Kevin Bresnahan

So another old low-fi analog tech is making a comeback? So those of us who lived with all its shortcomings are supposed to cheer? Dolby tapes had no hiss because they rolled off the highs so much, you couldn't hear it. The trick for the best sound out of a cassette was to avoid Dolby and live with the hiss. At least then, you got the full fidelity of the music. It's funny, but I was over on another forum and some loon started complaining about HD TV, saying stupid shit like, "The picture is so much better on an SD TV". I figure he was just trolling but then several other idiots started agreeing with him... well, maybe it was a group troll job?

Having seen Marchel Ivery live twice, I can understand the applause. He played great those two times that I saw him.

Jim - stealing the catchers signs has been a fundamental part of the game. But it really only came into play when there was a baserunner on 2nd. The coaches can't see when the catcher flashes his signs between his legs and the batter can't turn around to check or he risks a quick pitch that he can't react to. I was a catcher when I was a kid. We had special signs for when someone was on second. We knew the sign could be stolen, so we changed them up - sometimes from inning to inning. Allowing legal sign-stealing would ruin the game. The change-up would disappear. No sense throwing any off-speed pitches when the hitter knows it's coming or else he's just going to tee off on it. These guys are professional hitters. Watch BP sometime. They can and will tee off on the warm up pitcher's soft tosses. I suppose if all you want to see is HRs, sure, allow this to happen. But if you want to see real pitching, stop this stuff.

I don't know about that Jim... if teams were allowed to steal the other teams pitches and communicate what pitch was coming prior to the windup, how would this improve the game? "Hey batter, here comes a fastball." Wasn't that a line in Bull Durham? How did that work out? Oh yeah...

Great interview with Peart.

I really like "Moving Pictures" but it gets so much flak from the rock cognoscenti that I almost feel embarrassed to say this. Tough. I like it and I play it for me.

I've been listening to this for the last 2 days and it's caused to me realize three things about Rush: 1) I find myself listening to Peart's drums on most songs. Geddy Lee's vocals are almost a distraction 2) They made some pretty terrible and/or odd songs, which is why I don't own much of it. 3) Peart's drumming makes me wonder if this is what Monk would have sounded like if he played the drums. His keeps the time fine, but the wild, sometimes seemingly random accent beats are what really makes him sound so incredible. After listening to this for a long while, I decided I wanted to hear "Moving Pictures". I know - gak and all that - but it's my favorite Rush record. Goofy shit lyrically, but as I said, listening to Peart is where it's at. "Red Barchetta" is my favorite Rush tune. He's also a little like Blakey with the drum roll transitions at odd spots. Just a fun drummer to listen to. I still think they overdubbed some of them or else Peart had 3 arms.

LIFO is never a good idea in a shipping department.

Not a great title for an LP.

I think you have a typo. You typed "record player" when I think you meant to type "record destroyer".

So you ordered this set in December 2019 and are getting it now and I ordered it in February of 2019 and I haven't received any notice. This is bizarre.

You watch a video like this and it's much easier to understand why Peart retired after this tour. I can't imagine trying to keep playing at such a frenetic pace as a 20-something, much less a 60-something. It's also easy to see why Rush isn't going to be one of those ghost bands that keep playing until every member is dead. Rush isn't Rush without Peart. I was glad when I read that they agreed with this.

He was an incredible drummer. It always amazed me that it was only one drummer on some of those Rush songs. I used to think they were overdubbing.

I think the "regular" TOCJ CD sounds pretty decent. I bought the Japanese RVG because at the time, I was really digging their sound. I kept the TOCJ for my listening copy.

I am with you here. That is a phenomenal-sounding CD. Joe Henderson sounds like he's in the room with you. The Japanese version of Lee Morgan's "Search for the New Land" is a close second and the Japanese version of Jimmy Smith's "Back at the Chicken Shack" might sneak into the #3 spot. My least favorite sounding RVG CD was the Japanese version of Jackie McLean's "A Fickle Sonance". So tinny. Ugh. Sounded like it was mastered with some strange EQ.

Stanley Turrentine & Jackie McLean said the same thing to me, so I brought it up to Tom Evered when he was still working at Blue Note. He said that Blue Note tore up all their original contracts and rewrote them using "modern standards" so that all of the older Blue Note recordings were generating some revenue for these artists. He said that the next time one of these guys tells me this, give them his number (now long defunct) and he'll check to make sure the money was getting there. Now Prestige is a whole other matter. Gary Bartz has flat-out told me to steal/copy/tape all of his Prestige recordings to my heart's content because he has never received a dime from any of them. He is very bitter about it. And this isn't a old thing either. Eric Alexander did a couple of obscure dates for a small Japanese label. One was called "Heavy Hitters" and the other "Extra Innings". When I asked him to sign one at a gig, he told me that the label never even paid him for making the recording, never mind residuals.

So if I'm reading this right, Blue Note recordings from their heyday, 1955-1969 or so, are now protected for 110 years? This used to be 75 years after the death of the performer, right? So this means that now none of them will enter the public domain until 2065. It really makes me wonder why I'm seeing all these repackaged Blue Note dates from the EU. They're everywhere in the stores around me. It would seem to be pretty easy for their legal eagles to stop these from being imported with such a straightforward copyright.

https://www.discogs.com/McCoy-Tyner-Jackie-McLean-Its-About-Time/release/2821250 That is the CD cover you've posted.

I just finished Lee Child's latest Jack Reacher book, "Blue Moon". Over-the-top-Rambo is pretty standard for Child's Reacher books but this one goes way, way over the top... maybe even to the moon. Even though the bullets were flying and blood was spraying all over the place, I actually laughed out loud at one of the gun fights because I was picturing Weird Al the whole time.

Tom - enjoy your retirement. If you want to head down to York and spin a few records or grab a beer at the York River Landing, let me know. Now that my daughters moved out and it's just me & my wife, I can get some free time. Tom & I live in Southern coastal Maine. I don't think our winters can compare to New Brunswick!

Tailgating at Foxboro later today so I picked up some beer from the brewery up the street.

This is usually a very easy record to find: https://www.discogs.com/The-Richie-Kamuca-Quartet-Richie/release/3485899 If you need it on CD, it's never been released digitally as I've been told that Concord only licensed those Kamuca dates and they no longer own the rights. I have heard that the family got the rights back but I have no idea if that included the masters.

The main reason to have the German Hörzu pressing of "Magical Mystery Tour" was that it was the first pressing that was in true stereo.

I re-bought a "Wally" LP pressing of "Live Bullet" a few years back from Stereo Jack's $1 bin. He had several copies at the time. It sounds about as good as I remember it sounding back in the day. If you do decide to re-buy it, look for a Wally (Traugott) pressing. From what posters are saying over on the Hoffman forums, it's about as good as it's going to get on LP. Back to the topic at hand... I guess there was one LP I regretted selling. I did regret selling my LP of The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour", the German Hörzu pressing. I did buy another copy, so I do have it again and while it does sound nice, I also bought it mainly for nostalgic reasons.

Happy 2020 & Happy Birthday! I hope you have a good one.