What are you listening to right now?

[eleazar]

The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour 


     MFSL LP

[tmazz]

Due to family obligations I was not able to get out of the house yesterday for National Record Store Day, but I went out for some groceries today and had to pass the Crack House on the was to the store, so.........

Pickings were very thin today, very little stock at all to look through, but I was able to pick up this one little gem:


Badfinger: Straight Up
LP

Original Apple pressing in mint, mint shape. The cover even still had the shrink wrap on it. 

[tmazz]

Found a few new discs at the library this afternoon.

Vijay Iyer Trio: Historicity

CD

Not bad in the SQ department, but musically not my cup of tea. It is just a bit to free form for my tastes. I prefer jazz that is more rooted in a melodic theme. Not a matter of good or bad, just my personal preference.

But I'm always willing to listen to anything once. You never know what you might find that will strike a chord with you.

[tmazz]

Alison Balsom/Scottish Ensemble: Italian Concertos



Hey Rich, here is one that should be right up your alley. This is a CD of Concertos for various instruments that were all transcribed to be played by the trumpet.

Track listing and samples here:
http://www.amazon.com/Italian-Concertos-Alison-Balsom/dp/B002YH6FQA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1303097263&sr=1-1

[eleazar]

Due to family obligations I was not able to get out of the house yesterday for National Record Store Day, but I went out for some groceries today and had to pass the Crack House on the was to the store, so.........

Pickings were very thin today, very little stock at all to look through, but I was able to pick up this one little gem:


Badfinger: Straight Up
LP

Original Apple pressing in mint, mint shape. The cover even still had the shrink wrap on it.  

This is a desert island LP for me Tmazz. I listen to it often on my ipod while driving . I don't list it here as people would get tired of me posting it.  

[tmazz]

Due to family obligations I was not able to get out of the house yesterday for National Record Store Day, but I went out for some groceries today and had to pass the Crack House on the was to the store, so.........

Pickings were very thin today, very little stock at all to look through, but I was able to pick up this one little gem:


Badfinger: Straight Up
LP

Original Apple pressing in mint, mint shape. The cover even still had the shrink wrap on it.  

This is a desert island LP for me Tmazz. I listen to it often on my ipod while driving . I don't list it here as people would get tired of me posting it.  

So you listen to it Day After Day?     (Sorry I could'nt help myself.)

[jsaliga]

--Jerome

[tmazz]

Britten's Orchestra: Michael Stern/Kansas City Symphony

CD

The SACD version of this disc won Keith Johnson his first Grammy for the 2010's Best Surround Sound Album.

I have the HDCD version and as one would expect from RR, the two-channel version is absolutely top shelf in the SQ department as well.

Of interesting note - the conductor on this recording, Michael Stern, is the son of famed violinist Issac Stern. I guess he inherited the family musical genes.  

One word of warning - Keith Johnson states that this disc contains the widest dynamic range of anything he has ever recorded, so use some restraint with the volume control the first time through this disc. There are a number of quiet passages that  make one want to juice up the volume, but there are also some monstrous peaks hiding around the corner.  

[tmazz]

Martin Gribinger: Drums 'N' Chant

CD


OK, this one is just flat out bizarre. Gregorian Chants combine with a percussion combo. Sort of like The Benedictine Monks meet "Bang Baroom and Harp".

But I do have to give it credit for excellent SQ. The recording is very clean and presents a wide and deep soundstage with very good location specificity. Although, one things that did strike me as a bit odd sonically was the fact that the acoustic cues seemed to indicate the two groups (the Monks and the percussionist were in different acoustic spaces. Then I read the liner note and found that not only were the two group recorded separately, but the two recording were done 29 years apart!

However as strange as it is, it somehow has a way of drawing you in musically. I don't know if I would really want to sit through the whole disc end to end, but in same chunks (like one or two cuts at a time it is kind of interesting. And given the sonic qualities of this disc I can see it coming out from time to time for use as a test disc.

[tmazz]

Bach for Breakfast


Another of the Philips discs of themed classical music collections.

[jsaliga]

This recording came from High Definition Tape Transfers.  It was sourced from a minty original Westminster LP pressing and encoded with FLAC at 24bit/192KHz.  I converted the FLAC files to wav, and then created a DVD-Audio disc using Disc Welder Bronze DVD-A authoring software.

--Jerome

[jsaliga]

This is the first lot to arrive of a string of 95 LPs that I bought last week.  Oh my GOD!  What an incredible recording.  This will very likely be my new favorite Prokofiev 5th Symphony.  Ormandy's reading is both soul stirring and breathtaking, and the sound quality is truly phenomenal.  Every time I buy one of these outstanding vintage Columbia, Decca, London, Westminster, or RCA Victor recordings it serves as a sad reminder that sound recording and engineering had reached the pinnacle of excellence in the 1950s, and everything since then has been on a steady downward slope in quality since then.

The jacket has a little bit of wear but the treasure inside is in perfect condition....and it only cost me a measly $6.00.  

--Jerome

[eleazar]

Small Faces



35th Anniversary Edition of their 1st Immeadite LP 2 cd set
In stereo and mono mixes plus bonus tracks

[jsaliga]

This Mercury Living Presence LP has a couple of pops and a few light crackles.  But the sound is otherwise fantastic, and it is really hard for me to complain because I only paid $3.00 for it.

--Jerome

[eleazar]

     LP