MomsMobley

Thank you, Leeway. Actually I didn't know that but I'm like Anthony Braxton hustling chess with a 100 tuba orchestra in outer space, thinking many moves ahead and a multitude of historical contexts as much implied as declared though if one wants to sort through past statements, much of it is there. I wouldn't care to be misunderstoof on this issue, however, reviling all forms of ethnic, etc prejudice AND believing Dylan's Jewish heritage an important, fascinating subject for artist and audience alike. In all seriousness, the Dylan cult and the passes it gives its hero is amazing; I'm a little baffled where this generosity stems from tho' Dylan has moments: his Jerry Garcia and Johnny Cash obits come to mind, also this sermon from Toronto 1980... which, crackpot as it is... is yet brilliant, funny, nuanced etc. I hear the whole band was twice born though I'm a little unclear which western religion considers cocaine a sacrement. (The band and the performance of "Solid Rock" are superior also, albeit 98% derived from TCB era Elvis (which lineage will impress some more than others.)) But first Merle on his black love-- Maybe Bob's silence on his second wife was tacit tribute to Hag?

Q: how'd you feel when you're wife of FOUR DECADES died of a brain tumor a few weeks ago? A: Robert Zimmerman is completely full of shit and his "opinion" on Tom T. Hall and Kris Kristofferson etc can be refuted FACTUALLY because the timline, and alleged grievances/schisms don't make sense. Just because "Dylan" remains a heavily promoted corporate 'pop'/rock media figure & Tom T. no longer is doesn't change the facts. And just because rock (& jazz) listeners tend to know little about country music likewise changes nothing. But yeah, "Bob Dylan," and his fans, are the aggrieved ones. Roll On, John!

And what does that reference have to do with anything? (my italics/bold) Please Lee, is that even a serious question? What do you think it has to do with, besides personal and community identity, at least a few strains of American historical narrative (Jewish diaspora, Upper Midwest of same) etc etc. I'm drastically understating: it means everything and to evade that is to be complicit with historical anti-Semitism... You know the story of Arnold Schoenberg's conversions and why, right? (The economics of it matter, greatly, also. Compare Dylan's background, his ideas on labor value with the biographies of Tom T. Hall and Merle Haggard.) The schtick "Dylan" playes with in other people's voices and now in his own absurdly dyed hair (or wighat) dotage is inane: like he's one of the oppressed... but not those oppressed, whose tales remain great, important stories! (Insert your favorite I.B. Singer & Cynthia Ozick & Philip Roth here.) Instead this bitter schmuck Dylan plays like Mr. Americana, the voice of our collective historical concious of verities etc... It's farcical. Indeed, it's so farcicaal at age 73 he still lashes out at Merle Haggard and especially the great Tom T. Hall and even Jerry Leiber, just to keep it jazzy-- That "Bob Dylan" forsook his heritage-- baruch attah adonai...-- but is still pissed off at Jerry Leiber essentially called him a fucking fraud-- which he was and is-- how does that work? Did Dylan's $$$ make him crazy or is it the hair dye? (That's from Josh Alan Friedman --> http://www.amazon.com/Tell-Truth-Until-They-Bleed , you likely know & already love his work with artist brother Drew) Sometimes Dylan may fraud of genius, he may be the fraud of "If Dogs Run Free" but to front on Merle Haggard or Tom T. Hall-- -- and yes, lest we forget, Tom T. Hall's wife of four decades died a few weeks ago, think Bob said Kaddish for Dixie, tho' she knew far far far more of what, who Dylan pretends to be, from Mother Maybelle and Faron Young on down? Yeah, me neither. (You know Lenny Bruce at Carnegie Hall where he extols this song right? Dylan's "Lenny Bruce" is trying to tell us something but dopily doesn't know how. Dylan had fifteen years longer to think about it and Phil Ochs' "Doesn't Lenny Live Here Anymore" still blows it away.) So "Dylan" does have a "right" to be a touchy about Leiber and, classless wannabe salt-of-the-earther that he is-- though actually he's been a show biz functionary, however idiosyncratic, since he was what 19-years-old?-- he let Jerry have it. However, as noted in previous posts, you 'fact check' Dylan's nonsense re: Kristofferson & Tom T. Hall, none of it holds up: chronologically, 'politically,' aesthetically, etc. Shalom!

