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JohnnyB

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Posts posted by JohnnyB

  1. 18 hours ago, Toadroller said:

    This came up on social media this week and has been stuck in my ear ever since.  

     

    Wow! That FenderTones' version is fabulous! I was listening to it though Sennheiser HD580 headphones. The tempo is a little faster than the original, but in a good way. It's more energetic without  sounding rushed. The bassist extracts a deep growling tone and plays propulsive bass lines that move the song along. The vocal harmonies are big and lush. The drummer pretty much plays Dennis Wilson's original beats, which is a great place to stay. Lead singer's voice has an attractive charisma. Hats off all around!

    • Like 2
  2. 16 hours ago, gtrdaddy said:

     

    I was such a Disney and Beach Boys fan when "The Monkey's Uncle" was released in 1965 that I saw it in a theater. The Annette/Beach Boys video of the title song kicked off the movie, and that's primarily why I went to see the movie. Rock music videos were rare, and there were no VCRs yet. If you missed the theatrical release you might not get a chance to see it for years.

    • Like 1
  3. Where did the time go? I bought this album when it was released in 2011, and I still think of it as one of my new records.

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    Mine is a double album of 180g LPs. If you are anywhere near my age, the song selection will send you surfing one wave of nostalgia after another--top 40 hits from the '60s (plus  Thelonious Monk's signature song) and '70s that resonated with Metheny in his formative years:

    Disc: 1

      1. The Sound of Silence
      2. Cherish
      3. Alfie

    Disc: 2

      1. Pipeline
      2. Garota de Ipanema
      3. Rainy Days and Mondays

    Disc: 3

      1. That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be
      2. Slow Hot Wind
      3. Betcha by Golly, Wow

    Disc: 4

      1. And I Love Her
      2. 'Round Midnight
      3. This Nearly Was Mine
     
    All tracks are solo acoustic guitar played on a variety of designs, from a 6-string classical for "And I Love Her" to his 42-string Pikasso guitar for "The Sound of Silence."
    18s01rxyxaf2bjpg.jpg
     
    Here's his gorgeous rendition of The Beatles' "And I Love Her" played on a classical 6-string. Metheny has a strong affection for The Beatles. He was from a family of brass horn players (his grandfather was in John Philip Souza's band). At age 9, when he saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, he put his French Horn away, bought a Gibson ES-175 at a pawn shop, and started jamming to jazz guitar records.
     
     
    • Like 2
  4. I just got another batch of LPs from my sister. This time there's a vocalist I wasn't familiar with--Arthur Prysock.

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    Although the orchestrations are a bit treacly, Prysock is one of those African American baritones with a voice as big as the outdoors. Think Billy Eckstine, Joe WIlliams, or Johnny Hartford.

     

    • Like 1
  5. My sister just sent me a stack of LPs including several Count Basie albums I didn't already have. I spun this one last night.

    91Mk1NWNLgL._SX522_.jpg91WYMR5DYzL._SX522_.jpg

    I saw Basie & his band live in 1974, when he was 70. It was the same band that had that cameo in Blazing Saddles.

    But this album is a 1963 collection of the pre-war Basie band at its legendary best. All recordings are from 1937-1939. Band members include rhythm guitarist extraordinaire Freddie Green, tenor sax Lester ("The Pres") Young, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry "Sweets" Edison, drummer Jo Jones, vocalist Jimmy Rushing ....

    Tape recording and LPs didn't exist for another 10 years, so these recordings are all transferred from 78 rpm lacquers. Surprisingly, they are clean-sounding, dynamic, and particularly rhythmic. It's easy to visualize a ballroom full of Depression-era young adults partying their asses off to this jump 'n' jive music.

    It's very enjoyable music and it also demonstrates the enormous amount of talent and energy that this band brought to the party in its prime. Some of the tracks are "electronically reprocessed to simulate stereo." I may have to swap in my mono cartridge to extract the authentic original cuts.

    • Like 3
  6. I'm playing a 1982 release of a Time/Life 3-LP box set of Segovia recordings that span 1927-1971. I picked it up at a Goodwill for $1.99. I was really excited by the find; the vinyl surfaces of all three LPs gleamed (a good sign) and had no signs of wear or surface scratches. However, when I got it home to play, to my dismay it sounded unbearably noisy. Disappointed, I shelved the box set. Then, a couple years ago I bought a mono cartridge to get the best performance out of the 2014 Parlophone mono release of the mono Beatles albums (from 1963's Please, Please Me through the White album, plus a 3-LP set of mono singles). It was quite a revelation. I decided to see how this cartridge would sound with some true vintage mono albums. I put on a couple of 1969 true mono albums, and to my surprise all the surface noise was gone.

