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DrJ
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Posts posted by DrJ
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I'm almost certain this has been discussed before and that the consensus was that regular Mosaics are NOT sold in sequential order. Probably could do a search to see.
I do think they are numbered in pressing batches but I don't think you can rely on when you get a particular number to determine how many sets overall have sold.
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Fantastic music. You're in for a treat!
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One of my favorite musicians. Long live Grant Green!
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Count me in as a Baker fan, particularly his early 50's work, although there are some really awesome records after that too (the stuff recorded in Italy in the early 60s for example) - it's just that the great to good or not so good ratio was less favorable. Hell, I even like the umpteen times reissued LAST RECORDINGS for what they are - most of the life was gone but even then there was still a fragile beauty in his expression of the melody, somehow retaining a glimmer of what he once had been.
But that partnership with Freeman early on, man oh man...less heralded than the work with Mulligan but personally I find it far more favorable in terms of Baker's contribution.
Baker's reliance on ear playing resulted in an edge-of-chair unpredictability that was really fresh and exciting. The down side for me is that on many recordings, in his solos you can hear him repeatedly paint himself into musical corners that he really can't figure out how to get out of without very audible difficulty - and that can be cringe-inducing.
That's another reason I prefer the Freeman to the Mulligan work - with the pianoless configuration his harmonic frailties were brutally exposed and at times he sounded truly down and out, lugubrious even. With Freeman buoying him up, he soared. Blistering, happy music.
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JSngry Posted Today, 04:11 PM
They sent it to the Phil Spector Defense Fund.
...Defense Fund...Defense Fund...Defense Fund...
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Sidewinder - I bought mine back when I didn't even own a turntable...so mine is the CD version. Man, if those are going for $400 I don't even want to KNOW what your LP set is worth (not that you'd ever sell it I'm sure)!!!
Someday I hope to pick up that Q-LP version...
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Look here!
Blues, Boogie, and Bop - available and at a fair price!
Well worth $60 or so, I love this box. The rare Mary Lou Williams and Professor Longhair stuff alone are worth it to me.
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Harold_Z Posted May 30 2005, 06:16 PM
Corrected tape speed ?
If a tape speed correction has resulted in the track length being extended by around 40 seconds, then the earlier version must have sounded like "THE CHIP-MONKS!!!"
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I will be picking this one up for SURE...but I agree with Big Al:
Did Sweets ever put out a bad record? I think a Sweets Verve Mosaic would be.... well, y'know..... SWEET!!!!The time is NOW...
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I can't really comment on whether the set is "worth" what it sells for, money wise, but musically it is one of my top 3-5 favorite Mosaics. It just really strikes a chord with me. It's true the first half is strongest but with a standard that high that is hardly a slight of the rest of the material. To me, it's all essential music.
To address someone's earlier question about reverb: by my recollection, there is a note somewhere in the booklet about reverb having been largely removed for the Mosaic remastering but I can't say 100% for sure until checking when I get home.
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Sigh...you are really good at making me spend more money Wolff...
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Yeah, COMES A TIME is a great Neil Young album. Maybe not his "best" from a purely artistic standpoint - lacking the edginess of his best work - but one of his most consistently enjoyable/playable records for me over the years. There's a nice vibe therein.
Wolff - so you are a fan of those Classic Records BN mono editions, eh? I've been curious...will have to pick one or two up and give them a try. The prices for original pressings on those on eBay are cray-zee IN-sane...
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I really, really dig Rowles. The stuff with Billie - desert island material.
Love THE PEACOCKS, just picked up a near minty vinyl copy a couple months ago and have been thoroughly enjoying it (wonderful vocals!).
And another endorsement for the Ray Brown duets - 2 CD reissue of all those on Concord a couple years ago is in really good sound.
SOMETIMES I'M HAPPY, SOMETIMES I'M BLUE is very fine too.
Great accompaniment on MULLIGAN MEETS WEBSTER and SAX A LA CARTER as well.
I want MORE...
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Yes, for some strange reason hardly anyone seemed to have found the listing for that Davis/Evans Mosaic LP set that I won...as I recall the only way I could get it to come up in eBay's search engine was to put in "Evans Mosaic" which is probably why - some odd quirk of how it was listed I guess, but a lucky circumstance for me!
