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Messages - TomR

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166
Suggestion Box / Re: Suggestions
« on: January 15, 2009, 12:35:07 PM »
Hmmm - guess I am a little bit confused here. First, NONE of the selections I mentioned (with the exception of Heart Like a Wheel) have been, to by knowledge, reissued in audiophile LP pressings. Yeah, there is Walter Beethoven out on a 200 gram pressing, but it is the Eroica and not the much more famous recording of the Pastorale. It has always surprised me that no one has attempted to go after that one, as the ebay prices for the original LP's are stunning.

OTOH, several of the Series I selections for jazz have been done to death with reissues - both Waltz for Debby and Saxophone Colossus are staples of the reissue market.  I'll bet that any serious jazz fan has multiple copies of both. I haven't heard the latter TP release, but I have heard the former and it blows away my earlier versions. So - I'm happy - but we can't pretend that there aren't jazz warhorses being released.

I thought the fundamental guiding principle of the Project was to demonstrate how good a master tape can be for a broader audience - and then there would be some interesting music. I have a zillion versions (actually, let's see, Walter, Szell, 2 by Karajan, Harnoncourt, Masur, Vanksa, Reiner and probably a few others I can't recall at the moment) of the Pastorale, but yeah, I think the Walter version would be a great release, and  since not every subscriber is likely a classics maven, they might find the odd warhorse release to be, on the margin, more interesting long term than the Bruch Scottish Fantasy.

OK - last night I also thought about Stravinsky and the Tape Project. The Firebird (I would plump for the 1945 Suite) would be a terrific release, as would The Rite of Spring.
But - if we need music that is more esoteric, how about the Symphony of Psalms, one of the great choral works of the 20th Century?

167
Suggestion Box / Suggestions
« on: January 15, 2009, 12:50:27 AM »
I haven't done a count, but there were lots and lots of suggestions for Series 2, and a cursory scan that I did show that two seemed to have made it - a suggestion for Monk, and one for Church Windows.

Have done licensing deals myself, I can appreciate the difficulty of "t" ing this material up, and the more I look at the start of Series 2 the more interesting it becomes; however, there are still 4 titles to go, so there is still opportunity to fill out the series.

So far the jazz releases have been consisently most interesting for being "core" recordings. There isn't really a rock release yet, and the classical works chosen are not close to the core of the classical literature. Well, OK, the Liszt piano sonata qualifies, but only that one and maybe the Bruch. Everything else is peripheral - interesting, though.

My suggestions are likely naive as I don't know what actually is available to license, so with that caveat:

Classics - I would like to see one of the core symphonic works added as a release. (BTW, now that I have heard the Ansermet Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique on LP I withdraw it as a candidate - while the performance is fabulous, the recording is one of the most egregious examples of bad multimiking I have heard - there is absolutely no way to form a coherent picture of an orchestra as instruments move spatially depending on their role - one minute an instrument is located properly in the orchestra, then it moves to center stage, and then retreats. Yucch.)

So, the first suggestions assume access to the "Columbia" catalog - over the past year I have heard early pressings of many of Bruno Walter's late 50"s recordings, which I understand were recorded with all-tube analog equipment. I have also heard the 200 gram reissue of his Eroica, and I think there is merit in considering one of these as the recordings are really live and the performances of many of the works are excellent. Two for major consideration would be his Beethoven Pastorale, considered to be a classic reading of the work, and his Brahms 3rd - not my favorite Brahms symphony, but a magnificent reading. Or maybe the Mahler First - he was Mahler's key assistant, of course.

If you are doing solo piano, the Moravec Chopin recordings are wonderful.

(And if you do have access to the Columbia recordings, there is always Brubeck and Miles Davis to think about).

For rock, again, I don't know if you can license these, but one of our greatest all time voices is Linda Ronstadt - Carly Simon once said she has the best white pipes out there. Heck, if you did Heart Like a Wheel, you could kill two birds with one stone - you'd have a rock release and a country release all in one.