    I checked my Segovia box set and discovered that half the sides (1, 2, and 4) were recorded and cut in mono. Today I finally got around to playing them with my mono cartridge, and so far the mono sides sound brand frickin' NEW. The 1948-1956 sides sound like well-made modern recordings. Only the ones from the 1920s sound a bit noisy, and that's because there were no tape recorders back then (magnetic tape was invented during WWII), meaning that the surface noise was in the source--the original 1928 lacquers.

    But the best thing of all is this is like a private recital by the king daddy of classical guitar, with performances reaching back 89 years and reaching forward to the year I graduated from high school. Segovia is the father of modern classical guitar. There was little standard repertoire when he got started. He did transcriptions of violin, cello, and harpsichord sonatas and created a large body of work that pretty much any serious classical guitarist has to master. I had not had any Segovia recordings before; I had plenty by Christopher Parkening, John WIlliams, Julian Bream, Narciso Yepes, various members of the Romero family, and several others. Now, with this box set, I can easily hear where many of the recent masters of classical  got got their sense of tone, harmony, dynamics, tempo, and subtleties of expression, even if they dialed back some of Segovia's lush and romantic approach, but I don't consider that a bad thing.

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    • Like 3
  7. 22 minutes ago, BubbaVO said:

    Not even close.  JLH version is nasty pillow talk.   I don't even know what's going on with YB version.  I can't connect with that at all.  YMMV.

    I was engaging in a ridiculous level of understatement.

    I was playing these two versions for my daughter when she was about 11 and had been taking guitar lessons a couple of years. I was (and am) a big fan of JLH, who made the Yardbirds sound like pasty-face wannabes.

    So after playing the JLH version, I introduced the Yardbirds to her by saying they were young British urban guys, and that Clapton, Jeff Beck, add Jimmy Page had all played in the band at one time or another as they eventually morphed into Led Zeppelin.

    Then I started up the Yardbirds' version of "Boom-Boom." Within seconds, my daughter simply said, "Dad, they suck!"

    No argument here.

    • Like 1
    • Haha 2
  8. On 8/29/2017 at 5:27 PM, ARM OF HAMER said:

                                                                            The "BOOGIE MAN"..................................

     

    I have this recording and the Clapton box set of 1987. Interesting to play the Hooker and Yardbirds versions back-to-back. I think Hooker has a slight edge conveying that sense of menace.

     

    • Like 1
  9. I just spun Lou Rawls' first album, Stormy Monday, cut in 1962.

    R-1581402-1229994454.jpeg.jpg

    Back in the '70s when I lived in SoCal, I heard this awesome album playing over the sound system at Tower Records. It was unmistakably Rawls, but this was a bluesy jazz album. Instead of middle-of-the-road pop, it was a jazz trio, and a really good one at that. I was particularly taken by the piano, both accompaniment and improvised solos. This is Lou Rawls' equivalent of early Nat King Cole, singing and playing (in Nat's case) in a jazz trio before the corporate suits stepped in and turned everything into a big middle-of-the-road production.

     

    • Like 3
  10. Spinning a couple of jazz trio albums anchored by the late pianist extraordiare Hank Jones. Yesterday I spun "Hanky Panky". The trio is filled out with bassist Ron Carter and drummer Grady Tate. I first became aware of Tate and Carter from the Quincy Jones A&M albums my sister sent me in the late '60s. The other slbum is titled "Just for Fun, and Hank's collaborators are at least as impressive--Ray Brown on bass, Shelly Manne on drums, and guitarist Howard Roberts on about half the tracks. 

    41W3AZ9F78L.jpg 

     

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    Sorry, I can't find any cuts from Just For Fun on YouTube.

     

    • Like 1
  11. I just gave this a spin a few days ago.

    who_whos_next.jpg

    This record came out the year I graduated from high school. I had a classical background and really liked jazz, but my exposure to rock was mostly top 40 radio followed by FM album rock. I seldom bought rock albums. Later in 1975, I was at my girlfriend's house and she put on Who's Next. From the opening synth pattern on Baba O'Riley, I was hooked and listened to the entire album straight through. And now, 42 years later it still has the magic. The album is amazing on so many levels--the creativity (the first or one of the first to combine programmed synth with a guitar-based rock band), the songwriting, Roger Daltrey's lead vocals, their vocal harmonies, Moon's drumming, Townsend's buzz-saw distortion, Ox's melodic bass--what's not to like?

    So anyway, although I spun it 4 days ago, I'm still riding high on that play. I even watched an old episode of CSI: Miami just to hear "Won't Get Fooled Again." I think it's the first time I've played that album through my panel speakers, which really show off the power and precision of their vocal harmonies, particularly on "Behind Blue Eyes."

     

    • Like 2
  12. Capitol and Brian WIlson (with Mike Love and Al Jardine as well) managed to put together the essence of what Brian was aiming for in 1967. I also saw Brian in concert on the Smile tour in 2005 with the Wondermints and it impressed the hell out of me.... 

    But there's a valuable "time machine" effect with this one because it's put together from the studio work in 1966-67 for the album that never materialized at the time.

