 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
NOVEMBER 2007
I have been listening to some interesting CDs during October that I wanted
to share.
MILES DAVIS QUINTET
First up is the Miles Davis Quintet Live at the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival,
MJF Records, MJFR-30310. The Monterey Jazz Festival is releasing live
recordings from its concert archives that have never been available before.
This is the only one of their CDs that I have heard so far but, if all of the
CDs being released sound this good, plan on buying all of them. The web
site lists six recordings as available so far with more to come.
www.mjfrecords.org
In sonic terms, the CD is very spacious and very quiet. You can hear
everything that the musicians are doing down to the subtlest details. The
sound stage is fairly wide and has very good depth. Audience noises add
to the sense of being at a live event. This is just a great sounding CD.
Click here for a photo.
The quintet consists of Miles Davis, George Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Ron
Carter, and Tiny Williams. Musically, they seem to know what they are
doing. I would not presume to second-guess anything regarding the
quality of their performance. In my opinion, however, Herbie Hancock’s
playing tends to steal the show.
I certainly intend to add more of these recordings to my collection. I am
not sure how easy they will be to find in any of the big-box retail outlets
but they can be ordered directly from MJF or Concord Records.
www.concordmusicgroup.com
I wish that recordings like these were being issued as hybrid SACDs. While
the CD is excellent, having an SACD version would really be nice. I bought
this CD on sale for only $7.99 and its sticker price was $12.99. How much
more would it cost to offer a hybrid--$14.99? Isn’t if possible that MJF
might sell more of these recordings if they were SACD hybrids? We will
never know.
THE ROCHES
I have been a fan of the Roches since I heard their first album. Their latest
album, Moonswept, is just as wonderful as the first. Click here for a photo.
www.roches.com
The singing is fantastic and the sonics are excellent. I do not know of any
other singers who combine such a wonderful mixture of harmony and
humor. I would not want to have to explain what their song lyrics mean,
but listening to them sung they make perfect sense on an emotional level.
If you are a fan, you need this CD. If, by some odd twist of fate, you are
not a fan, treat yourself to this CD. (429 Records, FTN 17636)
www.429records.com
RAISING SAND
I have listened to this CD by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant several times
and, while I find it very enjoyable and interesting musically, I find it equally
odd and irritating in some of its sonic aspects. Raising Sand, Rounder
Records, Rounder 11661-9075-2. Click here for a photo.
www.rounder.com
I have only previously heard one song that is on this CD and that is
“Fortune Teller” from 1962 (which is when I heard it). All of the other
songs are new to me. Several of them are extremely lovely. I would
include “Polly Come Home” by Gene Clark as one of these. Alison Krauss’
voice is overdubbed in a breathy almost non-verbal way that adds a very
atmospheric feeling to the sound. It is hard to describe but very lovely to
hear. A second Gene Clark song, “Through the Morning, Through the
Night” is equally beautiful.
“Killing the Blues” with its autumn imagery is another emotionally strong
song.
The best song on the album though is “Trampled Rose” by Tom Waits and
Kathleen Brennan. Its lyrics exist purely for emotional effect. When T. S.
Eliot defined objective correlative this is what he was talking about. Alison
renders the song hauntingly lovely and this is an understatement.
Offsetting some of this loveliness are some rather odd sonics. There is a
one-note-thumping-car-stereo bass present throughout the CD that just
gets fatiguing by the end of the album. It is just too loud. On a system
with limited bass response it may be tolerable but it does not wear well
where lower bass information is being reproduced.
The second oddity is the tape hiss. There is very noticeable tape hiss on
this CD, which does not seem to be associated with the recording. It
sounds like it was added. As proof of this, the tape hiss stops abruptly in
places while the music is still fading out. I doubt this CD was recorded on
analog equipment but even if it were, this amount of hiss would not be
present. There is far less hiss on the Miles Davis CD from 1963! Tape
hiss, per se, does not bother me. What I hear on this CD bothers me
since is seems so out of place.
