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Closer to Fine

Everything is closer to fine. From a time before we could start breathing.

Kind of au clair d’angel

some impressions of music

Angel Ciair
Art Garfunkel

There was a lot on the line when Art Garfunkel was coming out with his first solo album.

ANGEL CLARE
LP KC 31474 (1973) STEREO/CQ 31474 QUADRAPHONIC

1: TRAVELING BOY (Williams; Nichols)
2: DOWN IN THE WILLOW GARDEN (Monroe)
3: I SHALL SING (Van Morrison)
4: OLD MAN (Newman)
5: FEUILLES-OH (Trad) – DO SPACE MEN PASS DEAD SOULS ON THEIR WAY TO THE MOON? (J. S. Bach; Grossman)
6: ALL I KNOW (Webb)
7: MARY WAS AN ONLY CHILD (Hammond; Hazlewood; Milchberg)
8: WOYAYA (Amarfio; Osei; Tontoh; Bedeau; Richardson; Amao; Bailey)
9: BARBARA ALLEN (Trad)
10: ANOTHER LULLABY (Webb)

Art Garfunkel (vocals)
Larry Knechtel, Michael Omartian (keyboards)
Louie Shelton, Larry Carlton, Dean Parks (guitars)
Joe Osborn (bass)
Hal Blaine, Jim Gordon (drums)

Other musicians:
J. J. Cale, Fred Carter, Jerry Garcia, Paul Simon (guitars)
Carl Radle (bass)
Tommy Tedesco (mandolin/bouzouki)
Jules Broussard, Jack Schroer (saxophones)
Jorge Milchberg (charango)
Stuart Canin (violin)
Milt Holland (percussion)
Dorothy Morrison, Sally Stevens, Jackie Ward & St. Mary’s Choir (vocals)

Remastered from the original analogue tapes by Michael J. Dutton

The feel of the album is a voyage through time. Traveling Boy. Mary was an only child. Old Man from Randy Newman. The renaissance nature of Feuilles-on.

The calibre of musicians involved with the creation of this album is jaw-dropping. The names from the Wrecking Crew abound.

What drew me to acquiring this on SACD was the early foray into the SACD world and the modest price of the album. As a fan of Garfunkel with Paul Simon and owning a few of their albums along with solo recordings, I looked forward to hearing the voice of Garfunkel through SACD.

The most familiar track All I Know starts with a slow build and then absolutely soars. The moment did not let me down and for this makes the whole experience worthwhile.

Kind of the morning after

a few ramblings and impressions on music

J Geils Band
The Morning After
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab UDSACD 2206
Original Master Recording

1 I Don’t Need You No More 2:35

2 Whammer Jammer
Written-By – Juke Joint Jimmy 2:34

3 So Sharp
Written-By – Arlester Christian 3:09

4 The Usual Place
Written-By – Don Covay, Leroy Randolph 2:44

5 Gotta Have Your Love 4:32

6 Looking For A Love
Written-By – J.W. Alexander, Zelda Samuels 3:45

7 Gonna Find Me A New Love 3:23

8 Cry One More Time 3:21

9 Floyd’s Hotel 3:08

10 It Ain’t What You Do (It’s How You Do It!)
Written-By – Juke Joint Jimmy 5:12

Limited to 2,000 copies.
(c) 1971 & 2019 Atlantic Recording Corp. Made in U.S.A. Disc made in Austria.
No. 000892 of 2000 from MoFi lands in the SACD collection.

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is reknown for its high end audiophile mastering standards.
Ultradisc UHR on vinyl has Eagles priced at $200. However, this J. Geils Band second album The Morning After is more reasonable even in limited quantity of 2000.

This album is a mix of the bluesy rock which even on SACD delivers the goods.

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Kind of mode

impressions on music

The dystonic post-or-now-apocalyptic world of Depeche Mode with the doom and attendant gloom. The breezy easy days of their debut Speak and Spell have been supplanted by the twelfth album Ultra with its Flood-NIN-Bowiesque style Tim Simenone helter skelter production (and engineered by Q) - as we all come together (or fall apart with Alan Wilder leaving the band) - staring at the end of the barrel of a gun. David Gahan at the low point.

Depeche Mode
Ultra

Sony 888837708822

With the Denon DVD-3910 now in our possession, the hunt was on for music to feed the beast. What better than the series of Depeche Mode releases on the DVD/CD format? The DVD (which is in PAL format and quite playable on the Denon player) portion is presumably on the DVD-Audio side of things with 5.1 mix in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround or DTS 5.1 and a PCM Stereo version. The PCM Stereo version is what is selected here (since the RCA audio connections are all that is present on the back of the Vector Research VR-220 receiver which has served us well since Ring Audio days). The DVD also contains three tracks recorded live in London April 1997 and bonus tracks. With the DVD comes a small quirky documentary film about Ultra (the album that almost did not get finished). Depeche Mode. 1995-1998 (Oh Well, that’s the end of the band).

Needless to say but saying it nonetheless, the music sounds just great in stereo.

these random writings are styled as part of the “running-in” period for the KEF Q350 double bass reflex speakers. What a double bass.

