An Afternoon At The Crack House

[tmazz]

Stopped by the Crack House on my way home from work tonight and they were running a 50% off sale in all Christmas items, so I couldn't help but pick up a couple of Christmas CDs:

Arthur Fiedler/Boston Pops: Christmas Favorites - BMG Special Products CD

Tony Bennett/Charlotte Church/Placido Domingo/Vanessa Williams: Our Favorite Things - Sony Classical CD

.... and a few others, just for good measure (hey, I was already there, wasn't I?  ) :

Charlotte Church: Enchantment - Columbia CD

The Canadian Brass: Ragtime - RCA Victor CD

The Canadian Brass: More Greatest Hits - RCA Victor CD

The Essential Canadian Brass - Philips CD

The Very Best of Sting & The Police - A&M CD

Tchaikovsky 1812: Erich Kunzel/Cincinnati Pops (The 1998 DSD Recording) - Telarc CD

[tmazz]

FYI, I think I found another "Crack House".  

I stopped in to the West Islip Library last weekend to pick up a disc that I saw online that they had on the shelf. When I got there I was very impressed with the collection they have available for circulation. Excellent selection of jazz CDs and large amounts of classical and popular discs as well (although I did not have the time to carefully looks at what these two sections contained.) In addition to have a lot to choose from the section is also very well organized, well lit and very well laid out from and ergonomic basis such that it is very easy to browse the collection.

And they allow you to take out up to 30 CDs at a time!!!! (I was driving up to MA to visit my mother the next day so I took 15.   ) I find the library a great way to explore new music. I can take them out for free and if there is anything that I really like that much, I just buy those. With no money on the line it is a lot easier to try new artists, albums or music types. For example out of the 15 I took out last weekend pretty much all of them were OK to listen to, but I will most likely end up only buying one or two of them. Had I been required to lay out cash to get that first listen I think I would have ended up passing pretty much all of them by.

For those of us that have borrowing privileges in the Suffolk County Library system this one is a nice find.

[jimbones]

its not the kill its the chase.

[pumpkinman]

[tmazz]

This week's haul from the Crack House:
1) The Firemen:  Electric Arguments (Produced by Paul McCartney) - MPL CD
2) Nirvana: Unplugged - Geffen CD
3) Elvis Costello/The Brodsky Quartet: The Juliet Letters - Warner  Bros CD
4) The Best of Bossa Nova: Verve Compact Jazz Series CD
5) Diana Krall - The Girl in the Other Room - Verve CD
6) The Great Ladies Sing Gershwin: Rebound CD
7) Meatloaf: Bat Out of Hell III, The Monster is Loose - Virgin CD/DVD Set
8 ) Brainwave Symphony, Theta - The Relaxation Company CD
9) From the Big Apple to the Big Easy: The Concert for New Orleans - 2 DVD set

[tmazz]

And from the library.....

1) Jim Croce: The Lost Recordings - Sony CD
2) Paul McCartney: New - MPL/Concord CD
3)Billy Joel: Live at Shea Stadium, The Concert - Columbia 2 CD/1 DVD set
4) Eric Clapton & Friends: The Breeze, An Appriciation of JJ Cale - Surfdog CD
5) Porcupine Tree: In Absentia - Lava CD
6) Tony Bennett Sings Rodgers & Hart Songs - Rhino CD
7) Tony Bennett: Duets, An American Classic - Sony CD
8 ) Johnny Winter: Roots - Megaforce CD
9) Monty Alexander: Uplift - Jazz Legacy CD
10) Chet Baker: Chet in Chicago - Enja CD
11) The Oscar Peterson Trio: The London House Sessions Volumes 1-5 - Verve 5 CD set

[richidoo]

Respighi Feste Romane and Fountains of Rome
Fernando Previtali conducts
The Orchestra of the Accademia de Santa Cecelia, Rome

LP on Westminster Recordings

Goodwill .49   

[pumpkinman]

L to R and Top to Bottom

Front Page Review ~ Mystic Soldiers.....new vinyl
Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come ~  Journey
Scorpions ~ Journey To The rainbow.....I purchased this recently but this one was a German pressing and it was only a $1
Clarence Gatemouth Brown~ Real Life
Synergy ~ Sequence
Doug Sahm ~ Groovers Paradise.....purchase inspired by jlappy on another forum

[tmazz]

Made my first trip to the Crack House in a while. Not a big, but not a bad haul.