Finally, the song “Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson” is sung by Alison but the
song is from an entirely male viewpoint. Again, this does not diminish what
she does with the song, but it just seems odd.
The CD booklet with this album contains all of the song lyrics, which are
nice to have. I wish, though, it included some information about how this
CD came into existence. Why did they make it? How did these two artists
get together? Why did they choose the songs they did? While I would
assert that any work of art should stand on its own, without needing
explanation, here, some background would be nice.
I like this CD a lot—I find myself humming several of the songs—but I do
feel that is has some flaws. Expect rave reviews.
AND SPEAKING OF RAVE REVIEWS…
Roy Gregory in Issue 53 of HiFi+ cannot say enough good things about
the CD Heartworn Highways. He mentions it in his review of the Coltrane
Supreme loudspeaker as well as in a separate review of the CD. RG gives it
a ten for both recording and music. (Loose Music VJCD167)
This CD comes from a documentary film made thirty years ago and includes
a number of artists who were just getting started at the time. Guy Clark,
Townes Van Zant, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, and others are featured on
the album. I have not heard this CD. I have not tried to find it yet either,
so I do not now how available it is. I do trust Roy’s ears though and any
CD reviewed this favorably is worth looking for. I will try to follow up on
this CD in December.
FINALLY
I have finished the article on the Heathkit TT-1A tube tester. Coming to
terms with it has been an interesting and sometimes frustrating learning
experience. Still, I am really happy that I have it. I really feel that having a
tube tester is a necessity if you want to get the best performance from
your tube equipment.
I have ordered some Hi Fi Tuning Fuses to try in both the Rogue 90 amp
and the Magneplanars. I hope to have an article on how they sound on the
web site fairly soon.
I have also gone ahead and purchased a PS Audio DLIII Digital Link DAC
with Rick Cullen DL3 Stage III modifications. I think it will be the upgrade
that I am looking for in my main system’s front end. I will have much more
to say about it. It will be several weeks before I have it so a review may
take a while.
Have an enjoyable and safe Thanksgiving.
Kent Johnson
October 31, 2007
I have been listening to some interesting CDs during October that I wanted
to share.
MILES DAVIS QUINTET
First up is the Miles Davis Quintet Live at the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival,
MJF Records, MJFR-30310. The Monterey Jazz Festival is releasing live
recordings from its concert archives that have never been available before.
This is the only one of their CDs that I have heard so far but, if all of the
CDs being released sound this good, plan on buying all of them. The web
site lists six recordings as available so far with more to come.
www.mjfrecords.org
In sonic terms, the CD is very spacious and very quiet. You can hear
everything that the musicians are doing down to the subtlest details. The
sound stage is fairly wide and has very good depth. Audience noises add
to the sense of being at a live event. This is just a great sounding CD.
Click here for a photo.
The quintet consists of Miles Davis, George Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Ron
Carter, and Tiny Williams. Musically, they seem to know what they are
doing. I would not presume to second-guess anything regarding the
quality of their performance. In my opinion, however, Herbie Hancock’s
playing tends to steal the show.
I certainly intend to add more of these recordings to my collection. I am
not sure how easy they will be to find in any of the big-box retail outlets
but they can be ordered directly from MJF or Concord Records.
www.concordmusicgroup.com
I wish that recordings like these were being issued as hybrid SACDs. While
the CD is excellent, having an SACD version would really be nice. I bought
this CD on sale for only $7.99 and its sticker price was $12.99. How much
more would it cost to offer a hybrid--$14.99? Isn’t if possible that MJF
might sell more of these recordings if they were SACD hybrids? We will
never know.
THE ROCHES
I have been a fan of the Roches since I heard their first album. Their latest
album, Moonswept, is just as wonderful as the first. Click here for a photo.
www.roches.com
The singing is fantastic and the sonics are excellent. I do not know of any
other singers who combine such a wonderful mixture of harmony and
humor. I would not want to have to explain what their song lyrics mean,
but listening to them sung they make perfect sense on an emotional level.