DA, well that Strauss set is a revelation, if one wants it to be. I mean, just following Richard + Hoffmansthal & Richard + Zweig, you're covering a pretty wide & important swath of Euro cultural history (& Brazilian, considering Zweig's exile). I think overall, operatic sets are the most genuine bargains because some of these singers, productions won't/can't be repeated. And of course Strauss libretti are easy to come by. The huge Verdi tombstone, if one folllows with some biography, musicology, is also worthy. re: no liner notes or libretto in tombstones, it's really quite galling though SOME companies do SOMETIMES act properly: for ex. Erato, DG and Decca all included texts in their respective Messiaen sets a few years back. for the DHM sarcophagus above, how much would it cost Sony/BMG to have an intern scan the original booklets and included all 50-- huzzah!-- on an extra disc or an extra track elsewhere? That they refuse to do so-- or even consider it-- tells us everything about how much they give a fuck about the music or those who listen to it. Especially when the original DHM recordings, of whatever relative merits as performances, were made & presented with great care. For my fellow Straussians--

And finally, since Zimmy gets a lot of bullshit play for his 'historical conciousness' or whatever... The idea that Kristofferson represented a schism with Tom T. Hall is utterly false. Indeed, though their styles were different, it's arguable there would not have been a Kristofferson without Tom T. Hall coming first; not formally so much as professionally, pushing at Nashville from within, etc. And if, as admitted, TTH didn't write nearly as well after 1972 as he did before, Kristofferson's 'great' songs 1972-1982 are... where? Cocaine, Hollywood and Rita Coolidge took their toll and he would come back but let's stop bullshitting, the only real schism should between Bob and his fucking wigmaker. Bobby Bare This Is Bare Country (Mercury, 1971) A1 How I Got To Memphis – T. T. Hall A2 I'm Her Hoss If I Never Win A Race - D. Turner A3 Mrs. Jones, Your Daughter Cried All Night – T. T. Hall A4 The Fool, Written-By – N. Ford A5 It's Freezing In El Paso – Billy Joe Shaver B1 Come Sundown – K. Kristofferson B2 Woman, You Have Been A Friend To Me – T. T. Hall B3 Don't It Make You Want To Go Home – J. Smith B4 I Took A Memory To Lunch – T. T. Hall B5 Leaving On A Jet Plane - J. Denver B6 Mary Ann Regrets – Harlan Howard Bobby would record more TTH, Kris and Billy Joe Shaver, praise be. And his cover of "Leaving On A Jet Plane" is the best there ever was or will be.

Ubu, my friend, of those only the Tebaldi should be tempting, if one enjoys RT and wants to go in one large swoop. That L'Oiseau set is at least half outmoded, at best half "decent," the Living Stereo hyped well beyond merit in both performance and repertoire. The REAL evil of these sets is the awful flattening-- the corporate consensus-making -- of FAR more polyglot & exciting musical history. Again, comare these fucking tombstones to the catalogs of BIS, CPO, Toccata Classics, Naxos, peak Chandos... Almost nobody on this board would tolerate same in jazz-- whether one is a Jazz Oracle fiend, a "Funny Rat" zealot or enthused listener of contemporary non-avant eclectics-- why support it in classical? It's hardly like Sony/BMG or Universal are generally supporting anything but the most banal contemporary musics. Saygun Lopes-Graca

I've had and/or heard nearl all the contents of this set & ... it's mostly very good, and more of a 'bargain' today than most of these tombstones. The highlights are everything with Skip Sempe; Freiburger Baroque/Hengelbrock; Andreas Staier. I used to like Cantus Colln (& Konrad Junghanel) more than I do but... he's still an estimable musician. On the other hand, I'd lament Nicholas McGegan anything; most things Kuijken; most things Immerseel; the absence of the generally fine DHM liner notes; the absence of texts/translations in the vocal works; THAT particular sampling of Handel or Haydn. Verdict: I'd pay $25/euros, no more, otherwise you're better off getting smaller/other more specific sets or single issues OR going outside the bulk of this repertoire altogether, be it renaissance, baroque, classical period etc.