I just got a Master Jazz Piano LP box this week for $79 which is also kind of a good deal I think!
Congrats on winning the Davis/Evans CD boxed set Brad! Glad it went to someone on the board, and at a good price to boot!
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Kenny Burrell - FREEDOM (BN Japan)
Johnny Hodges - Verve Recordings 1951-55 (Mosaic), Side 3
Beatles - WHITE ALBUM (German Apple 1st pressing)
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No doubt the "crap to strong material" ratio increased rapidly after the first couple records, but even up through around VIII (I think that's the one with the sewn patch on the cover - I remember 'cause I bought it back in grade school and it came with a way-cool iron-on T-shirt transfer!
) there is worthy stuff on each album. They went from being a reasonably cool jazz-influenced LP oriented band to a tight pop singles band in those years - so I agree with Dan Gould's assessment. I still enjoy stuff like "Feeling Stronger Every Day," "Saturday In the Park,"
"Old Days," etc from those III-VIII years.
After Terry Kath's unfortunate death shortly after finishing VIII, they lost a lot of their remaining balls and it all rapidly devolved. Kath was a pretty cool guitarist IMHO, by the way. "Oh Thank You Great Spirit" on VIII was something. He had an instantly identifiable, appealing sound with the combo of axe/amp/pedal effects he used.
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I personally think that in this day and age that when one sells a vinyl record product, it ought to be pretty goddam quiet - period. It doesn't matter to me what the problem is - pressing plant, mastering, improper storage, whatever - if it's noisy, it's inexcusable to sell it.
Vinyl for better or worse is now a largely audiophile niche market. Sure when I buy a cheap, somewhat worn copy of a 30+ year old record I'm not going to bitch about crackle and pop, and I still enjoy many such records (the bulk of my collection is made up of same, in fact).
But when I shell out a premium amount of cash for something touted as brand new audiophile vinyl and it cracks and pops like crazy, then it's a major problem and the buyer has every right to be pissed that anyone tried to fob it off on them.
And again, it's not the consumer's problem to figure out what went wrong or to be cowed into not complaining by touchy veteran industry insiders.
FWIW - Hoffman is indeed not the only one who was involved with the DCC 180g audiophile vinyl series, but he was one of the major players (as the remastering engineer), and having a few of those titles I can tell you that I have yet to come across any vinyl that can match those titles for surface as well as overall sonic quality. Absolutely drop dead quiet, and a quality product in every single other way you can think of as well.
The gold standard IMHO, a shining example that it can be done right and there's no excuse for that not happening.
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I heartily agree Ed. I think Mosaic ought to strongly reconsider doing away with the Q LP versions of their sets. There is a vinyl resurgence underway and I think they're missing the boat - even smaller than prior runs would be welcome.
Anyway I will say that the CD version of this set sounds quite good - I relistened yesterday while listing it and found that it has less of that harshness in the high end than many of the recent Columbia/Legacy CD reissues.
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Davis/Evans Columbia CD box on the block - not sealed but in fantastic condition. I won the Mosaic LP set today, so this one has to go!
Davis/Evans Complete Columbia Studio Sessions
Once there, just click on the "View seller's other items" link to get to the 2 Hodges Verve CDs - CASTLE ROCK (Japanese 24 bit jewel case edition) and USED TO BE DUKE (US Verve). The latter is darn hard to find these days - on Amazon's used listings it was $19.95 at lowest listing. My initial bid is much lower!
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I've been going crazy with vinyl since getting my new table - some favorites over the past 3-4 months:
Sealed copy of Neil Young's COMES A TIME (Reprise) for $7.99!
Sealed copy of XTC SKYLARKING (Geffen - this is the first pressing with "Mermaid Smiled" instead of "Dear God") for $12.99!
Kenny Burrell - FREEDOM (Toshiba Japan)
Beatles - MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR (Capitol - original mono pressing)
Beach Boys - PET SOUNDS (DCC 180 gram vinyl - another sealed copy, $60 which is an amazing price for a sealed DCC record)
Clash - LONDON CALLING (CBS UK original pressing)
4 of Bobby Hutcherson's Milestone LPs, $12.00 for the lot: COLOR SCHEMES, AMBOS MUNDOS, IN THE VANGUARD, and CRUISIN' THE BIRD
Ike Quebec 45 Sessions and Johnny Hodges 51-56 Mosaic LP sets
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This will be a good one - sign me up!
