Non-Classical Music Listening Thread!

[Karl Henning]

[SimonNZ]

Ali Farka Toure - Niafunke (1999)

One of my all-time favorite albums, which for some reason I havent played in years.

Had it going on endless loop the last few days.

[drogulus]

    I did a non-listening thing. I went on eBay to order a copy of the 1994 CD of The Dark Side of the Moon. I have a generic whoknowswhat DSOTM and the stereo SACD from 2003. What I don't have is one of the favored masters. So, the 1994 release remastered by Doug Sax is judged to be extremely OK, perhaps second only to the first master done by Sony Japan and manufactured by Toshiba.

    The reviews on the 2003 SACD are confusing because though the multichannel mix gets high marks, the stereo mix is supposed to be inferior. The problem is it's not clear if they are listening to the Redbook layer or the DSD.

[Iota]

Early in her career, Streisand really was a marvel, and this track is a fave for many reasons, including evoking the 1960s and 1970s so vividly. This arrangement, by Kenny Welch, combines Burt Bacharach's "One Less Bell to Answer" with "A House is Not a Home," and the result is magic.

-Bruce

Agreed. When I was young I used to listen to her a lot (People, Don't Rain on my Parade etc), and was in awe of the sheer power and soaring melodrama of her voice. My tastes moved on, and I never felt the urge to go back to her, but that vid set the old tingles going ... she was as you say a marvel. (Later on I'd occasionally get a similar feeling, with Lauryn Hill, very different  though she is.)

[SimonNZ]

[SimonNZ]

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Early in her career, Streisand really was a marvel, and this track is a fave for many reasons, including evoking the 1960s and 1970s so vividly. This arrangement, by Kenny Welch, combines Burt Bacharach's "One Less Bell to Answer" with "A House is Not a Home," and the result is magic.

-Bruce

Agreed. When I was young I used to listen to her a lot (People, Don't Rain on my Parade etc), and was in awe of the sheer power and soaring melodrama of her voice. My tastes moved on, and I never felt the urge to go back to her, but that vid set the old tingles going ... she was as you say a marvel. (Later on I'd occasionally get a similar feeling, with Lauryn Hill, very different  though she is.)

Blown away by her when I first listened to and watched the movie "The Way We Were".  Still in awe of her...singing, acting, directing (remember when Yentl came out?).

Great interview with Fran Drescher (gets more interesting in, I want to say...maybe 10 minutes in?). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlv_4mko8AI
PD

[brewski]

Samara Joy: "Guess Who I Saw Today" — Just exquisite.

-Bruce

[KevinP]

It doesn't surpass Nancy Wilson's version for me, but that shouldn't be read as I think it's bad. It is a very good version.

(After this recording was released,
M any people have been commenting--not here--on Nancy Wilson's original,  incorrectly. It was Carmen McRae who first recorded it.)

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Samara Joy: "Guess Who I Saw Today" — Just exquisite.

-Bruce

Hadn't heard that song before now nor heard of Samara Joy, but I thoroughly enjoyed it (No pun intended).

PD

[71 dB]

THE NARADA COLLECTION TWO (1989)

[brewski]

It doesn't surpass Nancy Wilson's version for me, but that shouldn't be read as I think it's bad. It is a very good version.

(After this recording was released,
M any people have been commenting--not here--on Nancy Wilson's original,  incorrectly. It was Carmen McRae who first recorded it.)

Love both Wilson and McRae in this, too.

Hadn't heard that song before now nor heard of Samara Joy, but I thoroughly enjoyed it (No pun intended).

PD

It's a great song. I only heard it for the first time maybe 3-4 years ago. (Or maybe before, and didn't quite get the gist of the plot.) I love the way the story unfolds — you can't quite tell where it's going — and then those final three words are like a gentle thunderbolt.

Anyway, as @KevinP notes, Carmen McRae was the first. Here's a good Japanese transfer of the 1957 recording, and it's lovely.

-Bruce

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Love both Wilson and McRae in this, too.

It's a great song. I only heard it for the first time maybe 3-4 years ago. (Or maybe before, and didn't quite get the gist of the plot.) I love the way the story unfolds — you can't quite tell where it's going — and then those final three words are like a gentle thunderbolt.

Anyway, as @KevinP notes, Carmen McRae was the first. Here's a good Japanese transfer of the 1957 recording, and it's lovely.

-Bruce

How did you like the rest of the album (if you've heard it)?  And, darn, I was just in a record store earlier and didn't think to look under either of their names!     Though I did find something else.   

PD

p.s.  And now I'm craving a martini....

[SimonNZ]

[brewski]

How did you like the rest of the album (if you've heard it)?  And, darn, I was just in a record store earlier and didn't think to look under either of their names!     Though I did find something else.   

PD

p.s.  And now I'm craving a martini....

I haven't heard all of the albums by any of these! (My bad.) Will certainly fix that, but I was just obsessed by that one song for the moment.

-Bruce

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I haven't heard all of the albums by any of these! (My bad.) Will certainly fix that, but I was just obsessed by that one song for the moment.

-Bruce

It's a great song, so I do get it.
PD

[drogulus]

     I just compared Mr. Tambourine Man from the Byrds MFSL album and the original CD and to my surprise the MFSL sounded much worse. It wasn't close.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Having fun listening to and watching a concert of David Byrne and St. Vincent.  Great concert and complete with a brass band.  @Todd Probably right up your alley.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRTQV2Te59Q

PD

[KevinP]

Otis Rush was great, but I always felt he never hooked up with the right producer. A lot of fair to good recordings, but he never quite had that all-out classic.

The one here may be his best. I might prefer his tracks on Chicago/The Blues/Today, but that doesn't count as a Rush album.

The Honeyboy Edwards album is good, but he suffered from being known more for association with Robert Johnson than for his own music. (Ditto Robert Lockwood jr and Johnny Shines. Shines especially should have been better known for his own talent. One of the greatest voices of the genre.)

[steve ridgway]

R. Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra