As the embargo is coming to an end shortly, it is a good time to give a sneak peek at some of the upcoming Music Matters Blue Note vinyl in 2015, all of which will be 33 rpm issues.
I'll give you some of the highlights. There is a mix of titles previously done, mostly by Analogue Productions and in every case distinctly inferior, and a few that were previously done at 45 rpm by Music Matters, but with the 'input' of Steve Hoffman, and now without that burden Music Matters can take advantage of not only the improved mastering and cutting chain of Kevin Gray, but Gray's superior mastering.
1. Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage:
This was taken from a second generation analog tape copy made in the 1970's as the master tape was deteriorating. The actual master has not been used in decades - not for the Analogue Productions 45 rpm, not for the hi-res downloads - not for anything, in over 30 years. This tape was discovered by Music Matters and is being used for the first time, and it sounds much, much better as a result. My go-to for Maiden Voyage has been a Japanese Toshiba from their Blue Note Masterpieces series, a rare cut. This one is much better.
What I really get a sense of when listening to the Music Matters is the nautical adventure narrative of the music, how much this is a cycle of tone pieces that in every sense was a concept album well before the first rock concept albums. Tony Williams cymbals splash across the soundstage and put up a wall of shimmering waves, that previous masterings just didn't get. Carter's bass finally has presence and depth of tone. Coleman digs deep and his tone - on the AP 45 whitewashed and weak - here is powerful, rich and vibrant, full of color, as is Hubbard, who has attack and articulation completely missing on the Analogue Productions.
The 33 rpm Maiden Voyage is a revelation, and the way it should have sounded - but probably never has, at least not since a true first pressing, which this almost certainly exceeds.
2. Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil:
This is a massive revelation. The earlier Music Matters mastered by Hoffman (if you can call it mastering) is less than ideal. Weak tonality, mushy, wishy washy sonics, as if he sucked the power out of the music and tried to make it some smooth jazz crap. No bass. High end cut that recesses the cymbals. Cutting at 45 rpm doesn't help.
But, it has long been part of the lore that Speak No Evil was a mediocre recording that has no bass. NOT SO. Again here, a second generation tape was used that is recently discovered - and it has everything. Right from the word go, the horns are right out front, squawking, shouting, taunting - just shouting 'speak no evil, speak no evil, speak no evil'...now, with this new 33 version, it all sounds right, and the message gets delivered. Everything here is remarkable - it sounds as a whole, organic, the tone - massive tone - just so vivid. Elvin Jones kick drum (which Van Gelder never really cared to mike) punches through solidly to punctuate the horns, and his cymbal work - as ever with Elvin, very precise and detailed - has every nuance detailed.
Speak No Evil comes across with the power and passion of a revival meet. I suppose that is what it is. Now you are closer to this iconic music that ever before - I almost felt that I had the mike right in front of me, the horns are so powerful and close.
Don't miss this one, and if you haven't got the earlier Music Matters 45, and still buy into the Hoffman mastering style, don't worry - there will be a bunch of them in the used stores next year going cheap.
3. Ike Quebec - Blue and Sentimental:
I always figured this record was fine, but it never really grabbed me. This Music Matters 33 blew my mind. The Analogue Productions 45 is lounge music. The Music Matters 33 is the late night blues, the 3 am type. Grant Green is tough, metallic, very electric, and this is surely one of his best records. Quebec is huge, robust, dark, and there is a menace inside these blues. There is an astonishing moment ending the record - I always thought it pretty much ended on a Green solo, but here I heard much more clearly that ever that Quebec comes back in for a brief, wonderful figure right at the end that is almost inaudible but, in a brief moment, brings the whole record together and to a beautiful close. Just a magic moment, and this is what the Music Matters 33 delivers - sheer magic.
This is a far more powerful record that I have ever heard it before, and almost certainly represents the session far more accurately that it has ever been represented. The Music Matters team 'gets' this music, gets it deep, and they know the spirit of the music. The massively black background and huge, open sound places you right in the studio and you can feel the room back in the early 60's and practically lose yourself back in time. This is a must have and completely supersedes the earlier Music Matters.
4. Stanley Turrentine & The 3 Sounds - Blue Hour:
This is another staggering revelation. This title was not reissued in either the Analogue Productions or Music Matters 45 series and is therefore a welcome addition.
It's a good thing they waited for the upgraded Cohearant Audio mastering chain. This is another one of those Blue Notes that I considered pleasant and lightweight, as early Turrentine I considered it inferior to his later Blue Notes and even more his CTI recordings, but a good if not great record.
