What Are You Listening To? October 2025

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Yuja Wang, Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (Gustavo Dudamel, cond.) - Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 / Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2 (2013)

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Nicolas Maduro wasn't the first Venezuelan to promise Russian pyrotechnics in Caracas with a strong Chinese influence. A dozen years ago, his countryman Gustavo Dudamel put the national orchestra on display with stellar soloist Yuja Wang as they paraded through two Russian spectaculars. This impeccably recorded live performance from the Centro De Acción Social Por La Música conveys all of the emotional fire that artist and conductor developed together on stage.
 
Disagree. Shawn Smith was one of the best things about Satchel.

Then again, I only listen to it every couple of years. I have to be in the mood.

ETA: Plus, there are quite a few instrumentals.

TIL that...

"[Shawn] Smith was found dead on April 3, 2019, at his home in Seattle. A later autopsy determined he died April 3 of a torn aorta and high blood pressure."

I was going to mention that there are a number of voice-overs between the songs on EDC. They are quotes from the movie Reservoir Dogs. If you notice, many of the song titles are named after characters in the movie.
 
Elton John - Live In Australia (With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (1987)

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flisten.

One of the great advantages of MusicBoomerang is the ability to test drive music that you would never buy. If you don't like an album, you can either trade it out or throw it in as a bonus on another trade. I was never a huge fan of Reg even during his heyday, so by the time this live set came out I had no idea what he was up to. His voice sounds much the worse for wear here and AMG explains why:

"As he would reveal later, this inspired double-LP live collection released in 1987 captures the artist at one of the best and worst times of his life. In fact, John cites the emotionally charged "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" as triggering what would become a "severe mental breakdown," the results of nearly a decade of substance-fueled decadence. On top of it all and perhaps most tellingly is John's tattered voice. So dire was the situation that literally within weeks of the concert he would undergo a surgical procedure that could have easily ended his career had it failed."

Nevertheless, Elton's powerful performance here surprised me greatly with its passionate enthusiasm for his extensive body of work. Tattered or not, his voice had no trouble taming the orchestral multitude behind him. Like Van Morrison's It's Too Late To Stop Now, Live In Australia captures an artist who refuses to surrender his musical integrity to the perils of superstardom.

:4.5: on the Sam-O-Meter. "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"
 
It’s been a Warren Zevon day - may spin his 1976 self titled and/or Excitable Boy - faves of mine - in the next couple of days but stuck with the Spotify This is Warren Zevon playlist today a better overview of his discography
Included are several excellent tracks from his posthumous comp Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings which I had not heard before :thumbsup:
 
The Byrds - Sanctuary (rec. 1965-67, Sundazed comp. 2000)

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Vinyl Spin of the Day.

In the days after the CD achieved dominance but before the LP became chic again, Sundazed was allowed to release a series of "Odds and Sods" collections for The Byrds on vinyl under the Sanctuary moniker. I recall the idea at the time was that only serious collectors still had turntables, so these albums wouldn't steal sales from Columbia's own efforts to monetize its catalog by adding unique "gotta have it" rarities to their new compact disc packages.

Sundazed earned the full participation of Roger McGuinn, who contributed his invaluable "fly-on-the-wall" observations to each track. The songs themselves derive from The Byrds' seminal earliest sessions at CBS Studio A, a large auditorium that had formerly hosted network radio shows starring the likes of Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen. Sony opened the vault wide for early versions, alternate takes and single mixes galore, not to mention three completely new songs from the same period that never left the nest before now. Sundazed used high quality 180 gram virgin vinyl and had Bob Irwin master everything from the original Columbia tapes, resulting in outstanding sound quality.

:5.0: on the Sam-O-Meter.
 
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