Lol!
... at 15 i.p.s. it would give... 30 seconds recording?
;-)
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iTape
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BASF - Liszt or Twist?
Lovely '60s BASF ad...
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J.J. Cale - Stay Around (2-discs set 2019)
Posthomous discs are sa trange breed, folks: they can be awesome - thinking to Tim Buckley's live at Royal Albert Hall in 1969...
They sort-of make resurrecting your fave, late musician...
In J.J. (Cocaine) Cale's case, well... I've been a very, VERY fond of his music and bought everything he recorded... my most beloved, the Raccoon-cover 1st, Okie, Troubador, 5 (wow, love it!)... then the others: Grasshopper, etc.... down to JJ & Slowhand...
I felt quite out of time, late, if you get it... but the discs contain some little laid-back gems... the recording is nice but discontinuous as it was on the above mentioned JJ's nuggets, being recorded at several different locations and studios... we're far away from the '70s masterpiece quality, yet... I found the Christine Lakeland-Cale (JJ's widow and long-time music-partners) tracks cherry-picking and pleasant...
A must-have disc?
No, don't think so... BUT a pleasure to listen to, anyway, sort-of memory lane, good ol' Americana honestly played and crafted and a nice package to par: you may be able to change cover-window pixie while playing the attached CD;-)
No, don't think so... BUT a pleasure to listen to, anyway, sort-of memory lane, good ol' Americana honestly played and crafted and a nice package to par: you may be able to change cover-window pixie while playing the attached CD;-)
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Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man OST by Neil Young
Bought this double-disc this morning after reading a review on MOJO June issue... the reviewer was hinting to most experimental Neil's disc, ever... suggesting a comparison with Paris, Texas by Ry Cooder... mmmhhhh... always amazed by reviewers' opinions;-)
... an electric fuzz guitar lucubration with deeeeep bass and William Blake's poems read by movie prima donna - i.e. Johnny Depp.
Yes, I enjoyed this music quite a lot... despite the honest, small print on back cover corner, well... it's an amazingly nice recording, too...
Give it a spin, pals... but don't take any responsibility as you'll DO NOT listen to any Neil's voice or acoustic guitar...
A footnote: the recording reminded to me more than a.m. Paris, Texas, Peter Fonda's The Hired Arm OST... an electric, fuzzed, one, of course.
Enjoy.
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Furry cello mute
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Disc of the Month - Sounds Harpy - featuring the David Snell Quintet
Disc of the Month!
On DECCA, recorded in England in 1966...
Superb recording of great music... cool, seldom heard arrangements and musical blend.
Master quality!
BTW: better Harpy than... Horny;-)
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Some 50 cents vinyl nuggets
Lovely vintage covers... and gorgeous sound from these flea-market finds.
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Beloved Leon Redbone passed away today!
I'm really, really sad...
Mr. Leon Redbone, after health issues and retiring in 2015 from active music scene, passed away a few hours ago...
I'm sincerely condolencing to his family and friends... he gave to me - and many worldwide - pure joy...
His class, panama hat and music were - ARE - absolutely timeless and never will be forgotten by yours truly.
R.I.P. dear Champagne Charlie... R.I.P. Leon Redbone... thanks, Mr. Dickran Gobalian.
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Western Electric 2A turntable
A marvelous vintage turntable built decades ago in the USA... brought to its shiny beauty with passion and untiring care and attention to details...
Love the console...
What an inspiration for a new turntable...
Superb!
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The fire of 2008 - a disaster for music and movie industries!
It happened in 2008... a disaster for music and movie industries...
The archive in Building 6197 was UMG’s main West Coast storehouse of masters, the original recordings from which all subsequent copies are derived. A master is a one-of-a-kind artifact, the irreplaceable primary source of a piece of recorded music. According to UMG documents, the vault held analog tape masters dating back as far as the late 1940s, as well as digital masters of more recent vintage. It held multitrack recordings, the raw recorded materials — each part still isolated, the drums and keyboards and strings on separate but adjacent areas of tape — from which mixed or “flat” analog masters are usually assembled. And it held session masters, recordings that were never commercially released.
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Miles' Rubberband posthumous disc out on next Sept. 2019
A lost Miles Davis album named Rubberband is set to be released in September. The LP was recorded in 1985 in Los Angeles’ Ameraycan Studios and produced by Randy Hall and Zane Giles.
