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Postby audiophileman2002 » Fri Apr 15, 2005 6:14 pm

Hi Jadis,
I see you also like Crystal Gayle one of the great female country singers. You should try to get the following LPs of her:
When I Dream - Nautilus Superdisc pressing
We Must Believe in Magic - Mobile Fidelity pressing
Both LPs are really great!
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Postby jadis » Fri Apr 15, 2005 7:44 pm

audiophileman2002,

hi there. thanks for the wonderful info!!! i shall begin the search. :)
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Postby jadis » Sat Apr 16, 2005 8:50 pm

Two sizzling LPs from Reference Recordings:

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This was my first RR LP, via mail order to boot straight from their office
in the Bay Area, and to use the cliche, I was indeed 'astounded' by the
all the cuts of Side 1. It starts with fanfare music which ends quickly
with some orchestral 'slambang', and to surprise the listener, a chesty
male voice starts to talk and tells the audience to listen for 'the richness
in bass, the naturalness of the sound without shriek or boom' - and some
shrieking ACTUALLY follows. Next cut is an excerpt from Red Norvo's band
and the music is very enjoyable and delicately recorded. As the cover
mentions, listening to this thing may be habit forming and in those days
it really was for me....To this day, this LP has always entertained all
listeners that have visited me, this is a one of a kind demonstration of
what a fantastically recorded LP can sound like.


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Fans of The Grateful Dead would know Mickey Hart as their drummer. In this one, he teams with Airto and Flora, and the result is,
imo, the most awesome drum/percussion LP I have ever possessed.
In the old days of TAS, the reviewers would always talk about the Gates
of Dafos, the cut in which Hart, after banging the killer drum, THROWS
the drum to the ground which blew out (literally) many subwoofers in
those times. When I had multiple 12 inch woofers then , it was a blast
to play the track. And each drum whack by Hart is followed by a tremendous sense of hall reverberation that is easily heard. And the other
cuts are a mixture of funk percussive rock jazz that is very unique. Recorded by Prof. Johnson and cut by Doug Sax, this LP is what I would
call, an all-star cast recording.
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Postby rtsyrtsy » Sun Apr 17, 2005 12:02 pm

Jadis,

The 2 Broadway LPs you mentioned, Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera...if you were forced to listen to it in CD format, which particiular version would you go for?

I didn't get to watch either in the UK but I did get to watch Les Mis when Leo Valdez played Jean Valjean at the Meralco Theater. In the scene where Eponine (I think) was dying, Leo's singing made my hair stand on end. The Assumptionistas around me (I got a free, butal, single ticket and ended up with a dozen fine ladies as my "dates!") were sobbing.
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Postby jadis » Sun Apr 17, 2005 1:49 pm

rtsyrtsy,

Hi. I would go for Les Mis. The music is easy to relate, and there are more nice ballads
than in Phantom. My fave cuts in Les Mis are Come to Me by Fantine and Valjean, I Saw Him
Once by Cosette, In My Life by Cosette and Valjean ( hair-raising cut for me ), On My Own
by Eponine ( truly a tear-jerker ), and The Finale ( gloriously exhilirating ). A very good
friend who loves broadways showed me the play on DVD and it was fantastic. We watched
it on the home theatre system of the owner of the Egglestone Ivy and it was fabulous. And
oh, the other day I played both Phantom and the Les Mis LP to a friend, and he pointed out
that the Les Mis was actually the better recording of the two, the Les Mis having more body
in vocals and smoother and thicker sounding in the orchestral background.
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Postby jadis » Sun Apr 17, 2005 9:54 pm

Mary Black



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No Frontiers. What a breathtaking album which contains the title song,which alone is worth the price of this LP. In those days when I had
a Conrad Johnson power amp, her voice, rendered by the CJ's 'caramel'
coloration, practically hypnotized me in some sort of a 'high' I thought
I was out of this world. Great songs here for me are, The Shadow, Columbus (really spectacular singing and instrumentation), and I Say
A Little Prayer.....wow...I believe this girl is soon going to be legendary.


