A Lark Ascending

I have 95% of my collection in plastic sleeves now - I use left over jewel cases as separators by genre or musician (with sticky labels on). Hunting down a CD you haven't listened to in a while can be a problem at times (especially if misfiled) but (to my mind) is more than compensated for by the space saved.

Not that I can see - I've checked out a few 'long lost' items like Wayne Shorter's 'Odyssey of Iska' and James Newton's 'Romance and Revolution' and nothing appears. They seem to have most of the in print Blue Note catalogue, lots of Verve, ECM etc. For me it's a great preview source. They seem quite ambitious, wanting to add as much as they can. There's enough there to fascinate me at present - every expansion will be a bonus. I still want my own copies; but I can see if this really does succeed than all you'll need is to pay the modest premium and you won't need a record collection. And that might well take off with a younger generation not conditioned to owning the music they listen to like I am. Won't address the concerns of audiophiles. But I find it far more exciting than (what was always for me) the false dawn of SACD.

It's spring...official... My pond a couple of hours back. It's been all action since dawn.

Changed the thread title. Sorry to those outside its area of operation. I'm sure something of this ilk will be along soon in your area.

Put a playlist together from 3 different CDs of pieces by Milhaud and Ibert that I don't know. Just had nearly 2 hours of great listening. None of the cutting out I got last week. And the interference I heard then has more to do with the medieval way I've connected the PC to the stereo! Adverts are a bit of a jolt - the Kings of Leon advertised in the middle of a sequence of neo-classical concertos! But they only seem to appear every 30 minutes or so and only between tracks. If this suits the record companies and beds in it's going to be a wonderful resource.

Never heard this album before. I clicked into Genesis at the time of 'Nursery Cryme'. The creeping synths lost my interest and when this came out in '77/8 I was well advanced in fleeing rock (in the punk era) for jazz, classical etc. Sounded much more enjoyable than I'd anticipated. And previewd for zilch. Just one advert. I do hope this site prospers.

Yes, it was there at a time when the Melody Maker/NME were dropping their jazz coverage in favour of punk.

I used to buy it in the late 70s/early 80s - there was a hole-in-the-wall newsagent on Parliament Street in Nottingham that had an extraordinary range of magazines, including Downbeat! I can't recall why I stopped buying it - perhaps it was too mainstream/pre-Miles in its affections for me to get that interested at the time. I think I'd be more open now.

Sorry, Robert. This seems to be a European thing at present. Background here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotify

How does Rhapsody work, Seeline?

My fear would be 'what if they go belly up?' How do I get access to the music? In time it will become clear if this model has a long term future. If it settles down I'd imagine it suiting many people. And young listeners who've never known recording ownership might consider it the obvious option.

I've read about things like Rhapsody but we've had nothing like this before (that I know of). I imagine it's going to get very bloody out there in the world of music delivery (distribution seems such an old fashioned word!).

Just listened through these two in full: The odd glitch but only 3 short adverts in two hours. Seems like a marvellous way to preview. Certainly beats 30 second clips!

Heard about this site on the BBC news last night. Swedish in origin, just opened out in the UK. Listen for free if you accept adverts every 20 minutes or so; or pay £10 and get advert free. Streaming music, not downloads. Has entire albums. I just signed up to the free service to have a look. Put Neil Young, Gerry Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer into the search engine. Not comprehensive but lots there. I'm currently listening to the Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz band at the Village Vanguard. It cuts out occasionally and there is some electronic background noise - not what you'd want for main listening but no worse than the glitches you get from DAB radio. On the radio broadcast a Universal spokesperson seemed happy it could make his company money. I'm not sure how. Depends on advertising I suspect. Even if this company doesn't work, it does suggest the future is even more radical than we've suspected. No need to actually own anything! What will we do with our lovingly assembled record collections? For the moment I'll use it to preview - I'm not sure I can drag myself away from the need to possess (well done capitalism!). But who knows, in time. Interesting times indeed. Brits might like to try: https://www.spotify.com/en/ Apologies if the rest of the world already knows about this.

Very sad. Nucleus were never a big favourite (though as it happend I'd just ordered a copy of the '76 live CD after hearing a great track on JRR a few weeks back) but I really liked Carr's 'Old Heartland', a 'jazz with strings' project that really worked. Enjoyed his Miles and Jarrett bios too - the discography in the former was central to building up my Miles collection. My favourite memory was a programme he did in the early 80s on the BBC comparing the mid 50s, Lincoln Centre and Plugged Nickel versions of 'My Funny Valentine'. Eye opening.

What exactly is white pudding? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_pudding

Ah there was a time when I really enjoyed a full Irish, but now, it's just too salty and and as much as I used to love black and white pudding and soda bread, now it's just heart-burn city. Oh, soda bread with a fry-up! That's one of the joys of being in Ireland! Not so keen on the white pudding. It's quite hard to get white soda bread in England - they do the brown stuff in Sainsbury's but I like the white better.

What decadence! Weekdays: bowl of muesli (with blackcurrant cordial...milk is for wimps!). Weekends: 3 pieces of toast with orange/tangerine marmalade or honey. Teabag in a mag with boiling water on in both cases. If I'm away I'll indulge in a fry-up.

I noticed mention of this on another thread: Due out in April. Should be interesting. Bruford is always articulate and has a nice sense of distance from the music he's played.

A glorious winter's day after a very dull week: Taken around the village of Laxton in North Nottinghamshire, one of the few places in England where they still operate the medieval three field system of agriculture. About 20 farmers still have strips in each of the fields.

Peter Grimes? Billy Budd? The Turn of the Screw? Death in Venice? The first at least has an international place in the repertoire. Britten operas are regularly performed both in London and by the regional opera companies. Tippett's don't do too badly. Most contemporary opera (most late 20thC classical music) 'failed' in the the sense that it was too high-brow for a general audience. But I'm sure much of it 'succeeded' in other terms (I'm part of the general audience so most of the atonal/serial stuff goes right over my head). Just a pity it scared off so many from writing for a wider audience and pushed some marvellous composers writing accessible music to the margins.

I suspect he'd have just written another piece in response and called it "L'Assertion".

I think we should help cheer him up. The adjective is used in the old fashioned sense: Maybe when Gordon and Barack have their first high level meeting?

The cellar of 10 Downing Street is rumoured to have... A contemporary Scottish band is currently recording a suite called 'The Economy Reels'.

Who is taking who to the courts? I notice the 'Complete Jazz Classics' downloads discs are pouring onto e-music now. Whoever is doing this seems to be working alphabetically. Lots of Benny Goodman today. Be nice to know if this is the original company or someone else.