mjzee

http://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/music/leon-russell-musician-known-dynamic-performances-dies-74-n683181

Anyone else catch the "180 Sound" on the labels? Cute.

Yeah, when I break into the box, I think I'll do it chronologically. Interesting that Sandy Konikoff is the drummer on the U.S. dates.

Mine arrived today too. Nice packaging. Interestingly, the outer Amazon box contained an inner shipping box which contained the Dylan set. That inner box had packing tape from Bertelsmann. The bottom of the Dylan set indicates it was made in the EU. So are all the Dylan sets being manufactured in Germany, for shipment around the world? Also interesting that Sony and Bertelsmann still have a business connection. This has nothing to do with the music, but I find it interesting.

Very sad. I got into his music relatively recently, taking a chance on his Columbia box. I found a witty, perceptive lyricist whose songs were also melodically interesting. There was a recent profile of Cohen in The New Yorker. In it, Dylan said this: “When people talk about Leonard, they fail to mention his melodies, which to me, along with his lyrics, are his greatest genius,” Dylan said. “Even the counterpoint lines—they give a celestial character and melodic lift to every one of his songs. As far as I know, no one else comes close to this in modern music. Even the simplest song, like ‘The Law,’ which is structured on two fundamental chords, has counterpoint lines that are essential, and anybody who even thinks about doing this song and loves the lyrics would have to build around the counterpoint lines. “His gift or genius is in his connection to the music of the spheres,” Dylan went on. “In the song ‘Sisters of Mercy,’ for instance, the verses are four elemental lines which change and move at predictable intervals . . . but the tune is anything but predictable. The song just comes in and states a fact. And after that anything can happen and it does, and Leonard allows it to happen. His tone is far from condescending or mocking. He is a tough-minded lover who doesn’t recognize the brush-off. Leonard’s always above it all. ‘Sisters of Mercy’ is verse after verse of four distinctive lines, in perfect meter, with no chorus, quivering with drama. The first line begins in a minor key. The second line goes from minor to major and steps up, and changes melody and variation. The third line steps up even higher than that to a different degree, and then the fourth line comes back to the beginning. This is a deceptively unusual musical theme, with or without lyrics. But it’s so subtle a listener doesn’t realize he’s been taken on a musical journey and dropped off somewhere, with or without lyrics.” The full New Yorker article is here: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/17/leonard-cohen-makes-it-darker RIP.

I've discovered something that's interesting in terms of how the iTunes program/database works. As I've mentioned in the Savory thread, I've been having issues with having the album downloaded. Today, when doing an album search for "Savory" within iTunes, a puzzling thing happened. Two different results came up: one with the full album (all 18 songs), and another with only the first 5 songs. Both listed Various Artists as the artist, but they were not next to each other - each search result only showed one album. Each instance had different albums to the right and left of it; in other words, they were in different parts of the database. I didn't understand, because databases are not supposed to act like this. So I used Grab to compare the info on a song (Body And Soul) that was present in both versions. Here's what I found: The full version had a blank "album artist" field. The 5 song version had Various Artists entered in the "album artist" field. Both had the "compilation" field checked. *** If an album has a blank "album artist" field but the "compilation" field is checked, that album is displayed under a separate section for Compilations, which is displayed after Z in the A-Z alphabetical listing. *** If an album has Various Artists entered in the "album artist" field, that album is included under V in the A-Z alphabetical listing. This means compilation albums are displayed in two different sections of the program, and I haven't been seeing all my compilation albums together. The solution is to be consistent: either keep the "album artist" field blank for all compilations (but make sure to have the "compilation" field checked), or enter Various Artists in the "album artist" field for all compilations. Then they will all display together.

