Mal Waldron "Free At Last" ECM Extended Anniversary Edition

[Д.Д.]

Available on Spotify. 

Eicher is doing everything right targeting the two growing music consumption segments - vinyl and streaming. CD prices have collapsed, does not make sense for high-cost deluxe packages that are likely to sell merely in hundreds. Downloads sales are declining even faster than CD ones, a dying concept. Recent relative (from microscopic to miniscule) vinyl resurgence is just a fluke, make (a bit) of money while you can, but streaming is here to stay.

[Rooster_Ties]

I guess I'll have to try and check the expanded version out on Spotify (if I can - I'm not a Spotify subscriber).

And I'll have to hope maybe some pricy Japanese CD of the expanded version will surface someday.  I'd gladly pay a premium for the whole thing on CD -- as this is really such a WONDERFUL album.  But I'm loath to buy it as a download, and I'm not very enthused about buying it on vinyl (as I almost never buy vinyl, unless it's something older that's never been on CD).  And besides, it's 4-sides long, so you gotta flip not one -- but TWO albums -- just to hear what amounts to something like 70-minutes of music.

I did just listen to my old CD of "Free At Last" a couple days ago -- for the first time in a couple years -- and what an absolutely amazing album, and a real triumph for Mal.  I wonder what any contemporaneous reviews of "Free At Last" said about it??

[ghost of miles]

16 minutes ago, Rooster_Ties said:

I guess I'll have to try and check the expanded version out on Spotify (if I can - I'm not a Spotify subscriber).

And I'll have to hope maybe some pricy Japanese CD of the expanded version will surface someday.  I'd gladly pay a premium for the whole thing on CD -- as this is really such a WONDERFUL album.  But I'm loath to buy it as a download, and I'm not very enthused about buying it on vinyl (as I almost never buy vinyl, unless it's something older that's never been on CD).  And besides, it's 4-sides long, so you gotta flip not one -- but TWO albums -- just to hear what amounts to something like 70-minutes of music.

I did just listen to my old CD of "Free At Last" a couple days ago -- for the first time in a couple years -- and what an absolutely amazing album, and a real triumph for Mal.  I wonder what any contemporaneous reviews of "Free At Last" said about it??

Agreed on all of this.  I'll wait for the same pricey Japanese CD (in the meantime, I have the old CD edition).  Streaming to me is good for revisiting, say, an old Style Council album from the 1980s that I'm not likely to listen to more than once.  As a general way of listening to music, I have little use for it.  But I understand ECM's bowing to the reality of the marketplace, where the vast majority of people now prefer to stream.  I grew up with vinyl and was happy to leave it behind... no desire to go back, unless it's material that hasn't been otherwise reissued.  Plus my little house would probably sink into the ground if my CDs all turned into LPs.  

[soulpope]

8 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

Free At Last" a couple days ago -- for the first time in a couple years -- and what an absolutely amazing album, and a real triumph for Mal.  I wonder what any contemporaneous reviews of "Free At Last" said about it??

I have somwhere a copy of the German monthly publication "Jazzpodium" (obtained many years later for less than 1 Euro ....) which was very positive about it .... but we have to keep in mind it was great news that a German Jazz label aka ECM was founded too ....

Edited January 4, 2020 by soulpope

[Pim]

I have to say that the reissue is beautifully done. The extensive booklet with the beautiful photography plus the original artwork including the sheets of the compositions. And honestly: the sound is better than on my Japanese SHM cd. In this case, 27 euros is a very reasonable price for a double LP reissue.

[Rabshakeh]

Good to know. It has been making eyes at me from a shop I visit in the West End of London for a few weeks now. I may just need to pay a visit. (Twirls moustache)

Edited June 14, 2021 by Rabshakeh

[soulpope]

9 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Good to know. It has been making eyes at me from a shop I visit in the West End of London for a few weeks now. I may just need to pay a visit. (Twirls moustache)

Go for it ....

[mjazzg]

10 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Good to know. It has been making eyes at me from a shop I visit in the West End of London for a few weeks now. I may just need to pay a visit. (Twirls moustache)

Race you there (adopts villainous disguise)

[Rabshakeh]

48 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

Race you there (adopts villainous disguise)

(Spins round the <- West End / East End -> sign, to send you to Wapping)

[mjazzg]

Fiendish indeed but realises in Devon at the moment, places online order

[Rabshakeh]

1 hour ago, mjazzg said:

Fiendish indeed but realises in Devon at the moment, places online order

Tarnation!

[mjazzg]

2 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Tarnation!

Fiendish laugh, fear not, happy with my original

[bogdan101]

Presto has the hi res 24/96 download for 1/3 of the price of the 2lp set.