    The fidelity is phenomenal on the heavy vinyl 2 LP set, and you'd have to hear it to believe how dimensional a mono album can sound. Love it! The 4th side has some outtakes and stereo mixes of a few of the songs. 

     

     

    • Like 1
  13. A few days ago I had this cranking while I made hamburgers for the fam. 

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    I like a lot of songs on this album, particularly "Don't Let it Show" and this one from a 1977 music video:

    Then yesterday I was in a mood for Count Basie trios--Basie, Ray Brown, and Louie Bellson. Can't do much better than that for a swing rhythm section:

    81-zPvpgAuL._SY355_.jpg  count_basie_for_the_second_time.jpg

    They were recorded in 1975 and 1976, but the second one wasn't released until 1983 even though both are equally good.

     

  14. Today was the 44th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. So I had to give it a full spin. This time, from my 30th Anniversay (2003) all-analog remaster/reissue on 180g vinyl. It's most excellent in every way--performance, recording, mixing, mastering, and pressing. It's considered the best reissue--and competitive with--the original 1973 EMI release. I sure enjoyed it.

     

    • Like 1
  15. 6 hours ago, TobiTill said:

     

    When I got my first CD in 1987, one of my first CDs was "Trio," featuring Dolly, Emmylou, and Linda. I now have the LP version as well. The three of them had a hard time meeting up for the recording, and seldom were able to get together after that. I did manage to see Emmylou and Linda at Seattle's Bumbershoot Music Festival on Labor Day weekend 1999. Glad to hear Linda that one time.

  16. 2 minutes ago, cynic said:

    The tour at Sun tells a longer story, where Elvis had done several sessions at Sun over six months, and while Marion Keisker (who worked the front desk at Sun) repeatedly told Sam that Elvis had something, he wasn't buying it until he eventually heard Elvis do this song.

    Right. I was (for once) trying to keep it brief, but as you say, after several sessions of Elvis trying to do what Sam wanted him to do, Elvis spontaneously broke into Crudup's song and that's all Sam needed to hear to realize he had a winner.

  17. Yesterday I made 8 cheeseburgers and a batch or convection-roasted potato wedges. Putting on good music keeps me focused, livens my heart, and puts a spring in my step and great music in my head for the next several days. My playlist as a short-order cook Tuesday:

    #1: Elgar's Enigma Variations by Pierre Monteaux directing the London Symphony Orchestra in a 1960 recording.

    Elgar is the guy who wrote "Pomp and Circumstance," the march that accompanies most graduation ceremonies. He wasn't kidding about the "enigma" part. He was a world class cryptographer as this essay reveals, and cryptograms are embedded throughout this orchestral work.

    ... followed by Dvorak's New World Symphony with Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic, also in the early '60s.

    This was Bernstein in his prime. There are several themes in this symphony which you've probably heard at some time.

    Finished up with Von Karajan's collection of Bizet suites performed by the Berlin Philharmonic. This is an exciting collection of orchestral music by one of the great conductors of the 20th century.

    All three of these recordings show the incredible dynamic range of an all-acoustic 100+ piece orchestra directed by a master. Exhilarating!

     

     

     

  18. On 2/12/2017 at 10:38 PM, mudshark said:

    Just bought this one:

     

    He's the guy who wrote and performed "That's All Right, Mama," which is the song Elvis ripped into during his first session with Sam Philips at Sun Studios. It caught Phillips' attention big time and essentially launched Elvis's career.

  19. Played this while I made a round eye roast, roasted potato wedges, cleaned up the kitchen, and made two litres of fresh vegetable juice:

    513E5jQH2bL.jpg

    But don't think for a minute that I consider this background music. To the contrary, the persistent beats, supported and augmented by one of the best rhythm sections in the history of rock, lifted my spirits, locked me into the tempos, and propelled me to perform a series of tasks while staying focused and aware of the various elements involved. 

    My binge-listening to Stones albums has given me a newfound appreciation for their genius and art. This particular best hits album drives home the consistent drive--and yet the variety--of their most engaging songs. Listening to this album lifted my spirits, gave me a newfound appreciation for the Stones' unique abilities, and left me with a beef roast, side dish, fresh vegetable juice, and a clean kitchen. I say this, not to diminish the power of the Stones, but rather to illustrate it. I don't usually get that much done that well in a week, let alone two hours of an afternoon.

    Having been a drummer since I was 9, I appreciate good rhythms, and I love the driving rhythms--and sometimes polyrhythms--of some of the Stones songs, such as "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Sympathy for the Devil." I had a blast and intend to do it again soon.

    I've listened to High Tide and Green Grass, Let It Bleed, Tattoo You, and "Hot Rocks" in short order. The last one I have is "Voodoo Lounge", which I'll be blasting through soon, and I'm looking forward to the experience. The earliest songs are only 53 years old. About time I caught up. :)

    • Like 4
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