2. music
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sometimes you just need to tap your toes

I recently bought some remastered non audiophile approved music on cd like styx greatist hits and foreigner[lou grahm is one of the best rock singers ever]about half the songs are tiresome because of too much radio airplay over the years,but the rest got my foot and leg tapping[it was out of my control like the music possesed my leg and toes.This got me thinking,remebering the days when new records came out and you liked every song,and did not care about soundstaging,sense of space,blacker backgrounds or the like.It was all about the music as most of us were to young and broke to be audiophiles and listened rather to cheap record players and 8 track tapes and liked it not for sound quality,but for the music.If we were lucky, we got a kenwood direct drive turntable for 400.00 when we got out on are own and thought it was the ultimate.I talk to some of my younger employees and nephews and they admit there is rarely any new music where they like every ,or even half of the songs,and some of them actually listen to classic rock of the late sixtys but more so 70,s and 80,s at work on the radio as apposed to the pre determined overly played list that most newer music stations play.So if you grew up in the 70's or 80,s you don't no how good you had it until you talk to some of the younger generation about music.They don't no what it is like to have the latest release and love every song on it like we did when we got are ZZ TOP Tres Hombres or Robin Trower Bridge Of Sighs,any Zepplin release or the first time you heard skynryd and liked every song from every release there after.I can remember my dad [big on swing] saying that drummer can really beat those skins[rush live] but do you think you could put on the headphones i bought you, like it was yesterday.The point to all of this is sometimes we need to put are audiophile recordings aside, and throwing caution to the wind ,break out some of the first fun,toe tapping music that started it all for you and let your hair down and tap your toes.This like nothing else will make you realize,it's all about the music and not the gear.
ears
sean
6,229 posts
 
Now that i've "wandered" through that post : ) i tend to agree with all that you've noted. Most of the newer recordings have NO warmth, body or rhythm even though the "basics" are there. I find myself "toe tapping" very little nowadays and it's not that i don't have a good "musical" system or that i buy only "audiophile" type recordings. I buy whatever i like, regardless of what anybody else thinks. I think that the "soul-less" digital recordings of today have GREATLY deprived of us of some of the truly excellent music that is being made. This is PROBABLY why there has been such a resurgence in "old school" technology like tubes and vinyl. Both are ripe with warmth, body, character and pace when properly executed. Besides the music simply feeling more intimate and "close", it's also probably closer to what we remember it sounding like in our "yout". Sean
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ears OP
341 posts
 
Danvetc,You have to understand that when i first owned Tres Hombres,zz's masterpiece if there is such a thing,my gear was by todays standards,worse than a aiwa shelf stereo,that being said as far as zz top, there first six alblums on cd are done best on the "six pack" collection.This is not as good as the vinyl version ,but what is.The other remastered cd's iv'e picked up recently and have improved sound over there original cd releases are the above mentioned Styx Greatest Hits and Foreigner Anthology.I played Sabbaths first self titled release for a few twenty somtehing year olds who are ozzy fans and asked them what year they thought it was released.There Answer was early 80,s so maybe some of the old music was before it,s time after all.You should have seen the look on there face when i informed them it was from 1969.Of course being nine years old at the time i did not discover this record till five years after the release.The only recordings iv'e heard so far that are as good as vinyl are on sacd,those being SRV Couldn't Stand The Weather, Jeff Beck Blow By Blow and Dylans Blond On Blond.Well got to go my kid just informed me that i am missing the only show on cable tv worth watching.The Simpsons."DOH"
danvetc
527 posts
 
Ears, I had the same kind of equipment. Anything I had, I bought with my own meager salary. In 1977 I bought a JVC amp and turntable (bottom of the line I'm sure) and some Infinity Qb's with the EMIT tweeters as the shop had a payment plan! I actually used the shipping boxes as speaker stands for a while. (You see I wanted to decouple them from the floor. [:)] )I could barely afford buying an albumn every other week 'cause they didn't pay much to shovel horse shit in Kentucky. (Plus I had a payday tradition of 2 cases of Budweiser and a bottle of Monte Alban mezcal.) I do remember a friend having Tres Hombres in quadraphonic 8 track format. The rythym rocked back to front, and was very cool at the time. You could also switch to a mode where each instrument was on a speaker which allowed you to try to learn the licks readying for your garage band's debut. Styx had a "gold" version of Crystal Ball that we all thought sounded better, the "see through" vinyl looked very cool as well. It seemed the more we tried to be careful with that albumn the more we messed up. Yes, we were messed up come to think of it, (you know where everyone looks around and votes who is most likely to not to blow it and then you are put to the test to drop that needle right in between tracks to the requested replay.) Performance based anxiety! I have the ZZ Top 6 pack and the mix is the most radically different from the albumns of any remaster I have heard. Oh, and I remember being about 10 years old singing "Iron Man." (Born in '60) My 8 yo son sings NSyNC. Where did I go wrong? Charlie
zenaudio
29 posts
 
Ears:
I just bought a Sony jukebox (400 cd's) so I could reexperience a bunch of my old CD's. It sounds like sh*t, but I am finding much enjoyment from all the old stuff. It is like listening to your own radio station -- everything that gets played has some connection/memory! Now I just need to get a used MSB DAC to tame the sound. Note to the Sensible Sound -- all CD players do NOT sound alike!

Mike
ears OP
341 posts
 
Dantvet c,i also have an 8 yo son,but he says he likes kid rock and rock n roll,but this is partly due to anoying his 14 year old sister that is into the usual teen buble gum crap.If you think zz's remastered single discs are a lot better than six pack,which kind of sounds like it was recorded in a chamber,i am all ears
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