"kbps" is basically the sound quality of the file. The higher the number, the better. Most professionally released mp3 tracks are at least 256 kbps. The way you find out: Go to the Savory album in your iTunes. Right-click on any individual track, and select Get Info. In the box that pops up, select File. The fourth item down says "bit rate." The reason I ask is that my original download of the album was at 256 kbps. The replacement tracks are at 128 kbps. This is nuts, because I think Apple promises that all their tracks are at least 256 kbps. I think they've botched this release big time. Oh, in the same place where you can see the bit rate (Get Info/File), look at "date modified." If you don't see the date you downloaded the corrected version, then nothing's changed.

Did the new titles download at 128 kbps or at 256 kbps?

I've just spent an hour with Apple Customer Service regarding redownloading the album. My advice is to not bother.

I've tried redownloading the album, but cannot figure out how to do it.

I can't tell, because although the full timings of the new version show in iTunes, only snippets play. I think the best way is to burn your old version to a CD, then delete and replace as per Apple's instructions.

I started working on this this morning. Apple put the new version in my iTunes, with a location that begins with http://audio.itunes.apple.com, so I was able to visually compare the two versions. Here are the differences in timings (I haven't listened to them yet): A-Tisket A-Tasket: old version 1:55, new version 2:22 Yacht Club Swing / Hold My Hand: old version 3:39, new version 4:31 I Haven't Changed A Thing: old version 3:52, new version 4:21 Summer Souvenirs / Who Blew Out The Flame: old version 5:25, new version 4:30. So Summer Souvenirs is the only track that's longer on the older version. All tracks are in the same sequence in both versions.

Happy birthday, GA!

TMG: Your links seems to have disappeared. Any chance of reposting them?

RIP. What a nice man. When in college, I was head of the jazz concert commission, and we presented Sonny Rollins in the spring of 1975. After the sound check, I walked around campus with Bob for about an hour. It seemed like most of the conversation was about me - he was genuinely interested in me, asked a lot of questions, and invited me to his house on Long Island, where he had a son who was my age. I'll never forget that walk with him.

Where is this?

I didn't do the 2016 subscription but will do the 2017.

Kate, how was the Hawaii show (DaP 19)?

He finally acknowledged and accepted the award: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3883940/Absolutely-s-possible-Bob-Dylan-says-Nobel-Prize-win-amazing-remains-cryptic-ll-attend-award-ceremony-December.html

Wow. Thanks again for that, Dave. I'll try not to hijack the thread more on this topic. Two little things: Sejda worked as a solution for viewing on a computer screen; interestingly, the pages are still connected if you try to print. I've thought of a simpler, though less elegant solution: print the pages as originally provided, fold on the vertical to create CD-sized pages, and then sew it shut on the left side. Voila! You have a bound booklet. (Stapling might scratch the CD.)

Yow. Much cheaper to buy the discs individually (and they're all still in-print).

Where can this be ordered from?

OK, I've explored Sejda a little more; thanks for suggesting it, Dave. I was able to split the pages and reorder them. What I cannot do is merge two split pages back into one longer page.

It's a little more complicated than that. Each page in the digital booklet, except for the front and back cover, has two printed pages. For example, db (digital booklet) page 2 has printed pages (pp) 2 & 3; db page 3 has pp 4 & 5; db page 3 has pp 6 & 7, etc. Each db page folds down the vertical center; if it were actually printed, there'd be two staples down that vertical fold. Also, a printed booklet has double-sided printed pages. Because only 42 booklet-sized pages are provided, this presents a problem because normally you'd need 44: 11 double-sided pages that would be folded down the center to provide 44 booklet-sized pages. In order to actually print the db, the pagination would have to be as follows (ignoring the covers): db page 1 would need on one side pp 2 & 40, and on the other side pp 3 & 39. The next db (page 2) would need on one side pp 4 & 38, and on the other side pp 5 & 37; etc. So to use Sejda, you'd also need to cut each db page down the center and then reorder those pages. It's a big mess.

I finally listened to the whole BFT. It started off promisingly, almost like a meditation on the fifties, and then...not my cup of tea. Most of this is simply not jazz, and it's of music types for which I have very little patience. Now I'll go back and read this thread from the beginning.