What Are You Currently Listening To And On What? Part III

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Jacques Loussier ~ Pulsion (1979). Just solo piano and drums c/o Luc Heller. Whilst there are influences of Bach, Satie and Debussy they're very mild and Pulsion is an album of original compositions that grabbed me right away and which I've never stopped liking since.

I wish to goodness that CBS or whoever now owns the rights would remaster and reissue it on CD, as my original vinyl copy is decidedly showing its age after 40 years. A poor portmanteau of Pulsion and its successor Sous La Mer was issued many years ago but without all tracks from either, which was most frustrating as Sous La Mer was a decidedly inferior follow up, not least because of very poor mastering. Perhaps they'll get round to it one day.
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The Greatest Show On Earth ~ The Going's Easy (1970). Those of us old enough will remember the cover pic of their debut album Horizons that was on our Harvest LP inner sleeves which, unfortunately, was somewhat lacklustre. But The Going's Easy was in a different league altogether, opening with the amazing, blazing Borderline (9'16") to open what was and still is a minor classic of its era and genre. The GSOE was an eight piece band with lots of guitars (electric and acoustic), brass (trumpet, flugelhorn, alto, tenor and baritone saxes) and percussion, plus electric organ and piano, headed up by the gravel-voiced Colin Horton-Jennings. Still brilliant and excellently remastered for its CD reissue on the Repertoire label.
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Yes ~ Fragile (1971/72). I can never decide my favourite Yes album ~ this or its predecessor the Yes Album (1970/71). My ear is always drawn by Tony Kaye's gloriously rich Hammond B3 sound on the former though, as an all round keyboards player, Rick Wakeman was probably better. No matter, both albums are great and represent the quintessence of Britain's wonderful prog rock era.
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Derek and the Dominoes ~ In Concert (at the Fillmore East) (1971), Eric, Carl Radle (bass), Bobby Whitlock (organ) and Jim Gordon (drums). A great live recording which, in my opinion, has always been where Clapton's at his best. My copy's an import from Korea of all places, though it's none the worse for that, well remastered.
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Billie Eilish

A good mix of pop/dance. Good bit of bass in there too..

Sort of Ellie Goulding, but more relevant for the younger crowd.
 
Dire Straits ~ On Every Street (1991). Hard to believe this is now 28 years old yet, along with their 1978 debut, it remains for me their best (I never really liked any of those in between, not even Brothers In Arms). And it's such a brilliant recording, one of my references, recorded by Bill Schnee and Chuck Ainley at AIR London, high above Oxford Street, subsequently relocated to Hampstead. I bet that cost a fair few quid and premises in Hampstead can hardly be cheap. AIR's equipment roster is worth a look, not least the speakers they use.

Which leads me on to listening to the Gladiator OMS (plus a second, bonus CD of additional music, an essential adjunct to the original single disc edition), both recorded at AIR Lyndhurst. Powerful stuff indeed, with truly massive dynamic shifts that can really test the abilities of your amplifier/s and speakers.
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Saturday morning chill out after one to many glasses of falling down juice the night before.

Only listening on my living room surround system but as a debut album this sounds pretty good if a little generic.

Gone Cosmic - Sideways in time (2019). Very 70’s classic rock, probably now labelled as Stoner Rock. Anyway, lots of bluesy riffs/solos, heavy Led Zep influence and a pretty good female vocalist, what’s not to like. Maybe a little one dimensional but overall a pretty good listen, well worth a try. Can’t comment on recording quality until I listen on my study system.

 
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Jade Bird’s self titled debut. As far as I can tell it came out today. Soulful, pop, folly vibes. Listening over my MacBook speakers as staying in my parents Airbnb. No Bluetooth speaker which imho should be a prerequisite in any Airbnb.
 
My generation- the very best of the Who, picked this CD up for 1 Euro in Charity Shop in La Cala last week. Some cracking old tunes on here.
 
Lisa Wahlandt - Wowowonder . Featuring Trio Elf.
What a superb Album this is !

Wowowonder




Thank you.
Now listening to this with the family on the Bluetooth speaker in the garden on this gloriously sunny UK Bank Holiday afternoon
 
I have a bit of unusual request and I don't want to start a new thread, so I'll post it here.

I'm looking for more of this kind of music - slow, dark, bass heavy, with female voice (!). I've listened to some more songs from this album, but they are not as good. Any names / albums spring to mind please? Failing that, how would you define this music genre?



Listening to this I was reminded of Banks. Its similar. Banks she's American with her own distinct very moody sound. My favourite album is Goddess (Deluxe)

Give it a full listen, she'll definitely grow on you.
Failing that there's always the classic album Dummy by Portishead.
 
Listening to this I was reminded of Banks. Its similar. Banks she's American with her own distinct very moody sound. My favourite album is Goddess (Deluxe)

Give it a full listen, she'll definitely grow on you.
Failing that there's always the classic album Dummy by Portishead.
Thanks a bunch. I know Portishead of course, but never heard Banks. I will check it out. Thanks :)
 
The Eagles ~ Hell Freezes Over (1994). No comment required, really, other than that this is one of my favourite live albums on all fronts. Heck of a comeback, albeit a shame that, by then, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner were both long gone.
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A bit if sci-fi/fantasy 1970’s prog rock.

