Whats on your turntable tonight?


For me its the first or very early LP's of:
Allman Brothers - "Allman Joys" "Idyllwild South"
Santana - "Santana" 200 g reissue
Emerson Lake and Palmer - "Emerson Lake and Palmer"
and,
Beethoven - "Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major" Rudolph Serkin/Ozawa/BSO
slipknot1
Mostly some old Columbias...

Miles Davis Quintet - Round About Midnight (6-eye mono, '57) His first for the label, with Coltrane, Garland, Chambers and Philly Joe. "Ah-Leu-Cha" is the highlight for me, managing to both slither and kick.

Miles Davis - Milestones (6-eye mono, '58) His next small-group effort for the label, following the orchestrated "Miles Ahead" with Gil Evans. Same lineup as previous but add Cannonball to make a sextet. Seems not quite as distinctively Miles in comparison, fine but also a tad generic, although the title tune's a stone classic. Trane gets off best of all. Of course, headier things were right around the corner.

Jimmy Rushing - The Smith Girls (6-eye mono, '61) Songs 'made famous' by Bessie and her sisters, this joint rocks and jumps. Featuring Coleman Hawkins and Buck Clayton with a full band.

Big Bill Broonzy - Big Bill's Blues (Columbia Adventures In Sound gold label mono, '58) Solo acoustic vocals + guitar, simply mic'ed with good presence, includes many between-songs spoken asides and even the sound of a bottle pouring into a glass to open "When I've Been Drinking". Derek & The Dominos fans, note "Key To The Highway"!

Gerry Mulligan-- "Presenting The Gerry Mulligan Sextet" (EmArcy, '55) The first of a trio of LPs the Sextet recorded for EmArcy in '55-'56. Featuring Zoot Sims, Bob Brookmeyer and Dave Bailey. Mesmerizing, swinging arrangements meld with sympatico group improv reminiscent of vintage dixieland in spirit. Has a Mulligan-penned tune y'all dig the punning title of: "Nights Of The Turntable" -- get it? Like some other 50's jazz EmArcys I own, this (pristine) disk sounds fairly muffled, but I've heard some of the CD remasters (not this one) and they've been significantly more open-sounding (as I'm sure the Mosaic LPs are), so it seems the session masters weren't the reason.
DCC Compact Classics Limited Edition of Queen "At Night at The Opera". I paid a pretty penny for this LP but it is better than 95% in my LP collection (and the collection is excellent in quality and content). Mastered by the great Steve Hoffman on an all vacuum-tube cutting system.

Who, but Freddie Mercury, could have sung "Love of My Life" with so much emotion and precision? Surely, this is one of the most underrated songs of all time. It will always live large in my heart.

Cheers!
Today (so far)
David Gilmour "On An Island" EMI import LP. This is an LP that grows on you with repeated listenings. Very well recorded, excellent packaging, quiet surface, and great sonics. Kind of like an introspective Pink Floyd work.

Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here" CBS Half Speed Master. This release has a rounder, less tizzy top end than either my Japanese or standard domestic pressings.

Falla "Nights In The Gardens Of Spain" Rafael de Burgos/Orchestre de la Societe des Concerts du Conseratoire, Gonsalvo Soriano (piano) From the Time/Life 10 volume box set: "The Story Of Great Music" Good sonics typical of many of the Time/Life issues. These box sets represent an excellent way to develop a collection of the basic repertoire in classical music.