Whats on your turntable tonight?

Yesterday here with the local audio group...

Alan Parson Project - I Robot - MFSL UHRQ

From the RCA "Witches' Brew" - 45rpm vinyl reissue
..Malcolm Arnold - Overture from Tam O'Shanter
..Mussorgsky - Gnomus from Pictures

Atlanta Rhythm Section - Champagne Jam - MFSL

Steely Dan - Aja - the Cisco reissue on vinyl

Laurindo Almeida - Virtuoso Guitar - Crystal Clear d-t-d 45rpm (superb!)

Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold - from "Songbird" LP

Malcolm Arnold - 8 English Dances - Lyrita LP

Art Blakey - Night in Tunisia - 45rpm reissue

Hank Mobley - Soul Station - 45rpm reissue

Joni Mitchell - Hissing of Summer Lawns - LP

Ella Fitzgerald - Live in Berlin/Mack the Knife - Japanese pressing LP

Louis Armstrong - St. James Infirmary - 45rpm resissue
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Janis Joplin "Kosmic Blues" (Got dem Kosmic Blues Again)

Reminded me again how amazing Joplin really was. If you haven't listened to this recording in a while, you should.
If you have never heard this record, you need to. It's one of the greatest Blues records ever made. Joplin apparently did this one somewhat sober and it shows. She had ditched Big Brother and the Holding Co, and for good reason. The players in this band are much better musicians, the compositions and arrangements are much more sophisticated than anything BBHC ever did, and the production is top notch. Her new band played into her strengths and supported her in the way she deserved. I suspect this record received a lot of bad press because many thought it was "uncool" of her to ditch her band just as Hendrix did.

Kosmic Blues is not poppy predictable stuff and (thankfully) didn't produce a big hit like "Piece of my Heart" or "Bobby McGee"
Joplin's vocals here move in and out of strong to soft and delicate at times in the same breath.

Joplin to this day has stood the test of time, untouched and in a league all to herself. To think she was only 25 when she did this recording leads one to ponder many questions, not just of her, but of the music industry in general.

Whats on my turntable tonight?

A 42 year old recording that sounds as relevant today as it did two years before she vanished into the ether.

Rush- What a wonderful line up last Sunday! Must have been a nice day for the group.

This week (over the course of a couple of evenings as the power grid is kind of sketchy in this unending heat):

Gene Ammons "Blue Gene" - OJC reissue

Jerry Garcia "Garcia" Original Warner Bros. green label

Moody Blues "Every Good Boy Deserves Favor" Threshold release

David Crosby "If only I Could Remember My Name" Atlantic label

Poco "Cantamos" original from Epic

Jefferson Starship "Blows Against the Empire"

Joe, Saturday was eclectic music choices day, for sure. Around here this evening:

Chausson, Piano Quartet - Les Musiciens - Harmonia Mundi HM 1116

Gunther Schuller, Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee - Mercury SR 90282 (Speakers Corner reissue - superb!)
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Maty Fahl, The Other Side of Time
Tinariwen, Imidiwan: Companions
Herbie Hancok: Imagine Project