I'd like to see some solo acoustic guitar music - could be classical (I could go for Segovia, Julian Bream or Christopher Parkening and have no issues with any of them)or could be something else. How about Eric Tingstad's early 80's recording "On the Links" - wonderful set of original guitar works, and I believe it is an analog recording. As far as I know this never made it to CD, even though Tingstad has had a reasonable career.

Well, it is late and I am rambling more than I wanted to. I go could on.....Dexter Gordon.....Duke Ellington Live at Newport....Frank Sinatra (I am actually more of a Tony Bennett fan but more of his most interesting stuff has been done in the digital era, unfortunately). Mozart.....Satch Plays Fats......

168
The Number White / Re: Discussion of The Number White
« on: January 14, 2009, 12:33:54 AM »
Thanks, Doc. Very interesting info. Say, do you guys have plans to do more original material for the Tape Project?

169
Steve, thanks for the pointer - I would love to hear her live. I visited her web site, and looks like she is on the east coast now and headed to Europe for February. Hopefully there will be a time in the not too distant future.

170
The Number White / Discussion of The Number White
« on: January 12, 2009, 11:11:01 PM »
Hey guys, I don't see where anyone has actually discussed the music on this tape or the sound quality. Everything else seems to be about ship dates. Anyway, this is my own first exposure to Jacqui Naylor, and I just finished listening to it for the first time. She is an impressive singer, and actually, it is a little hard to believe that one is listening to a single singer the first time through - she voices each song differently, and sometimes changes her voice mid song. There is lots to listen to and keep one interested.

The sound quality is interesting - it is not at first as impressive as Waltz for Debby, possibly because I already knew that recording, but it really grows on you, and is non fatiguing in the extreme.

I thought that this might be the tape I listen to the least - but I enjoyed it thoroughly.

171
Prerecorded Tapes / Another One - "This Is The Moody Blues"
« on: January 06, 2009, 07:36:49 PM »
Published in 1974, and manufactured by Ampex.  A double play greatest hits compilation but done with good quality control. Listening to it right now, so far no hint of the dreaded sticky shed. Sound is excellent. 7.5 ips with Dolby B encoding.

The Moodies were certainly a terrific band. Hard to believe they are not yet in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

172
Prerecorded Tapes / Would a modern day Barclay-Crocker succeed?
« on: January 05, 2009, 04:39:42 PM »
I'm listening to the B-C release of the Schumann symphonies, led by Masur, as I write. I have roughly 25 B-C tapes, mostly acquired directly from B-C quite a few years ago, augmented by a few other sources over the years. In fact, most of my prerecorded tapes were purchased from B-C, starting when they were a distributor for others. The quality of the B-C releases is, by and large, simply higher than most of the other tapes I own, and none have been afflicted with sticky shed syndrome.

So The Tape Project has kicked off new interest in RTR tapes, but it is not for everyone (well, for that matter, neither is RTR). The tapes are high end, meaning expensive, and require for most the acquisition of a new deck. Furthermore, while I have no insight, I can't imagine the release schedule is going to support more than a few a year, and probably not of things like opera.

Does anyone think there would be interest in high quality 4 track 7.5 ips prerecorded tapes (with NAB equalization), which just about every owner of RTR decks can play? If so, would noise reduction be required? To me, the latter is problematic. My first deck, a Tandberg, had an on board Dolby circuit, but those are pretty rare, and I wasn't able to replace it when it died. I have owned two off board Dolby units, and have not gotten either to work. I would prefer to pay more for closer to real time replication, if that would help the noise issue, as that is a more universal solution, and I believe Dolby and other noise reduction products may be adding distortions to the sound as well.

OK, I am not taking anything away from The Tape Project....in fact, increased availability of other software is going to help The Tape Project. But I am just curious to hear from others.