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Most probably the better of the two albums, the first one is really no
slouch, the songs here in Babes In The Woods, will melt a romantic
heart. Great accordion, guitar, and bass accompaniment too. Bright Blue
Rose, Golden Mile,Thorn Upon the Rose, Dimming of the Day...beautiful
songs that keep me glued to my listening chair...Truly, a wonderful
album and tops in my female vocalist 'list'. Mary Black sings with tremendous emotion and feeling, one can sense the passion in her
voice as the music calls for it, and she is blessed with great back up
musicians and vocalists. The DVD of her, Mary Black Live is simply
awesome, tremedous performance by Black.
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Postby jadis » Fri Apr 22, 2005 5:37 pm

JONI JAMES

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I must admit that until I met a few audiophiles a generation before me, I never heard of a Joni James nor any of her songs. And even when I heard them a few times in the 80s, it was only the late 90s that I actually
sought to buy my first Joni James LP, Ti Volio Bene. I heard this album
in a friend's house, and I was taken by the Italian songs like Santa Lucia,
O Sole Mio, Non Dimenticar, etc. She sings in a very simple way, and strangely, the more I listen to her, the more I liked her singing. She does sing with power nor drama, unlike other female vocalist, yet she is able
to project the songs in a very musical fashion. I know a few friends who
claim to own almost all albums she made. But I only have two...

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A very new acquisition which I got ,mainly because of the songs it
contains; Star Dust, Someone to Watch Over Me, My Funny Valentine,
What's New....this album, In the Still of the Night, is again sung by Joni
in her simplistic style, it is like her singing plainly in her home to friends,
no frills, not much artistry nor drama, just plain singing. She is quite unique in this, as most artists get their acts off with lots of pomp and
artistry, or even power; but Joni simply sings. I heard from my older
friends there were rumors that she died in the late 60s because she suddenly disappeared from the public at the height of her singing career,
but a few years back I learned from her official website that she was even
singing then in Atlantic City and the reason for her disappearance was to
care for her sick husband.
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Postby jadis » Sun Apr 24, 2005 5:10 pm

Cliff Richard - Love Songs

My wife walked in to the music room while this LP was playing, and commented, 'Oh, why is Jose Mari Chan singing this obscure song I
had never heard of?' 'Well..', I said, 'it's because it's Cliff Richard singing
The Day I Met Marie, a song written in 1967'....and I don't know that song
either. There are really a few songs wherein Cliff's voice could be mistaken for that of Joe Mari, and the sonics is nothing extraordinary
except to hear Cliff in his younger days singing songs from the 60s and
the 70s, nothing near his performances with Sarah Brightman in the song
All I Ask of You, or the karaoke-favorite, Ocean Deep. This is another
album that needs some 'getting-used-to' to like it. Good old love songs.
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Luther Vandross - Songs

Now this is a truly 'my time' album. Who in my generation will not know
Endless Love, Killing Me Softly with His Song, Hello, Evergreen, The Impossible Dream....This is such a delightful LP for me....The duet of Luther and Mariah Carey is truly heartfilling and emotional...The performance of Luther here is awesome....My kind of album, something
that strikes the heart.
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Neil Diamond - Hot August Nights, Live at the Greek Theatre, LA

This is one of the Mofis I truly like. Spectacular remastering by Stan
Ricker and pressed by JVC virgin vinyl (btw, one way of telling a VV is to
put the LP up against a ceiling light and you will see THRU the vinyl your
ceiling light bulb or flourescent), the performance of Neil Diamond here is
desribed by critics as 'electric', triumphant', 'moving', 'hypnotic', and 'outstanding'...enough said. I just sat back and felt the tremendous
experience of this LP.
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Postby audiophileman2002 » Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:00 am

