Whats on your turntable tonight?

20/20 - (self titled, Portrait 1979). The opening cut, "Yellow Pills", went on to become something of a touchstone of the burgeoning West Coast power pop movement, eventually lending its title to a compilation series and a fanzine devoted to the genre. I had dinner the other night with a friend who had moved out to LA back then to be a part of this scene and he mentioned this band, so it's been on my mind.

"Performance" (soundtrack, Warner 1970). Mostly Jack Nitsche and Ry Cooder stuff, best known for Jagger & Richards' "Memo From Turner", plus apearances from Randy Newman, Buffy Stainte-Marie on 'mouth bow', and The Last Poets' immortal "Wake Up Niggers". Skipped the Merry Clayton cuts...

Davie Allan - "Old Neck and New Strings" (Dionysus, 1990). The 60's biker-flick fuzz-guitar instro king returns. Strong as hell.

In the car CD during the day: The Duke, Jazz Party and Far East Suite.

Schumann "Symphony No. 3 in E Flat major, Op.97" "Rhenish" (Paray/Detroit Symphony Ochestra) Mercury SR90133 Wonderful, passionatly played 1st movement, with great interplay between the second violins and violas. Disc could be in a little better shape, but once again, a thorough cleaning on the VPI RCM with Paul Frumkin's two-step cleaning process has made it quite listenable

Tonight:
Cat Stevens: Teaser and the Firecat, MSFL 1-244 - had to pull this out and play it to check my recollection of its sound quality given a very curious post tonight in the Vinyl Asylum. My copy sounds just like I remembered it: really really good! And I don't often say that about MoFi releases: I've listened to too many that are horribly EQ'd and congested, but not this one - it's one of the GOOD ones.

Bizet: Sym 1 in C, Marriner/ASMF, London (King Superanalogue reissue)- wonderful performance, well recorded, just a delight to listen to.

Arvo Part: Tabula Rasa; Fratres; Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten, Sondeckis/LithChmO, Kremer -vn, Schnittke -pf, ECM 1275 - classic Part. If you don't know his music, he's worth adventuring through.

As I Went to Walsingham: collection of Renaissance music, performed by Paul O'Dette (lute) and The Musicians of Swanne Alley, Harmonia Mundi HMC 5192. Wonderful music of the renaissance, exceptionally performed, and beautifully recorded by Peter McGrath. I've never heard a bad recording with his name in the engineering credits!

Over the last few days:
Mingus Workshop - Stormy Weather
Ry Cooder - Chicken Skin Music (again!)
The Band - Rock of Ages
Prokofiev/Kabelevsky Piono Concerto#3 Gilels, State Radio Orch/Kabelevsky
The Christopher Parkening Album - (Angel)
OscarP trio w/MiltJ - Very Tall (verve)
Bill Evans - Live @ Shelly's Manhole (Riverside)
Horace Silver & Jazz Messengers (BlueNote) So good I played it in the morning & again that night!
Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior
Shelly Manne & His Men - Swinging Sounds #5 (Contemporary)
Chopin - Piano Music vol.3 (London/ffrr)
Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain (Mono 1A,2A pressing)great late at night.

Too much to listen to, not enough time to post. Now have a wireless laptop, so A-gon goes to the listening chair! Cheers,
Spencer

Laptop in the listening chair is the only way to go! Congratulations, Spencer. My only problem is that my "click, click, click" on the keyboard drives my otherwise very tolerant spouse out of the listening room: Definitely NOT a good thing relative to maintaining continuing support for my music acquisition proclivities!
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