When Turrentine comes in on side one, it is a massive roar that had me worried that my needle might not track the power of his horn. Digital never got horns right, not even hi-res - I suspect that only when we see reissues at 384k or quad DSD will the true power of a tenor sax get captured as analog tape obviously could.
What is striking here is how huge Turrentine sounds, how lifelike - you get the whole room in this, and Turrentine just bounces off the ceiling he is so powerful, almost on the edge of distortion. Blows his shoes off, that big bore Otto Link metal sound. Once again here I am struck by how organic and whole this sounds, how the sheer swing comes across, the inner timing of it.
So again a reissue from Music Matters that brings a classic record to life while transporting the listener back to the early 60's putting you not just in the studio, but in the era feeling the essence of the life these great musicians were living through their music. I can guarantee this is light years ahead of an original and a sound this powerful and harmonically right just can't be captured in even high resolution digital.
5. Horace Parlan - Us Three:
Another title that was issued earlier by Music Matters in the 45 rpm series now gets a huge upgrade at 33. I am generally not a fan of Van Gelder piano trio records. I am probably not overwhelmed generally by 1950's and 60's piano trios overall, the few exceptions being stuff like Bill Evans and Herbie Nichols.
I can't compare to the earlier MM 45, but this version is a winner. It opens with a solo bass figure that turns from finger to bow and the sense of resin on the bow is palpable, as is the timing and rhythmic sense - the sync of the kick drum with the bass as Parlan enters, and the piano sound is quite excellent, lots of color and decay.
This is a wonderful swing record, Parlan has a nice touch with a percussive attack, the chordal voicings are fairly advanced for the period, yet still this is very much a hard bop record. Nice one, and makes the case that Rudy actually could record a piano pretty well.
6. Kenny Clarke & Francy Boland - The Golden Eight:
This might be the gem of the series. The Kenny Clarke - Francy Boland Octet featuring a roster of the top Euro and British players of the era, and ex-pat Jimmy Woode on bass. This was recorded in Europe so one of the few Blue Notes not recorded by Van Gelder, so that alone makes it special.
So does the music. Boland is a fabulously inventive arranger as well as a tasteful pianist, Clarke is the consummate hard bop drummer who is consistently swinging and elegant. The band leaves nothing on the table for the more known American counterparts of the era, and under it all is the propulsive and fleet Woode.
Every solo is killer. this band is red hot. For 1961, these players are actually pretty far ahead of a lot of what was going down in the American scene, and they are technically extremely proficient - good thing, these charts are tough even though they are very danceable in a way.
You have to think reissuing this one is kind of a labor of love or a personal passion for Music Matters, given that they have tended to stick to pretty safe titles in the past few years. No wonder - it leaves you grinning ear to ear from start to finish, such is the sheer exuberance in the playing and the absolute joy in the charts. A real treasure, an overlooked classic if there ever was one.
The sound here is quite different from the typical Blue Note sound and Music Matters had an outstandingly well recorded mastertape to work with. There is a big sound-space, a tight and powerful bottom end, a sparkling piano sound and the horns have wonderful tone with huge impact. A great recording, pretty rare, and probably should be the first on your pre-order list.
So there you have it - six of the prime Music Matters Blue Note 33's coming in 2015. I guess that is exactly half of them - Mobley's Workout is coming, the killer Jackie McLean - Right Now (sounds awesome) is on tap, so is Freddie Hubbard's Hubtones (better than the rather limpid AP 45, and very good sounding - but would not have been my first, second or third choice to reissue).
Couple of things to mention before I wrap this up:
First - buy them direct from Music Matters. Not from Acoustic Sounds, not from Music Direct - from Music Matters. Why? Simple. If you want the Music Matters Blue Note series to continue, the only way to do that is if YOU take responsibility and make sure it is reasonably viable finacially for Music Matters. There is not a lot of money in these pressings, folks. Maybe you think there is - but there isn't. The pressing runs are small, the licencing costs, the mastering costs, the superb covers, the top pressing - it eats up over half the retail price. BUT - when you buy from one of the big box audiophile delaers, Music Matters have to sell to them at a very low margin - a few bucks a record - as the middleman - Acoustic Sounds, Music Direct and others - makes their markup on it, and actually, those guys force a bigger cut than Music Matters themselves actually earn, which just isn't right.
So buy direct from Music Matters. Forget some free shipping, forget bottom feeding on Amazon, forget anything else and do something with your money - support the guys doing this so that the can do more. If you want Music Matters, which let's face it - isn't exactly a capitalist operation, it's more like a tiny break even at best - to keep going, buy direct so that can happen.
