Latest vinyl finds – Aug. 2010

• The Association, The Association 6th (1970; still sealed)
• Pat Benatar, In the Heat of the Night (1979)
• Pat Benatar, Tropico (1984)
• Blue Rodeo, Diamond Mine (1989)
• The Cars, Shake it Up (1981)
• Cheap Trick, At Budokan (1978)
• Bill Cosby, Why is there air?
• ELP, Works (1977) – excellent copy
• Fanny, Fanny debut (1970)
• Foghat, Foghat (1972)
• Gameface, Three to Get Ready (1995)
• Dizzy Gillespie, Dizzy Gillespie’s Orchestra Vol. 1 (1947-49) (French press.)
• Dizzy Gillespie, Dizzy Gillespie and his Orchestra Vol. 2 (1947-49)
• Heart, Little Queen (1977)
• Kansas, Leftoverture (1976)
• Randy Newman, Little Criminals (1977)
• Steve Miller, The Joker (1973)
• Prince, Purple Rain (1984)
• Seals and Crofts, Diamond Girl (1973)
• Steppenwolf, Gold: Their Great Hits (1968-71)
• Supertramp, Breakfast in America (1979 ; Audiophile series)
• XTC, Drums and Wires (1979)

Latest vinyl finds – July 2010

Picked up a few from a local person who’s moving out west and can’t bring the heavy records (turns out he’s an assistant audio engineer and is now working on the Crannberries new album).  He had a few 180gram reissues as well that I picked up (although I’m always hesitant about whether reissues will be better than original pressings).  Definitely the Radiohead was nice to get for such a deal.  On July 31st I finished off the month with a few more, mostly non-rock (I was glad to get another in the Nonesuch Explorer Series of world music, and I’ve been looking for Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew for some time — finally in NM too).

• Animals, Best of the Animals (1962-66 [1966])
• Arcade Fire, The Suburbs (2LP; 2010)
• Beatles, Help! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1965)
• Billy Bragg, Life’s a Riot Between the Wars (1983)
• Bruce Cockburn /. Paul Stoddart, Day Coach Rider (1974)
• Miles Davis, Bitches Brew (1970)
• Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan (1962 [1990s-2000s reissue])
• Bob Dylan, Together Through Life (2LP; 2009)
• Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On (1971; 2009 180gram reissue)
• Daryl Hall, Sacred Songs (1977 [1980])
• Jimi Hendrix, Are You Experienced? (1967)
• Jimi Hendrix, The Jimi Hendrix Concerts (2LPs; 1968-70 [1982])
• Bert Jansch, Moonshine (1973)
• Masekela, Introducing Hedzoleh Soundz (1973 Nigerian import)
• Maytals, The Sensational Maytals: That’s My Number (1960s [1980s])
• Van Morrison, Recorded in Concert, LA and London (2LPs; 1973)
• Gerry Mulligan, Capitol Jazz Classics Vol. 4: Gerry Mulligan Tentette, Walking Shoes (1947, 1953 [1971])
• Randy Newman, Sail Away (1972)
• Nonesuch Explorer Series, The Koto Music of Japan (1965)
• John Prine, John Prine (1971)
• John Prine, Sweet Revenge (1973)
• Radiohead, OK Computer (2 LP; 1997)
• Radiohead, Kid A (2 x 10″; 2000)
• George Russell, George Russell Sextet at Beethoven Hall, with Don Cherry (1965 [1973])
• Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)
• Peter Tosh, You Got to Walk and Don’t Look Back (with Jagger) / Don’t Space Out 12″ (1978)
• Velvet Underground, Loaded (1970; reissue)
• Walt Disney, The Story and Songs of Black Beauty (1966 – still sealed)
• Walt Disney, Fantasia, Leopold Stokowski with the Philadelphia Orchestra (3 LPs; 1940 [1957])
• Zombies, The World of the Zonbies (1967)

Kitchener David Gray Concert with player from archive.org

Here again is that David Gray concert I recorded, which you can access in lossless format here, where you will also find the full track listing and other info.  I was happy to see that it’s gotten about 500 downloads so far and one review (four out of five stars), so it’s quite well-received. 

So here is the player for streaming quality (not nearly as good as the FLAC files which you should download if you like what you hear here). The track-listing does not appear with this widget but you can skip ahead songs by simply hitting the skip button to the right of the play button:

Latest vinyl finds – June 2010

Mostly two bucks a piece:

• Argent, All Together Now (1972)
• Maggie Bell, Queen of the Night (1974)
• James Brown, Hell (1976)
• Eric Burdon (of Animals), Stop (1975)
• Johnny Cash, Songs of Our Soil (1959)
• Johnny Cash, Ride This Train (1960)
• Johnny Cash, Orange Blossom Special (mono, 1965)
• Chubby Checker, For Twisters Only (1962)
• Chubby Checker, For Teen Twisters Only (1962)
• Clancy Brothers, In Person at Carnegie Hall, with Tommy Makem (1963)
• Nat King Cole, SIngs My Fair Lady (1963)
• Cream, Fresh Cream (1966)
• Creedence Clearwater Revival, Green River (1969)
• Sammy Davis Jr. et al, A Man Called Adam (mono; 1966)
• Eagles, Hotel California (1976) – finally a copy in near mint
• Ella Fitzgerald, Ella Sings Gershwin, with Ellis Larkins at the Piano (Decca, 1959)
• Genesis, Trespass (1970)
• Ian and Sylvia, Northern Journey (1964)
• The Jasmine Isle: Javanese Gamelan Music, recorded by Suryabrata and David Lewiston (1969)
• Kraftwerk, Trans-Europe Express (1977)
• Gene Krupa, Gene Krupa (1956, Columbia)
• Cleo Laine, Cleo’s Choice (1957 [1980])
• Led Zeppelin, Coda (1969-78 [1982])
• John Lewis, Albert Mangelsdorff and the Zagreb Jazz Quartet, Animal Dance (1962)
• Hugh Masekela, The African Connection (1972)
• John Mayall and the Blues Breakers, Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966)
• Gerry Mulligan, Mulligan and Getz and Desmond = Getz Meets Mulligan in Hi-Fi + Blues in Time (2 LP; 1957)
• Charlie Parker and Lester Young, Bird and Pres: the ‘46 Concerts, Jazz at the Philharmonic (2LP; 1946 [1977])
• Leon Russell, Carney (1972)
• Santana, Santana
• Frank Sinatra, Rarities: The Columbia Years (1940s [1988]) – still sealed
• Spirit, Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus (1970)
• Stephen Stills, 2 (1971)
• Tangerine Dream, Alpha Centauri / Atem (2LP combo; 1971 / 1973; German pressing)
• Tangerine Dream, Phaedra (1974)
• Sarah Vaughan, In the Land of Hi-Fi (1955)
• Sarah Vaughan, Sings George Gershwin (1958)

Concert recording of the week: David Gray in Kitchener, May 25 2010

David Gray is an excellent folk-rock singer-songwriter, originally from Wales (Wikipedia page here).  He is perhaps best known for his hit “Babylon” from his White Ladder album, but there are many, many excellent tunes on his other albums as well.  I finally had an opportunity to try out my new H2 recording device last week when we went to the David Gray show here in Kitchener at the Centre in the Square.  The concert was excellent, as were the acoustics of the venue.  One untuned guitar led to a loss of “Hold On” (one of my favourite Gray acoustic tunes).  The recording turned out quite well, if I do say so myself (recorded at 44.1/16bit and saved as FLAC after some equalizing and fades in Audacity).  But the first few seconds of the first track are missing and I didn’t have the device pointing in the right direction until halfway through the first track.  So judge the recording by tracks 2-19. It’s available through the David Gray collection on the Live Music Archive at archive.org:

• David Gray at Centre in the Square, Kitchener, Ontario, May 25, 2010

Latest vinyl finds – May 2010

• Animals, Greatest Hits (1964-68 [1969])
• Blood, Sweat, and Tears, Blood, Sweat, and Tears 2nd (1968)
• Byrds, Mr. Tambourine Man (1965 [RE])
• The Call, Reconciled (1986)
• Sam Cooke, The One and Only (1968)
• Chick Corea and Return to Forever, Where Have I Known You Before (1974)
• Bob Dylan, Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
• Duke Ellington, The Music of Duke Ellington Played by DE (1954 [1973])
• Bill Evans, Quiet Now (1965 [1981])
• Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams, and Count Basie, One O’Clock Jump (1957)
• Ella Fitzgerald, The Duke Ellington Songbook (1957)
• Ella Fitzgerald, Sings the Gershwin Song Book Vol. 1 (1959)
• Ella Fitzgerald, Sings the Gershwin Song Book Vol. 2 (1959)
• Ella Fitzgerald, Mack the Knife, Ella in Berlin (1960)
• Ella Fitzgerald, Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book (1963)
• Ella Fitzgerald, Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book (1964)
• Ella Fitzgerald, Stairway to the Stars (1965 Decca)
• Dizzy Gillespie, Something Old, Something New (1963)
• Dizzy Gillespie, New Wave! (1963 [Springboard Reissue])
• John Greenway, Australian Folksongs and Ballads (1960; Folkways)
• Lionel Hampton, Apollo Hall Concert 1954 (1954)
• Billie Holliday, Giants of Jazz: Billie Holliday (1933-46)
• Ian and Sylvia, Early Morning Rain (1965)
• Joe Jackson, Body and Soul (1984)
• Bob Marley, Exodus (1977)
• Bob Marley, Babylon by Bus (1978)
• Ada Moore, Buck Clayton, and Jimmy Rushing, Cat Meets Chick (1957; mint)
• The Nice, Nice (1969; Immediate UK Series)
• Oscar Peterson, Bursting Out wih the All Star Big Band! (1962)
• Oscar Peterson, Night Train (1962)
• Oscar Peterson, We Get Requests (1965)
• Bud Powell, Time Waits (1958)
• Genya Ravan, Urban Desire (1978)
• Otis Redding, The Best of Otis Redding (1964-70 [1972] German)
• Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin, Love, Devotion, Surrender (1973)
• Seatrain, Seatrain 2nd LP (1970; German press)
• Frank Sinatra, Sinatra at the Sands with Count Basie (1966)
• Bessie Smith, Giants of Jazz: Bessie Smith (3 LPs; 1923-33 [1983])
• Art Tatum, Giants of Jazz: Art Tatum (3 LPs; 1932-56 [1982])
• Sarah Vaughn, Linger Awhile (1956)

Latest vinyl finds April 2010

At the very end of the month I lucked out when I found a pile of Jazz (mainly original pressings from the 1950s and 1960s) at the antique market at amazing prices:

• Allman Brothers, Duane and Greg Allman = 31st of February demos  (1968)
• Alphaville, Forever Young (1984)
• Louis Armstrong, The Genius of Louis Armstrong, Volume 1: 1923-1933 (2 LPs; 1923-33 [1971])
• Dave Brubeck, Bossa Nova USA (1963 – better, pristine copy)
• Dave Brubeck, Anything Goes! The Dave Brubeck Quartet Plays Cole Porter (1965)
• Dave Brubeck, Jazz Impressions of New York (1965)
• Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash & June Carter (1967)
• Chick Corea, Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (1968)
• Count Basie, Blues By Basie (1957 original pressing)
• Clash, The Clash (debut 1977; UK pressing)
• John Coltrane, Giant Steps (1960 – That’s Jazz pressing)
• Creedence Clearwater Revival, Mardi Gras (1972)
• Miles Davis, Porgy and Bess (1958)
• Miles Davis, In Europe (1963)
• Paul Desmond, East of the Sun (1959 [1981])
• Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Brain Salad Surgery (1973 — this copy in pristine condition with poster)
• Terry Gibbs, That Swing Thing! (1961)
• Woody Guthrie, Dust Bowl Ballads (1940 [1988], BMG)
• Woody Guthrie, Struggle (1940s [1976], Smithsonian; still sealed!!)
• Milt Jackson, Vibrations (1964)
• Ahmad Jamal, At the Top: Poinciana Revisited (1972)
• Leadbelly, Includes Legendary Performances Never Before Released [tribute to Blind Lemon Jefferson] (1935 [1970]; Columbia)
• Leadbelly, Huddie Ledbetter’s Best. . . His Guitar, His Voice, His Piano (1944 [1962], Capitol orange label)
• Led Zeppelin, Presence (1976)
• John Mayall, Jazz Blues Fusion (1973)
• Joni Mitchell, Mingus (1979)
• Muddy Waters, Good News volume 3 (1955-58 [1971] UK, Syndicate Chapter)
• Odetta, My Eyes Have Seen (1959 Vanguard; still sealed!!!)
• Oscar Peterson, Big 6 at the Montreux Jazz Festival (1975)
• Rascals, See (1969)
• Shakti (McLaughlin and L. Shankar), Natural Elements (1977)
• Ten Wheel Drive, Brief Replies (1970)
• Dinah Washington, The Bessie Smith Songbook (1957-58 [1986])
• Stevie Wonder, Greatest Hits (1962-67 [1968])
• Stevie Wonder, Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (1968-71 [1971])
• Yes, Close to the Edge (1972) – had the CD remastered edition but find that far too compressed – nice to hear it the way it was meant to be again

