising", my password has been changed and almost did all of that one, but wanted to check it out. I couldn't send an email to Amazon through them because of server issues on their end and a box popped up to put in my phone number for a call back. I didn't do it and tried for 2 weeks to send this email, but there was still problems at Amazon, so I sent an email to another dept in Amazon and got an email back saying it was a phishing email, but now I'm too paranoid to create a new password as I can't tell if it's the real one or the fake. Just wanted to let everyone know to be on your guard.

Amazon has it listed for Nov. 22nd...not that it means much.

Manos, one of their worst movies I've seen them do. Have you ever seen the 1st season before TV's Frank? I forget the character's name.

MITCHELL!

I have the same CD. The track called "Brazilia" is in fact "Song of Praise", and identical to #3 (except one of the two has about 30 seconds chopped off from the beginning). Guy ← Be aware that this cd is getting a re-release next month. I think they're going to hope people pick up the wrong one.

Definately play what you, and only you, want.

Wear a diaper.

So mastering has always been around? I was thinking of things like EQing and such. Maybe I need to get my terms straight. I work on a 4-track at homeand considered fiddling with the low, mid & high knobs mixing (this refers to each track indiviually). Mastering I though was a tweaking or more of a finished mix for polish.

A friend of mine just got some mastering software and it made me wonder if music from the 60's was mastered (I'm thinking of rock, not jazz) or if it started after that. Same with mixing. Anyone know?

I think I have a vinyl copy that my father gave me. I've never listened to it. I told him I wanted his albums when he dies and he gave them to me a bit earlier. I always pulled out the Buddy Rich/Gene Krupa one with the two of them playing drums on the cover. The drumsets overlap, right, meaning it's two pictures overlapping?

From the info I heard, it was because of Holtzman's involvment that one of Miles's sons is holding it up. I could be wrong but that's how I understood it.

I wonder if this same thing will happen with the proposed 72-75 set if Holtzman was involved.

Whoa, man, ease up. Intense emotion dragged out of me by a guy I don't even know. KEEPERS none PERSONAL OPINION/FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY 1. When I Took That Train 2. A Kingdom He Likes 3. Shadow Of Leaves FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY 4. The End Of It All 5. The Door Behind The only revised list without a keeper even though I like most of them. Smith's worst albums are also here. The End Of It All & The Door Behind in particular. Though I still like the guitar sound on End Of It All, the lyrics about his flowering relationship are too much. They aren't very good and have no imagery in them. They're very literal which is what hurts them. The Door Behind I would say is his worst album because of the lyrics to 2 songs: Gate Strikes One & Every Sentence. See my review on page 22 or 23. With the exception of Door Behind, the list order has changed completely. When I Took That Train has some references to his relationship, as does A Kingdom He Likes, but it's not needy & pleading & desperate as End Of It All & Door Behind. It sounds like the relationship is going well as Smith talks about other things also. Train is the best as his vocals are quite inspired during the album. There's excitement there amongst the drone that shakes him awake. It's nice to hear. Kingdom is in the same vein though not as animated. Shadow features bass instead of guitar for another change of pace, but this album starts the drier sound albums of this set. His bass playing is the same as his guitar playing, but it's interesting to hear it on a different instrument. I still wouldn't put any of these albums outside of COMPLETISTS so another first is again combining OPINION & COMPLETISTS and having a seperate COMPLETISTS catergory, only because of the lyrical content which drags those 2 albums down below all others. What's harder about these albums compared to the last 5 is the loss of room reverb. These songs don't sound good dry, you need the room to add to the emotion and atmosphere to complete the picture. Maybe he was feeling better and it's reflected by not having it on there, or maybe he just wanted the change. I'd recommend Train out of this set for anyone interested in these albums.