Music Matters raised the bar by a mile for everyone else in the reissue business. Chad was putting out mediocre masterings with shitty cheap covers for years before Music Matters forced Analogue Productions to up their game. Mofi are upgrading their analog chain because the simple fact is the MFSL vinyl can't hold a candle to what Music Matters does as a routine matter. Let's keep it going. Everyone benefits.
Second - I have been harping on this with Music Matters for years, and they keep telling me that more 'challenging' Blue Note material - not the 'out' stuff, simply more avant titles or titles that veer too far off the Blue Note conservative warhorse track - simply don't sell, that American customers are too conservative and while European markets are not, the bulk of Music Matters sales are in the U.S.. I simply don't believe that, and I would dearly love to see Music Matters bring titles like Sam Rivers - Contours, Horace Silver - Serenade To A Soul Sister, Andrew Hill - Smokestack, Lee Morgan - Taru and so many other deserving gems back to life. It is a myth that Blue Note did nothing worthwhile in the 70's, far from it, and it would be amazing if Music Matters - the only people who could do it - were able to rewrite that part of audio and musical lore by bringing some more Blue Note to market.
Want that to happen? There is only one way. You have to write Music Matters directly. Tell them what you want, give them some reasonably interesting titles. Don't write asking them to reissue your personal favorite, Alfred Lion Presents Australian Surf Music - it will sell 3 copies, and two of those will be returned for a refund. Make it sensible, and if enough people do that, perhaps Music Matters will see a way to bring some deeper BN catalog out. Don't be lazy and waste your time posting to some lame online board or social media that they will never look at. People are too busy to search online for your comments. Write then an email, directly. You might be surprised what can happen.
Rabu, 16 Maret 2016
Ipecac Recordings and the Fantomas WunderKammer vinyl RSD box set...
Indie labels are supposed to be cool - right? The labels who care about artists, fans, and are hip to vinyl.
Not Ipecac Recordings, home of The Fantomas and the new box set reissuing their first four albums -Wunderkammer, a Black Friday 2014 Record Store Day package that just got released after being delayed.
The music is incredible and totally unique. Metal, but not metal, proto punk, but not punk, soundtrack samples - found sounds - the odd vocal but no words - pastiche, almost like a cutup cassette tape, yet incredibly engaging and unique. A total blast and the remastering for vinyl is very good.
That's the good part - all of it, and the story should end with that.
Unfortunately, it doesn't. Ipecac has shown itself to be actually not the cool, hip, indie darling but just another, smaller version of a corporate beancounter collective.
The pressings are absolute crap. Usually my tolerance level for vinyl is quite high - in almost every case, a good cleaning remedies most faults, and the odd click is just part of the vinyl game. But not this time.
Packaging - the box is nicely done.
Sleeves - cheap single sleeves, thin stock. Beancounters saved some pennies there.
Inners - cheap black card stock. Beancounters saved a bit more, again.
Pressings - cheap, cheap, cheap. Worst pressings imaginable. Beancounters got a big win here - out of 5 slices of vinyl in the package, only one is barely passable. The rest have it all - gouges, warps, dishing, skips, divots, there is even a piece of foreign debris embedded on one side. There is loads of lovely no-fill. There are small abscesses throughout. Just - awful. Like they picked the worst, cheapest plant they could find and didn't give a shit about how bad the product would be.
Now here's the thing. Ipecac clearly either doesn't understand vinyl or care to, or doesn't care at all about ripping off customers, or thinks all it's customers are people who buy vinyl at Urban Outfitter and use crappy cheap record players and won't know the difference. Unfortunately, when it's this bad, even those Urban Outfitter hipsters will know.
So if you were unfortunate enough to buy one as I did - should you take it back? Here's where the accountants running Ipecac are really disgusting. The record store isn't allowed to send defective vinyl back to their distributor or the label - they have to absorb the loss themselves. That's right - the little guy, the record store - exactly the kind of store Record Store Day is intended to help - has to suck it up and eat the cost. Not the corporate suits at Ipecac - they got their money, crap, defective product or not. The record store has to suffer the loss for Ipecac's cheapness and carelessness.
If you ever wonder why so many people don't think it is wrong to download illegally and steal from record labels and artists, look no further than the Ipecac vinyl of the Fantomas. They steal from us, after all.
If you were unfortunate enough to have bought one, for the fabulous, well mastered and unique music it contains, don't bring it back to the record store - WRITE IPECAC directly - info@ipecac.com - and don't just insist that they send you replacements - I can guarantee that the whole pressing run is total crap. Insist that they repress this set at a half ways decent pressing plant that has some minimal standards of quality control and then replace every single one of these junk pressings they so dishonestly passed off on the fans. The artists deserve no less.