“Record Club” website

There’s an interesting site (also a subsite of Beck’s) devoted to re-performing favourite albums of current musicians called “Record Club“.  What they do is gather together artists from various bands on a day and ask one of them what one of his or her favourite albums is.  Then they perform each and every song from that album together spontaneously while they are taped and video-recorded in just one day.  The site posts the audio and video of each of the songs from each album “tribute” one by one.  They are raw, of course, which is part of the fun.  Spontaneous? Yes.  So far they have Velvet Underground’s, Nico, Leonard Cohen’s Songs of Leonard Cohen, Skip Spence, and INXS’s Kick.

If I were asked what album they should do next, I’d say John Baldry’s It Ain’t Easy (but I won’t be asked;).

This was new to me.

Concert recording of the week: U2 at KRO Studios, Hilversum, Holland (Oct 1980 — before Boy!)

At the risk of focusing too much on U2 (my favourite band as a teenager), my choice this week is another extremely early soundboard recording from 1980 (known as “Touch” in some of its bootleg versions), before the release of U2’s first album, Boy, in November of that year:

• U2 Hilversum, Holland. KRO Studios October 14, 1980 (FLAC – via Qualitybootz).

Concert recording of the week: U2 at Paris Cinema Studio, London (1981)

When the members of U2 have said anything about trading of concert recordings among fans, they have been quite positive.  They are very negative about people trying to profit from bootlegs, especially poorly recorded ones.  Both Bono and Edge state the band’s opinion, including statements on the official U2.com site:

“We invite people to bootleg our shows. We invite people to make CD copies, we’ve no problems with that, but if some guy is gonna make money off the back of this, we’re gonna find out where he parks his car…” (Bono; source: KROQ Radio USA, October 2000)

“We’ve never had a problem with bootlegs or people recording our shows for their own use. Our problem has always been people ripping off our fans with inferior recordings that they sell at exorbitant prices” (October 30, 2000; source: <http://www.u2.com/news/article/733>, official site accessed March 14, 2010).

One of my favourite concert recordings is an early one from 1981 which was a planned broadcast on FM (BBC) but sourced from the pre-FM tapes:

• U2’s concert at Paris Cinema Studio in London, England, on August 23, 1981 (FLAC – via Qualitybootz).

The setlists from that leg of the October European tour can be found here.

Concert recording of the week: Cowboy Junkies at the Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver (1996)

Since I was a teenager in the 80s, I’ll begin with a band from that era who have encouraged recording and sharing of their live shows: Cowboy Junkies (main archive page here).  The Cowboy Junkies’ Trinity Session (1988), which was recorded in a church in Toronto, sounded entirely new — and haunting — to me back in the day (still did when I recently transferred it from vinyl this year), and just about everyone else my age in Toronto seemed to know about that album.  This band is in many respects a jam band, whose live shows vary from night to night and who engage in considerable improvisation.  Their covers of standards in entirely new ways really stand out to me.

There are many, many freely available recordings of Cowboy Junkies’ live shows on archive.org.  The one I’ve been enjoying most lately is a great quality soundboard recording:

• Cowboy Junkies at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, 1996 (FLAC – via archive.org).

(For those who aren’t aware, FLAC and, less common, SHN formats are the best quality formats to download and do not result in any loss of sound quality.  For downloading shows from archive, I would suggest using Firefox with the free DownloadThemAll plugin which allows you to quickly identify the links for each song in FLAC and download them quickly.)

Intro to ethical “Bootleg” choice of the week series

In an attempt to revive my activity on this blog, I’m beginning a weekly post that will point you to a downloadable live recording that I find particularly cool or interesting.  Alongside my obsession with used LPs, I’ve been getting more and more interested in “bootleg” recordings of live shows of late.  The word “Bootleg” has some negative and positive connotations, as you may imagine (in light of its being a borrowed word from the prohibition of alcohol back in the early- to mid-twentieth century in some countries — put your “illegal” alcohol in your boot to avoid detection!).

When I advocate a concert or music “bootleg” in this upcoming series, I am referring to a recording of a live concert that is not commercially released by the artist or which has been given sanction for fan-trading by the artist.  These “bootlegs,” or live recordings, should be exchanged among fans without any financial gain to the fans (i.e. for free) and with promotion of the artist (and therefore appropriate future financial benefit to the artist) in mind.  In other words, I will follow what I consider a strict ethic here.  We’re not talking about “pirating” but rather fans trading and promoting the unreleased (live or other) music of the artists they like most.  Unreleased is the key term here, because I believe it is absolutely essential to support the artists who create the music by buying what they release in LP, CD, or whatever form.  Another main issue is the quality of the sound on the bootleg, such that it does not misrepresent the quality of the artists’ performances (but these can be either “audience” recordings or “soundboard” recordings, usually the latter).  Here I will only link to very high quality bootlegs in uncompressed formats (e.g. “shorten” and “flac” formats, and never MP3s).

There are two main sites which I consider ethical (in my terms) and high quality when it comes to live recordings (there may be more, of which I am now unaware–let me know in the comments section and I’ll investigate):

• Dave’s Qualitybootz;
• The Internet Archive’s “Live Music Archive” (closely associated with etree.org), which seeks permission from the artists (or their representatives) themselves.

So most of my choices will come from these two sources at this point.  I’ll soon post my choice of this week.

Latest vinyl finds March 2010

• Beatles, Please Please Me (1963a; mono 1987 release)
• Beatles, With the Beatles (1963b; mono 1987 release)
• Beatles, Meet the Beatles (1964; stereo US version of With the Beatles)
• Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, Original Motion Picture Sound Track (1964)
• Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever ago (2008)
• Byrds, Turn! Turn! Turn! (1965)
• Byrds, Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)
• Clash, Give ‘Em Enough Rope (1978)
• Elvis Costello, Almost Blue (1981)
• Elvis Costello, Imperial Ballroom (1982)
• Cream, Wheels of Fire (in the Studio) (1968)
• Friends of Distinction, Whatever (1970)
• Peter Gabriel and others, Big Blue Ball (1991-95, 2007)
• Gentle Giant, In’terview (1976)
• Al Green, Call Me (1973)
• B.B. King, Indianola Mississippi Seeds (1971)
• B.B. King, Live in Cook County Jail (1971)
• John Mayall, USA Union (1970)
• Flying Burrito Bros (Parsons), Gilded Palace of Sin (1969)
• Gram Parsons (with Emmylou Harris), Grievous Angel (1974)
• Leon Russell, Leon Russell and the Shelter People (Philips German pressing; 1971)
• Rod Stewart / John Baldry, Rod Stewart and Steampacket (1964-66 [1977])
• Supertramp, Crime of the Century (1974; Audiophile series half-speed)
• Ten Wheel Drive, Construction #1 (1969)
• Ten Wheel Drive, Peculiar Friends (1971)
• Neil Young, On the Beach (1974)
• Neil Young, Tonight’s the Night (1975)
• Neil Young, Comes a Time (1978 – even better copy)

Latest vinyl finds Feb 2010

• Argent, In Deep (1973)
• The Association, Greatest Hits (1966-68)
• Jeff Beck, There and Back (1980)
• The Call, Let the Day Begin (1989)
• Eric Clapton, 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974)
• Van Morrison, Veedon Fleece (1974)
• Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)
• Pavel Sysoyev, Soviet Funk volume 1 (1971-76 [2009]; Secret Stash)
• Jeremy Taylor, producer, Reggae Interpretations of Kind of Blue (1981 [2009]; Secret Stash)
• The Who, Live at Leeds (1970)

CDs

• James Brown, 20 All Time Greatest Hits
• Peter Gabriel, Scratch My Back Deluxe (2010)

Latest vinyl finds Jan. 2010

• Long John Baldry, Everything Stops for Tea (1972 – John and Stewart produced)
• The Band, The Last Waltz (WB; 1978)
• Jeff Beck, Jeff Beck, Tim Bogert, Carmine Appice (1973)
• Johnny Cash, Hymns By Johnny Cash (1959)
• Miles Davis, Someday My Prince Will Come (1961)
• Miles Davis / Thelonius Monk, At Newport (1958, 1963)
• Stan Getz, Big Band Bossa Nova (1962)
• Lone Justice, Lone Justice (1985
• Curtis Mayfield, Give, Get, Take and Have (1976)
• Van Morrison, Hard Nose the Highway (1973)
• Pink Floyd, Meddle (1971)
• Simon and Garfunkel, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme (1966)
• Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska (198
• Traffic, When the Eagle Flies (1974)
• Tom Waits, Foreign Affairs (1977)
• Yes (Bill Bruford), Gradually Going Tornado (1980)

The Warner-Reprise Loss Leaders of the 1960s and 1970s – links

The Warner-Reprise Loss Leaders LPs were inexpensive compilation albums (usually 2 discs) aimed at marketing then up and coming artists on the label (e.g. Joni Mitchell, Arlo Guthrie, Van Morrison, Mothers of Invention, Jethro Tull, Neil Young) alongside the old staples.  By the 1970s, Dr. Demento was behind the compilation and liner work, so they are also quite entertaining.

The existence of these Warner-Reprise Loss Leaders was entirely new to me, but now that I have acquired seven of them (in immaculate condition from a very generous and friendly local) and have begun looking into them, I thought I would supply you with some interesting links about these compilation albums:

• Warner Bros. Records Presents Loss Leaders Revisited
  • Inside the Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders
• Rock Samplers: Warner Brothers/Reprise Records
• Sampler Daze: The Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders series
• Warner/Reprise Loss Leaders (Wikipedia article)

Latest vinyl finds Dec. 2009

Last week I lucked out in finding two very friendly and generous people who simply wanted someone to enjoy the music they had on vinyl without making money on the deal.  And so I’ve picked up a large load of LPs in absolutely perfect condition (God bless the people who recorded their records to reel-to-reel tape and only played the record once or twice!).  A good number are original pressings from the 1960s in immaculate condition.  Quite a bit of world music and reggae, too, which isn’t all that common on vinyl in Kitchener.

This will keep me occupied for a good stretch, I would say!

