The Kirmuss is not a panacea, but it's a good machine. For routine cleaning of new records and old records in good shape, the Audio Desk is great. Easy peasy, fully automatic end-to-end and fast (5 mins/record)...and expensive. The Kirmuss is better for restoration requiring deeper cleaning. It's more a manual process, more involved, but can improve on records that need it. But don't expect much with records that are damaged, and expect to spend more time and effort (20 mins, incl. manual application of surfactant). OTOH, the Kirmuss costs 1/4 the Audio Desk. I'm happy to have both. And either is much better than the Okki Nokki I had before.
Jackie McLean's Let Freedom Ring is 24/192 on Qobuz and the best I've heard, but just makes me hope even more for a TP treatment.
Huh, the Classics are the ones that should be appealing to the masses. The TPs are for the more obscure and experimental. I don’t think Cecil Taylor is going to be on a Classic anytime soon.
I think people are more likely to take a chance with a £20 record than a £36 record, TPs are much more of an investment for the average buyer than the Classics and also more of an investment for the label come to that, so a low appeal, lower selling record makes more sense as a Classic.
+1 for Dutch Vinyl - my Aussie go-to for record sleeves and audiophile vinyl, especially Speakers Corner and Pue Pleasure. Plus they've just had a shipment in from Analogue Productions.
Clubhouse is great defo! I don’t have the waiting game but I find minor move not very essential after some spins
What are people's top 5 Tone Poet releases so far in terms of musical and sound quality? I've only bought a small handful of albums I already knew were great: Corea's 'Now He Sings, Now He Sobs', Hutcherson's 'The Kicker', Shorter's 'Etcetera', Silver's 'Further Explorations' & Morgan's 'Cornbread'. It seems some of the releases are not the most inspiring high-quality sessions, for instance Lee Morgan's 'The Rajah' or Duke Pearson's 'The Phantom' (apart from the title track the rest is very lightweight stuff). I'd like to know what the most listened to Tone Poets are. I have so many Blue Note albums on CD, I sometimes struggle to know whether it's worth replicating them on vinyl - with the few I have I'm very glad that I did: this series has made me want buy vinyl again.
Streaming Waiting Game, Further Explorations and It’s Time to figure out next purchases. I order from Amazon.ca when prices are below $40, which is usually 1-3 titles any given week. (I only started buying these last month). Bass on Top and Byrd in Flight arrive today. I was initially ambivalent about Waiting Game, but it sounds like a great session - love the drums - and if it sounds to his good on Sonos, I’m sure the TP will knock me out. Oblique is hovering just above $40 - may have to pull the trigger on it as well.
Easy answer - look for the ones that are waiting for a repress. Chet Baker, The Cooker, Nigeria, Wayne Shorter...
Your first stop should be the tape speed thread to eliminate the titles with mastering problems (there are many sound samples posted whereby you can hear for yourself and see if it matters to you). My three favorite TPs not including those you mentioned are: are Bobby Hutcherson - Oblique; Art Blakey - Roots & Herbs; Grant Green - Nigeria.
Not sure about that logic. Classic is the mass appeal release stream. These would be just the opposite- affordable and high appeal based on their status as the most popular releases. Not affordable and highly experimental/challenging. These will be the first step in the door for many folks looking to explore jazz. TP is the next step up once Classic has won you over.
This poll and thread is resourceful: POLL: Blue Note's Tone Poet Series (2020) There are probably only a handful that are "run of the mill" sessions. I prefer the more experimental titles typical from the mid 60s on but I do like many of the classics as well. It seems like the titles and quality are getting stronger as this series continues, although some of the best titles were released early on. My top 5 recommendations would be: Etc., NHSNHS, Oblique, Tender Moments and Contours.
Well Blue Note obviously share my logic as they released the Taylors as part of their 75th series and also as part of the mid-eighties Pathe Marconi series both of which had similar aims to the Classic series, people will take a chance on something at a low price which they wouldn't consider if it's at a premium.
I think most people who haven’t heard of some of these albums, and don’t have the extra $5 to “take a chance” are going to stream them first anyway... The only people not doing that first are people who buy a lot of records and have the funds to buy something they may not like.
All these titles are new to me and this is exactly what I do. I typically stream it for a week or more off/on. I have ordered about 75% of the Tone Poet releases. I already have MMJ versions of most of the Classics that have been released. I will certainly pick up a few of these as well to fill in holes or explore it if it's a new title for me.
Has anyone compared the mono Classic records with the Disk Unions? The Classics are reasonably priced compared to the DU, but admitted were not eq'ed in the same manner.