Jon Anderson - Olias of Sunhillow (1976). Interesting concept album, based on a familiar story of a civilisation forced to flee a world, has to overcome adversity and a hero guides them to the promised land. Reading the wiki page on this it seems this was recorded in a similar manner to Tubular Bells with Jon Anderson playing all instruments and overlaying vocal tracks to create interesting harmonies (later used heavily by Enya). This was a side project whilst taking a rest from Yes after their 7th album tour and recorded in his garage. This is one of the albums I have on vinyl (bought from Shades in SoHo iirc) and has typical prog artwork reminiscent of Roger Dean/Rodney Matthews but by David Fairbrother-Roe.

Olias of Sunhillow - Wikipedia

Will need to listen to his new album - 1000 hands - when it appears on Spotify or YouTube. It is getting good reviews.

Also looking forward to the release of Daniel Tompkins solo album tomorrow (vocals for Tesseract).

 
Josie Charlwood. Where We (2019 EP single)
I discovered this young lady (a typical English rose type) on YouTube a couple of years ago. She's a very talented English solo musician and singer with her own distinct clear vocals (and amazing red hair). She writes all her own stuff I think. She's also pretty good using a loop station.
She definitely has grown on me over the past couple of years and am looking forward to her producing more quality work as she evolves and blossoms.
I think this single is her best yet!



Listen to "Worlds Away" on TIDAL
Check out this album on TIDAL: "Worlds Away" by Josie Charlwood, Lef Germenlis Worlds Away
 
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Steely Dan ~ Gaucho (1980). For me, their finest and final album (I just had no interest in their comeback after a 20 year break), with a host of the finest musicians of the day in supporting roles, such as Steve Gadd, Bernard Purdie, Tom Scott, Steve Khan, Anthony Jackson, Jeff Porcaro, David Sanborn, Joe Sample, Larry Carlton and even our own Mark Knopfler on one track. A brilliant album.
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Steve Rothery - The Ghosts of Pripyat
One of my favourite prog rock albums at this time. Steve was the guitarist from the band Marillion before going solo.

Home System
 

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Go loud or go to bed is my motto :D

Listening to some chilled beats - various artists.
 
I played a blu ray concert of Justin Hayward Spirits Live. Really stripped back concert in a small venue. Good DTS MA soundtrack. Played on the full system.
 
Steve Masakowski ~ What It Was (1994). Steve plays a 7 string electric guitar (the 7th string being at the lower end of the frequency range), and his use of it really does augment things in a subtle but noticeable way.

Recorded in New Orleans with an interesting support crew, some of whom I know (Don Alias, James Genus and David Torkanowski) and others who I don't. But, apart from a couple of tracks somewhat lacking in melody, it's a fine album not equalled by any of his others that I've managed to sample and the title cut is, for me, something of a (minor) classic. The upper registers are noticeably shelved down so you find yourself playing it pretty darned loud without ear fatigue but that's fine with me.

One of those albums that's not really jazz jazz, but it doesn't belong in any mainstream musical category either.

And on now with The Mann Brothers ~ Mann To Mann (1994). David Mann (saxes) and Ned Mann (el. bass), with support from the likes of Danny Gottleib & Tony "Thunder" Smith (drums), Chuck Loeb & Dean Brown (guitars), Gerry Etkins (keys) and the Tower of Power horn section, incl. Greg Adams. Recorded in 20 bit DSD (which really does make a difference) and digitally mixed and mastered by Tom Jung for his DMP label.
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Had a big session this afternoon listening to full albums on the Marantz sa8005 and Rega Elicit-R. First up was the Irish warbler Imelda May Life . Love . Flesh . Blood. Next up was Kate Bush Red Shoes and I just had to squeeze in Laura Marling with I speak because I can. Those three were on CD. Nostalgia then kicked in with the SACD of Carole King's Tapestry which has one of my all time favourite songs Will you still love me tomorrow, but it has to be that version, no other comes close. Final play went to the SACD of the Beach Boys Holland.
 
A MiniDisc compilation of several of my favourite trumpet and flugelhorn jazz tracks, incl. Greg Adams, Rick Braun, Pharez Whitted, Herb Alpert, Hugh Masekela (on a Dave Grusin album) and Dwight Adams (on a Gene Dunlap album).
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Oleta Adams ~ Circle Of One (1990). I used to hear one superb track from this (I've Got A Right) in the pub round the corner from where I'd started work in Cheltenham in 1989, under less than happy circumstances, so I bought the album and, for me, it's never faded since, even though I've never felt bothered about buying any more. If I did, I just wouldn't find time to listen to them. But this one's really good.
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Nilsson - a little touch of Schmilsson In the night and more. This CD covers all the Classics and is absolutely fantastic. Picked this up in a Hemel Charity Shop for 50p, what a bargain!
 
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