• Sunny Ade, In London (1977; Nigerian pressing)
• Sunny Ade, Ijinle odu (1982; Nigerian pressing)
• Sunny Ade, “Juju Music” (1982; Island)
• Sunny Ade, Synchro System (1983; Island)
• Sunny Ade, Ajoo (1983; Nigerian pressing)
• Sunny Ade, Conscience “Eri Okan” (1983; Yaba pressing)
• Sunny Ade, Vintage King Sunny Ade (1984 [1970?]; Nigerian pressing)
• Sunny Ade, Aura (1984; Island)
• Adedara Arunralojaoba, Yoruba Traditional Music (1981)
• Chet Atkins, Finger-Style Guitar (1956)
• Chet Atkins, The Most Popular Guitar (1961)
• Chet Atkins, The Best of Chet Atkins (1964; German pressing)
• Chet Atkins, Progressive Pickin’ (1965)
• Chet Atkins, More of That Guitar Country (1965; German pressing)
• Chet Atkins, The Best of Chet Atkins Volume 2 (1966; German pressing)
• Chet Atkins, Solo Flights (1968; German Pressing)
• Beach Boys, Surfer Girl (1963; German pressing)
• Beach Boys, Little Deuce Coupe (1963; German pressing)
• Beach Boys, Beach Boys’ Party! (1965; German pressing)
• Beach Boys, Surf Beat Fun (1966; German pressing)
• Beach Boys, Smiley Smile (1967; German pressing)
• Blood Sweat and Tears, BST (1968)
• Rose Brennan, Irish Pub Favourites (1963)
• James Brown, The Dynamic James Brown (1966 ; German pressing)
• T-Bone Burnett, Behind the Trap Door (1984 – Bono shows up on this one)
• Dave Brubeck, Time Changes (1963)
• Canned Heat, Canned Heat (1967)
• Johnny Cash, The Walls of a Prison (1970)
• Don Carlos, Harvest Time (1982)
• Don Carlos, Pass Me the Lazer Beam (1983)
• Ray Charles, Invites you to Listen (1967; orig. Tangerine/EMI UK pressing)
• Ray Charles, Greatest Hits (1962; UK pressing)
• Ray Charles, Greatest Hits, volume 2 (1964; UK pressing)
• Ray Charles, Live in Concert [recorded at the shrine civic auditorium, LA] (1964; UK pressing)
• Nat King Cole, The Beautiful Ballads (1967; Capitol orig. German pressing)
• Dixie Flyers, Light, Medium, Heavy (1977)
• Dixie Flyers, Just Pickin’ (1978)
• Dixie Flyers, Cheaper to Lease (1978)
• Dixie Flyers, For Our Friends (1980)
• Dubliners, More of the Hard Stuff (1967)
• Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited (1965 – orig. German pressing)
• Brian Eno, Manzanera, 801, Listen Now! (1977)
• Everly Brothers, The Very Best: Newly Recorded in Nashville (1963; German pressing)
• Marianne Faithful, Broken English (1979)
• Fats Domino, The Innovator of Rock and Roll Recorded During an Exciting Live Performance (orig. Dutch pressing, Mercury 196?)
• Fats Domino, Million Sellers Vol. 4 (1969; German pressing)
• Ella Fitzgerald, Ella Swings Lightly (1958)
• Flatt and Scruggs, The World of Flatt and Scrugs (2 LP; 1973)
• Fleetwood Mac, Future Games (1971)
• Aretha Franklin, Aretha Now (1968; UK pressing)
• Aretha Franklin, Soul, Soul, Soul (1968; orig. German pressing)
• Peter Gabriel, Birdy: Music from the Film (1985)
• Bobbie Gentry, Ode to Billie Joe (1967; German pressing)
• Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, Jazz Samba (1962)
• Goon Show (Peter Sellers), The Best of the Goon Shows (1959)
• Goon Show (Peter Sellers), The Best of the Goon Shows no. 2 (1960)
• Eddy Grant, Going for Broke (1984)
• Guitars Unlimited, Volume 2 (1966; French pressing)
• Al Hirt, Live at Carnegie Hall (1965; German pressing)
• Al Hirt, Soul in the Horn (1967; German pressing)
• Billie Holiday, Stormy Blues (2 LPs; 1954-55 [1977])
• Hollies, Romany (1972)
• John Lee Hooker, The Blues (United Records)
• Ian and Sylvia, Lovin’ Sound (1967)
• Gregory Isaacs, Night Nurse (1982)
• Gregory Isaacs, Out Deh! (1983)
• Mahalia Jackson, Great Gettin’ Up Morning (1959)
• Mahalia Jackson, In Concert (1967)
• Jethro Tull, Thick as a Brick (1972, with original news paper)
• Jethro Tull, Living in the Past (1972)
• Jethro Tull, Passion Play (1973)
• Jethro Tull, War Child (1974)
• Jethro Tull, Songs from the Wood (1977)
• Jethro Tull, Heavy Horses (1979)
• Jethro Tull, Strormwatch (1979)
• Jethro Tull, The Broadsword (1982)
• Jr. Walker and the All Stars, Soul Session (1966; UK pressing)
• Juluka, Scatterlings (1983)
• Juluka, Stand Your Ground (1984)
• Juluka (Johnny Clegg and Savuka), Third World Child (1987)
• Juluka (Johnny Clegg and Savuka), Shadow Man (1988)
• Kingston Trio, Kingston Trio (1958)
• Kingston Trio, . . . from the ‘Hungry i’ (live; 1958)
• Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Umthombo Wamanzi (1982)
• Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Shaka Zulu (1987)
• Leveillee and Gagnon, Leveillee-Gagnon (1965; French pressing)
• Claude Leveillee, 1 Voix 2 Pianos (1966)
• Limelighters, Tonight: In Person (1960)
• Little River Band, First Under the Wire (1979)
• Bob Marley, Legend (1972-81)
• Ziggy Marley, Conscious Party (1988)
• Messenjah, Rock You High (1983)
• Messenjah, Session (1984)
• Messenjah, Cool Operator (1987)
• Miriam Makeba, Pata Pata (1967)
• Mama’s and the Papa’s, If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (1966; German Pressing)
• Mama’s and the Papa’s, Deliver (1967; German pressing)
• Bob Marley and the Wailers, Confrontation (1983)
• Messenjah, Session (
• Montrose (with Sammy Hagar), Montrose (1973)
• Youssou N’Dour, Immigres (1988)
• Dean Martin, Dean Martin Hits Again (1965; German pressing)
• New Christy Minstrels, Ramblin’ (1963)
• Bob Newhart, The Button-Down Mind of (1960)
• Nice, Autumn to Spring (1968 [1973 release])
• Ebenezer Obey, Current Affairs (1980; UK pressing)
• Ebenezer Obey, Eyi yato (1980)
• Ebenezer Obey, Solution (1984; African pressing)
• Odetta, Sings Folk Songs (1963)
• Sonny Okosun, Liberation (1984)
• Peter and Gordon, Somewhere (1966; German pressing)
• Peter. Paul and Mary, Peter Paul and Mary (1962)
• Peter. Paul and Mary, Moving (1963)
• Peter. Paul and Mary, In Concert (1964; German pressing)
• Peter. Paul and Mary, A Song WIll Rise (1965; German pressing)
• Peter. Paul and Mary, See What Tomorrow Brings (1965; German pressing)
• Peter. Paul and Mary, Album (1966; German pressing)
• Peter. Paul and Mary, Album 1700 (1967; German pressing)
• Oscar Peterson and Stephane Grappelli, Quartet (2 LPs; 1973)
• Reggae compilation, Crucial Reggae Driven by Sly and Robbie (1982)
• Reggae compilation, Reggae Greats (2 LPs; 1985)
• Pete Seeger, Pete Seger Now (1968; German pressing)
• Pete Seeger, Waist Deep in the Big Muddy and Other Love Songs (1967; UK pressing)
• Pete Seeger, We Shall Overcome Recorded Live at his Historic Carnegie Hall Concert (1963; UK pressing)
• Alan Price (of the Animals), O Lucky Man! (soundtrack; 1973)
• Righteous Brothers, Best of the Righteous Brothers (1966; German pressing)
• Sam and Dave, Hold On, I’m Comin’ (1966; orig US pressing)
• Seekers, Come the Day (1966; German pressing)
• Shadows, Shadow Music (1966; German pressing)
• Paul Simon, Hearts and Bones (1983)
• Steel Pulse, Reggae Fever (= Caught You; 1980)
• Steel Pulse, True Democracy (1982)
• Steel Pulse,Earth Crisis (1984)
• Steel Pulse, Babylon the Bandit (1985)
• Steel Pulse, State of Emergency (1987)
• Billy Strange, 12 String Guitar: Folk Blues and Blue Grass (1963)
• Supremes, Greatest Hits (1 LP; orig. British Pressing)
• Tonio K, Life in the Foodchain (1978)
• Tina Turner, Private Dancer (1984)
• UB40, UB44 (1982)
• UB40, Labour of Love (1983)
• Vangelis, Chariots of Fire (1981)
• Ventures, Walk, Don’t Run vol. 2 (1964; German pressing)
• Ventures, Ventures a go-go (1965)
• Ventures, $1,000,000.00 Weekend (1967; German pressing)
• Tom Waits, Closing Time (1973)
• Tom Waits, Small Change (1976)
• Rick Wakeman, The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1973)
• Rick Wakeman, Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974)
• Rick Wakeman, White Rock (1976)
• Rick Wakeman, Criminal Record (1977)
• Rick Wakeman, 1984 (1981)
• Rick Wakeman, Silent Nights (1985)
• Warner-Reprise “Loss Leaders” / Songbook compilations
  • Songbook (2 LP; 1969)
  • Record Show (2 LP; 1969)
  • The Big Ball (2 LP; 1970)
  • Schlagers (2LP; 1970)
  • Looney Tunes Merrie Melodies (3LP; 1970)
  • Non-Dairy Creamer (1971)
  • Menu Hot Platters (1971)
  • Together (1971)
  • The Whole Burbank Catalog (2 LP; 1972)
  • Burbank (2LP; 1972)
  • The Days of Wine and Vinyl (2 LP; 1972)
  • Appetizers (2LP; 1973)
  • All Singing, All Talking, All Rocking (2LP 1973)
• Dione Warwick, The Windows of the World (1967)
• Dione Warwick, Valley of the Dolls (1968; French pressing)
• Weavers, Weavers at Home (1962)
• Weavers, At Carnegie Hall, vol. 2 (1960 [1963])
• Neil Young, Harvest (1972 -  better copy but not original pressing)
• Neil Young, Hawks and Doves (1980)

Classical and related (German pressings):

• Bach, Brandenburgische Konzerte (Baumgartner and Festival Strings Lurcerne / Archiv Producktion)
• Debussy, La Mer… (Karajan and BPO)
• Liszt / Brahms, Ungarische Fantasie fur Klavier und Orchester / Ungarische Tanze Nr. 5, 6, 3, 1 (Karajan and BPO)
• Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya, Musique baroque pour deux guitares (1967)
• Tchaikowsky, Ouverture 1812, etc. (Karajan and BPO)

Latest vinyl finds – Nov 2009

Jackpot! Just bought a load of LPs in perfect condition from someone who advertized on a local classified site and who wasn’t worried about making much money from the deal (he just wanted someone to listen to his records).

Now also a few more from the local antique market.