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Darius Valiunas - cartridges builder and a new doctor for our beloved Neumann DST's cartridge maintenance
Darius Valiunas, a gentleman from Lithuania, owns the seldom found skill to properly maintain and service the idiosyncratic DST's design cartridges... and to build his very own interpretation, field-coil or not.
He built a Neumann DST replica and a field-coil version of DST design, as well... as Darius says: Air core Direct couple field coil mc cartridge sound is nearest to master tape.Exactly my VERY feeling since I discovered Lumiere DST and Neumann DST!
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Again from Darius: Cactus spine with bonded aluminum tube with nude elliptical diamond.
We have tested both for sound/output and they are very similar.
Again from Darius: Cactus spine with bonded aluminum tube with nude elliptical diamond.
We have tested both for sound/output and they are very similar.
Cactus spine is much more rugged from mechanical point of view (I mean it's more accident proof, it don't break easy).
... and again:
Standart mc cartridges are wired on iron carcase,but that iron influences Eddy Current.That stops coil movement on big amplitudes,so we hear compressed sound.There is another type of cartridges[air core ones]that have no problem with Eddy Current,but they have poor bass respond.Therefore the front coils make big movement amplitude,bass from these air core cartridges is good.Magnetic field from elecromagnet is very stable and it creates good dynamics on bass respond.When you are listening to field coil cartridge,you never get tired of its sound.Music intonations are undistorted,and they are like from master tape.The shape of the coils and field are constructed in the way to keep linearity on worped,uncentered vynil.These cartridges will never be mass production,but it is always possible to make an order individualy.--
Very, very interesting... not direct feedback, BUT... as experience and instinct is something many among us have, just looking at the quality of workmanship is enough for yours truly.
Standart mc cartridges are wired on iron carcase,but that iron influences Eddy Current.That stops coil movement on big amplitudes,so we hear compressed sound.There is another type of cartridges[air core ones]that have no problem with Eddy Current,but they have poor bass respond.Therefore the front coils make big movement amplitude,bass from these air core cartridges is good.Magnetic field from elecromagnet is very stable and it creates good dynamics on bass respond.When you are listening to field coil cartridge,you never get tired of its sound.Music intonations are undistorted,and they are like from master tape.The shape of the coils and field are constructed in the way to keep linearity on worped,uncentered vynil.These cartridges will never be mass production,but it is always possible to make an order individualy.--
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Jazz Images by Francis Wolff
This very (limited edition) book was the unexpected and gladly received gift from a friend... as he told me, he bought two at Mosaic in CT, USA: one for himself and another for someone able to appreciate it... and. YES! Leif: I DO appreciate it!
The Ashley Khan's foreword is wort the book... his insight about the days these wonderful pixies were shot, the coming from Nazi Germany to USA, the use of Rolleiflex camera and the cool eye inside RudyVan Gelder's studio... priceless.
... but what more amazes me are the finest, humblest details: John Coltrane's elastic twisted belt, the shiny, brand new Neumanns and Telefunkens' microphones and Selmers' saxes, the natural elegance of these stellar musicians and I'm not only talking about Miles'
A true visual goldmine of a life-long commitment to jazz and to - more specifically - seminal, trend-setting Blue Note record label.
Thanks, pal.
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Fado in Coimbra, Portugal
During my recent journey in Portugal, I had several very nice musical moments... but nothing compared to my Fado ao Centro in Coimbra evening...
Coimbra's Fado is very different from its Lisbon's version... only former and ex-Coimbra University students, all males, wearing their traditional black capes, singing and playing classical guitar and guitarra Portuguesa.
The place is very comfortable and classy - sort of out of time - and music flows as timeless as it can be.
The musicians are truly gifted and - be sure - it's not a sort-of tourist-only affaire: historic hints are given by Ms. Germana, an extremely kind and well-informed lady whose live commenting, supported by short movies on the screen behind musicians, was a plus to the evening.
I was in tears when, at the end of one-hour long gig, had the privilege to chat with musicians and to handle and strum a premium luthier crafted guitarra Portuguesa.
An epiphany!
I strongly suggest and invite everyone traveling in the area to stop-by enjoy this great music, hinting both saudade for leaving Portugal, for serenades during the mild nights in Coimbra or cheering at the end of a studying year at the nearby University, one of most ancient in the world.
Thanks, folks... obrigado, Doigo... obrigado, Germana... also now I'm back home, I'm enjoying Coimbra's fado from the disks I bought after the concert.
