Off Topic: Favorite Music?

[MissGoddess]

I love this song.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgDn3HoeIV0&feature=related

[MissGoddess]

 

"Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday"

 

 

[CineMaven]

I was a closet Beach Boys fan back in the 60's. (My crowd was listening to Motown and would never understand my love for Lesley Gore etc). We would travel to upstate New York in my Dad's Chevrolet, listening to AM radio and there would be The Beach Boys'

[CineMaven]

I was a closet Beach Boys fan back in the 60's. (My crowd was listening to Motown and would never understand my love for Lesley Gore etc. while the Black Panthers were being attacked). We would travel to upstate New York for picnics in my Dad's Chevrolet, listening to AM radio. And there would be The Beach Boys':

 

What a sweet melancholy melody it was. Their harmony and the Four Seasons' and The Four Tops were wonderful!!

 

SURF'S UP!!

[MissGoddess]

I just read a piece on the internet that said sales of LP's have risen sharply recently, as much as 36%! And that Warner Brothers has stepped up the number of LP new releases. Also, that Target now sells turntables, whereas you used to have to go to an audio specialty store to get them. Is this a trend? Does anyone here still buy LPs, either new or collect old ones?

 

I'm glad I still have my two Sinatra LPs I bought in London but have never listened to (one I have on cd anyway).

 

I'd also like to know from any hi-fi "bugs" out there whether you think LPs really do sound better than CDs? And why?

 

Message was edited by: MissGoddess

[movieman1957]

36% from very little still won't amount to much but I have heard labels are increasing their production of albums. I'm not a collecetor but I have held on to what I have. Some are sentimental value. Some music isn't available anymore so I keep them.

 

Turntables have been available to varying degrees for a while. I have the coolest thing in a turntable that will convert my records and tapes to CDs. It is a great way to have permanent copies without worrying about further wear on them. When I'm done it will still play as a regular turntable.

 

There is certainly a different sound between records and CDs. I remember listening to The Beatles "Revolver" when it came to CD. This was an album I loved and knew well. I was still surprised at some of the small things I had missed because they were so buried in the mix on an album that I could now hear on the CD. With this new toy I can listen to both.

[MissGoddess]

Hi Chris! That new turntable-cd player sounds like the way to go.

 

One day I want a decent audio system in my home, but right now I don't listen to

my music enough to justify it. I listen more at work than at home, or when I'm

walking around the city.

 

I do love the way LP look, with their nice album art. And there is something much

more romantic about playing a record than playing a cd.

[mickeeteeze]

"I remember listening to The Beatles "Revolver" when it came to CD. This was an album I loved and knew well. I was still surprised at some of the small things I had missed because they were so buried in the mix on an album that I could now hear on the CD. With this new toy I can listen to both."

 

I've long since given away all my vinyl and switched to CD, only to find out what you now know. That "analog" has that 'wide bottom', and "digital" has that real clean 'top end'. I am an audio nut, and I can't fully enjoy CD without a subwoofer to artificially "bring the bottom".

The thing about the Beatles stuff, and Beach Boys as well, for that matter, is the bands mixed the stuff into mono, and then the studio geeks would come around and do those 'pan stereo' mixes.

So the pure stuff is mono.

Also digital has little or no "hiss" which exposes all those 'kinks and kanks' on the CD's. Pretty cool, actually. Like you said a different experience.

I have some "Special Remix" of "Who's Next" in which I can swear I hear Keith Moon put a bottle down and squeak in his chair just before he thunders up the drum break in "Won't Get Fooled Again".

[movieman1957]

Speaking of Beatles' records I was equally surprised at the difference in sound in the American and British releases. I think even McCartney at some point asked EMI why their records couldn't be more like the Capitol releases. They, not surprisingly, had the bass more prominent in the mix. A little echo added a better sound, I thought, as well.

 

I am hard pressed to give up or throw away many of my albums. Some are gone because of the shape they were in. I like having the art and liner notes.

[JackFavell]

Album covers were an art form-- CD covers..... just can't get in`to it. I liked to be able to read the back of my album just after putting the record on my turntable.....

[mickeeteeze]

I gave up all my vinyl when I was younger. Moves to smaller places, beat up records, replaced with cassette for car use, etc.

Of course, now I wish I hadn't.

A good friend of mine still has all of his, his basement is almost like a warehouse. Amazing how much stuff is gone....no CD available.

Of course, Jack, you are right about the artwork.

