Listening to.......

[Alan2]

Everything Nick Drake ever breathed on.

In preparation for....?  https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/look-through-time-a-nick-drake-celebration/

No, I almost never go to things anymore.

But I am currently reading the Morton Jack biography.

Jules

Tis a powerful read, and surely now for all time the definitive biography...

Yes powerful, and i found it ineffably sad. I may have already said this so apols if so.

Yes, probably the last word on Nick.

[davidmjs]

Yes, probably the last word on Nick.

If only that were true.  It won't be.

[Alan2]

June Tabor/Oyster  Band :  Freedom and Rain  (Cooking Vinyl LP,  black smoke vinyl, 2024).

This is one i didnt get round to buying at the time-  Everything is well played and June is in fine voice.  An up tempo record throughout. Nice cover of 'All Tomorrow's Parties'.   An antidepresdant  album, I'm finding.

[Will S]

I have always loved that album - would on some days be a Desert Island album for me.

[davidmjs]

There's a lot of energy in the room at the moment.  My work is having an existential crisis (to match my own).  It's certainly not dull anyway...

So, noisey is where my head is.  First of all, Pink Flag, surely the best (neo-)post-punk album ever?  Well, today...

And then this from t'Fall.  https://bellaunion.bandcamp.com/album/grotesque-after-the-gramme-live  It's utterly wonderful....painful aural quality at times but it really doesn't matter.  Part of a programme by which most of the old Fall band members are reclaiming their catalogue by putting out new versions of the albums curated from bootleg recordings of the tracks that made them up.  Recommended.  Being a contrary arse, I got the tape.  On about one day in 137, I think The Fall are the best band on the planet.

[Jim]

I'm also listening to Grotesque after the gramme Live as well, what a fabulous racket.
I got it on cd😉

[Will S]

Listening to a few albums on my iTunes which I apparently haven't heard for a couple of years.  Started with the Unthanks Mount The Air, and then veered uncontrollably across genres towards Def Leppard's Pyromania and then to the Deepest Purple compilation.  Where to now...?

[Alan2]

3CD set of albums by the late Lesley Duncan.

There's still a lot of music  i don't like enough to listen to it. And at one time i would have found LD too pop and soul  to bother with.  My tastes are broader a s i get older. Do other people find this, i wonder?  

[Jules Gray]

My tastes are broader as I get older. Do other people find this, I wonder?  

Yes, most definitely. For one thing, I no longer care about coolness, and I actively try to look outside of my historical safe zone.

But having said all that, there are still plenty of genres I can't go near.

Jules

[davidmjs]

My tastes are broader as I get older. Do other people find this, I wonder?  

Yes, most definitely. For one thing, I no longer care about coolness, and I actively try to look outside of my historical safe zone.

But having said all that, there are still plenty of genres I can't go near.

Jules

Gong

[Nick Reg]

Bluenose B - Minstrels of the Wasteland
Banter - Heroes

Two of my faves at the moment.

[Alan2]

Yes, i remember coolness and how it was a factor determiming one's taste. It's a long time ago.  I was only just an adult. I realised it didn't matter to me one way or the other in the 80s when The Smiths  were  rated as the greatest thing that had happened to music. People inverted their coolness by describing their material  as 'pop music',  so it was okay to like pop music now. It didn't matter to me one way or the other because i just didn't like The Smiths and still don't.

Speaking personally, one significant factor in the development of
my  own tastes  was acquiring good audio equipment.  I wont expand too much on this as i know audiophilia is boring  to most people on this forum, but as my audio sysyem gor better, musicsounded a sight more interesting, and stuff that was new to me drew me in. I avoid classical music now, but i can find something to like in many, many genres and sub genres.

[Jules Gray]

Yes, most definitely. For one thing, I no longer care about coolness, and I actively try to look outside of my historical safe zone.

But having said all that, there are still plenty of genres I can't go near.

Gong

*shudder"

Jules

[Jules Gray]

Speaking personally, one significant factor in the development of my own tastes  was acquiring good audio equipment.  I won't expand too much on this as I know audiophilia is boring to most people on this forum, but as my audio sysyem gor better, musicsounded a sight more interesting, and stuff that was new to me drew me in. I avoid classical music now, but I can find something to like in many, many genres and sub genres.  

