This is one of those albums that should be listened to in its entirety. There isn't a "hit", there isn't a particular moment that captures you, it lacks the easy to remember catchy pieces, the famous earwormer. B ut Santa Cecilia, how beautiful this record is, I love it. Chet sings here and plays his trumpet, while a piano, guitar, bass, flute and drums all take the same journey. Background music, it never ceases to fascinate.. I got this K2 version the other day at a HiFi fair. Of course, it's expensive, but it's worth it, it's gorgeous! Chet Baker Let's get lost
Sunday night into Monday morning carousing at Jowcol Towers was soundtracked by a side each from: Roky Erickson & The Aliens - I Think Of Demons Brian Eno/David Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts Joe Ely - S/T Sara Hickman - Shortstop Grateful Dead - S/T (Skull & Roses) Jimmie Dale Gilmore - S/T Yvonne Fair - The Bitch Is Black The Horseflies - Human Fly Ian Dury - New Boots & Panties Lee Dorsey - Gohn Be Funky
Ali Akbar Khan, Indranil Bhattacharya, Zakir Hussain - That Which Colors The Mind I haven’t circled back to this in a while; it’s really lovely.
A few recent releases I've been digging: Olli Hirvonen - Kielo 2022, Ropeadope Finnish guitarist in an instrumental trio setting. It goes from melodic to subdued and hypnotic, then noisy and building intensity. Jazz and maybe classic rock influences. The Cube of Unknowing - Bog Phosphors 2022, Eiderdown Records Irish artist. Kind of a dark sound with tons of synth and guitar, some krautrock rhythmic sections, pretty spaced-out. Although a bit darker than most other releases on Eiderdown, it seems to fit the label's vibe.
Giannis Arapis, Vilhelm Bromander, Vangelis Dimos - Slow Arrow 2021, Ramble Records Giannis Arapis: electric guitar Vilhelm Bromander: double bass Vangelis Dimos: drums This is a beautiful trio recording. It's short, mostly intense playing with some brief moments where things mellow out. Ramble Records is an Australian record label that releases a ton of interesting music. They have become one of my favorites. Discount code for 30% off everything through tomorrow: ineeddiscountedramble
Lots of listening over the long weekend to the '81-84 era of King Crimson. I've had Discipline on CD forever, but not Beat or Three of a Perfect Pair. It's taken a while for songs from those later albums to grow on me, and the live versions helped a lot. Scattered thoughts: 1. Indiscipline is so good live. I liked the recent triple-drummer versions, but Bruford can carry it alone. And then Belew's manic delivery is great fun. 2. Belew's pop instincts are remarkable. There are several songs, especially Heartbeat and Sleepless, that should've been massive hits. Waiting Man and Man with an Open Heart are also pretty darn catchy. 3. It's too bad that the live versions of Thela don't have the spoken parts. Hard to beat the studio version for that reason.
What a show! Elton sounds amazing. I think it's fair to guess that Elton probably nailed his studio vocals in a few takes.
Currently listening to Ween - Paintin' the Town Brown Live 1990-1998 Earlier today: Built to Spill - The Normal Years Paul Simon - Stranger to Stranger David Bowie - Recall: 1 from the Five Years box.
Followed up Ween with John Prine s/t, Primus Sailing on the Seas of Cheese, and now Stephen Malkmus Mirror Traffic.
hybrid, Super AudioCD Paul Simon Still crazy after all those years A beuatiful album very good audio a classi, this one sill never bore .... NEVER!
Now playing for me... one of the best Live Records ever. Not THE BEST, maybe... but surely ONE of the BEST... This HQ/CD has a great sound, too. Don't know, erhas the SACD is even better, it cn be. But this one is OK! Keith Jarrett The Koeln Concert
The opening song, "Moon And Sand", and "Zingaro" are standouts. And between the singing, the trumpet playing, and the jazz combo arrangements, that's the record that got me into the Great American Songbook. But take away Chet's impeccably relaxed phrasing, natural sense of playing by ear, and his oddly detached approach to ballad singing, and there is almost nothing else left of him. Almost all of his physical and mental energy was devoted to getting his next fix, and the harder he had to hustle to get it, the deeper he spiraled into addiction. Having read the biography written about Chet, Deep In A Dream, I have to wonder if he would have been as devoted to opioids and cocaine as he was if he'd simply been allowed an ample supply of them without being compelled to organize his life around scoring. Chet was a textbook case of the single-minded pursuit of dope as the organizing purpose of his life. He ended up sacrificing practically everything of redemptive worth in his character for more drugs. But maybe it isn't as simple as that. Or maybe it is- maybe Chet was nothing more than a selfish bad actor. Or maybe that wasn't the real Chet Baker. His status as a criminalized addict pretty much guarantees that we'll never know. If, as has been said, the best metaphor for addictive drugs is that they're the equivalent of an indifferent, uncaring, abusive lover, how much more complicated does the story get when obstacles are put in the way to forcibly restrain the abused addict from having any contact with them? It's like a reverse restraining order. I'm increasingly skeptical of the logic of that approach.
