Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Vol. III No. 11

An amateur cassette recording of an unheralded, unknown female jazz singer in Chicago featured versions of "All of Me" and "Sunny Side of the Street" which, because of the joy imbued in her performance, were way, way better than versions by celebrity vocalists.  Salinger's Caulfield says "Those idiots who clap their heads off will ruin anyone if you give them the chance."  Performances removed in time and space is one reason I am into recording  technology.  I had a recording on cassette of Steely Dan's pre-professional recordings called Sun Mountain which I loved.  Another zinger from Holden Caulfield is "The movies.  Don't even talk to me about them.  They can ruin you.  I'm not kidding."

Vol. III No. 10

For persons wishing to appreciate vintage 78 rpm recordings, the goal is to match the phonograph to the period in which the record was made.  For the period before electric amplification and motor drive, select a vintage phonograph which likewise is non-electric.  For the 1930's and thereabouts, I have read that the Capehart brand was considered the finest quality (electrified) phonograph.  Do not assume that sound quality is inferior with these technologies.  On the contrary, the presence and tonal richness will be superior to modern analog systems.  A critical point is to find expert technicians who specialize in restoring the equipment to optimum acoustic performance.

Vol. III No. 9

Speaking in Tongues, the last album by Talking Heads before the digital era, is a musical tour de force.  There was some issue after the initial release which caused the record executives, apparently, to ask David Byrne to do a new vocal with some changes to the lyrics.  Reject any version with the altered lyrics:  the one I heard was digitally processed.  If you can afford Audition 16's and perhaps some other of my system recommendations in II. 13, you will hear what I guess I would call the sublime power of this LP.  You may also hear it with lesser playback gear, but this record is an example of one with such great energy that it is difficult to hear it played back well.

Vol. III No. 8

There was one time and place when I heard London Calling and it sounded awesome.  In other settings I was scratching my head.  What did they do to that record?  (My theory:  only the very first releases of the record were all-analog.  Lots of digital versions were sold, perhaps as early as 1980 or 1981.)  I also had one good experience with Sandinista! Consider the enthusiasm the Clash had to release a triple album in an economical package: "Fans! You've got to hear this!"  (Apart from digitalization, I do also wonder if vinyl doesn't suffer perhaps an enormous degradation from just a single play.)  The listener is advised to purchase cassettes recorded from vinyl; these were very common and very high quality.