Shame on Ipecac for doing such a shoddy job on such fine art.
Not Ipecac Recordings, home of The Fantomas and the new box set reissuing their first four albums -Wunderkammer, a Black Friday 2014 Record Store Day package that just got released after being delayed.
The music is incredible and totally unique. Metal, but not metal, proto punk, but not punk, soundtrack samples - found sounds - the odd vocal but no words - pastiche, almost like a cutup cassette tape, yet incredibly engaging and unique. A total blast and the remastering for vinyl is very good.
That's the good part - all of it, and the story should end with that.
The pressings are absolute crap. Usually my tolerance level for vinyl is quite high - in almost every case, a good cleaning remedies most faults, and the odd click is just part of the vinyl game. But not this time.
Packaging - the box is nicely done.
Sleeves - cheap single sleeves, thin stock. Beancounters saved some pennies there.
Inners - cheap black card stock. Beancounters saved a bit more, again.
Pressings - cheap, cheap, cheap. Worst pressings imaginable. Beancounters got a big win here - out of 5 slices of vinyl in the package, only one is barely passable. The rest have it all - gouges, warps, dishing, skips, divots, there is even a piece of foreign debris embedded on one side. There is loads of lovely no-fill. There are small abscesses throughout. Just - awful. Like they picked the worst, cheapest plant they could find and didn't give a shit about how bad the product would be.
So if you were unfortunate enough to buy one as I did - should you take it back? Here's where the accountants running Ipecac are really disgusting. The record store isn't allowed to send defective vinyl back to their distributor or the label - they have to absorb the loss themselves. That's right - the little guy, the record store - exactly the kind of store Record Store Day is intended to help - has to suck it up and eat the cost. Not the corporate suits at Ipecac - they got their money, crap, defective product or not. The record store has to suffer the loss for Ipecac's cheapness and carelessness.
If you ever wonder why so many people don't think it is wrong to download illegally and steal from record labels and artists, look no further than the Ipecac vinyl of the Fantomas. They steal from us, after all.
If you were unfortunate enough to have bought one, for the fabulous, well mastered and unique music it contains, don't bring it back to the record store - WRITE IPECAC directly - info@ipecac.com - and don't just insist that they send you replacements - I can guarantee that the whole pressing run is total crap. Insist that they repress this set at a half ways decent pressing plant that has some minimal standards of quality control and then replace every single one of these junk pressings they so dishonestly passed off on the fans. The artists deserve no less.
Shame on Ipecac for doing such a shoddy job on such fine art.
Music Matters, Steve & Claus and why deadwax doesn't lie.
A kind reader flipped me a couple of links this week that I found somewhat disturbing.
http://www.stevehoffman.info/disc-musicmatters.html#
This is a link to a "fansite" set up by a minion named Claus, who seems to have some strange kind of hero worship thing going on. It is a listing of all the Music Matters titles Hoffman claims to have mastered.
It lists 77 titles as having been mastered by The Mullet.
Completely false. Hoffman mastered 38 officially, and I have counted it myself. I have them. Easy to tell from the deadwax.
Since this has come to light, Hoffman has taken down the discography on his own website that made similar claims.
But the deadwax doesn't lie. The deadwax has Hoffman's initials in 38 titles. No more. Everything else has the 'KG' initials in the deadwax,and that's who mastered them - Kevin Gray.
Why does Hoffman make false claims? Who knows. Pathological, most likely. Or - more simple. Music Matters is the hottest reissue series going, and has been for some years. It single handedly raised the bar on reissues, not only in sound, but in presentation as well, forcing others - most notable Chad Kassem's Analogue Producions - to up their game, stop ripping off customers, and meet the new standard. No more lame double LP's in single covers so cheaply made the glue falls apart before they even get unwrapped. No more wussy Hoffman sound. No more dubious sources. It happened because of Music Matters.
So that is why Hoffman wants to claim he did more than double the number he really did. He wants to take credit for the best reissue series of the vinyl revival. The guy doesn't exactly get a lot of work, after all.
Some of those titles claimed to have been mastered by Hoffman not only never were released, they were never even mastered. That's how comical these guys are.
Looking at the Hoffman board, my earlier post previewing the 2015 Music Matters releases caused a few guys some angst, as it clearly attributes the mastering to Gray, some angrily stating that the only reason they ever bought MM was because of Hoffman. These guys aren't bright enough to realize that Hoffman hasn't done a MM titles for years. Dumber than that - they take 'buy by the label' to an extreme, valuing their hero fixation on a minor mastering consultant over the music and the sound. Amazing.
