take5

Well I'm a pretty hardcore Crimson fan, too. Seen them a few times, all with the last lineup. The Power To Believe is a masterpiece. I actually am not that fond of their very early stuff. Yes, I like the first album and have them all, but to me they got really interesting with Lark's Tongue. However, they're a live band and with the exception of Discipline (a perfect record), their studio work enver captured what they're all about. They're definitely into their own thing and to dig them ya gotta be open to their language. The ProjecKts stuff is the dictionary. I can dig Yes and Genesis and all that to some degree, but my prog days are pretty much over in favor of jazz now. The only band from the 70s that still does interesting work now is Crim, though none of the members were there in the 70s. Note that Trey Gunn has left and Tony Levin is supposedly back in. I don't consider this an improvement or detriment, just "moving on" I suppose. I eagerly await concert dates. I also give Porcupine Tree my very strongest recommendation. I really don't think of them as "prog," as their last few albums are more like sophisticated pop/rock. Their new album is coming out in March. Mike Akerfeldt of Opeth and Adrien Belew are reported to be doing guest vocals. (Opeth is phenomenal Swedish metal band, one of the very few metal bands I still listen to. Their heaviness partly inspired Steve Wilson to take Porcupine Tree into a more aggressive direction, and vice versa. Wilson also produces Opeth's albums and they have toured together). Curios that they're the only current band listed here. Let's remedy that: A lot of modern prog is quite heavy, due to the prevalence of metal in the 80s, the music they listened to along with prog. The two bands that really brought them together are Fates Warning and Dream Theater. Fates Warning are a metal band that just happend to sometimes drift off into complex territory, while Dream Theater consciously melded their Metallica/Rush/Yes influences. Fates Warning started off with a different singer and best album to get from back then is his last, Awaken the Guardian. They continued in that vein for a while until they released their greatest masterpiece Perfect Symmetry. The great thing about this stuff is that it's not a lot of solos or the kind of noodling most associate wth prog. They just liked to put a lot of angular, odd-metered riffs into their assymetrically structured songs. Then they did some more mainstream sounding stuff which is actually quite good until they came out with A Pleasant Shade of Grey, a vague concept album. They're still around but they keep losing members so I don't know how that's going to work. They had an album this year called X and it's quite good. Dream Theater is famous for all those solos and fastness and blindingly impressive (or boring) playing. There's a lot of contention over the direction they've been taking, but Images & Words and Awake are their masterpieces and, to some degree, pretty much defined modern heavy prog (for better and worse, as there are quite a few imitators out there). I also happen to think their story-driven Scenes From a Memory is one hell of an album. The Flower Kings have a very retro feel, kind of like if Yes were still good or something. Their work is prolific and consistent but I would say Back in the World of Adventures and Retropolis are the albums that made them, while the relatively recent Unfold the Future is their greatest work. Spock's Beard were a pretty fun band- very prog but with strong pop sensibilities. Their best albums are Beware of Darkness, Kindness of Strangers, and V. They're amateurish and energetic, so they don't always hit the mark, but quite enjoyable when they do. Unfortunately, their lead singer and songwriter left because Jeesus told him to. Speaking of obscure and weird 70s prog, anyone ever listen to Magma?

Joined last week and got my first package yesterday: Velvet Undergound- Peel Back & See Complete Cliff Brown Blue Note/Pacific Keith Jarrett- Whisper Not also expecting Complete Louis & Ella box and complete Sonny Rollins Prestige box. My queue is full of classical SACDs, Elvis Costello, and a couple of jazz titles. No reported "backorder" problems so far.

I just picked up the complete Monk Riverside box set and listened to the first session, a trio date with Pettiford and Clarke playing Duke Ellington numbers. An... interesting listen. The liners explain that this was an attempt to make Monk seem less esoteric, but these are hardly straight cover tunes. Monk's extremely angular, percussive approach to Duke's lyrical melodies produces some odd results. The most successful one, to me, is Caravan, where the herky-jerky melody is perfect for Monk. The ballads come across as forced and awkward, and I say this as a Monk fan who appreciates his solo performances.

