Listening now to this stereo/mono CD.

QuadraphonicQuad

Help Support QuadraphonicQuad:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Gong ‎– Camembert Electrique

"This is a classic, the epitome of the band's early Daevid Allen phase. In its infancy, Gong was a unique prog rock band that branched out in all directions at once.
The band's eclectic "electric cheese" rock is a mixture of psychedelic rock, spacy atmospherics and lyrics, and doses of jazz.
Daevid Allen leads the band through several compositions with a hard, raw-edged sound propelled by a strong guitar-sax-percussion combo"

unnamed.jpg
 
Amon Düül II ‎– Yeti

"This album could be said to be the group’s magnum opus, covering a multitude of styles including blues, acid rock, opera, raga, psychedelic (as ever), medieval style larking and folk.
Pure space, absolutely cosmic and otherworldly. Every member of the band is talented, and the sounds of all their instruments weave together and make a dense, ultra-psychedelic forest of sound"

2ee5a9423bf677220b7d5816b85aa6d2.jpg
 
1611018442990.jpeg

So this might be a bit serpentine (Shel), but the recent death of Phil Spector - a despicable little man, made me think of this. There was this great little indie movie a while back called “Grace Of My Heart” which is a fictionalized retelling along with many embellishments, of Carole King and the music scene from the Brill Building to the Laurel Canyon years. A couple of nuggets to note - first, to get this out of the way, the Phil Spector character, remade as a kindly if not overbearing impresario is played by John Turturro. All of the other characters are easily recognizable from Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Leslie Gore, Brian Wilson etc. A fun movie with a great soundtrack made even more credible by the songwriting team of Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach. They made an excellent album, “The Sweetest Punch, “ which included the main track from this movie “God Give Me Strength.” Bill Frisell completely remade this album as a chamber jazz piece with a big band and orchestra-with featured vocals from Elvis and Cassandra Wilson - I told you this was serpentine. Last note - in the movie the song God Give Me Strength (which is lipsung by the main character played by the wonderful Illeana Douglas) was performed by a little known studio singer, Kristen Vigard - who released her version on a stereo only DVD A. Whew! & goddamn Phil Spector.
 
98FD4DBE-C5EC-41AC-91AE-0BFCB96282A4.jpeg
U2 - songs of innocence
This has been sitting in my pile for 6 years. Why that long? Dunno, maybe afraid to be disappointed again after three lacklustre albums in a row.
Well, the delay was my loss.
This is a great album and though a bit compressed in places it sounds better than previous recent releases.
Who knows maybe I wouldn’t have ‘got it’ had I played it sooner,
 
B493A4C2-5440-4BCE-89BC-0E37FDC95379.jpeg
Ian Matthews - Stealin’ Home
Probably his most commercial album, from 1978. Innocuous late 70’s soft rock.
As with most Omnivore Records reissues the sound is not terrible, but not great either.
 
View attachment 62096
Ian Matthews - Stealin’ Home
Probably his most commercial album, from 1978. Innocuous late 70’s soft rock.
As with most Omnivore Records reissues the sound is not terrible, but not great either.

Some years back (and I can't recall how many it's been), my wife and I saw Ian perform at a small club in Wilmington, Delaware. We had a chance to talk with him before and after the show. I asked him, "So who's the woman on the cover of Stealin' Home?" He chucked and said, "Honestly, I have no idea. The label handled the cover art."

BTW, he's one helluva nice guy. My wife and I had been fans of his since the Matthews Southern Comfort days. Seeing that show and getting the chance to talk with him remains one of our favorite concert experiences.
 
Some years back (and I can't recall how many it's been), my wife and I saw Ian perform at a small club in Wilmington, Delaware. We had a chance to talk with him before and after the show. I asked him, "So who's the woman on the cover of Stealin' Home?" He chucked and said, "Honestly, I have no idea. The label handled the cover art."

BTW, he's one helluva nice guy. My wife and I had been fans of his since the Matthews Southern Comfort days. Seeing that show and getting the chance to talk with him remains one of our favorite concert experiences.

Great story :)
I meant to add to my comments; the Omnivore version has bonus concert tracks recorded at Texas A&M. I enjoyed them as much, if not more, than the main album. Most of the Stealin’ Home tracks are better live IMO.
 
Mojo Hand - Lightnin' Hopkins (from Eight Albums 4 CD box) UK

Complete Atlantic & Reprise - Barbra Lewis UK 5 albums plus on 3CD.

Original Singles A&B 1965-1971 - Byrds Japan 2 CD.
I haven't had a chance to a/b this to my US CD (brown) of early Singles & CD of later Singles (blue UK only). This set just arrived.

Early Singles sound like they are the same crappy masters as the brown. I expect the blue tracks are well mastered, as the UK LP & CD. This was discussed in Goldmine in the 90's. Sony promised remastering. I hoped that it would be on this set. But nooooo!!

A disappointment, but it's 52 tracks. 50 in mono, 2 in stereo. Oh yes, and the music is nothing short of spectacular!!
 
Back
Top