now you wanna talk someone who coulda made a great small group standards album, buddy emmons goddamn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZP3y1ow9QU not shabby for an 83-year-old fronting a big band either-- old Texas stubborn voice preservation & why not, he'd done everything he could in honky-tonk Ray Price and Tom T. Hall long time friends, Ray even gave Tom chickens, a gift from the heart

Dixie Hall obituary, note lead photo-- http://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2015/01/17/dixie-hall-prolific-bluegrass-songwriter-dies/21914181/ whether that's Dylan's hair or a badly died wig, that he's essentially human dogshit, even at this stage of life, is amazing. Despite these many decades of pretending he himself is some hardscrabble Appalachin or Dust Bowl or Permian Basin honky-tonk etc. Compare Tom T. Hall or Merle Haggard's biography to Bob's... middle-to-upper middle class bar mitzvah boy, college dropout who wanted for nothing except maybe a few days when Dave Van Ronk's kettle was empty... And Bob worked hard, earned it, fine, but if Wiggy is bitter and lacking empathy NOW... T. While Tom T. Hall was writing "Mama Bake A Pie, Daddy Kill A Chicken," here's roughly what Dylan was doing, this after the crap "Nashville Skyline" (that makes Gram Parsons seem like Ernest Tubb) If dogs run free, then what must be Must be, and that is all True love can make a blade of grass Stand up straight and tall In harmony with the cosmic sea True love needs no company It can cure the soul, it can make it whole If dogs run free Compare with-- The man who preached the funeral Said it really was a simple way to die He laid down to rest one afternoon And never opened up his eyes They hired me and Fred and Joe To dig the grave and carry up some chairs It took us seven hours And I guess, we must have drunk a case of beer My names in the paper where I took the Boy Scouts to hike My hands are all dirty from working on my little boy's bike The preacher came by and I talked for a minute with him My wife's in the kitchen and Margie's at the Lincoln Park Inn And I know why she's there I've been there before But I made a promise that I wouldn't cheat anymore I try to ignore it but I know she's in there my friend My mind's on a number and Margie is at the Lincoln Park Inn

If anyone knows the interviewer-- who did some fine work, esp. getting Cecil on poetry-- &/or website, they really ought to fix some of these things DIdo [and Aneas] LEONTYNE PRICE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7XmOLcd1cw Salome the misspellings per se no big deal but if one misses the Leontyne Price & Cecil connections, one missses LOTS.

I guess you know Jethro went crazy; we've all been crazy sometimes They fixed up his lungs and his fever; but they could not fix up his mind He married a beautiful redhead; of women they say she's a pearl She gave her heart to Jethro, and her body to the whole damn world There were signs beside the road like "Jesus Saves" And "Relieve yourself the fast and gentle way" I was lookin' for an old man who lived way back in these hills Who just might have a story I could tell Pretty soon the blacktop disappeared I felt the car change to a lower gear I took a drink of liquor just to chase away the chill I was 27 miles from Olive Hill ... compare to this tripe; love the 'what do you mean 'we' white man' analogy of John Lennon to a 'slave,' I suspect Nat Turner, Harriett Tubman, Frederick Douglass might think otherwise. Sailing through the trade-winds Bound for the south Rags on your back just like any other slave They tied your hands and they clamped your mouth Wasn't no way out of that deep dark cave Shine your light, move it on, you burn so bright, roll on John *** "Slave" ---->