Hey Jadis,
The LP 'Rhythm of the Rain' by the Cascades (first pressing on Valiant) is on eBay. If interested check out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 4721246993
Currently $85.00.
I already have a copy from way back in the '60s.
Cheers,
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Postby jadis » Mon Apr 25, 2005 12:34 pm

audiophileman2002,

hi, thanks for the info. I have a local copies of the Valiant and WEA, both plays
superb in terms of noise-level. I will observe how this ends. :)
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Postby jadis » Wed Apr 27, 2005 9:55 am

audiophileman2002 wrote:Hey Jadis,
The LP 'Rhythm of the Rain' by the Cascades (first pressing on Valiant) is on eBay. If interested check out:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 4721246993
Currently $85.00.
I already have a copy from way back in the '60s.
Cheers,


Auction for this copy ended with the reserve not met. High bid at
$85.00 and nobody knows how much the seller's reserve is. Could be
$100, $200, who knows. He said this copy was Made in the USA.
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Postby jadis » Wed Apr 27, 2005 10:01 am

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Super duper recording. Amazing for an ordinary pressed A&M LP. Guitar
strumming is crystal clear and well defined. And Cat's voice is actually very sweet. I have a local copy of Tea for Tillerman, but the Father and Son cut from that album sounded bad, I never got to listen to it again.
But this one is superb. All my fave songs are done well.

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A good recording but the Cat Steven's above was a little better. These are the music I grew up with in high school, so, very nostalgic. The Nautilus version of this one is doing at a whopping $250 at audiophileusa.com. Good thing it got some of my favorite songs, Goodbye
Yellow Brick Road, Your Song, Crocodile Rock, but sayang, the elusive
Skyline Pidgeon is not here...have to settle with my local 'best of' series
where it is sharing the spotlight with the Lettermen's Dahil Sa Iyo.
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Postby jadis » Wed Apr 27, 2005 7:20 pm

Lennon Sisters - Something Stupid

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When I got small bunch of LPs from a friend of 'yesteryears' ( pretty soon I'm gonna be one of them ), he singled out this LP to me and asked me to listen to it. I have never heard of a Lennon sisters at all. But what stuck me were the songs, Something Stupid ( I heard this as a kid, mostly on radio, and movies with love team-up-locally, and I never heard it again
on any LP till this one ), Georgy Girl.....( did I hear this song on one of those agogo dance programs at 6pm hosted by Jeanne Young or Ed Finland? ), and You Don't Have to Say You Love Me....fun songs. The
LP is downright dirty I had to use a klennex to absorb the gunk before hitting my felt vacuum of my VPI cleaner on it. I had to do that twice even.
And after that, the scratches surfaced.....Boy, I thought I would have to
throw it away.... but I have to brave myself and line it thru my needle...
Not that bad, a few loud pops, it disappears, and reappears...but it gave
me so much fun listening to these songs. There's also the Carpenters'
song There's A Kind of Hush, so this pre-dates the Carpenters pa. Recording is so so, a bit thin, and lacking it body, but otherwise, is generally listenable. Amazingly, I still remember the lyrics of Something
Stupid word for word, although I have not heard it in like 25 years. :)
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Postby jadis » Wed May 25, 2005 6:41 pm

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I am now an avid Lennon Sisters fan. This album Our Favorite Songs is pressed by Pickwick of NY. It is a re-issue from DOT records but actually sounds excellent. The title song is indeed the gem of this album. Talk about analogue liquidity, this album has it all.
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Postby jadis » Wed May 25, 2005 6:47 pm

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I got this album mainly for the song Let it Be Me. And I was not disappointed. Willie renders the song with such poignancy that I recall this song to be. Very sweet sax and guitar accompaniment. This is the side of Willie that I like, the balladeer. Very enjoyable album.
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Postby jadis » Wed Jun 01, 2005 11:09 am