• Cannonball Adderley, Cannonball Adderley and Friends (1973)
• Dave Alexander, The Rattler (1972)
• Bad Company, Bad Co. (1974)
• Long John Baldry, It Ain’t Easy (1971)
• Band, Music From Big Pink (1968)
• Band, The Band (1969)
• Beach Boys, Spirit of America (2 LPs; 1962-69 [1975])
• Beatles, Rarities (1962-70 [1980 Capitol])
• Jeff Beck, Beck-Ola (1968; Orange label)
• David Bowie, Hunky Dory (1971 – 2nd copy)
• David Bowie, Aladdin Sane (1973)
• Dave Brubeck, Time Changes (1963)
• Byrds, Dr. Byrds and Mr. Hyde (1969)
• Eric Clapton, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends On Tour with Eric Clapton (1970)
• Cowboy Junkies, Trinity Sessions (1988)
• Creedence Clearwater Revival, Creedence Clearwater Revival (1968)
• CCR, Green River (1969b)
• The Doors, The Doors (1967a)
• The Doors, Strange Days (1967b)
• The Doors, Waiting for the Sun (1968)
• The Doors, LA Woman (1971)
• Bob Dylan, Oh Mercy (1989)
• Dave Edmunds / Love Sculpture, Blues Helping (1968)
• Arlo Guthrie, Best of (1967-76 [1977])
• Hothouse Flowers, People (1988)
• Faces / Small Faces, Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake (1968)
• Faces, Snakes and Ladders (1976)
• Faces, Faces Live Coast to Coast (1974 – better copy)
• Fleetwood Mac, Buckhingham Nicks (1973)
• Aretha Franklin, Aretha Now (1968)
• Peter Gabriel, Birdy – Music from the Film (1985)
• Hollies, Romany (1972)
• John Lee Hooker, The Blues (1960)
• Jefferson Airplane, The Worst of … (1970)
• Jethro Tull, Minstrel in the Gallery (1975)
• King Curtis, Live at the Fillmore West (1970)
• Kinks, Greatest Hits (Canadian version of Well Respected Kinks; 1964-66 [1972])
• Led Zeppelin, III (1970)
• Lynyrd Skynyrd, Second Helping (1974)
• Lynyrd Skynyrd, One More From the Road (1976)
• Lynyrd Skynyrd, Street Survivors (1977)
• Midnight Oil, Red Sails in the Sunset (1985)
• Van Morrison, Tupelo Honey (1971)
• Van Morrison, Irish Beat (1988)
• Graham Parker, High Times – The Best of Graham Parker and the Rumour (1980)
• Tom Petty, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1976)
• Pink Floyd, A Nice Pair – Piper at The Gates of Dawn and A Saucerful of Secrets (1967-68 [1973])
• Pink Floyd, The Wall (1979 — this is my third try at a set that doesn’t have surface noise!)
• Police, Synchronicity (1983)
• Rolling Stones, More Hot Rocks (1972)
• Roxy Music, Stranded (1973 – 2nd copy)
• Santana, debut (1969 – 2nd copy)
• Steely Dan, Countdown to Ecstacy (1973)
• Supertramp, Crime of the Century (1974)
• Ike and Tina Turner, Workin’ Together (1971)
• Ike and Tina Turner, Get Back! (best of) (1960-75)
• U2, Rattle and Hum (1988 – finally have back all the U2 records I used to have before I stupidly jumped the CD bandwagon back in the late 80s)
• Who, Who Are You (1978)
• Yardbirds, Shapes of Things (2LPs; 1978 [1964-66])
• Yardbirds, Roger the Engineer (1966)
• Yes, Fragile (1971)

Latest vinyl finds – October 2009

• Allman Brothers Band, Brothers and Sisters (1973)
• Aztec Camera, Knife (1984)
• Aztec Camera, Love (1987)
• Jeff Beck, The Yardbirds featuring Jeff Beck (1964-66 [1976])
• Jeff Beck, Truth / Beck-Ola combo (1969 – had Truth but needed Beck-Ola)
• Julian Cope, World Shut Your Mouth EP (1986)
• Elvis Costello, Spike (1989)
• Brian Eno, Ambient 1: Music for Airports (1979) — finally I’ve got an immaculate copy of this hard-to-find album
• Peter Gabriel, 4 (Security) (1982)
• Isaac Hayes, The Isaac Hayes Movement (1970)
• Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina, Sittin’ In (1971)
• The Mission, Children (1988)
• New Order, Substance (1987)
• Shawn Phillips, Rumplestiltskin’s Resolve (1976)
• Pink Floyd, Ummagumma (1969)
• Otis Redding, The Otis Redding Story Volume Two, Deep Soul (1986)
• Pete Townshend, Scoop (2 LP; 1983)
• Tom Waits, Heartattack and Vine (1980)
• Tom Waits, Franks Wild Years (1987)
• Rick Wakeman, The Myths and Legends of Sir Arthur (1975)
• The Who, Quadrophenia (1973)
• The Who, Who’s Missing (1965-72 [1985])
• Warren Zevon, Sentimental Hygiene (1987)

Latest vinyl finds – Sept. 2009

• 801,801 Live (with Eno and Manzanera; 1976)
• Band, Cahoots (1971)
• Chuck Berry, The Great Twenty-Eight (2 LP; 1955-65 [1984])
• Blondie, Eat to the Beat (1979)
• Dave Brubeck, Time Out (stereo; 1959)
• Dave Brubeck, Time Further Out (mono; 1961)
• Dave Brubeck, My Favorite Things (1962)
• Buffalo Springfield, Buffalo Springfield (2LP compilation; 1973)
• The Call, The Call (1982; out of print – still sealed!)
• Chieftans, debut (1963)
• Christmas in Mexico
• Eric Clapton / Derek and the Dominos, In Concert (2 LPs; 1973)
• Eric Clapton, No Reason to Cry (1976)
• Eric Clapton, Slowhand (1977)
• Elvis Costello, Spike (1989)
• Edgar Winter Group, They Only Come Out at Night (1972)
• Dave Edmunds, Best of (1981)
• Electric Light Orchestra, Electric Light Orchestra II (1973)
• Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Pictures at an Exhibition (1971)
• Aretha Franklin, Aretha in Paris (1968)
• Godley and Creme, The History Mix Volume 1 (1985)
• George Harrison, Concert for Bangladesh (1971)
• Hollies, He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother (1969)
• Stanley Jordon, Standards Vol. 1 (1986)
• Yehudi Menuhin and Stephane Grappelli, Fascinatin’ Rhythm (1975)
• Van Morrison, Astral Weeks (1968)
• Van Morrison, Saint Dominic’s Preview (1972)
• Graham Nash, Songs for Beginners (1971)
• The Platters, Encore of Golden Hits (1955-59 / 1973)
• Roxy Music, Stranded (1973)
• Roxy Music, The Fourth Roxy Music Album (1974)
• Sade, Diamond Life (1984)
• Ravi Shankar, In San Francisco (1967)
• Paul Simon, Paul Simon (1972;orig. pressing)
• Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra featuring Frank Sinatra (1963)
• Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA (1984; better copy)
• Strawbs, Burning for You (1977)
• Supremes, DIana Ross and the Supremes Greatest Hits (2 LPs; 1967)
• U2, October (1981 – finally found it on vinyl in mint condition – sounds much better than the original CD)
• Weavers, Reunion at Carnegie Hall – 1963 (1963)
• The Who, Tommy (2LP; 1969)
• Wilco, The Album (2009)
• Stevie Wonder, Talking Book (1972)
• World Party, Private Revolution (1986)
• Neil Young, Everybody Knows this is Nowhere (1969)
• Neil Young, Harvest (1972)
  

At 10 cents a piece and in excellent condition, I could not resist getting a number of classical and historical-related music LPs (time to broaden my horizons — previous to this, you would never guess my brother was an opera singer):

• Beethoven, Symphonie nr. 4 (Berliner Philharmoniker – Herbert von Karajan)
• Beethoven Bicentennial Collection, Vol. IV Piano Sonatas
• Dvorak, Slavonic Dances op. 46 and op. 72 (Mario Rossi conducting The Vienna State Opera Orchestra)
• O Come Sweet Music: Part Songs of the Colonial Period (Williamsburg Singers)
• Pomponio Nenna (c. 1555-1615): Madrigals and Motets (by Gesualdo and Nenna) (1973)
• Franz Schubert, Symphonies No. 5 in B flat major and No. 6 in C Major (Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra)
• Tchaikovsky Symphony no. 4 (L’Orchestre de la suisse romande, RObert Denzler)
• Vivaldi: The Four Seasons (Ruggiero Ricci and the Stradivarius Chamber Orchestra (1964)
• West Side Story (Original Sound Track Recording) (1961)

Latest vinyl finds – From Stephen Stills and Roberta Flack to The Faces and Chet Atkins (Aug./09)

A good lot of records this month, with many in near mint condition bought for .50 cents a piece (including Stephen Still’s debut that includes Hendrix and Clapton on a tune each):

• Alan Parsons Project, Tales of Mystery and Imagination – Edgar Allan Poe (1976)
• Alan Parsons Project, Pyramid (1978)
• Joan Armatrading, Joan Armatrading (1976)
• Joan Armatrading, Show Some Emotion (1977)
• Joan Armatrading, Steppin’ Out (1979)
• Chet Atkins, The Guitar Genius (1963)
• Chet Atkins, The Best of Chet Atkins (1964)
• Beatles, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967; better copy)
• Harry Belafonte, Belafonte
• Tony Bennett, I Wanna be around. . . (1963)
• Bunny Berigan, I Can’t Get Started (1978)
• David Bowie, Let’s Dance (1983)
• Tracy Chapman, debut (1988)
• Nat King Cole, Ramblin’ Rose (1962)
• Nat King Cole, Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer (1963)
• Phil Collins, Face Value (1981)
• Neil Diamond, Stones (1971)
• The Faces, Coast to Coast – Overture and Beginners (1974)
• Roberta Flack, Killing Me Softly (1973)
• Daryl Hall, Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine (1986)
• Bruce Hornsby and the Range, The Way It Is (1986)
• Janis Ian, Aftertones (1975)
• Ink Spots, The Best of the Ink Spots (2 LP; 1965)
• Iron Butterfly, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968)
• Klaatu, Sir Army Suit (1978)
• John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Double Fantasy (1980)
• Level 42, Running in the Family (1987)
• Lighthouse, Thoughts of Movin’ On (1971)
• The Mamas and the Papas, 16 of Their Greatest Hits (1966-69)
• Melanie, The Best . . . Melanie (2 LP; 1972)
• Peter, Paul and Mary, Ten Years Together (1970)
• The Police, Ghost in the Machine (1981)
• Robbie Robertson, Robbie Robertson (1987)
• Santana, Santana (1969)
• Simple Minds, New Gold Dream 81-82-83-84 (1982)
• Simple Minds, Sparkle in the Rain (1983)
• Simple Minds, Once Upon a Time (1985)
• Stephen Stills, Stephen Stills (1970)
• Stills-Young Band, Long May You Run (1976)
• Sting, Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985)
• Strawbs, From the Witchwood (1971; with Rick Wakeman on keyboards)
• 10cc, Deceptive Bends [with cover by Hignosis] (1967
• B. J. Thomas, Billy Joe Thomas [with Stevie Wonder on Harmonica] (1972)
• Ultravox, Rage in Eden (1981)
• Midge Ure, The Gift (1985)
• Stevie Ray Vaughn, Couldn’t Stand the Weather (1984)
• Rick Wakeman, The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1975)
• Barry White, Greatest Hits (1973-75)
• Steve Winwood, Steve Winwood (1977)
• Neil Young, Hawks and Doves (1980)

A few more:

• Earth, Wind, and Fire, Electric Universe (1983)
• The Elephant’s Child (narration Jack Nicholson, music Bobby McFerrin 1987)
• Marvin Gaye, Midnight Love (1982)
• Moody Blues / Justin Hayward and John Lodge, Blue Jays (1975)
• Grand Funk Railroad, Good Singin’, Good Playin’ (Frank Zappa produced; 1976)
• Stan Kenton, Kenton’s West Side Story (1961)
• Men at Work, Cargo (1983)
• Paul Simon, Graceland (1986)
• Spyro Gyra, Catching the Sun (1980)
• Midge Ure, Answers to Nothing (1988)

Tail end of August:

• Bruce Cockburn, Bruce Cockburn (debut; 1970)
• Bruce Cockburn, Salt, Sun, and Time (1974)
• Bruce Cockburn, Further Adventures of (1978)
• Jimi Hendrix,  Midnight Lightning (1975)

Latest vinyl finds – Donovon, The Band and others (July/09)

So far for July:

• The Band, Stage Fright (1970)
• The Band, Moondog Matinee (1973)
• Harry Belafonte, Calypso (1956)
• Harry Belafonte, Belafonte at Carnegie Hall (LIving Stereo; 1959)
• Harry Belafonte, Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall (Living Stereo; 1960)
• Dave Brubeck, Jazz: Red, Hot and Cool (CL 699; 1955)
• Dave Brubeck, Jazz Impressions of the U.S.A. (CL 984; 1956)
• Dave Brubeck, Brubeck Plays Brubeck (CL 878; 1956)
• T-Bone Burnett, Proof Through the Night (1983)
• Donovan, For Little Ones (1967)
• Jethro Tull, Thick as a Brick (1972)
• Manassas (Stephen Stills), Mannassas (2 LP; 1972)
• Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin, West Meets East Album 2 (1967)
• Paul Simon, Still Crazy After All These Years (1975)

