What are you listening to? April 2021

[Ojai Sam]

Gary P. Nunn - Home With The Armadillo (1984)

Gary was so closely associated with the whole Austin music scene that his "London Homesick Blues" was a natural choice for the closing theme of PBS' Austin City Limits series. His own appearance on the show was a special event from start to finish. This edition of his Lost Gonzo Band featured both Herb Steiner on steel and Peter Rowan on mandolin. He performs a strong set of his offbeat Texas folk country songs before an enthusiastic home town crowd (to my sorrow, omitting "Where There's A Willie, There's A Way" though).

 

[Nickyboy]

Radio Garden on-line, to a station in our hometown in Switzerland. These songs are the reason people make jokes about Eurovision and "Euro pop". They fall squarely into the "so incredibly bad, they are good" in a cringe-worthy way. So cliche.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Gnod - Easy To Build, Hard To Destroy (2021)

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Spoon - Girls Can Tell (2001)

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Loretta Lynn - Van Lear Rose (2004)

 

[Unsomnambulist]

The Meteors - Skull N Bones (2021)

 

[Ojai Sam]

Jerry Goldsmith - Patton (soundtrack 1970, Intrada reissue 2010)



I had the chance to see Patton at the 20th Century-Fox studio when it came out. The cold opening sequence (sans studio logo) where George C. Scott gives his famous blood and guts speech fooled a lot of the audience, myself included, into thinking that Scott was actually there to introduce the film. Jerry Goldsmith's arid soundtrack matched the mood of the film perfectly. The rousing march theme gives way to brooding music of battle and death, remarkable for its use of Echoplex to enhance the eerie vibe.

Intrada includes the complete soundtrack as actually used on the film plus the commercial album. For the latter, Goldsmith rearranged the music into a more programmatic whole and rerecorded it in London with a full orchestra. As a bonus, we get to be a fly on the wall for 5 minutes of studio chatter where Goldsmith works with the puzzled musicians to explain the idiosyncratic sound he was looking for with the Echoplex.

on the Sam-O-Meter. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

 

[Ojai Sam]

Savannah Churchill - Chronological Vol. 1 (rec. 1942-49)

 

[axolotl]

^ Mom?!

 

[axolotl]

Benny Carter ~ Songbook (1996)

 

[axolotl]

Wheat ~ Medeiros (1997)



Slowcore, Indie Rock

 

[axolotl]

Maps ~ We Can Create (2007)



Dream Pop, Shoegaze, Indietronica

 

[axolotl]

Derek and the Dominos ~ Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970) [2004, SACD]



I have had this on vinyl for decades. The better my audio equipment has gotten, the more I have thought the production was muddled. It has usually sounded a tad-bit mushy to me, with the bottom-end being indistinct and thubby, if that were a real word.

I bought this SACD version at a thrift store for $3.98. It is quite a bit better-sounding than the LP I own.

Much happy.

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Derek and the Dominos ~ Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970) [2004, SACD]



I have had this on vinyl for decades. The better my audio equipment has gotten, the more I have thought the production was muddled. It has usually sounded a tad-bit mushy to me, with the bottom-end being indistinct and thubby, if that were a real word.

I bought this SACD version at a thrift store for $3.98. It is quite a bit better-sounding than the LP I own.

Much happy.

Yes, it's quite disappointing when you get better equipment only to discover that a favorite recording's production is not nearly as good as you thought...

 

[axolotl]

Yes, it's quite disappointing when you get better equipment only to discover that a favorite recording's production is not nearly as good as you thought...

Ya really feel me, Bro? Ya feel my plight?

I don't think I gave much of a second thought the first 11ty-seven times I first heard it.

I was into the songs. But, yeah...

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Ya really feel me, Bro? Ya feel my plight?

I don't think I gave much of a second thought the first 11ty-seven times I first heard it.

I was into the songs. But, yeah...

The Flaming Lips' Yoshimi is much more lo-fi than I thought...

 

[axolotl]

The Flaming Lips' Yoshimi is much more lo-fi than I thought...

When I first heard The Soft Bulletin, I thought my ears were aflame with rock and roll. It was so bright (strident).

 

[Unsomnambulist]

When I first heard The Soft Bulletin, I thought my ears were aflame with rock and roll. It was so bright (strident).

Wayne Coyne has this love of shitty sound quality.

 

[Nickyboy]

Nicola Conte- Jet Sounds (2000)

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Samba Touré - Binga (2021)