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I'm still in shock reading Guy's comment about the first half of PHYSICAL GRAFFITI being great and the 2nd half sucking...I think it's Zep's best record overall and sides 3 and 4 were always my favorites precisely because they are less over-exposed on radio and push the envelope a bit. Plus hey - if you want proto-Zep hard stuff, uh, "The Wanton Song" may be IT and it's on side 4...
Off point a bit, but: my favorite ever "quote about Zeppelin" came from REM's guitarist Peter Buck, who said (paraphrasing here) that he loved the LP PRESENCE (which I do too - even with Plant's shot vocal chords and all) because "the guitars all sound like they're made of metal."
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Well you're entitled to your opinions jazzhound, but they are just that - opinions, not absolute truth.
I'm puzzled in that you're arguing both sides of the argument - first saying "what sounds musical is distortion" but then claiming that as distortion is removed things sound more real/musical. So which is your real opinion? (seems like the latter but...). My only point was that I don't think it's SIMPLY or exclusively a matter of distortion that makes tubes sound so nice, but I do acknowledge it may be one factor - and my point was, so the f**k what? It's a really uninteresting argument to me, as I'm not into "specs," but just to address your point further:
Many people would disagree with you about things sounding more musical the more distortion is removed. For example, Steve Hoffman, whose ears I honestly trust quite a bit more than yours (or mine), and a huge proponent of quality tubes - not just for listening but for cutting records and discs as well. All I can tell you is his DCC LPs and CDs sound better than any series of recordings I've ever encountered. The magic of tubes.
The whole deal with tubes (or for me in particular, the single-ended triode tube) is that whatever distortion is being introduced and whatever else makes them sound so nice makes for a particularly magical, musical sound. While it's particularly amazing in the midrange (typical vocals for example), I don't think the sound suffers at any part of the spectrum assuming you have a good system. And I think the Audio Note Meishu amp I have qualifies as a true gem.
I'm not saying that a real good solid state system won't sound highly pleasing to the ear. But personally I haven't heard one yet that can match a well-balanced, quality SET tube system for that magic in the mid to mid-high range and in the mid-bass range (string bass just sounds so much more natural and real on tubes!) which for me is where most of the musical action is. I can live without ultra-clean repro of the ultra-highs and lows. Most solid state systems sound artificial in those realm to my ears even when they arguably reproduce the sounds more "clearly" (bloated bass and harsh glaring highs that call attention to themselves rather than the overall musical performance - who needs 'em?) - which ought to get you thinking about whether these are "critical" to the musical listening experience in the first place.
I don't disagree with the idea that the front end is critically, critically important - and in fact I've got both of mine up to where I'm extremely happy with them now (Nottingham Spacedeck table/tone arm with Sumiko Blackbird cart for analog; Audio Note 2.1 signature DAC/Audio Note CD zero transport). No question I heard an amazing difference going from a Technics SL1200mk2 table/Ortofon cart to the Nottingham/Sumiko pairing. But even given that I still prefer the sound of CDs and records played on a SET tube system.
Last of all you do have to do some heavy listening work up front to get a nice speaker/amp pairing with SET tubes in particular. Zingali Overture .2s speakers were my choice. With my amp, heavenly. If you listen to SET tube systems where the speakers can't handle the low output or are otherwise inferior, well, you're definitely not giving a real listening to tubes.
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Yeah, that Tina Brooks Mosaic auction wolff mentions has me shaking my head too - what is UP??? Well, the price of the SET for one thing...now approaching $400 and the damn auction still has a LOOONG way to go...
BTW - that Brooks Mosaic that ended at $61 wolff mentions, I screwed up bad on - had it in the crosshairs but miscalculated when I needed to be back at the computer and missed out on bidding by 2 minutes! I think I coulda got it for $80 or less...oh well! A Hodges Mosaic LP set is on the way!
Why so few Mosaic sets from Fantasy labels??
in Mosaic and other box sets...
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Well, I can see both of your points...but now that Concord has bought the catalogs in question, and it seems as though a lot of material stands to go out of print, now would be a GREAT time for Mosaic to revisit this idea. And while I enjoyed Fantasy's boxed sets, there were way too few of them IMHO.