A riposte to Robert "Bob Dylan" Zimmerman, American Asshole... never mind Tom T. Hall's long time wife & sometime musical partner Dixie died a few weeks ago... (Bob never admitted he had a black wife, did he, and if not why?) http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/feb/07/bob-dylan-shines-at-all-star-musicares-concert/ now for those who can follow vernacular music history & culture more than re-re-re-re-re-issues, 'blue ball spec' etc, also for those too young or northern to know the glories of country music c. 1928-1980-ish. By 1972 or so Tom T. Hall was pretty much spent, gave his everything for the previous 5-6-7 years as transformative songwriter, expanding, commenting upon, exploiting country tradition & tropes etc... We can even date The End fairly specifically, the two-- nothing else-- great songs on "We All Got Together," they being "Turn It, Turn It On, Turin It On" (murder ballad) & "She Gave Her Heart To Jethro" (love + women's sexual emancipation song). T's worst songs are sentimental, banal, unlistenable... true. HOWEVER, considering TTH wrote a two or three dozen brilliant songs in the years preceding... he gets a pass, permanently, including songs he didn't record but others did like "The Last Public Hanging In Old West Virginia," first recorded by Flatt & Scruggs, who botched it, later & much more powerfully by the great bluesy/bluegrass singer/banjo player Dave Evans-- (T. himself never released it though presumably it exists as demo somewhere?) Meanwhile Dylan spends his croaks out insipid crap about John Lennon (the real John Lennon would vomit if heard)... And he did co-write "Catfish"... Meanwhile Tom T. Hall wrote-- and Bobby Bare in 1971 pushed his audeience by covering-- "Mama Bake A Pie, Daddy Kill A Chicken" (some might legitimately prefer T's own version, which is excellent)-- People starin' at me as they wheel me down the ramp toward my plane The war is over for me I've forgotten everything except the pain Thank you sir and yes sir it was worth it for the old red-white-and-blue And since I won't be walking I suppose I'll save some money buying shoes The bottle hidden underneath the blanket over my two battered legs I can see see the stewardess make over me and ask were you afraid I say why no I'm Superman and couldn't find a phone booth quite in time A G.I. gets a lotta laughs if he remembers all the funny lines Mama bake a pie daddy kill a chicken your son is comin' home 11: 35 Wednesday night Mama will be crying daddy's gonna say son did they treat you good My uncle will be drunk and he'll say boy they do some real great things with wood The letter that she wrote me said goodbye she couldn't wait and lots of luck The bottle underneath the blanket feels just like an old friend to my touch I know she'll come and see me but I bet she never once looks at my legs She'll talk about the weather and the dress she wore the July 4th Parade Lord I love her and I don't believe this bottle's gonna get her off my mind I see here in the paper where they say the war is just a waste of time Mama bake a pie daddy kill a chicken your son is comin' home 11:35 Wednesday night

Gents, sorry for the delay, I've been traveling the spaceways... Schnittke covers a lot of territory, some lands more immediately appealing-- or distasteful-- than others. Here's violin sonata 1 live-- I have Mark Lubotsky & Ralf Gothoni on an Ondine CD-- Here's the Choir Concerto live-- I have the excellent Polyansky cond. on Chandos CD Orchestra wise, I'd perhaps suggest anything cond. Gennadi Rozdhestvensky or Rostropovich, including the opera "Life With An Idiot." "Peer Gyny" ballet on BIS is fantastic btw and I'd say, if one gets the taste, all of the BIS series is estimable even now; at the time (mid-90s was when I found) it was intriguing, imposing-- those black + geometric color shapes covers-- revelatory, even at $15-16 a throw.

All apart from all that, that's not a bad idea. I think more singers should cover this song, it's got a potentially helluva lot more resonance than all the retro-stuffy-turkey "interpretations" of "standards" by people looking for questions to answers in songs that have already asked and answered themselves endlessly numbers of numbers of times over and then some more. But no, who wants to sing about reality any more? Hello, jazz people - LIFE IS NOT HAPPY ALL THE TIME, (in fact, if you break even over the long haul, hey, you win, more or less) THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT LIFE AND NOT PERPETUAL ORGASM. Ok? ... I mean, fuck "Frank Sinatra", just give me Frank Sinatra when he's being real. Bob Dylan, same deal, and Bob Dylan should be able to be real about on this song. "A Man Alone" is an interesting album; maybe, probably 'better' than the more feted "Watertown," which tends to be overpraised for its 'classy' intentions but even at its short length, can't sustain the concept. Dylan's concept is not, a priori inane-- he can talk a good game, as noted-- but his touring band, following their leader, is jive dogshit and usually has been for decade plus. (They kicked it up several notches on "Love and Theft" and never again since, studio wise & I don't know even 21st century Dylan superfans with the fortitude for the live band, even on those rare occasions he actually lets Charlie Sexton play. (I believe Duke Robillard chafed at the reality and got fired as a result? Bandleader's world, won't argue, but telling if true.) Thus "Tempest" anything but &-- to say the least-- Pete Rugolo an infinitely more imaginative, inventive arranger-- As for arranged, conducted by Mort Garson, I bet Mort had many many stories to tell. Arthur Prysock no slouch but Morty... http://www.spaceagepop.com/garson.htm http://musicformaniacs.blogspot.com/2008/01/mort-garson-rip.html

