Music

I am a big fan of vinyl. I still have my first records that I purchased as a little kid in the early '70s and they are still in decent shape. I still buy a lot of used albums and several new ones. Here lately, my luck with new albums has been pretty bad. I bought John Prine's last record and it sounds good. I pre-ordered the reissue of John Prine's first album and it sounds awful. I have the cd and it sounds good. I recently bought Charlie Crockett's latest album. I knew that it should sound great because on the radio and on tital it sounds like it was recorded at Sun Records 60 years ago. The vinyl version sounds like it's being played on an old transistor radio in the n…

1. The claim: sadder and slower 2. The claim: simpler and louder 3. The claim: antisocial and angry 4. The claim: just not as good as it used to be 5. The claim: more repetitive https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/fb84bf19-29c9-4ed3-b6b6-953e8a083334 In my day ... e.g. "Gucci Gang"

So I'm looking at buying the Out of the Blue CD, but there seem to be 2 main editions, the regular 17-track release and the 30th anniversary with 3 bonus tracks released in 2007. Which one should I get and also – what is your favorite ELO album and song?

https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/the-youths-are-bringing-cds-back/amp

Just found out Cassette Store Day is coming up October 17th. Who's participating? http://cassettestoreday.com/ [For those wondering National Eight-Track Day was April 11]

Amazon Launches Amazon Music HD https://www.amazon.com/music/unlimited/hd Ooh , more bits ... For less .. https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/17/20869526/amazon-music-hd-lossless-flac-tier-spotify-apple Oh, Hi Neil, Pono? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/business/amazon-music-hd.html Earth will never be the same again, apparently. https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-music-hd-launches-to-compete-with-tidal/ https://variety.com/2019/music/news/amazon-music-unveils-hd-highest-quality-audio-streaming-1203338552/ 90 day free trial. Nice.

Why do I think steaming pile when I see streaming?

So what new releases are you excited about? Me: I really, really dug their last two releases, Polarity and Vertical Theory, though I doubt this will be anything like that, based on the description. But I'll love 'em whatever they do.

" Digital downloads had a short run as the top-selling format in the music industry. It took until 2011, a decade after the original iPod came out, for their sales surpass those of CDs and vinyl records, and they were overtaken by music streaming services just a few years later. Now, digital downloads are once again being outsold by CDs and vinyl, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The RIAA released its 2017 year-end revenue report on Thursday, showing that revenue from digital downloads plummeted 25 percent to $1.3 billion over the previous year. Revenue from physical products, by contrast, fell 4 percent to $1.5 billion. …

It's that time of the year again. One of these days I plan to attend but I'm happy enough to get my yearly wake up call of what's happening in the music world outside of my own melon. Here's a link to NPR's Austin 100. I usually use it to jot down artists I want to try and find streams of and hopefully shamelessly copy! https://www.npr.org/2018/03/01/585356494/the-austin-100-a-2018-sxsw-mixtape

Anyone care to comment on how the Kempe/MPO Beethoven symphony performances are?

https://www.avclub.com/and-of-course-anal-trump-the-year-in-band-names-2017-1820336004 Much Names. So Win. This needs it's own thread

I confess that the subject is to grab folks attention but the Clan is truly hoping this will happen. Very interesting idea. Kind of a cross between music and performance art? Whatever it is, it's new! http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2014/03/26/why-wu-tang-will-release-just-one-copy-of-its-secret-album/

I was just listening to J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 (a delayed reaction to Hallowe'en) when I had a bit of an epiphany... why do people send their kids to take piano lessons when they could be learning the pipe organ (common sense answer: because pipe organs are crazy big and complex and expensive and rare)? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toccata_and_Fugue_in_D_minor,_BWV_565 The Wikipedia article suggests that Bach may have composed the piece to test pipe organs... do people use pipe organ repertoire to test their music systems? Listening to this piece on my computer speakers, I can understand why pipe organs are used for liturgical purpose…

I hope most of us have seen the doc of Sound City if not, shame on you! Well, I guess I'm a little biased when it comes to the golden age of recording studios and the like. The good news is that they've cleaned and preened the old place and it's now open for business once again! Complete with a full compliment of Ampex and 3M tape machines and a legendary Helios console. Check it out! https://www.soundcitystudios.com/

I was watching a TV show in a scene a guy was giving a rare, collectible vinyl album to another. The album cover was brown or very dark orange with regularly distributed, about 5x5 or 6x6, white circles. In four of the circles, in the same line, starting next to the left rim, the word JAZZ spelled one single letter into one single circle. That's all, no names, no label, no artist mentioned or music sounding. I've tried looking for that cover on Discogs, Google, etc, but nothing came out. Any cues?

I was really interested in this at first and held off, having listened to the Tidal stream of the record I am generally impressed. It fucks with a masterpiece but is a really goo modern take IMO. Anyone here own the record or the ridiculous deluxe $100+ version with DVD and Blu ray? I am interested in any gains with the 24/96 but not sure I want to spend the cash on it unheard.

I bought Cosmogramma a few years ago and I noticed it is recorded at a deafening level. Other people seemed to have picked up on this as well. Does anyone else think his albums are too loud? I have to turn the volume to nearly zero just to listen to the CD. Some people think the clipping is intentional...

Many times I have wanted to ask someone to listen to a recording and compare a few notes, mostly around system "voicing" and dialing things in. So, we will see if there is interest to help. First request is Bill Evans "Waltz for Debbie" APJ 009 (vinyl). If you have a different format or mastering, then that could be interesting as well.

So I'm looking for Purple Rain and 1999 in high resolution. qobuz has them for download at 96\24 Any thoughts on those? 1. can I download them in the US 2. can I play it with any player 3. how do they sound

I've got three dual discs that have enhanced stereo tracks on the DVD side of the disc. They don't show up using DVDA Explorer, but DVDA Extractor will list them just not extract them. Anybody have any luck getting the tracks off these types of discs?

What's wrong with him?! That's a lot of money!

Here's a short Stereophile blurb on the classical music download site Primetone. It seems like a nice alternative to the label stores although the article seems to indicate that they are trying to retain some control of their holds. Anyway, I kind of like the way that Primetone includes news and interviews so visiting the site is a quick way to see what's hot. This is in contrast to ClassicsOnline that seems to be a more traditional online music store. Be sure and note how different sites vary in price and formats. BTW, looks like most of these sites have streaming in the making. http://www.stereophile.com/content/primephonics-hi-rez-classical-downlo…

I was hugely bummed at Lala's untimely demise. Now this MOG - Millions of songs on-demand and radio that's just hard to believe ,if it lasts for more than a couple months, could be a worthy or even better replacement. For five bucks a month you get computer access to a library that looks to be comparable with what Lala had. The five bucks is unlimited streaming, all you can eat. For ten bucks, you get mobile device service similar to Slacker, with caching on the device (for Andriod and iPhone only). Streams are MP3 at 320 Kbps, so the quality should be pretty listenable, more or less, give or take. They seem to post new releases promptly, although they don't …