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Kind of pretox

random ramblings and reflections of random music

what is the good of a heart if you can’t break it

Pretox
Last Call

The CD from the Hammer City based trio moving to the bigg times is a cut above the rest – very much of a live to the floor mix with a crunchy rockstar stylings of Alex Maich on guitar and swingy Jesse Taynton groove bass that kicks the bottom end, and precision metronomic Ryan Luke drumming. Songs of heartache or broken heart and not going to stay sober reflections. Throwing kerosene on a relationship and waking up on a Sunday morning… we’ll be fine. This is not good-bye.

A solid starter from Pretox and representation of the music that kicks even more to life during their more than lively and bantered stage shows where their fueled at last call personalties shine.

This is part of a process of the “run-in” of the new KEF Q350 to warm up the double bass reflex speakers. Viewpoints of the actual music do not change. The quality of the songs remain the same.

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Kind of innercool – Kelly Lee Owens

impressions of music

Kelly Lee Owens
Inner Song
Smalltown Supersound – STS372LP

Track listing
Arpeggi
On
Melt!
Re-Wild
Jeanette
L.I.N.E.
Corner Of My Sky
Night
Flow
Wake-Up

My version of this two LP album is on the white vinyl. White records kind of look cool and still sounds great. The production on this second album from Kelly Lee Owens is superb and fascinating music for listening in the dark. With a big boost of thudding bass and the sweep of the upper end register from the keyboards the feeling is of being right there in the club house.

Haunting effusion of modern day electronics of Wales born Kelly Lee Owens with a cover of Radiohead >>>>> Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood >>>>>> Arpeggi . Experimental clubland music with an off-kilter dance orientation. Soaring high end vocals. From trip hop to bolder presentations with the added spoken lyrical contribution on the track Corner of My Sky from another Welsh musician of note John Cale (of the Velvet Underground and so on).

As the “run-in” of the Dali Oberon 7 speakers continue, records chosen at random are set on the platter to spin.

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Kind of sweet talkin’ woman

impressions on music

Electric Light Orchestra
Out of the Blue
U A JTLA-823-L2

From the October 1977 original double vinyl of the Jeff Lynne helmed Electric Light Orchestra with the iconic cover of the flying saucer space station receiving the spaceship. The crescendo and rollicking Turn to stone, slow down sweet city talkin’ woman. Classical Electric Light Orchestra replete with Beethoven grandiosity and rolling over Beethoven overtures (but that is another album).

Out of the Blue as a double album conveys the sense of the city through the progression of the day, More of a Days of Future Passed for the 1977 era.

A1 Turn To Stone 3:48
A2 It’s Over 4:08
A3 Sweet Talkin’ Woman 3:48
A4 Across The Border 3:52
B1 Night In The City 4:02
B2 Starlight 4:30
B3 Jungle 3:51
B4 Believe Me Now 1:21
B5 Steppin’ Out 4:38
C1 Standin’ In The Rain 4:20
C2 Big Wheels 5:10
C3 Summer And Lightning 4:13
C4 Mr. Blue Sky 5:05
D1 Sweet Is The Night 3:26
D2 The Whale 5:05
D3 Birmingham Blues 4:21
D4 Wild West Hero 4:40

As the “run-in” of the Dali Oberon 7 speakers continues towards the 100 hour mark, the records spin to nurture their appetite for a wide range of vinyl.

Kind of nightmusik

random impressions on music

I am the mushiest of music listeners. Sitting in the basement at night listening to the music of Mozart, the musik of your life.

The recording of the romantic “Elvira Madigan” – Piano Concerto No. 21 performed by Géza Anda, a pre-eminent performer of Mozart sets the standard, and is likely a staple of all Royal Conservatory students. On the reverse side is an equally beautiful Piano Concerto 17. Even after these years, the original vinyl survives and is very much playable.

The 2nd movement (Andante) of Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major (K467) was featured in the 1967 Swedish film “Elvira Madigan” and, as a result, the work became widely known as the “Elvira Madigan Concerto”. The complete recording of the Concerto, combined with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major (K453), was released with artwork featuring actress Pia Degermark in a film still of “Elvira Madigan”

These notes are part of the “running-in” period for the Dali Oberon 7 speakers as we randomly choose or pick what we feel in the mood for a good spin on the Technics turntables.

Kind of black mirror magic

an impression of music that goes bump in the night

Ryuichi Sakamoto: soundtrack to Black Mirror: Smithereens

Record Store Day release in 2019

As we continue to break in and evaluate the system of life as it falls apart to smithereens.

More nightmusic as Ryuichi Sakamoto’s sombre electronic contribution to the world of Black Mirror as it rotates through the world of darkness.

Little chapters that add up to a whole lot of creepiness. As ominous and eery a soundtrack for a stormy nocturne.

(this evaluation is part of a 100 hour process of “running in” a pair of Dali Oberon 7 speakers and a Shure m97xe cartridge paired with a N97ED stylus on a Technics SL-Q2 direct drive turntable. No rhyme or reason except semi-automatic is handy in the darkness.)