Bob talks a good game but this album is fucking insipid on every other level and his last few studio albums haven't been so hot either. Bob seems to have mistaken respect for tradition, 'roots' for embalming fluid because there's ZERO excuse for the lame, dead-ass music he seems happy to make. Ain't no more difficult to be lively, semi-inventive if one cares to... Shoehorning these songs into that format... why? Compare, contrast, Willie Lofton >>>>>>>>>>>>>> I'd have more interest, respect for this concept if Dylan covered Frank "A Man Alone," Rod McKuen RIP (Needless to say, one should memorize every Sinatra Capitol album before playing this Dylan turd twice.)

from madcap to austere, i enjoy, respect, am aweed by most of it. he's easy to underate because of that range-- a mistake-- and some pieces, like the piano sonatas, that should be performed in concert more often aren't. this just for starters...

Ubu, no meanness intended, I assure you! Just saw it & thought it needed corrective because in some ways it represents bad period of corporate classical hegemony/marketing that we are now thankfully past. Some of that stuff sure, if you can get it free from library... tough to love unless you want to be historical character yourself, i.e. if i lived 1940-50-60-70 not now. And no, I'm hep with Brandenburgs: MAK, Akademie Alte Music, Cafe Zimmermann, the band Siegbert Rampe led on Virgin, even Philip Pickett is pretty interesting with some numerological interpreations. And Pontiff, while Casals does rate higher than Heifetz, his interest is now almost entirely historical/personal. Sure, maybe one needed a popular example but otherwise, its myriad infelicities-- and to the extent some would-be acolytes have aped them-- do not compel. Fournier is pretty good, coin toss to bin or caress, Tortelier I like more. I only kept Szigeti for his best moments btw, which the later Vanguard set does not, alas, present. Wonderful musician however. I forgot Music Alta Ripa, who are excellent-- seek them out on the MDG label in all repertoire you are interested in. yours in good sounds, Moms

Best 'deal' in St Matthew is Hermann Max on Capriccio; on two CDs also-- http://www.amazon.com/St-Matthews-Passion-Hermann-Max/dp/B000001WW0 Best overall is, predictably, Rene Jacobs-- http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Matthäus-Passion-Johann-Sebastian/dp/B00E8KC5HY Harononcourt I, for all its moments of creakiness, still stands up as a great performance. NONE of the old-style recordings, from Mengelberg on down are tolerable at this point save history of performance practice. (Klemperer, hah!!) Richter cantatas etc same thing. Harnoncourt II is pretty good, more secure but less characterful than I; both Herreweghe's are good tho' I prefer more drama; the Bruggen was unfortnately a flop after strong Mass and St John's; Suzuki is slick, not offensive but kinda faceless... Herrweghe a better 'neutral' choice. Forget Leonhardt (stolid), forget Gardiner I (faster, dull), I haven't heard II. McCreesh could/should have been better, I approve of one-to-a-part, not always but it's worth hearing, John Butt Dunedin Consort gets close-- http://www.amazon.com/Matthew-Passion-Bachs-Performing-Version/dp/B001355OUW re: Lamon, like Bruno Weil when they were both on Sony... I've not followed lately but I thought her recordings good-not-great, decent sounds but shades underpowered, I'd go Cafe Zimmermann or Akademie Alte Musik every time.

