Non-Classical Music Listening Thread!

[Solitary Wanderer]

1970 ~ Nice one-off album from the former drummer of The Nice.

[Bogey]

Ella Fitzgerald - just pulled out my BIG box (16-CDs) of her complete songbook recordings - for dinner tonight, I decided to put on the two discs of the music of Harold Arlen - now listening to 'Stormy Weather', but much more comin' up!  

Very nice.

[Solitary Wanderer]

1969 ~ One-off album. Three piece playing psych/hard rock typical of the era.

[Lethevich]

So surprised that this didn't disappoint me - bands suck at following up good albums.

[Dana]

Have you heard "How the West was Won?" That one kicks some serious ass. 

No, the BBC Sessions is the only Zeppelin I've got.

[Lethevich]

I hate it that I have regressed back into enjoying this, but none the less, for 2-riffs-over-15-minute black metal songs this is clinically done.

[KevinP]

[Dr. Dread]

I hate it that I have regressed back into enjoying this, but none the less, for 2-riffs-over-15-minute black metal songs this is clinically done.

Why is it a regression? And what classical sounds like it?

[Dr. Dread]

[SonicMan46]

 

Hello Kevin - I've looked at the Billie Holiday Verve box set in the past - but never made the purchase; the price is rather high and on reading the Amazon Comments HERE, the 1* review dissuaded me from buying the set - 

Now, I already own about 10 CDs of Billie's music from all different periods, but it is rather a mixture of different labels & times - so in lookin' on Amazon today, I saw the Proper offering (pic inserted above) and put in an order; 4 discs w/ 99 songs at about $18 on the Marketplace - I've enjoyed Proper's releases in the past and hope to be pleased w/ this set; plus, I can probably cull-out some of my other recordings and try to make more sense of my Holiday collection!  Dave 

[George]

Just made a compilation of the b-sides of this wonderful band. I'd love to see them get back together.  

EDIT: Just read this at Wiki: The band has been on a lengthy hiatus since the release of Static and Silence. Wheeler and Gavurin are focusing on raising their two children.

[Lethevich]

Why is it a regression?

Mainly because the simplicity coupled with massive pretensions makes it feel like total kiddy music. I can understand bm bands if they are not pretentious, but with this style it seems that the simpler and more banal the music, the more foolish and haughty the people involved are. The surface effect can be "nice" as background music (and I used to like this kind of thing for that reason), but I can't force out of my head that the target market for this really does consider it to be the finest super-art that has ever been made

Edit: or perhaps more to the point - it is difficult to support such intellectual fraudulence. It's part of why I feel comfortable with classical - composers have a habit of being genuinely intelligent people. With pop it is generally quite the opposite - not a problem if it's kept nice and simple, but if pretentious pronouncements start getting made... it's just embarassing to behold due to the sheer lack of intelligent thought behind the words.

[Haffner]

Ella Fitzgerald - just pulled out my BIG box (16-CDs) of her complete songbook recordings - for dinner tonight, I decided to put on the two discs of the music of Harold Arlen - now listening to 'Stormy Weather', but much more comin' up!  

Heyy...would you consider that definitive? I just got into Fitzgerald, for a weird reason: my singer, Graham Bonnet, interpreted one of the verses of my songs with a Jazz feel to it, and immediately I thought of Ella. My problem: I want a nice set of her best works (at least most of 'em including All of Me). But I don't know where to start!

[Haffner]

Mainly because the simplicity coupled with massive pretensions makes it feel like total kiddy music. I can understand bm bands if they are not pretentious, but with this style it seems that the simpler and more banal the music, the more foolish and haughty the people involved are. The surface effect can be "nice" as background music (and I used to like this kind of thing for that reason), but I can't force out of my head that the target market for this really does consider it to be the finest super-art that has ever been made

Edit: or perhaps more to the point - it is difficult to support such intellectual fraudulence. It's part of why I feel comfortable with classical - composers have a habit of being genuinely intelligent people. With pop it is generally quite the opposite - not a problem if it's kept nice and simple, but if pretentious pronouncements start getting made... it's just embarassing to behold due to the sheer lack of intelligent thought behind the words.