Some of us can multi-task.

Force of habbit finds me reading through liner notes of everything I buy, but for the most part I find it tedious and silly. Yes, every note played by every musicians is genius. I only like it when they talk about specific things like instrumentation and maybe a little context.

Sundog, I also thought of he horn thing when I saw this thread, albeit with a different conclusion (I'm not a musician, though). Sometimes when I listen to Grant, I can imagine the same thing being played on a tenor saxophone, and it sounds like a Hank Mobley solo. Maybe I think this way because they share a lot of recording dates, but I just get that feeling from the phrasing and the way the melody lines progress. Wes, on the other hand, plays guitar. What he is saying can only be said on that instrument.

Yep, got the European concerts box, too. Note that the complete Impulse! quartet studio box may be considered "obsolete" at this point because Ballads, Love Supreme and Coltrane were released as double CDs with lots of bonus tracks. I don't particularly care that much about the bonus tracks on Ballads and Coltrane, but the ones on Love Supreme include the whole album played live. Great stuff. I'm still keeping the box, though. I'll keep an eye out for the Wes riverside stuff. I love that material, what I've heard (and have) of it. Thanks for the heads up on the Christian set. I was eyeing that the other week. Though I never ever toss packaging. I just make CD-Rs when I need music on the go.

Allen, I'm sure you're right, but alas, I don't have a record player. I plan to get one, but my Big Music Collecting Plan is to amass a library of "complete" recordings (hence the box set) on CD for reference and portability listening pleasure and enrichment and use high-res digital and high quality vinyl (when I do get a player) to enhance home listening. Morganized, I remember that post/thread. That sort of thing is why I very much look forward to collecting Dex box sets... eventually. Brad... yes, the money. Do note that all this acquisition will be taking place over a number of years. And with amazon.com marketplace and ebay, it's that bad. If I were to buy these at full price- yikes!- but I'm not going to do that. The Rollins Prestige 7 CD price I ordered today will cost me $35. I think that's pretty darn good. (Interested parties check out yourmusic.com )

Brownie, I already have the Corea I do want to get the Duke complete RCA/Victor, but lordy it sure is mucho $$$$$! The 3-disc "best of" will have to hold me for a while. The only Prez set I'm aware of is the Verve sessions. Not high on the list at this point. As for Count, I have no idea where to start collecting his music, because so much of it has vocals I don't like. When I get to that point, I'll post a thread for it. jazzbo, thanks for clarifying the Bird sets a bit. Knowing my own obsessiveness, I'll probably opt for the complete. I can understand that. I kind of like the one (first) album of theirs I have, though. Lots of personality. Ella is just so powerful a singer that anyone sharing the mic seems silly to me, so I enjoy it for what it is. Then again, I also think Sinatra's Duets album is freakin' hilarious. Will do. Only familiar with some of his Fantasy stuff (w/ Mile's rhythm section, et al). Ah, yes. Already have solid sounding versions of Full House and Inredible Jazz Guitar (well, as best as can be expected given the quality of that original recording). I've heard the Wynton box from a friend and rather enjoyed it. I thought I would enjoy his standards albums given that experience, but was wrong. Ah well. I did get a box set with Rod Stewart as a gift recently... The Faces... that'll have to be enough for me.