I sometimes get emails from Hoffman acolytes attacking me for the scorn I heap on their guru. Fact is, it is stuff like this - taking credit for other people's work - that makes me want to keep on exposing this insufferable egotist.
Fact is - Hoffman mastered 38 Music Matters titles. They got better after he was dumped, and they even went back and redid some of those 38 and made 'em even better.
http://www.stevehoffman.info/disc-musicmatters.html#
This is a link to a "fansite" set up by a minion named Claus, who seems to have some strange kind of hero worship thing going on. It is a listing of all the Music Matters titles Hoffman claims to have mastered.
It lists 77 titles as having been mastered by The Mullet.
Completely false. Hoffman mastered 38 officially, and I have counted it myself. I have them. Easy to tell from the deadwax.
Since this has come to light, Hoffman has taken down the discography on his own website that made similar claims.
But the deadwax doesn't lie. The deadwax has Hoffman's initials in 38 titles. No more. Everything else has the 'KG' initials in the deadwax,and that's who mastered them - Kevin Gray.
Why does Hoffman make false claims? Who knows. Pathological, most likely. Or - more simple. Music Matters is the hottest reissue series going, and has been for some years. It single handedly raised the bar on reissues, not only in sound, but in presentation as well, forcing others - most notable Chad Kassem's Analogue Producions - to up their game, stop ripping off customers, and meet the new standard. No more lame double LP's in single covers so cheaply made the glue falls apart before they even get unwrapped. No more wussy Hoffman sound. No more dubious sources. It happened because of Music Matters.
So that is why Hoffman wants to claim he did more than double the number he really did. He wants to take credit for the best reissue series of the vinyl revival. The guy doesn't exactly get a lot of work, after all.
Some of those titles claimed to have been mastered by Hoffman not only never were released, they were never even mastered. That's how comical these guys are.
Looking at the Hoffman board, my earlier post previewing the 2015 Music Matters releases caused a few guys some angst, as it clearly attributes the mastering to Gray, some angrily stating that the only reason they ever bought MM was because of Hoffman. These guys aren't bright enough to realize that Hoffman hasn't done a MM titles for years. Dumber than that - they take 'buy by the label' to an extreme, valuing their hero fixation on a minor mastering consultant over the music and the sound. Amazing.
I sometimes get emails from Hoffman acolytes attacking me for the scorn I heap on their guru. Fact is, it is stuff like this - taking credit for other people's work - that makes me want to keep on exposing this insufferable egotist.
Fact is - Hoffman mastered 38 Music Matters titles. They got better after he was dumped, and they even went back and redid some of those 38 and made 'em even better.
Linn Records - Sibelius Symphonies 2 & 7 - Sondergard
I hesitated for some time to purchase this new recording of the Sibelius second and seventh symphonies on Linn Records from Thomas Sondergard and the BBC Wales Orchestra because it got panned in a Gramophone magazine review - badly trashed, in fact, the review opening with the word "disappointing".
There was a time when a classical recording literally lived or died on a Gramophone review. But my take on this new Sibelius is almost exactly the opposite of that review, and may be symptomatic of just how far the influence of Gramophone - and the quality of some reviews, from the current crop of 'reviewers', has fallen. It is quite true that a recording, and interpretation, can have widely differing impacts on people, accounting for a wide range of differences in reviews. However, there are also cases - more so today, and much more so in online reviews - where a review is just plain dead wrong, and cannot be excused by simply saying 'different people will hear it differently'. There ARE some absolutes, and this is a good case of that.
The Gramophone review claims muddy sound, particularly the timpani in the 7th, and recessed, reverberant sonics overall. The reviewer must have been listening through a 1930's horn gramophone while situated in a closet. That is simply not true, the acoustic is far from distant, it is quite clear and upfront, with amazing inner detail and nuance.The 24/192 sound is exemplary; demonstration quality in every respect. The dynamics on display here remind me that, in the analog era, conductors were quite conscious when recording of the limitations of the vinyl record in reproducing dynamics - true ppp would be obscured by surface noise, true fff caused the needle to jump out of the groove. To some extent this carried into the CD era. Now we are hearing recordings that have no such limitations.
I am no longer looking for "definitive" performances. For the most part, those have already been done long ago and are easily obtained. I am looking for interesting performances that offer an interesting point of view. That is what I find here.