173
Prerecorded Tapes / Re: Rock/Pop-"The Best Of,.." Thread
« on: January 05, 2009, 04:21:49 PM »
My collection of prerecorded rock tapes can be counted on the fingers of two hands, while I have about 100 classical (more if you count multiple reels). Most of my rock collection was dubbed from LP's.  Also, I haven't listened to the few that I have in a long time, so can't vouch for them (although this thread is a good reason to do so).

Once that was recorded, has interesting music (still interesting, that is, after 35 years) and still is in good shape - no dreaded sticky shed - is Jesse Colin Young's Song for Juli, also a Stereotape production. I played this a couple of weeks ago for someone who wanted to know what kind of music I listened to in college.

174
Tape Project Albums - general / What is the drumroll date again?
« on: December 15, 2008, 06:22:38 PM »
That is, for the announcement of the contents of the next series......and shouldn't we charter members get that info IN ADVANCE - I promise to keep the info to myself........really, I promise.

175
I suscribed before I had a machine....then I acquired one. 

176
Tape Project Albums - general / Re: back in the Tape Shed
« on: December 05, 2008, 07:30:07 PM »
I agree, this is a very helpful thread.

Thanks

Tom (#79)

177
Suggestion Box / Re: Folk anybody ?
« on: December 03, 2008, 06:01:58 PM »
How do you feel about Gordon Lightfoot?

178
Suggestion Box / Beatles "Love"
« on: December 03, 2008, 10:22:47 AM »
I was listening to this on vinyl last night and thought what a great release this would be for the Tape Project, if the guys could get their hands on the masters. If you haven't heard "Love", it is the "soundtrack" for the Cirque du Soleil show of the same name, and was produced by George Martin and his son from the original Beatles tapes, with the blessing of the Beatles/estates.  It is, in a way, a new take on the music and makes you hear the songs in a new light. It also gives a complete overview of the Beatles careers, something you don't hear in "Ones" for example, which has no songs from Rubber Soul, just to mention one LP. You hear one new thing - Martin composed some string quartet music to accompany the full acoustic version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - a verse was cut on the White Album. I like it a lot, but others might disagree.

You hear a lot of snippets from various tapes simultaneously - I think I counted bits from 6 different songs in the segue into "Get Back", and honestly, the first time I heard "Love" I hated it. But repeated listenings proved that it is addictive, and provides a new way to listen to the Beatles - the next best thing to a brand new Beatles album.

From what I hear on vinyl, the sound is excellent. Getting the best selling (and best) rock artists of all time in a relatively new release onto the best formatseems to me like it would be a major score. It would probably require a double release (4 tapes), but it would be worth it.

179
Suggestion Box / More orchestral blockbusters
« on: November 26, 2008, 11:00:46 PM »
A Mahler symphony, preferably one of the "Wunderhorn" symphonies (2,3,4). I'm open to suggestion with respect to performances. Klemperer maybe for 2? Kletzki for 4? Bernstein for 3 (if good sound can be obtained)?

Bruckner 4 - perhaps the Bohm version (I'd actually prefer the 8th symphony, but my favorite performance, the Karajan with the VPO, is a digital recording.

Schubert - the Great C Major symphony - how about Krips on Decca?

Saint-Saens Organ symphony - yep it is a blockbuster. Can't say I have a favorite recording - the Munch tape used to go for mucho dinero.

Tchaikovsky Symphony 5 - well, not the greatest symphony, but the Mravinksy recording is an incredible reading - intense, subjective and well executed.

Fun.


180
Waltz for Debby / Re: Get ready, Charter members
« on: November 26, 2008, 10:24:44 PM »
The guys above have said it all but here we go again - just listening to the tape for the first time and I too have known this recording for some time, but I have never heard it this. You get a coherent sense of 3 great musicians working together, not just the "Bill Evans Trio" - if anything, this tape clarifies what great musicians Motian and LaFaro were. The harmonic textures and melodic lines are there, but often hinted at more than overtly played, and the whole thing has a polyphonic quality to it that I had never noticed before. This is only the third tape I have heard thus far (001 and 002 are the others) but what a knock out.

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