Latest vinyl finds – Hendrix, the Clash, and Shankar (06/09)

• Jeff Beck, Truth (1969 – better copy)
• Harry Belafonte, This is Harry Belafonte (1970)
• David Bowie, Diamond Dogs (1974) (new copy USA, without “Best Buy”)
• David Bowie, Young Americans (1975)
• Dave Brubeck, Right Now! (1967)
• The Call, Into the Woods (1987)
• Johnny Cash, At Folsom Prison (1967)
• Eric Clapton, Eric Clapton (1970)
• Eric Clapton, Clapton (1973)
• The Clash, London Calling (1979)
• The Clash, Combat Rock (1982)
• Nat King Cole, The Best of Nat King Cole (Capitol)
• Creedance Clearwater Revival, Green River (1969)
• The Doors, Morrison Hotel (1970) (USA)
• Bob Dylan, John Wesley Harding (1967)
• Fleetwood Mac, Kiln House (1970)
• Marvin Gaye, Trouble Man – soundtrack (1972)
• Genesis, Foxtrot (1972)
• Genesis, Selling England by the Pound (1973)
• Genesis, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (1974) (better copy)
• Genesis, Duke (1980) (better copy)
• Steve Hackett, Voyage of the Acolyte (1975) (better copy)
• George Harrison, All Things Must Pass (Apple label; 197 m,0)
• Jimi Hendrix, Axis: Bold as Love (1967)
• Jimi Hendrix, Electric Ladyland (1968)
• Billy Joel,
• Elton John, Elton John (1972)
• Quincy Jones, Quincy’s Got a Brand New Bag (1965)
• Stan Kenton, Contemporary Concepts (1955)
• The Roches, Keep on Doing (Fripp produced; 1982)
• Santana, III (1971)
• Ravi Shankar, Yehudi Menuhin and Jean-Pierre Rampal, Improvisations – West Meets East – Album 3 (1976)
• Split Enz, Waiata (1981)
• Split Enz, True Colours (1980)
• Split Enz, Time and Tide (1982)
• Strawbs, Grave New World (1972) (better copy)
• Talking Heads, More Songs about Buildings and Food (1978)
• Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1 (1988)
• Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 3 (1990)

I’ve added a few more that I just picked up.

June 27: Hit a few garage sales yesterday and added quite a few more (buck a piece).

Latest vinyl finds – From King Crimson and Roxy Music to Tom Waits and Stevie Wonder

Here are my latest (all in near mint playing condition),  I’m especially glad to have found Tom Waits and Roxy Music, which are hard to find.

• David Bowie, Hunky Dory (1971)
• The Call, Scene Beyond Dreams (1984 – never released on CD)
• Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks (1974)
• Fifty-Four Fourty, Show Me (1987)
• King Crimson, In the Wake of Poseidon (1970)
• King Crimson, Red (1974)
• Van Morrison, His Band and the Street Choir (1970)
• Roxy Music, The First Roxy Music Album (1972)
• Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure (1973)
• Roxy Music, Flesh and Blood (1980)
• Chris Squire, Fish Out of Water (1975)
• Traffic, The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (1971)
• Traffic, Welcome to the Canteen (1971)
• Tom Waits, Nighthawks at the Diner (1975)
• Tom Waits, The Heart of Saturday Night (1974)
• Tom Waits, Blue Valentine (1978)
• Tom Waits, Big Time (1988)
• Stevie Wonder, Innervisions (1973)
• Stevie Wonder, Fulfillingness’ First Finale (1974)

Latest vinyl finds, or jackpot – From Dylan and the Band to Van Morrison and Strawbs

Someone who was quite obviously obsessive in record collecting (he has over 1500 records with four copies of a particular LP in some instances — whether he listened to them much is hard to tell) is selling his collection locally (for $2 a piece).  I have managed to get quite a few LPs (most in excellent condition) that I have been hunting for, including the following (and I didn’t have to browse through Bee Gees to find them).  In some cases, its time to get rid of bad sounding CDs and replace them with my own better sounding recordings from LP.  Update (March 8): I have now added here another collection, including a lot of Dylan, I bought on Saturday for $25 (for 50 records):

• Bad Company, Straight Shooter (1975)
• The Band, Northern Lights – Southern Cross (1975)
• Beach Boys, Endless Summer (2 LP; 1962-65 [1974])
• David Bowie, Pinups (1973; UK pressing)
• David Bowie, David Live (1974) – unexpectedly, a very bad recording and lame performance – may be one for resell, although I do like to keep some astounding duds
• The Byrds, The Original Singles 1965-67 (1980)
• Jim Croce, You Don’t Mess Around with Jim (1972)
• Crosby and Nash, Graham Nash, David Crosby (1972)
• Crosby and Nash, Wind on the Water (1975)
• Donovan, Sunshine Superman (1966)
• Doobie Brothers, Takin’ it to the Streets (1976)
• Doobie Brothers, Minute By Minute (1978)
• Bob Dylan, Dylan (1973) — almost universally considered Dylan’s worst album – fascinating for that reason
• Bob Dylan and The Band, Before the Flood (1974)
• Bob Dylan, Desire (1975)
• Bob Dylan, Street Legal (1978)
• Bob Dylan, Slow Train Coming (1979)
• Earth, Wind and Fire, All n’ All (1977)
• Emerson, Lake and Palmer, ELP (1970 – better copy)
• Faces, A Nod is as Good as a Wink (1971)
• Fleetwood Mac, Penguin (1973)
• Fleetwood Mac, Mystery To Me (1973)
• Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac (1975)
• Fleetwood Mac, Rumours (1977)
• Fleetwood Mac, Mirage (1982)
• Steve Hackett, Voyage of the Acolyte (1975)
• Steve Hackett, Please Don’t Touch (1978)
• Emmylou Harris, Elite Hotel (1975)
• George Harrison, Dark Horse / Hoarse (1974)
• Mark Heard, Appalachian Melody(1979)
• Jimi Hendrix, Band of Gypsys (1970)
• Don Henley, I Can’t Stand Still (1982)
• Buddy Holly, A Rock and Roll Collection (2 LP;1972)
• Buddy Holly, Greatest Hits [MCA 561 - Enhanced for stereo] (1980)
• Jethro Tull, Aqualung (1971)
• Elton John, Captain Fastastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975)
• Kansas, Point of No Return (1977)
• Van Morrison, Moondance (1970)
• Van Morrison, Tupelo Honey (1971)
• Van Morrison, Common One (1980)
• Pink Floyd, Animals (1977)
• Pink Floyd, The Final Cut, or Woe is Me: the Egotistical Ramblings of Someone with a Persecution Complex (1983) — the latter is my title for it
• Roxy Music, Manifesto (1979)
• Simon and Garfunkel, Wednesday Morning, 3am (1964)
• Simon and Garfunkel, The Graduate (1967)
• Bruce Springsteen, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. (gatefold, 1973)
• Chris Squire [of Yes], Fish Out of Water (1975)
• Steely Dan, Pretzel Logic (1974)
• Steely Dan, Gaucho (1980)
• Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman (1970)
• Strawbs, Early Strawbs (1970 [2 LPs 1974 in Canada])
• Strawbs, Grave New World (1972)
• Strawbs, Ghosts (1974)
• Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair (1985)
• 10cc, The Original Soundtrack (1975)
• U2, Live “Under a Blood Red Sky” (1983)
• U2, The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
• U2, Joshua Tree (1987)
• Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombones (1983) – a second copy for the first friend who requests it – Waits LPs are hard to find, after all
• The Who, The Who By Numbers (1975)
• Steve Winwood, Chronicles (1987)
• Woodstock: Music from the Original Soundtrack and More (1970)
• Yes, The Yes Album (1970)
• Neil Young, Decade (3 LP; 1977)
• Neil Young, Rust Never Sleeps (1979)
• Neil Young, Old Ways (1985)

Latest vinyl finds (Feb 2009) – Shawn Phillips to Bowie

• David Bowie, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)
• Neil Diamond, Tap Root Manuscript (1970)
• Shawn Phillips, Collaboration (1971)
• The Roches, The Roches (Fripp produced; 1979)

Latest vinyl finds (01/09) – From Jeff Beck to Blondie

Trading in some of the surplus LPs (doubles and unwanteds) from buying peoples’ collections, I picked up the following for “free” at local record stores:

• Jeff Beck, The Jeff Beck Group (1972)
• Jeff Beck, Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live (1977)
• Blondie, Autoamerican (1980)
• Elton John, Honky Chateau (1972)
• Elton John, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy (1975)
• Moody Blues, In Search of the Lost Chord (1968)
• Moody Blues, To Our Children’s Children (1969)
• Bruce Springsteen, The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle (1973)
• Rod Stewart, Never a Dull Moment (1972)
• The Waterboys, Fisherman’s Blues (1988)

Now add these, courtesy of my friend Tony (Jan 11 2009)

• The Alarm, Declaration (1984)
• The Alarm, Strength (1985)
• The Alarm, Change (1989)
• Aztec Camera, Highland Hard Rain (1983)
• Aztec Camera, Knife (1984)
• Bluebells, Sisters (1984)
• Cowboy Junkies, Whites Off Earth Now!! (1986)
• Crowded House, Crowded House (1986)
• Crowded House, Temple of Low Men (1988)
• English Beat, I Just Can’t Stop It (1980)
• Pogues, Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash (1985)
• Talking Heads, Little Creatures (1985)
• U2, Joshua Tree (1987)
• Waterboys, Girl Called Johnny Mini-LP (1984)

Still more:

• Aretha Franklin, The Legendary Queen of Soul (2 LPs; 1981)
• Rod Stewart, An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down (1969)
• Traffic, John Barleycorn Must Die (1970)
• Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life (1976)

Latest vinyl finds Dec 20/08 – From Patti Smith Group and Dire Straits to Strawbs

I just bought another well-kept set of records through the local classifieds at one buck a piece.  Although there are several genres, you will notice a rather progressive theme in that person’s collection.  Both Strawbs and Wishbone Ash were new to me, but I like them for what they are.  Finally I have a mint copy of Blondie’s Parallel Lines.  Neil Young’s Comes a Time sounds fantastic.  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to listen to Iron Butterfly without thinking of another rendition: “In the Garden of Eden, baby!”

• Band, The Last Waltz (1978)
• Blondie, Blondie (1976)
• Blondie, Parallel Lines (1978)
• David Bowie, Diamond Dogs (1974)
• Cream, Best of Cream (1970)
• Dire Straits, Communique (1979)
• Dire Straits, Making Movies (1980)
• Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms (1985)
• Doors, Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine (1972)
• Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Trilogy (1972)
• Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Brain Salad Surgery (1973)
• Fleetwood Mac, Rumors (1977)
• Steve Hackett, Spectral Mornings (1979)
• Jimi Hendrix, The Cry of Love (1970)
• Jimi Hendrix, Smash Hits (1969)
• Iron Butterfly, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (1968)
• Elton John, Madman Across the Water (1971)
• Kansas, Monolith (1979)
• Led Zeppelin, I (1969)
• Moody Blues, On the Threshold of a Dream (1969)
• Moody Blues, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1971)
• Moody Blues, Seventh Sojourn (1972)
• Patti Smith Group, Easter (1978)
• Queen, A Night at the Opera (1975)
• Rush, Moving Pictures (1981)
• Roxy Music, Viva! (1976)
• Santana, Amigos (1976)
• Simon and Garfunkel, Bookends (1968)
• Steely Dan, Can’t Buy a Thrill (1972)
• Strawbs, Classic Strawbs (2 LP; 1970s)
• Wishbone Ash, Argus (1972)
• Stevie Wonder, Looking Back (3LP; 1977)
• Neil Young, Comes a Time (1978)

Latest vinyl finds – From Creedence Clearwater Revival to Tom Waits

Picked these up at a new booth in an antique mall in Cambridge, ON.  I’m planning on posting on Wait’s Swordfishtrombones, which absolutely astounds me (especially since it doesn’t sound like 1983).