The performance of the 2nd is sublime. There are dozens of moments of subtle nuance, and the score unfolds organically, hanging together beautifully. If the climax at the finale - every work really has only one true climax - is the defining moment, Sondergard takes it wonderfully, bringing the work to what must be a transcendent exposition. Karajan is a reference point here, and Sondergard has much the same approach. Pacing overall is very similar to Karajan on both his Philharmonia and Berlin recordings, yet Sondergard has more of a feel of the Nordic wind at his back. Reminds me in many ways of the old Kamu on DG.
Comparing to modern reference points - Songergard is vastly superior to the recent Storgards on Chandos, superior in every way to Vanska on Bis, which while well played, conveys a certain 'ordinariness' about it, is in every way more idiomatic and better recorded than Jansons RCO reading, has also a big advantage in recording over Colin Davis on LSO Live and is also a better performance as Davis takes a broader view and has much less inner detail, and reaching a bit further back to Neeme Jarvi on DG - who takes a far too fast pace and seems rather blunt about it, again comes out more satisfying.
Going further back to the analog era - Karajan may well be king here, but Sondergard is much better recorded and doesn't suffer much in comparison. The Kamu on DG is hard to beat and essential. On Living Stereo there is the Monteux which is quite magisterial, but more Tchaikovsky than Sibelius. Szell was never really inside this work, Barbirolli is to me a reference point that Sondergard still holds up well in comparison to. From the digital era - Ashkenazy on Decca really doesn't get Sibeius other than the 3rd, Oramo on Erato is a fine reading but misses the subtelty of Songergard, Bernstein is a mess on DG as is Levine, and so on.
With regards to the 7th, here I was less convinced by Sondergard, feeling that Barbirolli is the real gold standard, as is Karajan. The performance seems a bit more episodic, less organic, unfolding less naturally. But still, it has a lot going for it. An excellent recording, a great deal of air and space which serves the piece well, and much detail to enjoy. It may not be a first choice, but is a very valid alternative.
So again - don't be dissuaded by one shitty Gramophone review. It is in my opinion completely wrong. I think this recording is outstanding performance-wise and a reference recording. I hope Linn will continue the series and I look forward to the next installment.
There was a time when a classical recording literally lived or died on a Gramophone review. But my take on this new Sibelius is almost exactly the opposite of that review, and may be symptomatic of just how far the influence of Gramophone - and the quality of some reviews, from the current crop of 'reviewers', has fallen. It is quite true that a recording, and interpretation, can have widely differing impacts on people, accounting for a wide range of differences in reviews. However, there are also cases - more so today, and much more so in online reviews - where a review is just plain dead wrong, and cannot be excused by simply saying 'different people will hear it differently'. There ARE some absolutes, and this is a good case of that.
The Gramophone review claims muddy sound, particularly the timpani in the 7th, and recessed, reverberant sonics overall. The reviewer must have been listening through a 1930's horn gramophone while situated in a closet. That is simply not true, the acoustic is far from distant, it is quite clear and upfront, with amazing inner detail and nuance.The 24/192 sound is exemplary; demonstration quality in every respect. The dynamics on display here remind me that, in the analog era, conductors were quite conscious when recording of the limitations of the vinyl record in reproducing dynamics - true ppp would be obscured by surface noise, true fff caused the needle to jump out of the groove. To some extent this carried into the CD era. Now we are hearing recordings that have no such limitations.
I am no longer looking for "definitive" performances. For the most part, those have already been done long ago and are easily obtained. I am looking for interesting performances that offer an interesting point of view. That is what I find here.
The performance of the 2nd is sublime. There are dozens of moments of subtle nuance, and the score unfolds organically, hanging together beautifully. If the climax at the finale - every work really has only one true climax - is the defining moment, Sondergard takes it wonderfully, bringing the work to what must be a transcendent exposition. Karajan is a reference point here, and Sondergard has much the same approach. Pacing overall is very similar to Karajan on both his Philharmonia and Berlin recordings, yet Sondergard has more of a feel of the Nordic wind at his back. Reminds me in many ways of the old Kamu on DG.
Comparing to modern reference points - Songergard is vastly superior to the recent Storgards on Chandos, superior in every way to Vanska on Bis, which while well played, conveys a certain 'ordinariness' about it, is in every way more idiomatic and better recorded than Jansons RCO reading, has also a big advantage in recording over Colin Davis on LSO Live and is also a better performance as Davis takes a broader view and has much less inner detail, and reaching a bit further back to Neeme Jarvi on DG - who takes a far too fast pace and seems rather blunt about it, again comes out more satisfying.