Interesting... I don't suppose you know what the difference is (eq, compression, etc)? Could be an improvement, which is good, or an "improvement" which is bad. The Dizzy Gillespie complete RCA/Victor double CD has made my extremely wary of various recordings on CD from that era. Ah yes, definitely want to get the Monk, forgot to list that (and I'm sure I can find it pretty cheap). Is that Rollins set the one called the "Freelance Years?" Looks interesting, but I've read that the sound ain't too hot. Saw that one, but no, Green is a fave of mine and I definitely want the whole albums. I'm sure there's no problem, but some of this material has come out in so many different forms. I have SACDs of Cookin' (which sounds fabulous), Relaxin' (not so great), and Workin' (very nice). So I'm just on the fence about the set because I'd have repeat material. However, I've become something of a Miles freak, and would like a "complete" library. I think I'll just relegate this towards the bottom of the list. That would probably be my first bet, as his Blue Note material is really all I'm familiar with, so this would be a good way to start branching. I have Go and Our Man in Paris on CD. I must admit to not fully "getting" his playing- I enjoy some of his fresh interpretations of bop standards but sometimes it seems a little gimmicky. I also feel I have to develop a greater patience for his ballads, as I do for anyone's ballads (I still get ansy listening to Rollins play slow because to me he's much more exciting fast). Oh smack, Cliff Brown has a box set? Will definitely be looking into that! Yes, been meaning to add more Kirk to the collection. I only have Inflated Tear, Domino, and a double CD set of the albums Blacknuss and Volunteered Slavery Hmm... I'll have to revisit my CDs to see if they have chatter. I've seen that on vinyl, I think. Of course also really want to hunt down a copy of the Candid Mosaic... Another pair of box sets I forgot to mention that's on my hit list are the big Art Tatum sets. Also I saw a Joe Henderson one in a store recently...

I'm in the midst of a mean box set acquisition frenzy with no end in sight. Some of what I have so far: - Began my Mosaic collection - all the Miles Columbia sets - Coltrane's complete Impulse quartert and Village Vanguard - Complete Atlantic sets from 'Trane, Ornette, Mingus - Billie Holiday complete Decca - Louis Armstrong complete Hot 5 & 7 - Parker complete Savoy & Dial - Ella complete songbooks - Chick Corea Origin @ Blue Note Sets on the top of my to-get list: - Billie Holiday complete Columbia - Herbie Hancock complete Blue Note I would like to get Billie's and Parker's Verve music in one set. It seems they both have a "complete" box each, with lots of alternates and bonus stuff, and sets with just the master takes. Not sure which to get. Are the masterings and sound quality the same between the master and complete sets? The Prestige/Riverside sets for Evans, Miles, Monk, and Rollins look nice but I'm concerned about sound quality since they are relatively older sets and I will have some of that music repeated, since I have the SACDs of quite a few of the albums that comprise those sets. However, I do have the Rollins Prestige ordered because I found such a great deal on it. Other sets I'm considering: - complete Albert Ayler (though I've never heard his music, just read some interesting things) - 3-disc Ella & Louis set - The various Dextor Gordon box sets - Sonny Rollins complete RCA It is frustrating that labels don't just go all out with their catalogue. If Blue Note made complete box sets for Hancock, Gordon, and let Mosaic do a Mobley 50s set, why not also do complete sets for Shorter, Green, Rollins, Hubbard, McClean, Morgan, et al? I know I would get them. So are there any on the list I should avoid for some reason, particularly sound quality?

But last I heard, they're catching up successfully. There are a lot of people who didn't jump on the NetFlix bandwagon and the potential customer base is still huge. Blockbuster is grabbing by underpricing and relying on their brand name, that's why NetFlix had to drop their prices. Like Tivo, they're facing tough, potentially fatal competition from bigger companies who reproduce their original ideas.

I've been with NetFlix for a while and love it. Starting next week I'll be on the 8 discs/mo plan. Besides films for myself, I'm getting 24 for my sister so that she can catch up before the new season starts and Hollywood blockbusters for my dad. I like supporting a company I like with my business, and since NetFlix pretty much invented this business, I'm going to stick with them.

