Teasing the Korean

That is one of his best scores ever. There has never been a full recording/release of the score, only suites. That's about to change. Naxos is releasing the full scores of both "Mysterious Island" and "Fahrenheit 451" by the Moscow Symphony with Stromberg conducting. These should be out later this month. Fahrenheit 451 will be an absolute must-have. The music in the film's final scene has to be some of the most poignant, beautiful music ever composed by Herrmann.

I've been on a real Herrmann kick lately. Just spun "Cape Fear" "Vertigo" and "Taxi Driver." He is simply one of the great composers of the 20th century. Anyone here into Benny?

Any talk of a volume 3 in the works? Christmastime is (nearly) here again.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x313zd_la...the-lin_parties

Now I understand why they kicked him out of the band: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3wuy5oyemE0

Years ago I tried to read "The Summer Before the Dark." I kept waiting for the book to start but it never did. Thinking I was missing something, I forced myself on and on. I must have read at least 150 or 175 pages of a 225-250 page book. Eventually I just gave up. The only time I ever invested that much time in a book and threw it down without finishing it.

The book is called "Cat's of Any Color: Jazz Black and White." http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Any-Color-Black...513&sr=1-11 and I generally agree with Chuck's assessment of Gene Lees.

This thread has me looking over the first 5 Columbia Byrds albums (the only ones that really interest me) and the incredible Preflyte 2-disc set. I'm curious as to what people think of Jim/Roger McGuinn, and what his contributions to the group were. Obviously, there's the Dylan-esque whine, the electric 12-string, and most importantly, the granny glasses. But it's kind of surprising that the only 2 songs that he wrote by himself - on the these albums, at least - are "5D" and "Mr. Spaceman." Correct me if I'm wrong. Curiously, he was the one who apparently kept the group together - by default, at least, being that he either fired everyone or prodded them into quitting. I'm not knocking the guy, but it seems like kind of an odd group dynamic, considering his contributions relative to those of his bandmates. McGuinn may have grown as a songwriter/singer/instrumentalist in the second version of the Byrds, but he comes off as one of the guys in the first group. I can't think of another rock/pop group that has attained this kind of legendary stature that includes a McGuinn like figure, i.e. ruling the band with an iron fist but not being the major artistic contributor. Apologies in advance if this post has offended any Byrds fans. I just think it's an interesting group dynamic.

The Dylan covers were hit and miss -- but I love their versions of "Mr. Tambourine Man", "Chimes of Freedom" and ESPECIALLY "My Back Pages". Guy You know, after I posted that I thought about what I wrote, and yeah, I hear what you're saying. Some are better than others. I'm so sick of "Tambourine" I don't know if I like it or not, but I do like "Chimes" and "Pages." A couple I really don't care for are "Spanish Harlem Incident" and "Times They Are a Changin," although I like the alternate version. I LOVE "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue."

In the Gene Clark bio, it says that McGuinn was saving his better stuff for his next solo album, and used the rejects for the Byrds album. Al, believe it or not, I actually bought that album in the cutout bin for a quarter, told them it was defective and got my 25 cents back!!!

Playing around with the program feature on my CD player, I came up with this alternate "Turn Turn Turn" track lineup: Side 1: Turn Turn Turn It Won't Be Wrong Set You Free This Time Lay Down Your Weary Tune She Don't Care About Time (single version) He Was a Friend of Mine Side 2: The World Turns All Around Her The Day Walk The Times They Are A-Changin (alternate version) If You're Gone Wait and See It's All Over Now, Baby Blue It would have been a better album, IMO...

I hope you're telling us they used the MONO mix for the remaster, as the stereo mix is lopsided and unlistenable. And yes, if you cut out the filler and add the bonus tracks from the CD, you get a really solid 10" album.

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...are simply THEE BEST.

Agreed. I was simply addressing career highlights post-Gene Clark. Preflyte, Tambourine, and Turn are all wonderful albums, despite some filler and phoned-in Dylan covers.

Thanks all for the Beefeaters info. I have that 2 CD Preflyte set, and yes, it's terrific. I respect everyone's opinions regarding the various lineups, but I do truly believe they were their best with Gene Clark, and feel that his contributions to that group were underappreciated. None of the others could touch him as a songwriter, although they all contributed good songs at various points. Not having heard everything by Gene Clark, I'm not sure that he was ever better than he was with the Byrds. I like the Gosdin Brothers album quite a bit, though, especially in mono. The Dylan covers, for me, are the low point of those early records, despite however groundbreaking they may have been at the time. It's ironic that my favorite Dylan cover of theirs was the one that remained in the can until the box set. All this said, "Younger than Yesterday" is nearly a flawless record. Both "5th Dimension" and "Notorious" have their moments also.

Has anyone heard the actual Beefeaters 45? How different are those takes from the so-called "alternate takes" that are on various Preflyte collections?

The Byrds were at their very best when Gene Clark was there. Period.

Thanks for posting. Naxos has aslo released some top shelf film music albums, such as the Stromberg/Moscow Symphony recordings of Steiner's "King Kong" and "The Egyptian" by Herrmann and Newman.

Has anyone read the Gene Lees book that I cited earlier? I frequently disagree with his opinions and get annoyed with his writing style, but I was wondering how he handled the subject.

I would like to know what happened to the master tapes from the early days of these labels. Ever notice how vague the information is on the CDs? "Mastered from the best possible sources..." etc. I've encountered Verve/Norgran/Clef vinyl that sounds significantly better than the CD reissues - and not just in an analog vs. digital kind of way. I've also heard later pressings of Verve LPs that sound like they were taken from inferior sources (compared to earlier pressings). Any story here?

You may want to check out Gene Lees' book on racism in jazz. I don't always like Lees as a critic - there I times that I think he comes off like an embittered blowhard - but I give him credit for writing a book that addressed this issue.

I've never used a VPI, though a friend had one. I doubt there is a discernable difference, but then there are those who claim music sounds different depending on which color cables you use. I think the Nitty Gritty 1.0 is about $100 cheaper than the comparable VPI.

I almost agree with you; I'd keep "The Times They Are A-Changin'." But otherwise, you are RIGHT on the money on this one! (I'd even throw in "Stranger in a Strange Land," but whattyagonnado?) I love Dylan, but many of the Byrds' Dylan covers sound warmed over to my ears. The Byrds were never better than when they were doing Gene Clark's tunes, although Younger than Yesterday is a really solid record.

It DOES live up to it's title, if you're using "bad" in the right way. In the words of that famous tunesmith Huey Lewis, "sometimes bad is bad." This one caused my needle to jump off the record and scream "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO ME? THIS IS FREAKIN' TORTURE!" How much do you want for it?