What are you listening to?

[Hollis]

It's hard to believe that it's been 39 years since the Allman Brothers Band played Bill Graham's Fillmore East Ballroom in Greenwich Village, but that's exactly (this coming March) how long it's been. What amazes me is that the album (2 LP's) retains every bit of it's timeless, ethereal quality. What amazes me even more is that after all these years I still find myself listening to it at least once a week. There's no better (in my humble opinion) live album that's ever been recorded, and no finer assortment of songs to over amplify and listen to while driving too fast down the interstate. I don't think that rock and roll/blues has ever seen (or heard) a more powerful guitar duo than Duane Allman and Dickie Betts (with all due respect to Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck.) If you don't already own a copy of this album, beg, borrow or steal a copy, give it a listen and then tell me what you think of it. If you like no nonsense, not overly produced rock and roll with a strong blues influence, you'll love this one. Fire up a fattie and get ready to flick your Bic waiting for an encore!

As always,

Hollis

[coopsgirl]

I like a pretty wide variety of music with my fave being from the 1920s through 1960s.

A couple of years ago when I began listening more to stuff from the 20s and 30s I realized how many songs that I had known my whole life were from that era. My grandma (born in ’33) would sing some of those songs to her kids and then to us grandkids when we were growing up and I never really thought about how old they were before. There are also quite a few Oldies (50s-60s) that are cover versions of much older songs.

My dad loved Oldies so that’s what I heard most as a kid and The Beatles are my very favorites. I got to go to Liverpool when I was in England in ’97 and that is one of the highlights of my life (it was too much fun!!).

Right now I’m definitely still on a big 20s-40s kick and some of my faves are:

The Mills Brothers
Ella Fitzgerald
Louis Jordan
The Boswell Sisters
Clara Smith
Harry Reaser
Ted Weems
Glenn Miller (been a huge fan of his for a long time while the rest are newer discoveries)

I’ve also recently gotten into Shirley Bassey’s stuff. Man, what a great voice! She’s just awesome and her songs are so fun. Some of my faves of hers are Hey Big Spender; You, You Romeo, Tra La La, and Hold Me Tight.

[sandykaypax]

some great stuff on your list, coopsgirl!

I got into Shirley Bassey about 7 years ago because my hubby had a cd that was all Shirley Bassey songs remixed. We actually used the remix of Shirley's version of Where Do I Begin (theme from Romeo and Juliet) for our wedding dance!

I would like to get into more 20's and 30's music, myself. I have 2 cd's from RCA entitled Nipper's Greatest Hits: The 20's and Nipper's Greatest Hits: The 30's, Vol. 1. I direct theatre at the high school and community level and I stumbled across these when I was looking for appropriate pre-show and scene change music.

I've heard of the Boswell Sisters, but I've not listened to them. Their name keeps coming up, so I really must check them out.

Sandy K

[ChiO]

Coopsgirl snapped her fingers and wailed:

Right now I’m definitely still on a big 20s-40s kick and some of my faves are:
...
Louis Jordan

Always remember: You can never ever, ever hear enough Louis Jordan. Caldonia!!!

[coopsgirl]

Sandy,
I like the Shirley Bassey remixes too. I can’t believe I forgot one of my very faves from the 20s (and into mid 30s) Annette Hanshaw. Here’s a video of her singing ‘We Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye’ which is the only instance of her on film.

http://www.jazzage1920s.com/annettehans ... anshaw.php

She and the Boswell Sisters have a similar sound and style and they are really great. You should definitely look into them. Quite a bit of their stuff is available on cd or through digitial music things like Rhapsody (which I have and absolutely love).

ChiO,

Caldonia is one of my favorite songs from that era and get this; when I was in high school I was in the flag corps and I made up a routine to that song and everybody loved it. It was a lot of fun. We also did some routines to “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing” and “Chatanooga Choo Choo” that my friend and I (we were both in the flag corps) made up and they were a huge hit at our marching contest. For “Choo Choo” we had these flags made up that were red with two big black circles on them so they kind of looked like train wheels when we twirled them around. We had them made up as over sized flags at 5’ and they fit on a 6’ pole so it just looked like all flag and it was a really neat effect. We were a small band (35-40 people) and I don’t mind telling you we got a better reaction from the crowd that year than the bigger bands did – good times, good times .