This is an interesting assertion. I remember last week digging out Abyssic Hate and Burzum and having similar groans at how Pop-py/lame -attempt-at-two-chord-sonata-form that alot of that stuff is. Darkthrone tends to make me embarassed at times for that reason as well.

But hey, as you intimated there is no good reason to take it seriously, just play if ya wanna do the "evil drone thang", right?

[SonicMan46]

Heyy...would you consider that definitive? I just got into Fitzgerald, for a weird reason: my singer, Graham Bonnet, interpreted one of the verses of my songs with a Jazz feel to it, and immediately I thought of Ella. My problem: I want a nice set of her best works (at least most of 'em including All of Me). But I don't know where to start!

Hi Andy - well, that 'box set' is definitive for the Songbook Recordings on Verve of the 8 or so composers which were part of this long project; of course, she made other recordings on Verve, and also for other labels; I have at least another half dozen or more CDs of her w/ just a little overlap! 

Now concerning the song "All of Me"; this is a  jazz standard written by Gerald Marks and Seymour Simons in 1931, and sung and recorded by many over the years; however, these composers are not part of the 'Songbook Recordings', so you'll have to look elsewhere for this particular song.

Now, how to get started w/ Ella is not easy to answer; I guess multi-disc 'compilations' would be one way to at least get a feel for what you may like of her singing; check out the sets from Proper Records from the UK; these are well re-mastered & offer great value - I own a bunch of other artists from this company.  Let us know what you discover - I can always 'refine' my Fitzgerald collection - Dave 

[KevinP]

Hello Kevin - I've looked at the Billie Holiday Verve box set in the past - but never made the purchase; the price is rather high and on reading the Amazon Comments HERE, the 1* review dissuaded me from buying the set - 

Now, I already own about 10 CDs of Billie's music from all different periods, but it is rather a mixture of different labels & times - so in lookin' on Amazon today, I saw the Proper offering (pic inserted above) and put in an order; 4 discs w/ 99 songs at about $18 on the Marketplace - I've enjoyed Proper's releases in the past and hope to be pleased w/ this set; plus, I can probably cull-out some of my other recordings and try to make more sense of my Holiday collection!  Dave 

Well the Verve/Clef cuts (the box set also includes a good many recordings that they acquired) are somewhat controversial, although less so as time goes on. There are some fans who just prefer the early swing-era recordings, and others who prefer the more mature mainstream (what swing musicians came to be known as in the bop and post-bop eras) settings. The Verves (etc.) are undeniably a mixed bag. Sometimes she was stoned or crashing, etc., but that all goes to the iconisation of Lady Day. Some people seem to prefer her that way.

Me, I'm in the early, swing-era Columbia camp, but there are some definite gems in the box. There are two CDs devoted to rehearsals and studio chatter, which are fun to listen to....once.

Even later yet is Lady in Satin. This, too, used to be much despised, or rather, polarising, but now those who love it have come to outnumber by no small degree those of us who can't stand that album. To me, it only portrays as a victim, but again, that's how some people seem to want her to be.

Don't know the Proper set. I tend to boycott them because they just copy the tracks that someone else mastered for another label. It's legal since masterings aren't copyrighted, but....

[Solitary Wanderer]

Disc.1.

[Solitary Wanderer]

Heyy...would you consider that definitive? I just got into Fitzgerald, for a weird reason: my singer, Graham Bonnet, interpreted one of the verses of my songs with a Jazz feel to it, and immediately I thought of Ella. My problem: I want a nice set of her best works (at least most of 'em including All of Me). But I don't know where to start!

I have this 3CD boxset 'The Best of the Songbooks' which is superb 

[Solitary Wanderer]

Disc.2.

[Dr. Dread]