• The Call, Modern Romans (1983).
• Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cosmo’s Factory (1970).
• Roxy Music, Siren (1975)
• Tom Waits, Swordfishtrombones (1983).

Latest vinyl finds – From Neil Young and John Stewart to the Specials (Summer and Fall 2008)

I’ve been woefully neglectful of this blog for a while, but I do hope to return to regular posts at some point (but the imminently arriving baby may delay that further).  (My excuse is that I’ve been finishing up two books I’ve been writing lately, and I do have to lecture).  Anyways, in the mean time, here are my latest vinyl finds from the summer and fall.  Once again, I’ve rarely paid more than a buck and often about 25 cents or less each (so it’s ok that I bought Depeche Mode, I tell myself, but I would have bought Billy Joel even for 50 cents–unforgiveable).  I had the early Yes albums for a long time, but I think Drama and Going For the One are better than I expected for the late 1970s Yes.  Rush is also having a bit of a comeback in my collection since I got those for almost free (and I saw them at Ontario Place in the summer with my friend Tony).  The Pearl Bailey album is fascinating; hard to believe that this was considered censored when you listen to the relatively tame lyrics–it was 1960 (a friend, Zeba, picked it up on a curb in Ottawa for me).  The Specials’ album from 1979 (produced by Elvis Costello) is great — if you like ska.  This reminds me: I’m generally new to Elvis Costello but I find the range and writing on his albums fascinating.  I’ve now got several copies of CSNY in CD and LP — you’ll pry them from my cold, dead hands.

• Alan Parsons Project, Ammonia Avenue (1984).
• Pearl Bailey, Sings For Adults Only (Performance of this Album Restricted from Airplay) (1960).
• David Bowie, Diamond Dogs (1974).
• David Bowie, Never Let Me Down (1987).
• Bill Bragg, Back to Basics (1987).
• Bruce Cockburn, High Winds, White Sky (1971; gatefold).
• Bruce Cockburn, Sunwheel Dance (1971; gatefold).
• Bruce Cockburn, Inner City Front (1981).
• Elvis Costello, My Aim is True (1977).
• Elvis Costello, This Year’s Model (1978).
• Elvis Costello, Punch the Clock (1983).
• Elvis Costello, Goodbye Cruel World (1984).
• Elvis Costello, King of America (1986 – T-Bone Burnett produced)
• Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Deja vu (1970; gatefold, textured paper picture separate).
• Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Deja vu (1970; gatefold).
• The Cure, Standing on a Beach – The Singles (1986).
• The Cure, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987 2 LP best of)
• Depeche Mode, People are People (1984).
• Neil Diamond, Tap Root Manuscript (1970)
• Dream Academy, Remembrance Days (1987).
• Bob Dylan, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973).
• Bob Dylan, Planet Waves (1974).
• Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Triology (1972)
• English Beat, Wha’ppen (1981).
• English Beat, Special Beat Service (1982).
• English Sacred Music of the 16th Century: Combined Choirs of Oxford and Cambridge (Tallis Scholars) (1977).
• Fifty-Four Forty, 54-40 (1986).
• Fixx, Shuttered Room ( 1982).
• Fixx, Reach the Beach (1983).
• Genesis, And then there were three. . . (1978).
• Honey Drippers, Volume One (1984).
• Honeymoon Suite, Big Prize (1985).
• Hüsker Dü, Warehouse: Songs and Stories (1987).
• Billy Joel, Piano Man (1973).
• Billy Joel, Streetlife Serenade (1974).
• Billy Joel, An Innocent Man (1983).
• Janis Joplin, Greatest Hits (1973).
• Journey, Escape (1981).
• Kansas, Leftoverture (1976).
• Led Zeppelin, Houses of the Holy (1973).
• John Lennon Plastic Ono Band, Shaved Fish (1975).
• Lou Reed, Walk on the Wild Side – Best of (1977).
• New Order, Brotherhood (1986).
• Peter and the Wolf (Prokofiev) / Carnival of the Animals (Saint-Saens) (1975).
• Red Rider, As Far as Siam (1981).
• Red Rider, Neruda (1983).
• REM, Life’s Rich Pageant (1986).
• Rush, Rush (1974).
• Rush, Fly By Night (1977).
• Rush, Exit . . . Stage Left (1981).
• Rush, Signals (1982).
• Rush, Grace Under Pressure (1984).
• Rush, Power Windows (1985).
• Rush, Hold Your Fire (1987).
• Saga, In Transit (1982).
• Saga, Heads of Tales (1983).
• The Specials, Eponymous (1980).
• Bruce Springsteen, Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978).
• Bruce Springsteen, Live 1975-1985 (5 LP)
• Cat Stevens, Buddha and teh Chocolate Box (1974).
• John Stewart, California Bloodlines (1969).
• Rod Stewart, Every Picture Tells a Story (1973).
• Sting, Nothing Like the Sun (1987).
• Strange Advance, Worlds Apart (1982).
• Style Council, Introducing (1983).
• Style Council, My Ever Changing Moods (1984).
• Style Council, Our Favourite Shop (1985).
• Tears for Fears, The Hurting (1983).
• Jethro Tull, M.U. – The Best of Jethro Tull (1976).
• U2, War (1983).
• U2, Unforgettable Fire (1984).
• Van Halen, OU812 (1988).
• David Wilcox, Breakfast at the Circus (1987).
• Yes, Going for the One (1978).
• Yes, Drama (1980).
• Neil Young, After the Gold Rush (1970; NY gatefold).
• Neil Young, Harvest (1972; NY gatefold).

UPDATE:  Three more today.  I’m especially glad to have finally found the German version of Peter Gabriel 4 (deutsches album):

• Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection (1970)
• Peter Gabriel, 4:deutsches album; (1982, aka Security)
• Rod Stewart, Gasoline Alley (1973)

Check out the Vinyl Record Day blogswarm

J.A. Bartlett has put together a great set of links in connection with the Vinyl Record Run Down blogswarm this year.  Check it out here.

I had hoped to participate by writing a post (it’s been a while), but I am bogged down with writing one book and editing another right now.  And I’ve got to get the books done before a new baby arrives in the Fall and the beginning of classes (coming too fast!).  But I’ll be back once again with more posts in the future.

Transferring LPs to CD made easy – A guide (by Phil Harland)

(Last Updated Jan. 2010)

INTRO

You can greatly enlarge your music library for very little cost if you get back into vinyl like I did. I’ve been transferring LP records to CD for about two years (actually these days I usually just transfer most to an external hard-drive with my computer connected to my main stereo). I thought it would be a good idea to gather together some resources for those who would like to do the same without spending a bundle. If you arrange a very good set-up and take care with your transfers, you can end up with digitized music that sounds just as good as (if not better than) your typical bought CD. I am told that my hearing is quite sharp when it comes to music, so I have quite high requirements (without being a stuffy audiophile who insists on every element costing thousands). (I cannot stand the sound of an MP3 and will only listen to uncompressed audio, for instance, but I won’t hold it against you if you use MP3s). My main stereo includes used Paradigm Studio Reference 100 speakers and a very good amplifier (used NAD C372), which is quite revealing if there are any weaknesses in the transfers (which I have largely eliminated with my current set-up and process).

I’ll begin by outlining the key elements in transferring and then also link to several other sites that provide further information. I don’t want to reinvent the wheel here, but I do want to note what I’ve found to work best.

THE EQUIPMENT AND THE PROCESS

Here is what you need (with some of my comments on each):

1) A very good turntable

• I use a direct drive Technics SL-1200MK2 (which you can buy new for about $600 or used for about $200). Direct-drive turntables, distinguished from belt-drive, maintain a steady playing speed and prevent what they call wow and flutter (arbitrary speeding up and slowing down). Some audiophiles prefer belt-drives nonetheless, and belt-drives are the most common. (I also have a vintage Dual 1229 turntable in the basement [picked it up for $20 and had $80 of work done on it], which would have worked fine but not as well as the Technics).  Another more recent option is to buy a turntable with a USB out specifically designed for transferring (and often with in-built phono preamp).   Since such turntables are quite cheap, they are not likely to produce the quality of sound of the set-up I suggest here.  But they may well be good enough for your purposes.
• Most turntables will have two RCA connectors (red and white) which plug into the phono input of your amp and a ground wire. It is absolutely essential that you attach that ground wire to the ground connector on the back of your amplifier/receiver (or ground it in some other way), otherwise you will have a loud constant hum from the turntable.

2) An excellent turntable cartridge and needle / stylus

• I did quite a bit of research on what cartridge and needle provided excellent sound without costing an arm and a leg. At first I ended up with the Audio Technica AT 440MLa (MM), which has what they call an eliptical stylus/needle and which you can buy online for about $100 (list price is about $300).  As of 2010, I have upgraded to the AT 150MLX (similar design to the 440MLa but better), which does make quite a difference in conjunction with a better phono preamp.
• There are two main formats of cartridge: 1/2″ mount and P-Mount. Good turntables generally use 1/2″ mount. There are two main kinds of cartridge-needle combinations: MM (moving magnet) and MC (moving coil). MC cartridges are “low output” and sometimes require additional set-up requirements and equipment, but if set up properly can provide a lower noise floor (quieter background noise from the record-playing). Nonetheless, a good MM can provide excellent sound and is less complicated in making sure it all works out (I’m told a badly set up MC can sound horrible). A new cartridge and needle needs to be “broken in” for a good number of hours before it hits its peak in sound quality.
• It is important that you make all of the necessarily adjustments when hooking up the cartridge, including the weight counter-balance, antiskate setting, and cartridge alignment (on which go here for some free tools including a protractor).  You also want to make sure that the tonearm is parallel with the record surface, which is also known as setting the VTA (vertical tracking angle).

3) A very good amplifier or receiver with proper “Phono” input (and phono pre-amplifier)

• By “very good” I mean mid-range priced amps by the likes of NAD, Yamaha, or Denon. You must have a proper “phono” input on your amp or receiver since the sound-signal from a turntable needs extra amplification (a built-in “preamp” as they call it).  If you have a good amp already but it doesn’t have a phono input, you can buy a separate turntable preamp. At first, I picked up a used NAD 7155 (from the 1980s) for just $20, which has a good turntable preamp or “soundstage” and also happened to have the ability to switch between MC and MM cartridges. When buying a used amp, you may need to buy a spray bottle of cleaner from Radio Shack to clean the inside of the volume and other nobs (if there is initially static).  As of 2010, I have acquired a used Bryston BP 0.5b (basically the same as a Bryston BP 1), which is a standalone phono preamp with volume control.  This has made a significant difference to my rather sensitive ears.  I am also told that the Bellari phono preamp is a very good, relatively inexpensive on to use.
• You of course need RCA connectors (your typical stereo connectors) to link the turntable to the amp and to link the amp to the computer’s soundcard (if the soundcard uses a 3.5mm input like a small earphone input, then you need a connector that goes from red/white RCA to 3.5mm plug, which you can get at most computer stores).

4) A computer with an excellent sound card

• This is, in my opinion, essential if you want CD quality sound from your transfers. You can simply use the built-in soundcard in your computer, but most such soundcards are far inferior to soundcards that were purpose-built for high quality sound. One of the keys here is the analogue to digital converter (ADC) within the sound card.  If the converter within the soundcard is not good or is just average, then you loose a lot when you’re recording.  M-Audio produces many useful audio interfaces for linking your computer to sound equipment, and I chose the M-Audio Audiophile 2496, which has RCA in and out (analogue signal), as well as SPDIF (digital signal). The RCA connectors allow direct connections from stereo equipment.
• I should mention that I did thorough sound-tests with other equipment before choosing the 2496. I compared my in-built soundcard to the external USB Edirol UA1EX and found that the latter was better but not astoundingly better. I also tried Soundforge’s 24-bit external soundcard and found that it was inferior. I then tried the internal M-Audio 2496 and found it was considerably better that the external Edirol. As the name implies, my soundcard gives me the ability to record at 24-bit (higher quality than a CD’s 16-bit) and with sampling rates up to 96,000 (the quality of DVD audio).