Cheers.
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The Peak goes fancy
The Peak will be going to be brewed in fancy, summer-hinting colors, folks... it's only anodization, but I love the effect.
There are only three still available, in all shown colors choices: red, orange and gold.
Proud... also if my wife asked if they're flutes...
;-)
;-)
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Emily Young (sculptress)
I loved a BBC documentary about Emily working at his monastery/home/workshop in Tuscany...
Lovely, empathic artist, using stones and rocks and hating the soooo boring marble...
I'm with her.
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Slaps Orchestra - Opera Omnia 2010-2016
Intriguing music... contemporary, classical, electronic, concrete, weird noise... dunno... I find it extremely suggestive, both easy to the ears and complex, music for mind and body.
Enjoy... explore these soundscapes, dig it.
Thanking Michelangelo Bava.
Thanking Michelangelo Bava.
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SME 3012 II and R Universal knife: spot the difference
Have an extremely limited batch of Universal knives slightly modified - spot the difference among the five samplers showed in the pixies - to be also used in the SME 3012R instead of the well-made, BUT sonically lesser nylon stock-fitted knives.
These knives, made for a friend's 3012II (with worn-out knife) and 3012R (with nylon knife) arms, are 22 mm long, so slightly shorter than type-II full length knife used as a sampler, making it possible to be used in virtually all SMEs' from late '50s to last produced samplers.
Years ago, when both options were available in spare-parts SME's catalog, the black nylon knife was £ 40 vs. £ 150 for hardened steel one, thus needing to be shortened to be tried in -R's as we did
Despite some old reviews claiming there was no audible difference between the two knives, the difference is not subtle: I heard my pal Francesco's 3012R with original nylon knife and with the actual Universal hardened 415 steel knife and some excessive smoothness he - myself agreeing - guessed coming from all the rubber O-rings broadly used in SME arms', to our surprise the 2 seconds-swapping to Universal knife transformed the 3012R into the sought-after 3012II... sonically, at least: improved dynamics and broadened tonal palette.
All measures were back-engineered in the workshop from an original SME's spare and the time consuming tool-making and parts machining, hardening in oil and polishing was sure worth the hassle: my friend enjoys his double arm Garrard 301 with a much better performances consistency than before.
These nice, tiny batch of six was made to justify the workshop tooling: one is already mounted in F.'s 3012R, another was taken by F. as a spare, just in case, and four as shown are available to anyone owning a 3012R (or, why not...) a worn-out 3012II or an earlier Prototype... or a 3009 of any vintage.
The part is plug and play and a couple of minutes are needed for swapping knives.
Please write to stefanocello-AT-gmail-DOT-com for a quite unique one-off opportunity to re-fresh your beloved SME's arm performance: this part is sort-of the heart of the arm.
Other similar parts are sometimes available on Ebay, but sadly, the most important feature - i.e. the knife blade, factory hardened in both original and the six - aehm, four available - replicas, are quite roughly made to a "U" profile instead of a precise "V"... so more similar to an years-worn out knife!
A money-waste.
These parts were uniquely made as bespoke - one-off - parts as SME's catalog doesn't show them, anymore... first come, first served.
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Bill Frisell goes Blue Note!
Beloved, esteemed musicians's musician re-joined the iconic label...
Acclaimed guitarist Bill Frisell has signed with Blue Note Records and will release the first album under his own name for the legendary label with the arrival of his newest project, Harmony, this coming fall.
Though his association with Blue Note stretches back nearly 3 decades to his appearance on John Scofield’s 1992 album Grace Under Pressure — and has included invaluable contributions to Blue Note albums by Don Byron (Romance With The Unseen), Ron Carter (Orfeu), Norah Jones (‘The Long Day Is Over’ from Come Away With Me), the collective project Floratone, and Charles Lloyd & The Marvels (I Long To See You & Vanished Gardens featuring Lucinda Williams) — Harmony is Frisell’s bona fide Blue Note debut: an opportunity for jazz’s most storied label to document the work of “the most significant and widely imitated guitarist to emerge in jazz since the beginning of the 1980s,” according to The New York Times.
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An evening with John Renbourn and Jacqui McShee
Loved and still love John and everything Pentangle... BUT, I truly seldom saw such an ugly picture on a disk cover...
... why not choosing a better one?
Nonetheless, I will buy it, of course... out on next September.
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