This is pretty interesting. When I heard the live album, Glasgow Sunday, which sounds like all of his most recent work & I really liked it, I felt I finally "got" the previous 9 albums and threw myself back at them to listen more intently to them. Still difficult and completely unmelodic; yes, yes I quite agree, but now I like listening to them. I don't get angry at them not being like previous albums. I wanted to accept these albums as they are. And while there is little to no change between them musically in playing style, it's the lyrics that make them different from some others in this bunch of 9. KEEPERS 1. Worthless Recluse 2. I Threw You Away PERSONAL OPINION/FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY 3. The Humility Of Pain 4. The Place 5. The Gone Wait Since 2-5 are so similar, it's hard to seperate them. I listed them in order of release as I like them pretty equally and have no opinion about them that would differenciate them. And since they are so difficult, regardless of if I like them or not, I couldn't put 3-5 in just OPINION or just COMPLETISTS so I combined them. The one album I would recommend of this style is the first one and the only one that I would call a KEEPER, I Threw You Away. Why? Because of the 1st song, Blues Turned Black. I've always liked this song and it's really sums up the whole feeling across these particular albums, though if you haven't heard any of his more recent albums, go with the acapella ones first. From this list it's Worthless Recluse (the only one in this set of 5, but still good). If you like those, THEN try the albums that follow. The Gone Wait is interesting since it features acoustic bass rather than guitar. I would recommend The Gone Wait over Shadow Of Leaves (in the next set of 5) for a bass album because it has more ambiance & room sound whereas Shadow doesn't.

1. This Narrow Road 2. Worthless Recluse 3. Put My Dream On This Planet Again, because of the piece It's Your House, I moved Planet to 3rd and Recluse to 2nd since it has more pieces on it. That's not to say the other 2 pieces on Planet don't hold up, they do so don't shy away from it.

I've got to redo this one, it's been bugging me. The song New Town is great, but the rest of the album isn't as good except for the last song. I was swayed by its dulset tones. I also wouldn't add the album in the best of this set of 10, so just Graven Image, Lost Cause & The Beginning. I like the acapella albums more on the whole than the album New Town so here's a revised ranking: KEEPERS 1. The Beginning PERSONAL OPINION 2. This Narrow Road 3. Put My Dream On This Planet 4. New Town 5. "I Woke Up" FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY none Don't be surprised if I redo more or all of these. ← Another revision. The acapella albums are harder to go back and listen to. You have to want to hear them, but you may be surprised that you get pulled in by them quickly. The Beginning was, until Glasgow Sunday, his last great album. KEEPERS 1. The Beginning 2. This Narrow Road 3. New Town 4. Put My Dream On This Planet PERSONAL OPINION 5. "I Woke Up" FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY none "I Woke Up" suffers, if anything unfortunately, from the other person on it. While it's always great to hear Smith with another person, this one is shaky, but not without it's interesting parts. I switched New Town & Planet because of one of the long pieces on Planet, It's Your House, repeats the phrase, "I'm ready for the house" too often within 22 minutes. It's interesting since that's the title of his first album, but doesn't hold that piece up enough.

I had to absorb the 2nd set of 20 before I re-reviewed my rankings from a more personal viewpoint. So here it is: KEEPERS 1. Graven Image 2. Lost Cause 3. Glad To Get Away 4. Twelfth Apostle 5. "White Box Requiem" PERSONAL OPINION none FOR COMPLETISTS ONLY none Graven Image & Lost Cause are must-haves. Glad To Get Away is good, Twelfth Apostle is alright and "White Box Requiem" is the hardest to enjoy on first few listens, but I still think it's good. He really gets into his single string songs and about half of the album is instrumental. For a guy who does the same thing though a whole album or 6, he is more challenging when he introduces another idea than any other artist or band I have ever listened to.

Just got back from buying the Monk/Coltrane live cd at Integrity 'N Music and chatted with Ed (or Integrity Ed as he's also known). He wasn't sure about the info, but it's got to do with one of Miles's sons & and a guy by the name of Adam Holdsman (not sure if I have the whole last name right). He also wasn't sure in what capacity this guy was involved with the Cellar Door set, but it's because of his involvment that this set is being held up was my understanding. Anyone know who this guy is?

I saw a full page ad for it when my wife & I went to the Newport Jazz Festival in 2002 in their program. It had just been cancelled prior to that.

I talked to Ed (don't know his last name) at Integrity 'N Music here in CT and he knows John Swed who wrote the Miles book So What. Anyway, Ed said that John had told him something about one of Miles' sons trying to stop this set from release, but he didn't know why. Just figured I'd pass that along if anyone can coroborate the story.

Mmmmmmm......urine.

Anal Tourettes!

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