R.I.P. Jeff Beck.
A genuine legend.
Qobuz FLAC 96kHz 24bit
Very nice, latest Mofi SACD version of Michael jacksonâs Thriller. At the moment listening to the CD layer (Rossini), itâs better then all the other verions I have had, great separation, soundstage goes outside the speakers, his voice is fuller. IMO a worthwhile investment.
Tonight I will rip the SACD layer on my Oppo 103D.
Hmmm. Never thought Iâd buy another copy of Thriller. But maybe so.
Update: So.
My Jeff Beck collection did not include this before a good friend who is a guitarist recommended it. Glad he did.
Already an album from 2013, but just re-discovered it, very nice recording, she has a great voice
Itâs a family tradition with us to watch the New Yearâs Day concert live from Vienna. Such a life enhancing way to start the year. The conductor Franz Welser-Most included a lot of delightful rarer pieces by the Strauss family, plus a fun piece by Suppe that I didnât know at all.
A few days later, by chance I noticed a new release on Qobuz of Suppe overtures. Just high class entertainment music, but tremendously enjoyable. The original is from a 1959 Mercury Living Presence recording.
I continue to be amazed by the âfresh as a daisyâ SQ and vitality of these early recordings. Itâs a salutary thought how little real progress there has been since thenâŠ
Remembering David Crosby.
50 years ago today, Alan Parsons invited Clare Torry to lay down the vocal track for Great Gig in the Sky. Did she ever.
James Yorkston and Nina Persson, their voices match well, maybe not an audiophile recording but very nice âmiddle of the roadâ music, I have streamed the album from beginning to end already a few times.
Qobuz FLAC 24 bit 96 kHz
Comebacks are Bob Dylanâs thing. Call him irrelevant and heâll summon his demons and write another masterpiece. In the 1990s, one of Americaâs greatest creative engines was drifting. The Don Was-produced Under The Red Sky, Dylanâs only collection of new songs in the decade, was met with a collective shrug. In 1995, there was the death of Grateful Deadâs Jerry Garciaâa âbig brotherâ Dylan would call him in a eulogy he wrote for Rolling Stone. But starting in late 1996, Dylan began writing a recordâs worth of tunes in his home state of Minnesota that, after an extended recording process in California and Florida, would become Time Out of Mind. Critics and fans whoâd consigned him to the scrap heap once again were effusive in their astonishment: Maybe Bobby wasnât done after all! Although the lyrics are often bitter and tinged with mortality, the love song melodies on Time Out of Mind are tender and his delivery often more pleading than angry or accusatory. The album also marked a return to writing and performing original material, producing some of the best songs of his later career including âMake You Feel My Love,â âLove Sickâ and âTryinâ to Get To Heaven.â
As with most Dylan albumsâeven the masterworksâcontroversies immediately set in. The recording sessions were disorganized, cacophonous events, with conflicts between the artist and producer Daniel Lanois. Dylan disliked the sound of the final product, ending the partnership with Lanois after two albums. Deeper insight into the making of the album is now possible thanks to the five-disc Fragments volume of the always excellent Bootleg Series. More than just a collection of outtakes and live performances from that era, this set crucially includes a new 2022 mix by Michael H. Brauer that strips out much of Lanoisâ trademark shimmering production and sonic luster, stripping them back to the kind of mix Dylan supposedly preferred.
The most obvious result of the remix is that it becomes even clearer that these melodies, mainstays in his live shows ever since, are truly among his best ever. The often-erratic swirl of instrumentation on the original albumâthree drummers and two pedal steel guitars playing at onceâreorders itself and makes more sense. âMake You Feel My Love,â for example, becomes a very clean mix of vocals and the powerhouse keyboard duo of Augie Meyers and Jim Dickinson. Throughout the new mixes, Dylanâs vocals (always a matter of taste) become more prominent. For fans of the original album, the three discs of outtakes (one previously released) provide depth and insight and include the near classic âRed River Shore,â an unrequited love story unreleased until 2008, and early takes of âMississippiâ which appeared on his next album, Love and Theft. The disc of live performances of the Time Out of Mind material with a five-piece band is especially good, featuring remarkably clear sound and several knockout performances including a near-acoustic âTryinâ To Get To Heavenâ from Birmingham, England, an ardent, previously-released âMake You Feel My Loveâ from Los Angeles, and a roaring take from Buenos Aries of " 'Til I Fell in Love With You." A deeper dive than most of the Bootleg series, Fragments embodies the idea of essential. © Robert Baird/Qobuz
Lanois is masterful here.
Iâm no Dylan fan, but I like passion for music, and that was worth a .
Thanks Greg.
Lanois was also masterful when he produced Dylanâs Time Out of Mind in 1997. It brought Dylan back into the spotlights. I am a fan of both Lanois, and Dylan.
But Dylan is right, his new mix is way better than Lanoisâ one. At least in retrospective. The Times They Are a-Changinâ
For sure, and with Larry Mullen Jr. on drums there is definitely a hint of U2.
Not a new album, not as well known as her earlier albums, but I like the music and SQ.