Diana Krall

@tubegroover It's not a matter of liking or not liking Diana Krall. Up until this thread, I'd never considered it with too much aesthetic thought. However, what raised MY hackles and tugged on my jowls was

1. The hijacking of the OP's original intent and purpose into a rant and demeaning of an artist the OP plainly admires and enjoys. It's like being invited into someone's house and then openly and without shame excoriating his artwork and cuisine.

2. How smug some of the responders come across as. I mean, everyone's an armchair quarterback, but only 32 real quarterbacks suit up every Sunday. That's not to suggest we're not entitled to a learned opinion, but to take someone as respected as DK and claim she's nothing more than a piano bar singer is to suggest you're somehow more learned and musically astute than everyone else. But hey - if you think you are, then feel free to create your own reality (that's "you" as in the responders, not "you" as in tubegroover).

It's like the person who posted several years ago that Steely Dan was nothing more than studio musicians who got lucky. I mean, fascinating.

Please! The etiquette protocols of an online forum are NOT the same as being invited into one’s home. If I was a guest in the OP's home and he was playing DK I would listen politely and grin and bare it.

As far as keeping to the original OP’s intent of his post, FREQUENTLY an OP will raise a subject that then morphs into to a more deep and interesting topic but still related to the original post. Happens all the time and nothing wrong with that. That has happened here. And I don’t see anyone being disrespectful of the OP’s original message. Great, he likes DK.

The broader subject that this thread has morphed into beyond DK is about mediocracy in music and whether “audiophiles” should have the ability to recognize it and tell the difference between it and truly exceptional artists. And if you can then why would one choose the former and not the latter?

I keep reading posters that seem to believe that there really is no difference or that the difference doesn't matter because it is all about taste and anyone who attempts to recognize the difference is a snob. I like to drink low cost red wine, rarely buying a Cabernet above $12 a bottle. When someone tells me I don't have refined tastes in wine I tell them they are right but I don't deny that there is a difference between a $50 bottle of Cabernet and a $9 bottle. I just say I can't appreciate it.

1extreme ...

If you like inexpensive wine, try the "California Roots" brand being sold at Target stores. The "Red Blend" is amazing at only 5 bucks a bottle.

There are singers who outclass DK in every respect, no doubt. But, she can be quite enjoyable to listen to in her own right. She has her own style that brings out the best of what she has.

One thing I’ve learned over the years ... there is no right or wrong when it comes to music. Human taste differs dramatically.

I subscribe to both Stereophile and TAS and read the music reviews each month. I always check the recommended recordings out on Spotify. More often than not, I’m left wondering how in the world reviewers review equipment listening to crap that is drenched in artificial digital reverb.

Even a lot of music that is recommended in this forum is truly crap ... more digital reverb. I’ll tell you ... the master tapes don’t sound like that. The recordings are either drenched in artificial reverb in an attempt to cover up a untalented "artist," or in an effort to get the tape hiss off of digitally remastered analog recordings, they’ve erased the highs as well. Then, there are the screamers who try to pass themselves off as singers and their fans who turn their noses up at anything musically sophisticated.

Guess how many Bruce Springsteen albums I have? None.

Guess how many DK albums I have? A lot. :-)

Frank

We have to be careful not to conflate "music" with "recording quality".  I'm sure we all have various examples of fine music in less than satisfying sound...albums we would never be without.🧐

^^^  Correcto Mundo (as they say in So. Cal).

I have a collection of Charlie Parker albums that have pretty awful sound ... but Parker's ideas are preserved for our enjoyment. 

I don't collect 78 rpm records, but I have some friends that do. They are really into the performances. 

Frank