Guest akanalog Posted August 22, 2004 Report Posted August 22, 2004 anyone have opinions of the new fantasy two-fer of those two paul bley milestone albums where he plays synths? i heard one of them (the one with altschul and holland) a long time ago on a scratchy record and didn't really love it but early 70s is my favorite era for jazz and i love synths so i am thinking i might warm to it. i think those are the two albums-'paul bley's synthesizer show' and "paul bley and scorpio". i don't love paul bley so i could see his synth playing being pretty brutally ungrooving-especially with altschul who never does anything for me-too ticky tocky. (except on conference of the birds where he fits in nicely) Quote
mikeweil Posted August 22, 2004 Report Posted August 22, 2004 I remember SCORPIO as being quite good, imaginative playing on Carla Bley's tunes in particular. Never listened to the other one. Same here. Quote
JSngry Posted August 22, 2004 Report Posted August 22, 2004 I've got SCORPIO on LP and like it muchly. Yet another one here who has never heard SYTHESIZEER SHOW. But I dig Bley quite a bit anyway... Quote
RDK Posted August 22, 2004 Report Posted August 22, 2004 Geez... I haven't listened to Scorpio in years. I'll try to dig it out and give it a spin tomorrow... Quote
brownie Posted August 22, 2004 Report Posted August 22, 2004 Used to have these when they came out. Did not keep them even if Paul Bley is a favorite with a considerable discography of remarkable albums. I would not rate these two among those. A much better album from the same era that should be reissued is the Limelight album 'Mr. Joy' with Gary Peacock and Billy Elgart. That one is remarkable! Quote
mikeweil Posted August 22, 2004 Report Posted August 22, 2004 In Paul Bley's discography as a whole, both are oddities, of course - and if I remember correctly, that's about the way he sees them now himself. But as an experiment in simultaneous playing of several keyboards and successfully merging/contrasting their sounds, I think they rank very high. I personally prefer his contemplative approach on Scorpio a lot to Zawinul's sounds, or Jack Wilson's busy virtuosity, or even my favourite Herbie Hancock's, who did not display the best taste in selecting synthesizer settings. Quote
JohnS Posted August 23, 2004 Report Posted August 23, 2004 Used to have these when they came out. Did not keep them even if Paul Bley is a favorite with a considerable discography of remarkable albums. I would not rate these two among those. A much better album from the same era that should be reissued is the Limelight album 'Mr. Joy' with Gary Peacock and Billy Elgart. That one is remarkable! Absolutely right imo. Quote
mikeweil Posted August 23, 2004 Report Posted August 23, 2004 Got that Twofer CD today - sound is excellent, very fine remastering job by Kirk Felton, every detail is audble - the Milestone LP had a slightly muddy sound. They omitted "Mr. Joy" from the Synthesizer Show LP due to time limitations. That, BTW, was the first LP to use the synthesizer in creative improvisation, as Michael Cuscuna (!) writes in the original notes. The tunes are by Annette Peacock or Carla Bley, and Bley's synth sounds much less dates than most from that era. I recommend it - his multiple keyboard concept on "Scorpio" is great! Quote
Shawn Posted August 23, 2004 Report Posted August 23, 2004 very fine remastering job by Kirk Felton Kirk Felton is my hero....all of his remasters sound AWESOME! Now if BN would just fire McMaster and hire him..... Quote
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