Edwin Fischer is GREAT at Mozart, horrible in Bach, both stylistically and technically inapt... Casals does not stand up in any way except as part of the discography, not quite as odious as fucking Heifetz from the another thread (Heifetz = marketing & to buy that box instead of, say, 30-40 Naxos CDs of diverse repertoire ludicrous or just brand loyalty). Spare me Artie Grumiaux's 'lustrous tonal elegance' & that tinkly dink distant clavecin also, please. Performance practice has come a long way from St. Louis & both more 'authentic' AND jazzier than it's been for 300+ years, time to shuck these received hosannas for schlubs too arrogant to know from Dolmetsch or Duke. Helene Schmitt Carmignoloa + Marcon

Chuck, have you listened to these podcasts with one of your Koestr-ite predecessors (think I have that chronology right, pls correct if not) Don Kent? http://www.eastriverstringband.com/radioshow/?p=455 http://www.eastriverstringband.com/radioshow/?p=1214 you can listen there, download directly etc. Estes talk & much much more. Don's recent program on St. Louis is by far the best presentation I've ever heard on that city's guitar blues-- http://www.eastriverstringband.com/radioshow/?p=1449 Named my first kid after this btw-- Gladiolus!

It's a tombstone, don't waste your money. Unless you're specifically a cultural historian of Heifetz, what's the point? Musically, the only sides you'd want to hear more than once are those with Rubinstein-- get that box instead. Or, better yet, buy ten random CDs on the BIS or CPO labels and hear wondrous and/or extraordinary music, old and recent, that you probably haven't heard before.... Isn't already everywhere, cheap, not just stuffed into a cardboard coffin etc etc. Again, unless the very speficic elements of Heifetz' Lithuanian Jewish-American success story is important to you... forget it. And, even so, Heifetz' repertoire was largely dogshit, when you consider what he could have peformed/recorded and what he did... Not everyone knew better then be we surely do now. Please note, I'm not diminishing Heifetz' Jewish diasporic story but... for dem bones, dem bones get some Dave Tarras, that Yazoo cantorial CD, Bear Family "Beyond Recall"... etc etc. Throw in some I.B. Singer...

compare & contrast... it's this kind of shit that makes people think hey... maybe white man is the devil! fucking ponderous & painful both... at least Roger's take reminds us of all the better Byrds records that preceded it.

now you want to talk white boys with soul (+ Jesse Ed Davis, guitar & the Indian of the group.) i once, for a few weeks anyway, paid lip service to the idea "No Other" was overrproduced but that's ridiculous; it's PERFECTLY, brilliantly produced... that some younger musicians have recognized it's towerring acheievment is one of the happier pop/rock resucitations of recent years (decades). Moment to moment, only peak Lowell George matches it & Lowell's peak-- ends with a couple songs on "Dixie Chicken" & never returns-- was a whole lot shorter. to be continued

Is this true, Amir? "Burrito Deluxe" kinda, mostly sucks, remember? Even side one of "Gilded" nearly fucking dies with the atrocious soul covers. You know what's better than anything but the best parts of "Gilded"? The Hillmen album. And the Dillards shit all over the Burritos and all Gram generally. And that's no cut on Chris per se, he was a good musician trying to make a career but compare to what what Gosdin bros did together and separately. I try not yo "blame" Gram Parsons fans because they generally come from a background of rock-oriented ignorance but please; the extended discussion of Gram's place in country or 'country-rock' is inane. As for Gene Clark, there's NO WAY he's 'overrated'; just because he's gotten SOME ovrerdue attention in recent years, he was a virtual non-entity for decades, Byrds excluded, and that's NOT even his best work, which includes * Gene Clark w/ Gosdin Bros * first Dillard & Clark lp & a few parts of the second * "White Light" = masterpiece * "Roadmaster" = near masterpiece * "No Other" = towering masterpiece, Thomas Jefferson Kaye included * contribution to the "American Dreamer" soundtrack = stunning booze +++ took it's toll, obviously, but he comes back mostly strong w/ that RSO album (which is NOT a masterpiece, OK) and then more booze +++, more tolling, but... moments. This was Bear's Choice, it's my choice too--

University of South Florida?