The problem with his new argument is the same problem he had with his atheism argument: trying to apply scientific principles towards a spiritual concept. It's like trying to cut down a tree with a herring. He claims that the complexity of DNA is "proof" of creation by God. The "it's so complex" argument has been used before and it's nonsense. Some have tried it with eyes, ie, eyes are so complex that God HAD to design them. No there are very plausible and reasonable theories that trace the development of the human eye. This is called progress, the advancement of scientific knowledge. Genetics is an extremely young field of study. To throw our hands up now and cry, "It's SO HARD it must be god" is foolish. No, its mysteries will not be discovered in his lifetime, probably not in ours. And even if, hypothetically, it's still so complicated we won't get it in hundreds of years, that tells us nothing about any gods. Presuming spiritual "facts" by our own limitations is completely illogical. His original argument that there is no God was just as faulty, for the same reasons. The existence of God is not proveable, nor is its non-existence. God has no universal definition, no observable cause and effect relationships, nothing to quantify to qualify. How can something so personl, so transitory even be discussed as if it were an objective thing?

Connick is not by any means the greatest vocalist, but neither was Sinatra, yet he's considered one of the greats. Singeres like these bank a lot of their success on "personality," an almost extra-musical quality that people either connect with or they don't. He breaks no new ground, but neither do the overwhelmingly vast majority of performances. And most people don't need INNOVATION every time they listen to music, they're happy with something pleasant that they like, and there's nothing wrong with that. It seems the ire against him is because he's good looking and makes a lot of money. Well... so what? Bashing him for superficial reasons is just as gross a musical "crime" as praise for similar reasons. The only time Connick pissed me off a little was when he received top billing at the Newport Jazz festival a few years ago over Hank Jones, but that of course wasn't his fault. And then when he took the stage, it was obvious that he agreed and brought Hank out on the stage to bask in the accolades- a classy act, IMO.

I guess the people don't mind getting their intelligence insulted. Though you reject the "giving the people what they want" argument, it does play a part. Or, to be specific, the people aren't rejecting what they claim they don't want. Prime time TV and the puritan reactions to it allow people to enjoy racy programing filled with sex & violence while at the same time making themselves feel morally superior by decrying it. Then they buy the products that use these supposedly terrible techniques to market their inferior products. If the population were genuinely concerned over this, the ratings for Desperate Houswives should drop. But we all know that won't happen. And if racy beer commercials bother the people, why do Miller and Bud sell? The people should by Sam Adams, which doesn't use any of that (their commercials are either boring or quite clever, like the two guys who are offered a huge menu offering the "best beers in the world" and they pick Adams without looking through it) and is a better beer, too. This all plays to the same mindset of gossiper: comdemn others while hypocratically practicing similar behavior. If people genuinely cared about decency in programming, than PBS would be taking the ratings. I'm glad that the world we live in is so great and there are no major problems that people can afford to give a shit about this.

I can't even look at Sketches of Spain as a jazz album, per say. Fortunately, jazz is far from the only music I like. Sketches is gorgeous, the way an oft-neglected Andante movement of a moderately well-known symphony is, or that ballad on a rock album that you skipped to get to the "good stuff" but then fell in love with when you've heard the big hit a million times and you want to revisit the whole album.

fight is hilarious

I recently told someone how I don't watch TV "except" and then listed a bunch of time and realised that I watch more than I think! Daily Show 4x/wk Jeopardy 1x/wk Simpsons if it's new 24 (off season now) Enterprise Bill Maher South Park lots of football on Sundays and Monday nights 3-4 DVDs /wk Oh well.

Just got The Gigolo recently, listened to it yesterday, plan on doing so again this afternoon... love his style, man.

I'm now finishing up my first listen of the set. Surprisingly, I enjoy the Henry James (someone I wasn't really familiar with) material much more than the Krupa, which has lots of corny vocals and some banal arrangements.

I saw Wallace with his little brother playing sax and Lenny White (forgot who else was in it) in Boston. It was interesting... they started with a long fusion number, then went into some bop. All in all enjoyable, if unremarkable.

I've taken a shine to stretching after exercising, not before, to limit soreness. And yes, a warm-up is very helpful.

The same thing happened with records. Besides, how many people download lots of jazz? I think most jazz fans still buy records and CDs.

Maybe... but I also listen to a lot or rock and other things with mostly men singing.