I, on the other hand, felt liberated when I no longer worried about how hi my fi was, and returned to just listening to the songs.

Jules

[davidmjs]

Speaking personally, one significant factor in the development of my own tastes  was acquiring good audio equipment.  I won't expand too much on this as I know audiophilia is boring to most people on this forum, but as my audio sysyem gor better, musicsounded a sight more interesting, and stuff that was new to me drew me in. I avoid classical music now, but I can find something to like in many, many genres and sub genres.  

I, on the other hand, felt liberated when I no longer worried about how hi my fi was, and returned to just listening to the songs.

Jules

100% with Jules on this.  For me, the whole Hi-Fi thing is a major distraction from the art itself...

[Alan2]

Ah, that's where we diverge.  The point  of better audio  is to hear the music in a fuller, more realistic way.  And to hear it as closely as possible to how it was recorded.

I spend hardly any time agonising about hi fi  modifications and purchase decisions, and an immense amount enjoying and looking for music.  And im able to do the latter in a much fuller sense  precisely because my system is doing what it should do.

[davidmjs]

The point  of better audio  is to hear the music in a fuller, more realistic way.  And to hear it as closely as possible to how it was recorded.

I spend hardly any time agonising about hi fi  modifications and purchase decisions, and an immense amount enjoying and looking for music.  And im able to do the latter in a much fuller sense  precisely because my system is doing what it should do.

The point?  Well, your point, for sure

Fwiw, some of my most important and most lasting musical discoveries were made on a MW/LW radio under the cover late at night with the radio weaving in and out of being in tune.

The number of times people have shown me their new hi-fi system costing thousands and said '"see, listen to that" and I hear nothing different whatsoever.  And by the time people get to gold plugs and cables and the like, then they need certifying imho.... It's always the music that matters to me.  By any means necessary...!

[Tasha]

The point  of better audio  is to hear the music in a fuller, more realistic way.  And to hear it as closely as possible to how it was recorded.

I spend hardly any time agonising about hi fi  modifications and purchase decisions, and an immense amount enjoying and looking for music.  And im able to do the latter in a much fuller sense  precisely because my system is doing what it should do.

The point?  Well, your point, for sure

Fwiw, some of my most important and most lasting musical discoveries were made on a MW/LW radio under the cover late at night with the radio weaving in and out of being in tune.

ah i spent many many many happy nights under the covers with an earphone so as to not disturb my little sister,tuned into radio Luxemburg listening to new sounds and artists! you've just brought that memory flooding back David. And look at the kids of today choosing to listen to music on the speaker from a mobile phone.. things have gone back to the days of music consumption via "tinny speakers"

[ColinB]

The point  of better audio  is to hear the music in a fuller, more realistic way.  And to hear it as closely as possible to how it was recorded.

I spend hardly any time agonising about hi fi  modifications and purchase decisions, and an immense amount enjoying and looking for music.  And im able to do the latter in a much fuller sense  precisely because my system is doing what it should do.

The point?  Well, your point, for sure

Fwiw, some of my most important and most lasting musical discoveries were made on a MW/LW radio under the cover late at night with the radio weaving in and out of being in tune.

The number of times people have shown me their new hi-fi system costing thousands and said '"see, listen to that" and I hear nothing different whatsoever.  And by the time people get to gold plugs and cables and the like, then they need certifying imho.... It's always the music that matters to me.  By any means necessary...!

I always thought it was a bit of a waste of time when, back in the day, you'd go into a hifi shop and they'd ask you to bring in one of your favourite cds. They would then hook up various combinations of cd deck, amp and speakers and you had to decide which sounded best. Fair enough, if they'd brought the kit to your house and set it up in your front room but listening to hifi in the shop seemed like nothing more than a sales gimmick. I mean, could you really hear much of a difference between different cd players?

I seem to have almost come full circle in that I purchased a Victrola music centre which reminds me of the old Dansette record players we had back in the 70s. But I can't stack 3 or 4 singles on this one to listen to one after the other.

[ColinB]

We seem to have got off topic here. Yesterday I was listening to...

Grateful Dead - Live Dead
Donovan - Catch The Wind

Both on vinyl.