A Lark Ascending

They are 'legit' within European copyright law. The issue is whether they are morally right to do this. But once you occupy the moral high ground saying you will not buy from a company that does not remaster itself or pay the source company, then you're going to have to adopt some fairly high standards for yourself. No burning CD-Rs or receiving CD-Rs (the blindfold tests are out!). No copying and pasting articles from newspapers onto the politics threads. No scanning pictures or text or downloading images to use yourself without first contacting the copyright owner. No buying second hand. In all these cases the artists, recording companies, writers, photographers etc get no recompense. Now you might respond "Ah, but I'm not making money out of it like Proper." True. It makes your sin a venial one...but a sin nonetheless. I can see Chuck's point about the proliferation of these cheap sets acting as a disincentive to the pioneering companies to do any work on this music at all. Yet I suspect both markets can co-exist. In the same way that you can buy cheap copies of out-of-copyright novels that nowadays are probably just scanned off someone elses edition; yet that does not stop the more established companies putting out more expensive editions. Personally, if I was going to buy a Shakespeare play I'd go for a well-known company because I know I'm likely to get some good commentary. Proper and Mosaic appeal to two very different markets. Mosaic will only ever sell to a small specialised audience - the limited nature of the editions acknowledge this. And that audience will buy the Mosaic anyhow, regardless of the existence of a cheaper edition. If all that existed was the Mosaic then this music would remain the preserve of a small subset of the jazz audience (itself small). Proper and their like put out sets for listeners who want a taste of this music but arn't sure if it's for them. They'll take a chance on a £15 Roy Eldridge or T-Bone Walker. They wouldn't on a £60 box. I can appreciate how infuriating it must be for those who put huge amounts of time and effort into remastering music to see it picked up elsewhere and sold for far less. But until an enforceable law appears that makes specific remasterings protected then this will continue. And people (like myself) will buy them.

Sorry Geoff, I was being unintentionally hemispherist!!!!! Shut your eyes, play a few spring tunes and imagine you're up this end of the world for a moment. Incidentally, I didn't think Sydney had seasons. Whenever we see it on the TV people are on the beach!

Well, I don't live in a yellow submarine but... I think aric has a point here. I was an eleven year old when that music was new. I never knew the album "Yellow Submarine" came off but I certainly knew "Yellow Submarine". Sang all the the variations in the playground too...I half recall a line about "We all live in a bubblegum machine" (perhaps a subconscious comment on globalisation and multinational companies!). So the Beatles may have compromised their chance to be 'artists'. But they connected with a range of listeners well beyond what the more self-consciously 'serious' performers did. In the same way that things like "When I'm 64" got them a hearing amongst older listeners (like my Dad!) who couldn't stomach Chuck Berry riffs but liked the jaunty, music hall style songs. When being judgemental about the huge variety within the Beatles music we need to bear in mind that they were interested in connecting with a much wider audience than most groups then, before or after. Having said that "Yellow Submarine" irritates me almost as much as "Octopuses Garden". But I'm glad they were there.

In general the 80s were "the decade that music forgot" to my ears. However, there were a few gems on the popular front. Most things XTC put out as singles (I'm using that as a definition of 'popular'). Robert Wyatt - "Shipbuilding" One of the great political songs given a perfect performance. Working Week - "Venceremos" and "Storm of Light" Two absolute stormers from a time when jazz was having a brief moment in the sun in the UK. The first had a fabulous melody sung by Wyatt (again!), Tracey Thorn (of Everything But the Girl) and then a wonderful Latin singer plus great solos by Larry Stabbins and Harry Beckett. The second had wonderous organ playing and a glorious vocal performance by Julie Tippetts (ne Driscoll) making a rare appearance beyond the free scene.

Yup. Proper are 100% within European law. No reason why they should feel any obligation to comply with US law in what they produce. I've always felt 50 years is quite enough time for performers to recoup their artistic investment. The 75 year rule is there to protect business interests, not the performers. I understand the argument that Proper are taking advantage of the remastering work of others. I just don't see how you would ever get an enforcable law protecting specific remastering. So its going to happen. And make no mistake, when the 75 years are up it'll be happening in the States too.

Couw, I have been using the Photo Editor programme up to now, but when I tried it on the above photo it just came up tiny! I think I just need to play with the Media Sizer programme. As with all these things the explanation of how to use it leaves a lot to be desired.