Arthur Fiedler's Greatest Hits - RCA CD
Bob James/Earl Klugh: Cool - WB CD
Jack Johnson: On and On - The Moonshine Conspiracy Records CD
Bill Berry's L.A. Big Band: Hello Rev - Concord CD

But this one made the trip worthwhile -

Harry Belafonte: Jump Up Calypso - Mint condition RCA Living Stereo LP, 1s pressing

[etcarroll]

Made a trip to Plan 9 in Richmond, VA this week, could have sworn I had 2 Nighthawks lps in hand, but only 1 when I got home, and only got charged for one, oh well.

[tmazz]

I got a gift card to Looney Tunes in West Babylon for Christmas last year and I finally got over there this past Friday.

They had just gotten in a whole bunch of Time/Life CDs featuring Arthur Fielder and the Boston Pops. Most of the Time/Life CDs & LPs that I have picked up over the years have had very nice SQ and the classical ones in particular are usually made for them by RCA. These weren't Crack House prices, but at only $1.99 each, they were darn close.

Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops:

    - Memories from the Musicals
    - Pop Favorites
    - Marches
    - Light Classical Jewels
    - Orchestral Showpieces
    - For Children of All Ages
    - American Cavelcade
    - Fiedler Favorites

[tmazz]

Had a Dr appointment in Mineola last night , so while I was there I just had to make a stop at Mr. Cheapo. ended up coming our with a bunch of audiophile CDs for 2 or 3 bucks apiece.  


From Reference Recordings:

Mozart: Concertos #21 and 24 -, Istomin/Schwarz/Seattle Symphony

Stravinsky Firebird/Nightingale/Rite of Spring - Oue/Minnesota Orchestra

Beachcomber - Frederick Fennell/Dallas Wind Symphony

Dick Hyman - Swing is Here

From Telarc:

Ray Brown/John Clayton/Christian McBride - SuperBass 2

Lerner & Loewe Songbook for Orchestra - Erich Kunzel/Cininnati Pops

Handel: Messiah Highlights - Boston Baroque Orchestra & Chorus

[etcarroll]

Been on a project in San Antonio this week and last, finally made the 70 mile drive to Austin, always wanted to go but never made it till now. Great town, great music scene, great BBQ, and great Record Shopping. Bought 7 things at Waterloo, great store but a little pricy. But the 'snag', a used 1st pressing of HARVEST. Guy wanted $22 for it, at Breakaway Records, couldn't talk him down any, and so bought it. Later, at Waterloo, saw a HARVEST re-release, shrinkwrapped, for $60. So $22 for a NM used copy didn't hurt so much. Everything else was new at Waterloo.

[tmazz]

Nice stuff Gene. 

[tmazz]

Met up with the P-man for a visit to PREX on the way to Deepak's Rave today. Unfortunately we didn't have a whole lot of time to shop (by my standards at least  ) and the place as a bit crowded so I ended up going where the crowds weren't, which this morning was the Jazz CD section. Because of our tight schedule that was pretty much al that I got to go through, hence my purchases were a bit lopsided towards the digital side. (I picked up 20 CDs and only one piece of vinyl  - I know, I feel shame.  )

Lee Morgan: The Procrastinator - Blue Note CD  (I found this one last time I was there as well, but put it back figuring I could always pick it up another day.  )
Kenny Burrell: The Blue Note Years
Ben Webster: The Verve Years - Verve Compact Jazz CD
Herb Ellis: The Concord Jazz Heritage Series - Concord CD
Charlie Byrd: The Concord Jazz Heritage Series - Concord CD
Classic Jazz, The Sixties - Time Life CD
The Great Jazz Trio: Chapter II - East Wind CD
Lee Rittenour: 6 String Theory - Concord CD
George Benson: Te Early Years - Ultimate Entertainment Distribution CD
Edward Simon Group: Beauty Within - Audioquest CD
Joey Calderazzo: Secrets - Audioquest CD
Rebecca Pidgeon: The Raven - Chesky CD
Ray Brown: SuperBass - Telarc CD
Ray Brown: Some of My Best Friends are.... Singers - Telarc CD
Ray Brown: Some of My Best Friends are...The Trumpet Players - Telarc CD
Pickin' on Jimmy Buffett, A Bluegrass Tribute - CMH  CD
Jimmy Buffett: Before the Beach - MCA CD
Dusty Springfield: Dusty in Memphis (Deluxe Edition) - Rhino CD
Paul McCartney's Ocean Kingdom - Concord CD
The Baddest of George Thorogood and the Destroyers EMI CD (Thanks P-man  )

And the Lone LP of the day:

Chet Atkins/Arthur Fiedler/Boston Pops: the "Pops" Goes Country - RCA LP