mjzee

I thought it was an effective ad.

I bought this CD in mp3 format, and it's missing discographical info. I know who plays on the dates, but can anyone tell me which takes were the masters and which were alternates? Just You Just Me (2 takes) I Never Knew (2 takes) Afternoon Of A Basie-ite (2 takes) Sometimes I'm Happy (2 takes) After Theatre Jump (2 takes) Six Cats And A Prince (3 takes) Destination K.C. (2 takes)

How much does streaming eat up your cellphone minutes?

With the last Bootleg Series release, I think that on release date, there was still a $10 difference between Amazon UK and US (UK being cheaper).

I dug out of my LP collection a Shure "Audio Obstacle Course - Era III" that I may have gotten through a Stereo Review offer around 1973. It's to test the trackability of your cartridge by showcasing some difficult-to-track passages at increasingly loud volumes. But at the beginning of the disc, they had some basic passages to adjust balance, etc. One was to see whether your speakers are out-of-phase, and it turned out mine were. A quick switching of the wires on one speaker made a tremendous difference in the sound of my system. I mention this because I only played the LP on a lark, and it returned something of real value.

The article seems to conflate the different flavors of iPad. Certainly, as music lovers, we approach the iPod Classic and iPod Touch differently. I recently bought a Touch for my 10-year old son, but mostly for its video and camera capabilities, as well as its Net access. A Classic has none of those considerations. I've owned many iPods over the years, and repurpose them as their batteries go. One is now in the car, one in the bathroom, one in the alarm clock (allowing us to wake up to New York radio in Houston), one in the kitchen attached to a boom box, etc. What I'm now hoping for is a whole-house solution, but one effected through iPods, not a Sonos.

I finally started listening to Another Self Portrait tonight. I must confess I find the liner notes inadequate, in that they dance around the central question: Why does Self Portrait sound the way it does? Why the orchestrations, the sweetness, the corniness? The liner notes hint that it was Bob Johnston's doing (and fault), but I find that hard to believe. First, Dylan releases what he wants to release; second, with the hindsight of history, we see (from Christmas In The Heart) that he has an affinity for this type of music (as, perhaps, he does for many different types of music - witness the song selection for his Theme Time Radio Hour). But it doesn't explain his vision for the project, so we're left with an inescapable conclusion: that he wanted Self Portrait to sound that way (and to look that way - the old-fashioned script font on the back cover, for example). Chalk it up as a missed opportunity to truly address this era in Bob's career.

Just got word that it's shipped. I started watching "Downhill From Here" today, and am really enjoying it.

2 solutions: 1) Buy a good reading magnifying glass (available at Barnes & Noble in the book light section) 2) Scan the liner notes and view it on your computer screen, where you can magnify the size.

Release date February 1:

Bob Dylan to star in Chrysler Super Bowl ad, according to report

Release date February 3:

Ah, Nameless Sound...good to know. Thanks.

Where in Houston is the Bradford show?

I heard the LPs when they came out, but didn't buy them. The original LPs barely gave recording dates, so I never knew what to make of them; I also didn't understand the Pablo/Norman Granz connection until the box set. Count me as someone distinctly underwhelmed by the Live Trane box. Besides the mediocre, remote sound quality, these performances do not strike me as adding to our knowledge about Trane. You can hear the same sorts of performances, much better performances, elsewhere.

We finished watching Good Ol' Freda tonight. It's a sweet story, well worth watching. Freda Kelly was a relatively minor player in the Beatles story, but she's the real deal, was there with them from the beginning, was friends with them, worked for Brian Epstein, was friends with Ringo's parents (who told Brian Epstein to give Freda a raise!), was one of the bus passengers in Magical Mystery Tour, and was there at the dissolution. It's really a story about loyalty and friendship, and about being a fan.

We watched the first 20 minutes before getting interrupted. Yes, so far, very good. It's a very sweet story, very real. Visuals, editing are all very well done.

Watching "Good Ol' Freda" now.

Marc Myers has been contributing a terrific series for the Wall Street Journal, where he interviews various stars as to how a particular song came about. No doubt these will eventually be collected in a book. His latest piece is a conversation with Merle Haggard regarding the tune "Big City." WSJ (If the link doesn't return the full article, google the headline "The Fit That Led to a Country Hit for Merle Haggard")

Would you consider downloads? That would be a really inexpensive way to go.

You're welcome.

A friend in college had the first UK release of Sgt. Pepper. There's a weird lead-out groove on, IIRC, side 2; sounds like something being played backwards. Sure enough, when we did play it backwards (at the radio station, put the turntable in neutral and turn the disc back with your finger) we distinctly heard "We're going to fuck you like supermen" over and over...

I actually have that Lou Christie MGM single, and I hear what you're saying about Charlie Calello, but I could never relate to the falsetto voice. There are very few falsettos I like (Little Anthony is one, but even there, it just sounds so strange). The 4 Seasons songs are successful in spite of Frankie Valli's falsetto, not because of it (IMHO).

I'd like to also propose something else. I call it the "Gary Puckett & The Union Gap dictum." To wit: Pop music should have an expiration date, beyond which it's rarely heard. I remember hearing Woman, Woman when I was a child, thinking it was a godawful song but that's OK, because 3 months from now the song will drop off the radio and I'd rarely have to hear it again. Then came the advent of FM Oldies stations and, low and behold, I could never stop hearing Woman, Woman. Good lord! Not only was it a shitty song, it was the shitty song that kept on giving. There oughta be a law, and that's what I'm proposing. Mind you, it would be hard to codify what's awful (Puckett) and what's not (Beatles), but it can be done. This would leave room for new awful pop music, where we'd have the same blessed reaction: only 3 months for this, hopefully.

PM sent on Miles & Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Recording Sessions (6 CDs) Long Box $20 Bob Dylan: The Original Mono Recordings - Includes the Brandies University CD (10 CDs) $55 Led Zeppelin: The Complete Studio Recordings (10 CDs) $55