[sandykaypax]

thanks for the tip, coopsgirl! I will look for Annette Hanshaw and the Boswell Sisters on cd.

ChiO and coopsgirl--speaking of Louis Jordan, I have a great tribute cd to his music performed by B.B. King. It's one that I put on when I want to smile.

Sandy K

[bryce]

Tonight I will be listening to The Godfathers - the band that should have been famous instead of those god-awful hacks They Might Be Giants - at Metro Chicago at what is their only United States performance on this reunion tour. That is, their only US performance in the last 20 years.

This is the only way to celebrate Valentine's Day. It's gonna be a massacre.

[movieman1957]

Not sure whether ir is worth mentioning but here you are...

Later this year The Beatles entire catalogue will be released as remastered albums. The early British releases will get a stereo treatment for the first time. (They will also be released in their original UK mono versions.)

Beatles fanatics have waited a long time for these remasters. The question becomes is it worth replacing the current CD collection? I guess I'll have to see how they sound.

[MichiganJ]

The release date is Sept 9 and I'm certainly in.

All 14 titles (over 16 discs--the Past Masters are combined as one title, as, of course, is The White Album)) will include the UK artwork (as before, the US version of Magical Mystery Tour will replace the UK's EP), as well as detailed notes and mini-documentaries for each album (Past Masters excepted). The docs are in QuickTime and will include studio chat, photos, etc.

Fortunately, all of the albums will be available separately or in a box set.

For wackos (like me) an additional box set The Beatles in Mono will contain the 10 albums mixed originally for mono (as well as a Past Masters collection).

If the Capitol Albums collections are any indication on how these new masters will sound, they should be great. Of course, the Capitol collections have far more reverb in the mixes than the UK releases (the way they were originally released, here, in the States), so these new masters should be amazing.

I was pretty impressed with how much better the Stones London catalog sounded, in their new remasters (a few years back, now). Aftermath sounds much better than the original CD, (as does Get Your Ya Ya's Out, and, really all of 'em).

For gamers (of which I am not), The Beatles Rock Band is being released on Sept 9, too.

"Goo goo g'joob!"

[movieman1957]

Do you have the Capital recocrdings released several years ago? I don't but I have the original albums scratches and all. I thought it a bit pricey but I may have to go for these too. I remember how much different and better the CDs sounded over the albums. I'm old enough that I bought a couple of the "Half Speed Masters" of "Abbey Road" and "Magical Mystery Tour" when they were out on LPs and I found it hard to tell much improvement then but I didn't have a high end stereo.

I'm looking forward to checking them out.

[jdb1]

I'm going to labor under the assumption that these remasters just have to be better than what's come before. I'm one of those old enough to have heard these songs for the first time in mono recordings, and on tinny AM radios, and hearing the entire catalog, as it's been upgraded, has been not just a revelation, but a distinct pleasure. There are so very many things going on in these recordings that I simply did not hear the first time, because of lowgrade listening equipment. With every generation of remasterings, I get to hear something new and wonderful. I can't wait, and I'm willing to make the investment.

[MichiganJ]

I do have both Capitol Albums collections and they are well worth the expense. Each collection contain four albums (Vol 1 includes Meet the Beatles/The Beatles' Second Album/Something New/Beatles '65 while Vol 2 includes The Early Beatles/Beatles VI/Help!/Rubber Soul). All of the albums are presented in stereo AND mono. Like I said earlier, they represent the way the Fabs' albums sounded in the US, lots more reverb (and slightly brighter, too).

