This album and Chants are two I had trouble getting into. Taborn’s an accomplished pianist for sure, but the music didn’t really hit me in all the right spots.
I personally think Torn plays too much and he’s always mocking around with effects to the point where it’s like “Okay, we get you know how to use a harmonizer effect pedal. Can you please do something else?” He stands in direct contrast with Eivind Aarset who uses a lot of different effects, but never does he overuse anything and he knows when not to play and take a backseat. Aarset has become one of my favorite guitarists. Ben Monder is great, too.
I can see that with this one, it can get quite twisty and knotty. But Chants is sublime. Give that album another go! Edit- give Chants a chance
Just to make sure, you’re talking about Lost River, right? If yes, then jackpot! It certainly sounds lovely so far, but, as usual, I know I’ll have to go back and listen again.
Thanks for this, ( and Mugrug too) ive only cottoned onto CT this year. Just streamed it and Chants is right up my street
Well, I will go on record as enjoying Torn. My first exposure was Garbarek's "It's OK to listen to the gray voice". It's another in a sequence of very nice Garbarek albums featuring a guitarist, with Torn replacing Frisell. A different sound, but I don't hear any overkill. After that, my main exposure to Torn was through some bloody fantastic Tim Berne recordings, such as Science Friction, on other labels. In 2007, we have Torn's Prezens on ECM. I think this was a very significant spearhead recording, featuring Taborn and Berne, who of course subsequently have made some great albums on ECM, and which established a connection to adventurous US artists, keeping the label relevant, and perhaps paving the way to others such as Vijay Iyer appearing on ECM. Manfred Eicher is a genius.
Enjoying... Ralph Alessi Trumpet Ravi Coltrane Tenor and Sopranino Saxophones Andy Milne Piano Drew Gress Double Bass Mark Ferber Drums
David Torn will always be in my collection. This album alone should ensure he is in everyone's collection
Hope this hasn't been posted yet, but ECM (finally) reissuing their first album, Mal Waldron - Free at Last. The Mal Waldron Trio-Free At Last-Vinyl Record|Acoustic Sounds It's coming out 11/22/2019, which is almost 50 years to the day it was recorded. 2xLP with alternate takes.
Hey y’all, I don’t mean to step on any toes but I discovered ECM music a number of months ago, vs many of your decades of enjoyment, and I love vinyl. Especially AAA, but many times vinyl over digital. I also have never once heard a SACD, despite many visits to dealers, since I never owned one. Consequently, my analog front end is much better than my mod-tier digital end. I love many of the ECM releases, from the first few years til now, and many are simply not available on vinyl. I’ve been blown away by the original Abercrombie’s I’ve come across (at great prices!), along with AAA reissues of classics. I also love the Jacob Bro, Dominic Miller and Brahem’s Blue Maquams that I have. I don’t want to dive into a digital v. Analog talk here. No doubt it’s been asked before but my question is - how do the CD’s, SACD or plain ol CD, sound vs streaming? There seems to be a consensus on owning the CD’s (and assuming vinyl isn’t available for certain ‘must haves releases for this question), but after accumulating so many CD’s in other genres over the years and then realizing the step up in vinyl oftentimes, is it worth it to dive back into CD’s for Tomasz Stanko or Nic Bartsch, for instance (whom I really enjoy)? I also realize ECM hasn’t been AAA in a long while, how do the equivalent releases in CD and vinyl compare? I’d love to hear a few honest opinions and if the topic is too sensitive, I sincerely apologize.
I heard an extended version of this was coming. Really looking forward to it. I think I'll go for the CD as I have an original pressing of the LP.
I think you'll find that ECM's mastering is superb no matter if AAA or DDD. I have a good size collection (just over 700 releases with 2/3 being cd) and I have no qualms on purchasing their cds even though most everything else I buy is on vinyl. As for comparing the catalog between vinyl and digital, I generally prefer the older releases (those that are AAA) on vinyl and cds for the newer releases. That's not a slag on ECM's current vinyl, mind you, I just think that the pressings were better in the 70s, especially those pressed in Germany. By the way, there are plenty of used mint or near mint ECM records out in the wild - I buy them all the time. Can't comment on streaming as I'm not that modern and do not have suitable equipment.
Well, if you love AAA and vinyl, the path should be clear... keep your eyes peeled for 70s (early 80s) vintage pressings, for the very early albums (the first 100) preferably German issues. But there's truly nothing wrong with any ECM CDs of any era. I always thought that ECM has always maxed out the possibilty of the CD format. CDs in general can hardly sound any better imo. The last years, I personally shifted towards HiRes downloads for the more recent stuff. These are studio masters right from the sound board, so save to say these files are the non-plus-ultra of an all digital chain. I can't comment on the streaming quality of HiRes files. As far as the modern vinyl pressing go, I don't hear much improvement over the HiRes files (which of course are the source material for the vinyl mastering nowadays, excluding the AAA vinyl reissues of the analog era). I have a couple of later albums on both formats and it's nice to spin them on vinyl, but regarding SQ they don't seem superior to the HiRes files... milages may vary. A final comment on SACDs: I think it's nice for people who wants to listen to these albums in a higher resolution than the old CD and still have a physical format in their hands. I only have The Köln Concert on SACD so take it with a grain of salt, but the SACD doesn't better the 24bit studio master, let alone the original vinyl pressing. It betters the CD but not by a wide margin.
I should revisit that Garbarek album. Thanks for jogging the ol’ memory banks. I forgot Torn was on It’s OK to Listen to the Gray Voice. Torn also did a fine job on David Sylvian’s Secrets of the Beehive. I suppose it’s Torn’s later work that just leaves me cold.
This might be blasphemy, but I've listened to a few ECM's on Amazon HD, and they sound terrific right from my phone through my system. I don't know that you can find one that doesn't sound great. Having said that, nothing beats an original German or US RL pressing, and the Wakefield's sound very nice as well.
Speaking of Hi-Res, I purchased a couple of 24/96 digital downloads a couple of days ago from prestomusic (had been discussed here a while back). I just wanted my own copies of these. I enjoy the Tidal MQA versions but I thought I was getting little closer to the music with these unmodified Hi-Res versions. They're both gorgeously remastered from the original tapes and crystal clear--a slight bit of hiss but nothing obtrusive. On Dawn I thought Harvey Swartz's bass came through a little more defined and the Marimba had a bit more weight. The prestomusic experience was pretty good and the site is very professional and easy to navigate. Had to establish an account first and then if one wants to do Paypal you have to select your payment method as GBP. Paypal then converts it to your local currency during the payment transaction. The prices were very competitive and I ended up paying around $27 CDN for both of the downloads. The zip files were monsters--Dawn was 843MB and Winterreise 851MB. But lots of goodness and great detail are packed into those files!