I will say this; I find some 'special edition CD's', particularly boxed sets, to have nice liner material and info.

I'm at a stage in life, however, where they are not 'do-able' without very bright lights and reading glasses.

:-)

Remember "The White Album" with the invisible pressed "The Beatles", like Braille on the cover, that 'Revolution #9' styled poster with the lyrics on the back, and the four "glossy head shots"?

I wonder how much that would fetch now.

That and my rookie "Seaver/Ryan" baseball card would've got me a Montauk Hotel for an evening I'm sure!

I do have both Brit and US mixes of all Beatles stuff up to, I believe "Beatles '65".

On CD, however. It is surprising that Paul didn't know. I do believe that before "Pepper", they would rehearse, record, mix, "soup to nuts" on the same day, sometimes two or even three songs.

If they took material on the road, they often had to re-learn their own stuff.

It's one of the lesser known reasons they stopped touring. They were such prolific writers, they bored of their own stuff quickly.

[MissGoddess]

> {quote:title=JackFavell wrote:}{quote}

> Album covers were an art form-- CD covers..... just can't get in`to it. I liked to be able to read the back of my album just after putting the record on my turntable.....

 

Hi Jackie! I love reading liner notes. CDs come with good ones, too, but it's not the same and those plastic cases always break on me anyway. CDs just make a "technology" statement to me, the way they look and are packaged, whereas albums do look and feel more romantic. Remember Irene Dunne and all those vinyl records Cary Grant bought from her in PENNY SERENADE, just so he could chat her up?

[movieman1957]

I still have the "White Album" with all that stuff. It's not pristine but it is still there. The point you make about The Beatles touring is a good one. Their writing in a few years had progressed so far that it left much of what they did in concert well behind. They also were playing awful by their own admission. The crowds were so loud they couldn't hear themselves.

 

If you are at all interested in their recording methods the encyclopedia of it is Mark Lewison's "Recording Sessions." A detailed list of each recording session during the group's career.

 

Speaking of the "White Album" The Beatles did 100 takes of "Not Guilty" by George Harrison and then left it off the album. As you are probably aware he released it on a solo album.

[JackFavell]

I'm at a stage in life, however, where they are not 'do-able' without very bright lights and reading glasses.

 

What did you write, Mickee? I couldn't read it without me spectacles.... It's very annoying, isn't it. Subtitles are my other irritation. I find it hard to read quickly enough to get every word anymore. And heaven forbid that I am sleepy- like on Sunday night .... I gear up reading the Silent Sunday titles, then move on to the foreign films.

 

albums do look and feel more romantic. Remember Irene Dunne and all those vinyl records Cary Grant bought from her in PENNY SERENADE, just so he could chat her up?

 

Don't make me think of that movie, I will get all choked up. Cary Grant crying ! Oh, now I did it. Sob! I am glad kids will still be able to understand that movie, because they will know what a record is....

 

With some of my albums, I knew where every pop and hiss was, and you knew how much you loved the album by how much dust was ground into it. When I transferred to CD, I missed those little pops and crackles....

[Snorky]

Hey Miss G, how've you been?

 

I guess the Lee Morse name sounded a little bit familiar to me so I checked my 1920s various artist

CDs and she does a song called "Moanin' Low" included on a compilation titled,

Flappers, Vamps, and Sweet Young Things.

With songs from names like Helen Kane, Gertrude Lawrence, Blossom Seely, Annette Hanshaw,

Lillian Roth, Sophie Tucker, Ruth Etting and Helen Morgan, I highly recommend the disc.

 

I was excited to see that Gale Storm's first two albums are coming out on CD (2-for-1)!

She's only one of my top five favorite actresses of all time! ; )

Some of her albums have been available on her website but I doubt the quality's there -

the My Little Margie DVDs I purchased there are quite public domain quality, let's just say.

 

Nice to have the boards running again!

 

J

 

Message was edited by: Snorky

 

Message was edited by: Snorky

[MissGoddess]

Those cd albums sound charming, thank you for the recommendation Jeff!

[MissGoddess]

I just wanted to bump this up because there is a new

Sunday afternoon radio show for people who love

the standards and jazz classics:

 

"The American Song Book,? WPFW, 89.3-FM, Sundays, 2 ? 4 p.m.