For many of us, these are the way we originally heard these great songs, and, at least for me, it was like a trip down memory lane hearing the sequencing on Meet the Beatles (which is completely different than the UK debut, Please Please Me). While Capitol was guilty of only putting on eleven tracks per album (as opposed to the 14 elsewhere), they did include the hits. I can remember listening to The Beatles' Second Album with anxious anticipation for the opening drum roll in She Loves You. (She Loves You and the other singles didn't see an album release in the UK until the 1966 album A Collection of Beatles Oldies.)

If you only get one set, I'd suggest Vol 1. While Vol 2 is great, there is not much difference in the Stereo/Mono versions of The Early Beatles, and the Help! album is the US version, only including the 7 soundtrack songs (with some of George Martin's instrumentals). It does, however, open with the James Bond Theme immediately before the song Help! (which is quite fun).

I'd hoped that the release of Capitol's Yesterday and Today would follow (Revolver, too). But it's been so long that I doubt it. I loved Yesterday and Today as it was an interesting bridge between Rubber Soul and Revolver. (Plus it had that "notorious" cover!)

As for the new masters, I'm hoping that the sound will be the equal of or maybe better than the "recently" released Yellow Submarine soundtrack album (and LOVE, which sounds great). If they are anywhere near that, they should be spectacular. As Judith said, even though we know all of these songs so well, the upgraded sound brings out so much more, that they often feel new.

(Chris, I had the Half Speed Master LP of Dark Side of the Moon and couldn't hear much improvement either, and I'd played it on a pretty high-end system. Pretty much a waste of money, as far as I was concerned. But they looked cool!)

[movieman1957]

My albums of "Yesterday and Today" and "The Beatles Second Album" are in really good shape. The others less so. I had replaced some of those as the years went on. Some have the original rainbow label, then that awful bright green label and then the retro label. A long time ago I put them all on tape. Lately I ahve a turntable that will work with the computer and turn them into CDs.

Do you have Lewisohn's "Recording Sessions"? (I probably asked you before, sorry.)

[MichiganJ]

The first albums I digitized were the Capitol albums (and found that three of them fit nicely on a single CD!) I have a few albums on the rainbow label but most are later re-issues (I didn't discover The Beatles until the early 70's, from their Saturday morning cartoon! Before them, the only music I had were the "records" cut out from the back of boxes of Honey Comb cereal: The Archies' Sugar Sugar and some Bobby Sherman song, which I promptly gave to my sister!) Once I discovered the Fab Four though, there was no stopping me. Anything spelled "b-e-a-t" I pretty much coveted. I picked up their US catalogue, then the UK albums and (for some reason) the German pressings (which were identical to the UK). For my birthday, one year, my mother took me to Manhattan to a Beatles' convention, and I saw the infamous Butcher cover for sale, for something like $50! Mom didn't see fit, though, to forward me the dough...alas. (She did surprise me, later, with front row tickets to the Broadway show Beatlemania--where I actually got to see the guy playing Paul sweat!....Odd, that's more-or-less all I remember of the show.)

Yes, I've read (and re-read) Lewisohn's book. It's so much fun reading about the sessions while listening to the songs.

Incidentally, if you play guitar at all, get The Beatles Complete Chord Songbook. The book is nearly perfect, in that it just has the lyrics and the appropriate (simple) chords above (no tabs). It includes all of the the Beatles' songs (including Harrison's), as well as some of their oddities (I'm driving my wife crazy by playing What's The New Mary Jane over and over again---it's surprisingly easy.) It's by far the best Beatles' guitar book out there!

[movieman1957]

I don't play guitar but I do play piano and that book works very well for me too. I have a collection of Beatles songbooks scored for voice and piano that go back to the 70's. I had one which I think my brother forgot he has that had some old songs they wrote but didn't really come to light until the Anthology. Things like "That Means A Lot" and "Like Dreamers Do" and a few others that I have forgotten. Beatles music helped me to learn the piano because I wanted to sing and I taught myself how to improvise as I played along. It served me well as I am the prime "noodler" for various times at church when they need quiet nondescript music going.

My Lewisohn book is well worn too. I can't imagine being that interested in anyone else's music and how it was produced except The Moody Blues but that is a whole different conversation.