Going further back to the analog era - Karajan may well be king here, but Sondergard is much better recorded and doesn't suffer much in comparison. The Kamu on DG is hard to beat and essential. On Living Stereo there is the Monteux which is quite magisterial, but more Tchaikovsky than Sibelius. Szell was never really inside this work, Barbirolli is to me a reference point that Sondergard still holds up well in comparison to. From the digital era - Ashkenazy on Decca really doesn't get Sibeius other than the 3rd, Oramo on Erato is a fine reading but misses the subtelty of Songergard, Bernstein is a mess on DG as is Levine, and so on.
With regards to the 7th, here I was less convinced by Sondergard, feeling that Barbirolli is the real gold standard, as is Karajan. The performance seems a bit more episodic, less organic, unfolding less naturally. But still, it has a lot going for it. An excellent recording, a great deal of air and space which serves the piece well, and much detail to enjoy. It may not be a first choice, but is a very valid alternative.
So again - don't be dissuaded by one shitty Gramophone review. It is in my opinion completely wrong. I think this recording is outstanding performance-wise and a reference recording. I hope Linn will continue the series and I look forward to the next installment.
Emerson Lake & Palmer - Trilogy, new 2015 remix in hi-res 24/96
Just got the new remix of Emerson Lake & Palmer's "Trilogy", which is one of my favorite albums of all time, and what I consider to me ELP's best work.
I have just been dying to hear the new remix by Jakko Jaksysk. Contrary to the usual complainers, I thought he did a fabulous job of remixing Brain Salad Surgery last year.
First up - the remix of Trilogy is fantastic. The purpose of a remix in my opinion is to clarify and update sonically, to perhaps do what could not be done first time around, to bring new life and to allow the listener to revisit a work with new perspective. Jakko nailed that.
The first thing I hear, aside from a tremendous increase in clarity, it how much texture is revealed. Going back to the original mix at 24/96, it sounds louder, muddier for lack of a less used word, almost smashed together - the new mix has layers upon layers, and reveals the shifts between keyboards and the layering of keys with both tremendous clarity and a beautiful, shifting sense of texture and color. This is the greatest improvement.
There are many moments where beautiful subtle details emerge. Very often they are previously buried keyboard figures, in other places percussion details ring out. Palmer's kick drum has much more impact, Lake's bass lines are tighter and more powerful - as is his guitar, frequently 'fuzzed'. On 'In The Beginning', there is a faint pre-echo of the vocal in the left channel that emerges with great clarity that I never really was able to pick out with such effect before.
On key tracks like "The Endless Enigma', the piano section has dramatic dynamics, and sounds like a true concert grand. The electric keyboards enter forcefully, a dramatic yet seamless shift that comes across with great impact. The keyboard articulation is remarkable. The original mix - and the new 24/96 remaster I find far from a good one - just doesn't have the transient speed, particularly on Emerson. Jakko's mix has those keyboard parts flowing with great speed while also having a tremendous percussive quality, that feel of fingers hitting the keys. The Hammond in particular feels like it is almost burning, and not to spoil it, but there is a one note keyboard beat in the final section that I never really heard before.
I figured I would get this up before thhe internet complaints forums start picking it apart. It isn't the original mix cleaned up. It is a new mix, and it does exactly what a new mix should do - bring new life, making the familiar sound new again. fantastic job by Jakko.
A lot of the usual complainers assassinated Jakko for his mix of Brain Salad Surgery which was not only unfair but dead wrong. He made choices to make the familiar fresh. It sounds fantastic. A good part of that criticism I suspect is because Jakko is not Steven Wilson, who is the new internet darling - all those folks who typically bought in to the idea that old masters should never be tampered with via a remix suddenly became converts because of Wilson, and that is fair enough. But the limited thinking often displayed doesn't seem to extend beyond Wilson, to appreciate that there are others out there just as good - any maybe better for some projects. Wilson brings a fair bit of Porcupine Tree into his remixes, while Jakko brings a fair bit of late era King Crimson into his. Wilson screwed up Tarkus badly and thankfully isn't doing more ELP, Jakko seems to get the music much more deeply and is the right guy for this. Trilogy proves it. Fantastic job, I hope Jakko not only gets to "Works" next, but gets a crack at redoing Tarkus and - if the multitracks can be located - doing the first ELP album right.
I have just been dying to hear the new remix by Jakko Jaksysk. Contrary to the usual complainers, I thought he did a fabulous job of remixing Brain Salad Surgery last year.
First up - the remix of Trilogy is fantastic. The purpose of a remix in my opinion is to clarify and update sonically, to perhaps do what could not be done first time around, to bring new life and to allow the listener to revisit a work with new perspective. Jakko nailed that.