LA FILLE MAL GARDEE

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When I read in the catalog of Audio Advisor, a US audio mail order company, that this LP is a must have due to its spectacular soundstage and wide dynamics, little did I know that this LP was in the HP list that has an *, which connotes sheer musicality aside from its great recording. The copy I got from AA was a Holland pressed Decca and it sounded fabulous. I got stuck in my chair until the whole side was finished. Next to Hi-Fi ala Espanola, this LP is my bet to showcase how a supposedly antiquated record can drop a jaw in an audiophile's den. Music is very very lively, never has a dull moment, and string and wind instruments are the sweetest I have heard in any recorded medium. In the mid 90s, I got my second copy, a 180g re issue probably by Speaker's Corner and now I have the original England pressed narrow band version. The wide band issue cost twice as much as the narrow band and a friend and I have done an A-B comparison and the tonal quality is basically the same. We noticed the soundstage is deeper in the wide band but the stage is wider in the narrow band, among other minute things. All told, this narrow band is the best value for money to get, a stupendous recording of a most enjoyable composition.
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Postby jadis » Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:17 am

PROPRIUS RECORDS

I am a big fan of LPs churned out by Proprius, a Swedish recording company whose claim to fame are Cantate Domino and Jazz at the Pawnshop. I first heard it in the mid 80s at Mr Sensible's place playing through the Double Quads and immediately I was taken by it. I have a personal fondness for choir music, listening to our Glee Club in college and the chapel and church choir, in fact, one of my most memorable choir performance was in a 'caroling' session in a friend's house. The absence of any mic or electronics made that session the purest form of music I have experience at that time, and hence, my love for Proprius music.

Cantate Domino:
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There are many pressings of this that I have owned, the original one, which self deteriorates easily, the Japanese Super Analogue one, the Half-Speed JVC mastered in Japan copy, which is quite good in vinyl quietness and sound quality, and the German ATR mastercut versions ( in the 90s there was a 120 pressing and now, the 180g pressing ), which I like the most, it had a tad more body than the half-speed one and retains the quietness of the vinyl.

Side A contains the title cut and has excellent organ and choral voices. But mostly I listen to Side B, which for me, is THE tool for my hardware, cable and tube auditioning. In each change of these things, I always notice changes in the music, be it vocals, cresendos, on how low the organ goes down, on more decay or less, on soundstage width and depth, and even of how deleanated the singers are amongst themselves and even vis-a-vis the organ. In short, this is one hell of a test record for me, and I always have spare copies in case my copy gets worn out.

Oratorio Noel:

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Very good religious/christmas type music for soprano and tenor with staggering organ bass. I heard it once on a full range system and was overwhelmed by the kind of organ bass that only a real church pipe organ can produce.
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Postby jadis » Sat Jun 11, 2005 7:35 am

CASCADES - RYTHYM OF THE RAIN

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Top picture is the local Valiant pressing which many people say is an excellent pressing and recording. The sound is fabulously musical you can forget about soundstage and image...I am simple taken into the songs, the lyrics, the melody, and the beat....nothing else matters. For people who grew up when these songs were on the radio daily, it is a must. I have seen many many copies while walking through the antique show at Virra mall, all Valiants. But, all of them were badly scratched up.....
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Postby audiophileman2002 » Sat Jun 11, 2005 9:17 am

Hey Jadis,
This reminds me when I bought my US copy in the '60s in The House of Stereo in Cartimar. At that time not realizing the value it will have 40 years thence. It turned out that it was the 'first pressing'. The record turned full circle, came from the US now back in the US with me. Because of your post, I'm listening to it right now and getting 'blown away'.
By the way, maybe you can chase it there. The very first LP of Ricky Nelson is not the 'Ricky' pressed by Imperial 9048. His really first LP was 'Teen Time' pressed by Verve and this is a compilation with Randy Sparks et al. This LP is also pretty rare and shows up in eBay now and then.
Another pretty rare LP is Teddy Bears 'Sing'. One of the members is Phil Spector. This LP is really big bucks. Been chasing that one but couldn't stomach it yet to pay about $300.00 for a nm copy.
Cheers,
Rod
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Postby jadis » Sat Jun 11, 2005 12:20 pm

audiophileman2002,

Hi. Thanks for the tips. Will be 'eyeing' these gems.... :)
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