5) Recording: Audacity software

• Audacity is an excellent, free audio recording program. This allows you to record any sound input into the soundcard device of your computer, in this case sound input from your turntable via your amplifier. You need to go into “Preferences” under “Edit” and click on “Audio I/O” in order to make sure that you have your high-quality soundcard (if you have one) chosen as default.
• Recording levels: The volume level of the sound from your LP that is going through the amp to your computer will not be at an optimum level (optimum level is a peak of -3 to 0 dB). You want to have a recording come close to but not exceed 0 dB (or, say – 3dB to play it safe) at its loudest moment. Any louder than 0 dB will create a terrible sound in digital music (Audacity warns you of this with a little red mark at the right end of the audio-meter). There are two ways to optimize recording level: (1) Adjust the volume level on some external equipment (e.g. amplifier, external preamplifier) such that the loudest moment on the LP reaches but does not exceed 0 dB on input meter in Audacity. (2) Adjust the volume level after you record by using the “Gain” slider to the left of the picture of your wav recording in Audacity. I find that the latter results in a lowering of the sound quality, in part because you are also adding gain (volume) to any background sound from the turntable or system, such as the equipment’s low running noise (but most others do not notice this as I do). I instead adjust the volume to an optimum level by using the large earphone output on my amplifier as my main out from the amplifier to the computer’s soundcard (which requires a earphone to RCA connector). (The tape-out RCA jacks of an amp cannot have the volume adjusted). Then I simply adjust the volume on the amplifier to arrive at the optimum level. Getting your recordings as close as possible to -3 to 0 dB also helps to have the volume of your recordings come close to those of a typical bought CD (so that you don’t find yourself always having to adjust volume level while listening). Avoid applying a software’s gain equalization feature to groups of files which makes all of your digital songs equal in volume level but may result in loss of detail in the sound quality.
• Lowering the noise floor (NEW Jan 2010).  If you want the best recordings, it is best to spend some time experimenting and lowering the noise floor.  Computer related equipment including DSL modems and monitors can add noise to your recordings if plugged into the same outlet as your turntable and amp or phono preamp.  Also, if you link your computer to another sound system or to a system that is linked to a TV cable or antenna, this can create a low hum (often caused by an electrical groundloop).  The “noise floor” is the overall running noise of the entire system as it would appear when you are recording in audacity with the volume already set to record a record but without lowering the needle to the record (in other words, you have the record player and amp on and have already set the volume to max out at 0dB but you haven’t lowered the needle to play).  At first, my noise floor was about -66 to -63dB (as viewed in Audacity) and then I moved my DSL modem and monitor to another outlet and the noise floor was lowered to -69dB.  Now with my Bryson phono preamp I have lowered things further so that, when I’m set to record maxing at 0dB, my noise floor is usually -74dB to -78dB (before setting down the needle).  This means that more of the small details in the music will have a chance to come through and you’ll have quieter sound in the silent parts of music.  If possible, link between your computer and another sound system using TOSLINK optical cables, which are not susceptible to electrical interference (digital coax and regular RCA cables will transfer noise — my TV antenna, for example, added about 10dB of noise to my recordings before I ensured my TV was utterly independent my main sound system which was connected to my computer, and optical connections between an amp and things that are connected to the TV and its reception cable, such as DVD players, permit this).
• Recording quality: Audacity by default records at a 32-bit level, which is exceptional (CD’s are 16-bit and you need to change this setting when you export). Leave it at 32-bit unless you have no room on your hard-drive. Before you record, you also need to choose the sample rate or “Project rate (Hz)” as it appears in the Audacity window. CD’s are typically 44100 Hz, so you need to use that rate if you mainly want to burn the recordings to CD. I tend to record at 48000 Hz and then convert to 44100Hz when I need a CD for the car. The bit-depth (e.g. 16 bit vs. 24 bit) is perhaps more important for sound quality, and that comes in at the exporting stage. (By the way, if your soundcard is only 16-bit, then that will be the maximum quality you will get regardless of Audacity’s ability to work at 32-bit and to export at 24-bit).
• Exporting quality and file formats: The essential stage for maintaining the quality of your recordings is when you export to other formats. Audacity allows you to export to just about every standard audio format, including MP3, FLAC, and WAV (look under “Edit” > “Preferences” > “File Formats” for options).  MP3 is a compressed format which means you loose sound quality (the most obvious loss comes with things like the deterioration of the sound of cymbals) but can fit a lot more on a CD or iPod or whatever.  WAV is an uncompressed format which means that no audio data is compressed or lost, but then it is much larger in size (in terms of the space it takes on your hard-drive or CD).  FLAC is, in a way, ideal, since it uses about half the space of a WAV file without loosing any data or detail in the sound-quality (both audacity and foobar2000 work with FLAC) and it supports “tagging” (attaching artist, date, album, album art info to the files).  With the way hard-drive sizes are going, there is no harm having large files, and if you want high quality recordings work with WAV (or AIFF on a Mac) or FLAC. (You will want to save the individual tracks as FLAC only AFTER you have used Clickrepair, since that program works with WAV only at this point).  Beyond the file format, you need to decide on what bit-depth and sample-rate to export the file at. Because I am going almost completely digital (and not usually producing actual CDs much anymore), I export all of my records at 24-bit and a sample rate of 44100 Hz, which does not take up much more space than 16 bit but does reveal more detail in the music if listened to on a good stereo system with excellent speakers. If you want to burn a CD, however, it will need to be at 16 bit, 44100 Hz. You can always export from Audacity twice for a particular recording, as I often do (once into my official music folder at 24 bit and again into my burn-a-CD folder at 16 bit). For more discussion of 16 bit vs. 24 bit recordings, go here. You will ultimately use Audacity to create track-breaks and to use fade-in and fade-out effects at the beginnings and endings of songs. However, for now you export the entire album in WAV to clean it up in a program called Clickrepair, which is the next step.

6) Restoring or Repairing the recording: Clickrepair software

• Audacity has some useful functions for cleaning up and preparing the recording of your LP. In the past I often used the “Repair” function under “Effect” to eliminate ticks or clicks that can be heard from an LP (you need to zoom into the image of the wav file). This does work but it is very time-consuming and I generally only aimed for larger clicks.
• However, there is an astounding program that I only recently discovered that does an incredible job of eliminating virtually all clicks or other faults in the recording without audibly damaging the music itself: Clickrepair. I cannot overstate how essential and effective this inexpensive ($40) program is. It was created by a mathematician / professor in Australia who wanted to transfer his LPs to digital but could not find any program to remove clicks and other artefacts without damaging the music overall. So he designed and created his own program that accurately isolates damaged areas and repairs them. This has even allowed me to salvage some LPs that I considered unusable (I generally only keep and use an LP if it has very limited noise / clicks). To remove clicks and other damaged areas from the recording, you simply “open” up the wav file of the entire album (or tracks using the “Batch” function under “File”) that you exported from Audacity (which can be saved at 16 or 24 bit depths and at various sample rates), adjust certain settings in Clickrepair, and then press “start”. You can then listen to the noise that is being removed to ensure no music is dissappearing (e.g. certain drum-beats), listen to the input sound with noise and all, or listen to the cleaned output music (listening to anything slows the program down, however — I now turn “sound output” off since I know what settings are best). The settings I use in Clickrepair are not the defaults: I always leave “Pitch Protection” on (to avoid loss of things like repeated trumpet blasts that can look like clicks in a wav file); I set the “Declick” slider to 30 (unless a record is really bad in which case I put it up to 40); and I set the “Automatic” slider to “Automatic: All” (you may wish to put that at semi-automatic at first just to understand the process). Clickrepair then saves the repaired file (at its original bit depth and sample rate), which can then be imported back into Audacity. Once back in Audacity with the clean file for the entire album, you can then insert track breaks and fade-ins or fade-outs before exporting the individual tracks using “Export multiple” (where you once again need to ensure that the export bit-depth setting is what you want).

• Here is a sample from an album in quite poor shape (usually I would discard it). This is a recent transfer of Bruce Springsteen’s “Something in the Night” from Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978) which illustrates how well the program works (to save server space, these are mere mp3s):

Before Clickrepair

After Clickrepair

7) Listening to your music: Foobar 2000

• I have found Foobar 2000 to be the best (free) program for playing music of various sample-rates and bit-depths (it can play 24 bit WAV or FLAC files which things like Realplayer cannot). This player is flexible for “tagging” information to your files (e.g. artist, date, album, track), if you are using MP3 or FLAC (but not WAV), and making various playlists from digital music on your hard-drive. (I used to run an RCA audio cable from the tape-out on the amp attached to my computer to the auxiliary input on the amp of my main stereo in a different room. Lengths of 50ft or less with RCA cables do not significantly lose audio quality to my ears.  As of 2010, I now have a digital to analogue converter — a Cambridge Audio Dacmagic — which is connected with a 50ft optical cord.  This has significantly improved the reproduction in the other room).

OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES

This sounds quite complicated but is actually quite easy once your get things together and run through the process, and the results you get are incredible. My outline here is based on my own experience, but others have far more detailed comments on various stages of the process. Here are a few of the websites I found most useful when I first started:

• Transferring LPs to CDR: Some Advice: This is among the best overall descriptions of the process, which goes into more detail than I did here.
• Convert Vinyl Records to CD: This is another useful guide to the process.
• Vinyl Engine: An excellent site that provides important information and free manuals for many turntables, as well as very good forum discussions.
• Tweaking Your Record Player: This is a rather long but helpful article on how to set up a turntable properly.
• Turntable Adjustment and Set-Up – Phono Cartridge Alignment
• Phono Hum Troubleshooting: This helps you through one of the more common issues with turntable set-up.
• Turntable Basics Advice page: Explains various terms and issues relating to turntables.
• Dynamic Comparison of LPs to CDs, part 4 (at Audioholics): This article discusses the sound quality of the LP and shows how it compares on various issues to the CD.
• 16 bit vs. 24 bit Audio Recording Demystified: This helps you to understand and decide whether to use 24 bit.
• Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary: This will explain all kinds of music and audio related concepts.
• Glossary of Audio and Music Industry Terms (by Yorkville Audio): This will help you understand some of the terminology you’ll encounter.

Latest vinyl finds (05/08/23)

• Arcade Fire, Funeral
• The (English) Beat, Wha’ppen (1981)
• Bruce Cockburn, Big Circumstance (1988)
• Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Armed Forces (1978)
• The Fixx, Shuttered Room (1982)
• Steve Miller Band, Abracadabra (1982)
• Charles Mingus, Mexican Moods (1979)
• Red Rider, As Far as Siam (1981)
• Rush, Rush (1977)
• Santana, Freedom (1987)
• Paul Simon, One Trick Pony (1980)
• Sly Stone, High on You (1975)
• U2, Unforgettable Fire (1984)

Neil Young Archives Project on Blu-Ray

Neil Young has now actively publicized the Neil Young Archives Project. The project focuses on multi-media presentations documenting the history of Young’s musical and other contributions. It allows you to listen to many rare recordings in high-quality (24/192) while simultaneously browsing through rare materials and photos gathered by Young over the years (arranged chronologically). The Blu-Ray disc and Java capability allow this simultaneous browsing. See the Guardian’s short story here, and a video of Neil himself explaining the project here.