The first thing I hear, aside from a tremendous increase in clarity, it how much texture is revealed. Going back to the original mix at 24/96, it sounds louder, muddier for lack of a less used word, almost smashed together - the new mix has layers upon layers, and reveals the shifts between keyboards and the layering of keys with both tremendous clarity and a beautiful, shifting sense of texture and color. This is the greatest improvement.
There are many moments where beautiful subtle details emerge. Very often they are previously buried keyboard figures, in other places percussion details ring out. Palmer's kick drum has much more impact, Lake's bass lines are tighter and more powerful - as is his guitar, frequently 'fuzzed'. On 'In The Beginning', there is a faint pre-echo of the vocal in the left channel that emerges with great clarity that I never really was able to pick out with such effect before.
On key tracks like "The Endless Enigma', the piano section has dramatic dynamics, and sounds like a true concert grand. The electric keyboards enter forcefully, a dramatic yet seamless shift that comes across with great impact. The keyboard articulation is remarkable. The original mix - and the new 24/96 remaster I find far from a good one - just doesn't have the transient speed, particularly on Emerson. Jakko's mix has those keyboard parts flowing with great speed while also having a tremendous percussive quality, that feel of fingers hitting the keys. The Hammond in particular feels like it is almost burning, and not to spoil it, but there is a one note keyboard beat in the final section that I never really heard before.
I figured I would get this up before thhe internet complaints forums start picking it apart. It isn't the original mix cleaned up. It is a new mix, and it does exactly what a new mix should do - bring new life, making the familiar sound new again. fantastic job by Jakko.
A lot of the usual complainers assassinated Jakko for his mix of Brain Salad Surgery which was not only unfair but dead wrong. He made choices to make the familiar fresh. It sounds fantastic. A good part of that criticism I suspect is because Jakko is not Steven Wilson, who is the new internet darling - all those folks who typically bought in to the idea that old masters should never be tampered with via a remix suddenly became converts because of Wilson, and that is fair enough. But the limited thinking often displayed doesn't seem to extend beyond Wilson, to appreciate that there are others out there just as good - any maybe better for some projects. Wilson brings a fair bit of Porcupine Tree into his remixes, while Jakko brings a fair bit of late era King Crimson into his. Wilson screwed up Tarkus badly and thankfully isn't doing more ELP, Jakko seems to get the music much more deeply and is the right guy for this. Trilogy proves it. Fantastic job, I hope Jakko not only gets to "Works" next, but gets a crack at redoing Tarkus and - if the multitracks can be located - doing the first ELP album right.
ANEKDOTEN - Until All The Ghosts Are Gone 24/96 hi-res new release!
Last summer saw a new record from Opeth, this year Steven Wilson - in both cases, simply masterpiece level work.
Now - Anekdoten.
Unfortunately, aside from the odd pocket of prog-dom this excellent Swedish band are not well know in North America.
Unfortunate, and hopefully new record Until All The Ghosts Are Gone will change that. This is an amazing record.
I have the hi-res 24/96 files, and they are superb sounding. There is little to no compression added, there are wonderful dynamics. That alone justifies going the hi-res route over CD. The tonality is very much realistic and must surely be the closest to how the band sounded in the studio.
So in terms of sound - a winner, in hi-res. This is as it should be - the hi-res should be the ultimate in sound.
Anekdoten very much have their own sound, although the lineage comes through unmistakably - Poseidon era King Crimson, bands from the U.K. scene such as Cressida, and the Swedish scene such as Young Flowers even - yet a very much modern prog band of the moment, taking those influences forward - heavier elements, as well as some wonderfully pastoral ones. The connection to Porcupine Tree, Opeth and King Crimson is reinforced by the presence of members of those bands in guest spots.
This may well be the best work Anekdoten have done so far. Their last was a good record, but this surpasses that - maybe even Gravity, which has until now been my favorite. The record is sequenced just perfectly, it flows together organically and the 6 songs flow into each other seamlessly, suspending time, and grabbing the listener. An immersive and magnetic experience.
The mellotron is a strong voice, but the lead guitar is superb, the playing is fantastic - searing, electric - the bass playing reminds me as lot of John Paul Jones (strangely), and their is powerful drumming of great accomplishment. The band seems more organic and unified as a voice than ever before. There is not a weak track here, in fact, strong as each individual track is, the whole comes together as greater than the parts - a rare album that does that.
I can't recommend this highly enough. Until All The Ghosts Are Gone is a wonderful record and in hi-res sounds glorious. This will surely be one of the best records of 2015 in any genre.
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