If you are a fan, you need this CD. If, by some odd twist of fate, you are
not a fan, treat yourself to this CD. (429 Records, FTN 17636)
www.429records.com
RAISING SAND
I have listened to this CD by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant several times
and, while I find it very enjoyable and interesting musically, I find it equally
odd and irritating in some of its sonic aspects. Raising Sand, Rounder
Records, Rounder 11661-9075-2. Click here for a photo.
www.rounder.com
I have only previously heard one song that is on this CD and that is
“Fortune Teller” from 1962 (which is when I heard it). All of the other
songs are new to me. Several of them are extremely lovely. I would
include “Polly Come Home” by Gene Clark as one of these. Alison Krauss’
voice is overdubbed in a breathy almost non-verbal way that adds a very
atmospheric feeling to the sound. It is hard to describe but very lovely to
hear. A second Gene Clark song, “Through the Morning, Through the
Night” is equally beautiful.
“Killing the Blues” with its autumn imagery is another emotionally strong
song.
The best song on the album though is “Trampled Rose” by Tom Waits and
Kathleen Brennan. Its lyrics exist purely for emotional effect. When T. S.
Eliot defined objective correlative this is what he was talking about. Alison
renders the song hauntingly lovely and this is an understatement.
Offsetting some of this loveliness are some rather odd sonics. There is a
one-note-thumping-car-stereo bass present throughout the CD that just
gets fatiguing by the end of the album. It is just too loud. On a system
with limited bass response it may be tolerable but it does not wear well
where lower bass information is being reproduced.
The second oddity is the tape hiss. There is very noticeable tape hiss on
this CD, which does not seem to be associated with the recording. It
sounds like it was added. As proof of this, the tape hiss stops abruptly in
places while the music is still fading out. I doubt this CD was recorded on
analog equipment but even if it were, this amount of hiss would not be
present. There is far less hiss on the Miles Davis CD from 1963! Tape
hiss, per se, does not bother me. What I hear on this CD bothers me
since is seems so out of place.
Finally, the song “Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson” is sung by Alison but the
song is from an entirely male viewpoint. Again, this does not diminish what
she does with the song, but it just seems odd.
The CD booklet with this album contains all of the song lyrics, which are
nice to have. I wish, though, it included some information about how this
CD came into existence. Why did they make it? How did these two artists
get together? Why did they choose the songs they did? While I would
assert that any work of art should stand on its own, without needing
explanation, here, some background would be nice.
I like this CD a lot—I find myself humming several of the songs—but I do
feel that is has some flaws. Expect rave reviews.
AND SPEAKING OF RAVE REVIEWS…
Roy Gregory in Issue 53 of HiFi+ cannot say enough good things about
the CD Heartworn Highways. He mentions it in his review of the Coltrane
Supreme loudspeaker as well as in a separate review of the CD. RG gives it
a ten for both recording and music. (Loose Music VJCD167)
This CD comes from a documentary film made thirty years ago and includes
a number of artists who were just getting started at the time. Guy Clark,
Townes Van Zant, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, and others are featured on
the album. I have not heard this CD. I have not tried to find it yet either,
so I do not now how available it is. I do trust Roy’s ears though and any
CD reviewed this favorably is worth looking for. I will try to follow up on
this CD in December.
FINALLY
I have finished the article on the Heathkit TT-1A tube tester. Coming to
terms with it has been an interesting and sometimes frustrating learning
experience. Still, I am really happy that I have it. I really feel that having a
tube tester is a necessity if you want to get the best performance from
your tube equipment.
I have ordered some Hi Fi Tuning Fuses to try in both the Rogue 90 amp
and the Magneplanars. I hope to have an article on how they sound on the
web site fairly soon.
I have also gone ahead and purchased a PS Audio DLIII Digital Link DAC
with Rick Cullen DL3 Stage III modifications. I think it will be the upgrade
that I am looking for in my main system’s front end. I will have much more
to say about it. It will be several weeks before I have it so a review may
take a while.
Have an enjoyable and safe Thanksgiving.
Kent Johnson
October 31, 2007