Whats on your turntable tonight?

Tuesday night music sessions with the gang. This is what I remember, (we played other titles).

Peggy Lee, 1956 mono LP, "Black Coffee."
Rickie Lee Jones, "Traffic From Paradise."
Ella Fitzgerald, 1960 Stereo, "Let No Man Write My Epitaph"
Vitaly Gnutov, "Balalaika Favorites" Rudolf Belov, Osipov State
Carmen McRae, 1990 Stereo, "Carmen Sings Monk"
Billie Holiday, "Lady In Satin" (45 RPM)
Tina Brooks, "Back To The Tracks" (45 RPM)

Not much over the past several days - raking leaves, Thanksgiving, sports on TV, and then I tore apart the system and vacuumed and cleaned everything down, and readjusted my shelf heights to make way for the ExactPower so I could get it off the floor. The tube monoblocks are removed 'cause my upgrade coupling caps just arrived and it's off to the tech shop they go, so the backup SS stereo amp has taken up residence for the time being. During the last 24:

LP:

The Jimi Hendrix Concerts (2LP, Reprise 1982) I have to admit I do not yet own any of the more recent Experience Hendrix silver disk reissues or compilations, so for all I know this release may be obsolete now, but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with it either, except for some naturally variable sound quality among the different venues. Seems mastered a bit on the mellow side though, which some might consider a good thing given all the distortion (of the performances, that is).

CD:

The Equals - First Among Equals (2CD, Ice UK import collection, 1994) Eddy Grant's original band, he of "Electric Avenue" and "Romancing The Stone" 80's fame. The Equals were a genre-busting, racially integrated late-60's English band that combined elements as diverse as ska, British Invasion-style pop, Caribbean calypso, American-style R&B, psychedelic rock, and bubblegum (their minor American hit was "Baby Come Back" in '68, on RCA). The Clash covered their song "Police On My Back" for the Sandinista album, and several English and Australian 60's bands covered other of their tunes.

The Blue Things (expanded reissue, Rewind/BMG 2001, orig. rec. 1964-'67) Midwestern garage-beat, folk-rock, pop-psych band originally on RCA (one of that label's first post-Elvis signings of a rock band in the 60's, before the Jefferson Airplane, recorded with good sound at their famed 'Nashville Sound' studio by Felton Jarvis). Derivative but but quite accomplished and enjoyable period stuff for fans of bands like The Beau Brummels, The Lovin' Spoonful, etc.

Tonight...
Bartok - various compositions based on the folk tunes he collected, all on Hungaraton LPs from the 1970s. Hungaraton did a full series of all of Bartok's music and these are largely wonderful performances and recordings. Tonight's are all orchestral with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra with either Korodi or Erdelyi conducting:
...Four Old Hungarian Folk Songs
...Four Slovak Folk Songs
...Hungarian Folk Songs
...Slovak Folk Songs
...Rumanian Dance 1 - Orch Version
...Wooden Prince Suite
...Vn Conc 1 (1908)

And continuing this evening of Bartok into chamber music:
...44 Duos for Two Violins, performed by the legendary Wanda Wilkomirska (love her playing)
...Seven Pieces from Mikrokosmos, for two pianos
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Rush,
Your depth of Classical knowledge & the records to accompany it, never ceases to amaze me. If I ever build my Classical collection to 1% of yours, with your continuing excellent recommendations, it will be a proud collection. Schubert "Trout" is next in the "buy" queue.
Recent spinners:
Ryan Adams - Gold - maybe it's too produced, perhaps it's too obviuosly searching for airplay, but this record just wears well on me. Great simple songs, interesting lyrics,
stuff to get stuck in your head all day long. Besides the vinyl sounding better, you get extra songs not on the CD.
Television - Marquee Moon - A punky masterpiece that never received the audience it deserved, except from the critics. Plenty of new bands have learned from this LP.
Charles Mingus - Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus, Mingus -
(Import 180g)
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Brahms - Szell/Cleveland - Sym No.1 - Epic
Van Morrison - Moondance - 180g German pressing
Squeeze - Argybargy
Copeland - Bernstein/NYP - The Copland Album - Columbia
A recently found mono Everly Brothers is on deck...Cheers,
Spencer

Sbank, for a good Schubert Trout Quintet on LP, consider either:

• Clifford Curzon and Members of the Vienna Octet, Decca SXL 2110 (Speakers Corner reissue) (my preferred performance and recording); or
  
• The Festival Quartet, RCA LSC 2147 (Classic Records reissue)

These were among some recordings I recommended recently on an "introduction to classical music" thread for someone looking for CDs. CD or LP, these are superb performances.

And, thanks for your comments; while I do listen to a lot of classical music, and I've collected quite a few recordings which I enjoy, I still defer to others on this forum who are more knowledgable about the music than I. And, as Texasdave points out to me regularly, I'm not familiar with many great recordings that are available only on CD.
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