Yikes, Chris. Any recommendations? You are talking about one of my heroines! I would strongly recommend her only ECM solo album, "Somewhere Called Home". Norma, Tony Coe an her ex-hubby, John Taylor. A mixture of standards and jazz tunes she's put words to by the likes of Ralph Towner, Kenny Wheeler and Egberto Gismonti. The final track is a version of 'Tea for Two' that is recommended to all red-blooded males! Possibly more immediate (especially to those not attracted to ECM recordings) is "Well Kept Secret" - a mainly standards disc she recorded in the States with Jimmy Rowles just before he died. Fabulous record - as well 'Joy Spring' it has her arrangement of Rowles' 'The Peacocks' (called 'A Timeless Place') that has been widely covered. She's recorded widely with John Taylor and Kenny Wheeler as Azimuth and in collaboration with Canada's 'Maritime Orchestra'. She has this amazing ability to move between standards and more abstract music. The last time I saw her (last October) she was involved in a project doing interpretations on a wide range of Wayne Shorter tunes. In the last few years she's done a couple of nice discs with Fred Hersch. She has a new disc due shortly and another promised with UK pianist Nikki Iles. Details here: http://www.normawinstone.com/home.htm

"Joy Spring" There's a very nice vocal version by Norma Winstone!

Thank you, couw. My ego needs such massaging. I've just downloaded something called 'Media Resizer' - I was recommended it on this board last year and got the trial version which seemed to work. I'm finding it a bit tough to make sense of. It seems to go from massive to tiny! Then I have to fiddle to get it back to a decent size.

Mainly a desktop. The one I bought last year I'm very happy with. I have a laptop issued by the school where I work. It is connected to the network via a wireless system. This allows me to do things like pull up class registers each lesson...except that it frequently 'can't find my roaming profile' [i assume that's something like an aborigine's spirit!] and regularly tells me there's a 'timeout'. This means I waste valuable minutes trying to pull up a register instead of teaching. Very frustrating!

Thought this one might deserve a return a year on. Favourite spring music anyone?

A bit of playing and a better image. Incidentally, notice the artistic care with which the shot was taken. The ancient stag-head oak in the centre-left, symbolising age and decay, set against the budding spring surrounding it!!!!!

Inspired by Joe's post I did my own bit of Rousseauing today. After a fairly dull spring so far in the UK it all came right today. Here's Sherwood Forest in all its glory...well, apart from the fact that I still can't get the hang of this media resizer business. How do you manage to post such wonderful images?

In addition to those two excellent Enjas you might try this: Disc 1 is a traditional Italian town band playing hits from Italian opera. Disc 2 is the same band plus various jazzers doing modern jazz compositions. "LA BANDA" Traditional Italian Banda Banda & Jazz CD 1: Traditional Italian Banda Banda Cittá Ruvo Di Puglia, dir. by Michele di Puppo CD 2: Banda & Jazz Banda Cittá Ruvo Di Puglia, dir. by Bruno Tommaso and Willem Breuker feat. Lucilla Galeazzi (vocal) Pino Minafra (trumpet) Gianluigi Trovesi (reeds) Michel Godard (tuba) Jean-Louis Matinier (acc) Willem Breuker (reeds) I saw them do this in London a couple of years back and it was thrilling. As are these discs, CD2 in particular.

You could always try this classic from 1972. One of the most influential records on my listening habits. Seriously! As weird as any ritual music from deepest Mali.

A dig made with much affection! In the end it doesn't matter too much how anyone sees this site. It strikes me as pretty self-sustaining. And welcoming to those who stumble in here!

That could be a great first line for a song!

Octopus's Garden...can't remember where the apostrophe goes and can't be bothered to check. I find 'She's Leaving Home' cloying...a bit too earnest in its attempt at social commentary. Maybe it's because it was played to us at school to make a point (we also had 'Within You, Without You' played to awaken our spirituality but I got over that)! "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" - the verse part is wonderfully dreamy; the chorus is awful.

One thing's for sure. This is the jazz board where you'd be most likely to find eight pages of ruminating on "How other people see us..., No, not the USA... THIS BOARD!" One of those smiley faces denoting a gentle ribbing.

Time to crack open the Delius and Vaughan Williams records. When I was younger I loved Autumn. But I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now. I look forward to each spring with increasing relish. I'm inspired to take a walk in Sherwood Forest (well, what's left of it!) this weekend!

This one is spending lots of time on my CD player: Think Appalachian/bluesy folk-pop-rock with wonderful Australian accents. Great songs, lovely rootsy arrangements.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is in the house!!!

Brilliant record! I played it to a class of 16 year olds when we were studying the Cuban Missile Crisis just before Christmas and they loved it!

"Feelings" drives me nuts. I'm convinced that the real reason Eric Clapton has the blues is because he has to play 'Wonderful Tonight' ever night (and realise that he actually wrote it [in what must have been one of his worst bouts of alcoholism/drug-dependence]). "God Save the Queen" is pretty dire too (both versions!!!).