 

"Good news for those who love classic jazz! Donnie McKethan, who has inherited the throne once occupied by the late, great Felix Grant, as the King of D.C. Jazz DJs, has started a brand new show on Sunday afternoons. The show is called ?The American Song Book? and it is a perfect showcase for McKethan?s impeccable taste in music and musicians. (For more info or to listen to archives, visit www.wpfw.org.)

 

?My radio career began in 1993 at a small AM station in Bethesda,? Donnie says, ?I worked there on Saturday mornings playing the kind of music that I play currently. I moved to WPFW in 1999 and worked the 3 to 6 a.m. shift on Wednesdays until 2004, when I moved to Thursday evenings.?

 

According to Donnie, ??The American Song Book? is the honoring of the great composers, such as Gershwin, Berlin, Mercer, Kern, Ellington and the great artists who render their work.?

 

As to those artists, McKethan?s three favorites are Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and the man he invariably refers to as Francis Albert Sinatra. (As with his Thursday show, a half an hour each Sunday will be dedicated to Sinatra.) ?They mean so much to me because of their unselfconscious artistry,? says Donnie.

 

Donnie sums up his devotion to this music with, ?My feeling about jazz is that I am proud that it is an original American art form.? For those of us who share his passion, his new show is one more reason to look forward to lazy day Sundays."

 

http://tinyurl.com/4td2wf

 

 

McKethan's favorites are mine also. Basie, along with Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw,

is my favorite band leader. In my opinion, Sinatra never swung as sexily as he did

with the Count.

[movieman1957]

Since itunes has reorganized their prices I figure I'm old enough I'll start saving some money when I buy something. I hardly fit the prime demographic.

[Film_Fatale]

> {quote:title=movieman1957 wrote:}{quote}

> Since itunes has reorganized their prices I figure I'm old enough I'll start saving some money when I buy something. I hardly fit the prime demographic.

 

Did they really change their prices much? I haven't bought much music in iTunes recently, most recent thing I got was from Amazon France, because it wasn't available anywhere else.

[movieman1957]

According to what I read they will now have three prices per song. $.69, $.99, and $1.29. I figure my tastes are well rooted in what will be the $.69 category. I think this all happens around the end of the quarter.

[MissGoddess]

> {quote:title=movieman1957 wrote:}{quote}

> Since itunes has reorganized their prices I figure I'm old enough I'll start saving some money when I buy something. I hardly fit the prime demographic.

 

You are more advanced technologically than I am. I have not yet ventured into

"iTunes" territory. I still buy CDs and down/upload them to my Mp3 player. I haven't

yet attempted to buy songs from the internet. Is it worth while? I'm really curious because

CDs are not cheap, especially when all you may really want is one or two songs on the

album.

[movieman1957]

The albums I buy are on average about $10. I then burn them on a CD and I can print the album art and make my own CD package.

 

What I really like about it is buying single songs. When I was in high school and after I listened to a great deal of Top 40 radio and many of the songs never get played around here. I have been able to buy a lot of songs I had on 45s. (And if you are too young to know those we'll have another chat.) For 99 cents I could get them and burn a CD of favorites.

 

Walmart has a similar thing where you can buy downloads for the same price that are not married to itunes. This way you can select an individual song without buying stuff you don't know or like. They also give you a thirty second sample to make sure you get the right song.

 

Hope that helps.

[CineMaven]

movieman writes: "I have been able to buy a lot of songs I had on 45s. (And if you are too young to know those we'll have another chat.)"

 

Geez! Who doesn't know what a 45 is; a small caliber gun. But when did they replace bullets with music???

 

[Film_Fatale]

> {quote:title=CineMaven wrote:}{quote}

> Geez! Who doesn't know what a 45 is; a small caliber gun. But when did they replace bullets with music???

>

 

And here I was thinking they were these kind of 45's:

 

[MissGoddess]

MusicManChris!: My father was a "hi fi bug" and preached the gospel

of how vinyl was the BEST possible way to enjoy recorded music at home.

So I grew up with 33's, 45's and probably 78's.

 

I really do like the idea of buying individual songs. My Mp3 player is almost

full, but if I ever "upgrade" to an Ipod or whatever, I will definitely look into what

songs, via iTunes or elsewhere, I can get. BobHopeFan, as you may know,

used to tell me about some really obscure stuff she'd find for her Mp3.

 

So you buy the tunes so you can make your own CD's? I never thought

about that angle. That's kind of cool!

 

CineMaven: My mother preferred rifles to a .45. She slept with one under the bed.

You might say she took to Texas like a native.