Latest vinyl finds (05/08)

• Jeff Beck, Truth (1968).
• David Bowie, Low (1977) and Heroes (1977).
• Kate Bush, Lionheart (1978), Never Forever (1980), The Dreaming (1982), Hounds of Love (1985).
• Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Déjà Vu (1969).
• Earth, Wind and Fire, Gratitude (1975).
• Brian Eno, Music for Films (1978), Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks (1983).
• Robert Fripp, Exposure (1979).
• Fripp and Eno, No Pussyfooting (1973).
• Al Green, Greatest Hits (1975).
• Daryl Hall (Fripp produced), Sacred Songs (1980).
• INXS, Kick (1987).
• Billy Joel, 52nd Street (1978), Innocent Man (1983).
• King Crimson, Starless and Bible Black (1974), Discipline (1981).
• Van Morrison, A Period of Transition (1977), Wavelength (1978), Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (1983).
• Graham Nash and David Crosby, Graham Nash, David Crosby (1972).
• Shawn Phillips, Contribution (1970), Faces (1972).
• Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here (1975).
• Pretenders, Pretenders (1979), II (1981), Learning to Crawl (1983), Get Close (1986).
• Red Rider, As Far as Siam (1981)
• Roxy Music, Avalon (1982).
• The The, Infected (1986).
• Toto, Hydra (1979).
• Waterboys, This is the Sea (1985).
• Stevie Wonder, Music of My Mind (1972).
• Yes, Relayer (1974).

Excellent Shawn Phillips concert in Toronto

A while back I blogged on what I considered a forgotten album, which I had found in a bargain bin at the local record store (also see my post on his use of the sitar). I had never heard of Shawn Phillips, despite the fact that his Second Contribution (1969) was certified platinum. Sure I was young in 1969 (just born), but there are plenty of other albums I have from that year and before. I was amazed at this album and began to look into Shawn Phillips further, especially at his own website. There I discovered he now is a trained fireman and sea-rescuer (at the age of 65). I was surprised to find out that he was still touring and clicked on the link, only to find that he was coming to Toronto soon (playing solo)! That concert was last night at “Hugh’s Room“, a small venue in the Highpark area, and I went. I was not sure what to expect, but I was not disappointed in the least.

Shawn Phillips is still a charismatic and capturing performer! Phillips’ guitar playing in incredibly subtle and varied, as are his vocals, which range from the highest to the incredibly low. His vocal range, which is also emotionally evocative, was often noted by commentators in the past and is very noticeable on the albums I have so far (First Contribution [1969], Second Contribution [1969], and Faces [1972]). It is good to see that even forty years later he has not lost this incredible and often haunting voice.

These musical performances were accompanied by some of the most interesting and funny stories I have heard at a concert. Between pieces, Phillips discussed in an entertaining way personal anecdotes and stories ranging from his travels and career in the late-60s to his own current occupation as a sea-rescuer in South Africa. He also mentioned that he now has a live DVD-CD combination out called Shawn Phillips: Living Contribution, which you can purchase on his website, along with his earlier works.

Phillips played for over two hours, and the set included a range of pieces from the late sixties to the present (Phillips is still actively writing and playing, and he mentioned that he has written a total of over 1200 tunes over the years, if I heard him correctly). Phillips made use of about five guitars and his style of performance varied from one tune to the next, which is very desirable in a solo performance like this one. Perhaps most surprising was his sudden shift to a distorted Jimi Hendrix riff as a segue within one tune.

The highlights for me were his performance of several songs that I have become familiar with, including “Lovely lady” (from Contribution) and “The ballad of Casey Deiss” and “Woman of the land” (from Second Contribution). He also performed “Spaceman” from Collaboration (1971), “Blunt and frank” from Do You Wonder (1974), and “Lady in violet” from Transcendence (1978). Another unreleased tune was “Devil’s Highway”, which is based on Phillips’ reaction to the book with that title by Luis Alberto Urrea. Phillips told a story about first meeting Luis and their subsequent friendship. Doing a quick google, I now see a recent review of another Phillips concert by Luis Urrea himself.

I’m very glad I found that LP at the local record store a while back. You can find Phillips tour dates here.

Here is a 1989 (?) performance of “Ballad of Casey Deiss” from youtube:

There’s also a more complete version of that concert (30 minutes) here:

What does Brian Eno to do with emperor Augustus?

Hat tip to David Meadows who noticed the story on Brian Eno’s involvement with artist Mimmo Paladino in creating the ever-changing ambient music for an artistic display at Rome’s Ara Pacis Museum.

Exposure to Robert Fripp (1979)

Last week I picked up a near-mint LP copy of the original mix of Robert Fripp’s 1979 album, Exposure. I find listening to the album, whose main themes orbit suffering, a fascinating experience. Fripp (who is best known for fronting King Crimson) thought of the album as a third in a triology including the albums he produced for Peter Gabriel (2 = “Scratch” [1978]) and for Daryl Hall (Sacred Songs, recorded 1977 but only released in 1980), who both appear on this album as well (along with other guests including Phil Collins on drums and Brian Eno on synths).

The record is, tongue in cheek, Fripp’s most “commercial” offering and it begins with his comments to that effect. Just to show how “commercial” it was, Daryl Hall’s management and record label (RCA) refused to allow Hall’s voice to appear on several songs (in part) for fear of Exposure’s lack of commercial appeal (on which see the Allmusic article here). I should say that a Fripp-infused Daryl Hall is a Daryl Hall I can listen too, and I’ll be looking for that Fripp-produced album this week.

Several things stand out from my repeated exposures to Fripp’s album in the past few days. The main thing is the way in which the entire album is united by theme, namely exposure to suffering. Interspersed throughout the album’s lyrics or spoken samples are either painful expressions of the inevitability of human suffering (as in Buddhism) or dire warnings of more suffering to come (as in the apocalypse of ancient Judaism or Christianity). This is done in an intriguing way both lyrically and musically.

There’s “You burn me up, I’m a cigarette” with a very down-to-earth expression of suffering in terms of relationships, “Exposure” with its terrifying screams, and Gabriel’s “Here comes the flood” with its apocalyptic warnings of the coming end (on flood imagery and ancient apocalypticism, go here; on Dylan’s use of similar flood imagery, go here). Spoken samples are also built into the songs, as when a scientist speaks of the coming of catastrophic floods in the near future and when someone (a follower of the Buddha?) speaks of the inevitability of suffering, at least in this world.

Perhaps most astounding is the way in which the music itself takes you on a roller-coaster ride that involves the listener in suffering and relief from suffering. The album runs the gamut of genres, from experimental new wave and heavy-metal to soothing ballads and ambient music (reminiscent of Fripp’s ambient work with Brian Eno — I’ll have to post on that soon, since I also managed to find a copy of the LP No Pussyfooting). Quite often, you are moved from harsh and jarring sounds in one track, to a soothing aural experience in the next. The heavy-metal style vocals of Peter Hammil are juxtaposed with the soothing R&B voice of Daryl Hall or the gentle (Joni-Mitchell like) vocals of Terre Roche on some tracks. Yet Roche’s screams of “exposure” found on the title track are both impossible to listen to and impossible to abandon, despite the torture. And one could not ask for a more calm and emotive performance of Peter Gabriel’s “Here comes the flood”, which is stripped of the somewhat over-produced sounds on Gabriel’s debut album and replaced with Gabriel and his piano along with the subtle guitar loops of Frippertronics. Also interspersed throughout are ambient songs which likewise use the Frippertronics tape-loop experimentation begun on Fripp and Eno’s No Pussyfooting.

This is one form of suffering I would recommend.

UPDATE: It seems that the vocal samples involving a scientist’s predictions of the coming flood and the quotation regarding the inevitability of suffering are both by John G. Bennett, a British scientist who combined his scientific views with Eastern religious ideas. Interesting combination.  He started up his own school to teach such things.

Bill Bruford on Genesis, Yes, and King Crimson

I recently took the book Genesis: Chapter and Verse (2007) out of the library. It’s mainly a collection of quotations from each of the band members, as well as collaborators, on various stages in Genesis’ history. There are some interesting things in here.

Bill Bruford, who is best known as the drummer of Yes in the early years and then of King Crimson (on which see my post here), comments on his involvement with Genesis once Phil Collins became lead singer in 1976 (after the departure of Gabriel, on which see my earlier post on Trick of the Tail). Bruford became Genesis’ drummer for the 1976 tour. Seeing that Bruford was, at one point, a member of all three of the most well-known progressive rock bands, it is interesting and somewhat humorous to hear his perspective.

First of all, he comments on how Genesis was viewed in the early days:

I think everybody in Yes and King Crimson thought that Genesis would never make it because they sounded like a combination of the two groups. We thought they might be too late — we’d been there and done it. We saw them along the lines of ‘Genesis are quite fun, but they’ve got a guitarist who sits down like Robert Fripp and a drummer who plays a bit like Bill; the Americans have already had that’. . . (p. 198)

Bruford also comments on the overall atmosphere of each of the three bands in connection with his own less orchestrated style:

I like to wing it a bit on stage, but Genesis were very, very precise. I’m much more accustomed to making it up as I’m going along. . . I’d learnt the tunes from the albums, and if it felt a little different from what Phil would have done, people would look at me and say, ‘Hey, Bill, could you make it sound a bit more like the record?’. . . [N]ot being much of the session type, I didn’t do terribly well at just delivering the parts. In fact, what finally drove me out of rock n’ roll was the repetition. That’s what had separated me from Yes. Why I had found King Crimson so attractive was because they were way more open: ‘Surprise us, go ahead, let’s improvise, terrific.’. . . (p. 198).

The mood in Genesis was such a contrast to the chaos of Yes, where nobody could agree what day of the week it was . . . How we in Yes ever got anything done, I still don’t know (p. 199).

Anyone who has heard an album like King Crimson’s 21st Century Schizoid Man knows what Bruford means by improvisation.

Unexpected rock instruments: Sitar

When one thinks of traditional rock and roll, one generally pictures a band of four and the instruments are usually the drums, bass, guitar, and vocal, as well as some keyboards. (You can also throw in a harmonica and tambourine, if you like). As rock developed into the 1960s, however, a variety of other unexpected instruments came to be used in rock and roll, particularly in connection with progressive rock. This is the first of several posts dealing with the unexpected rock instrument.

The sitar is a stringed instrument with strong resonation that was used since the middle ages in classical Hindustani music in India, as explained in the Wikipedia article. The sitar has a distinctive sound and produces a rich harmony. Before the mid-1960s, it would occur to noone that the sitar could be a rock and roll instrument as well, but that’s what it became.

There were apparently two main performers who first noticed the sitar and began to get others, such as George Harrison, interested in the instrument. In 1965, David Crosby (then of the Byrds) came into contact with the musician and sitarist Ravi Shankar and began to spread the news about classical Indian music.

The second figure was Shawn Phillips, whose Second Contribution was a topic of a previous post here. Phillips himself was more directly responsible for Harrison’s use of the instrument, it seems. Phillips, who had already become familiar with playing the sitar, actually gave George Harrison lessons, as mentioned in a recent interview of Phillips in Modern Guitars Magazine:

Interviewer: I understand that you sang backup on the Beatles “Lovely Rita”. How did you get there and what was that like?

Phillips: Well, hanging out in England and working with Don, you just sort of ran into all these people at the clubs we’d got to like the Speakeasy. We’d run into Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, all these people and gradually you get to know people.

At one point I was giving sitar lessons to George Harrison. He was just getting started with the instrument. We had dinner over at his house, I don’t know how many times, and I’d sit down and give him the pointers I knew and so forth and one day he said, “Why don’t you guys come over and visit the studio? We’re doing this new album.”

We walked in and Paul said, “Hey, why don’t’ you guys sing back up on this tune?”

You don’t think about the fact that you may be making music history. We were just a bunch of guys hanging out.

The sitar was soon to become an important sound of the Beatles as they entered their more interesting, psychedelic stage. “Norwegian wood” on Rubber Soul (1965) was the first use of the sitar on a rock record, it seems, and Harrison would continue to use the sitar along with his continued involvement in Hinduism. You can read a good description of this influence on Harrison’s life in The Guardian obituary. Soon others such as the Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones likewise began to incorporate the sitar into their music, as on “Paint it black” (1966).

As to Shawn Phillips, there is an interesting video on Youtube in which Shawn Phillips explains a bit about the sitar and he and Donovan perform on Pete Seeger’s Rainbow Quest show in 1965. Whether this was before or after giving lessons to Harrison, I’m not sure:

There’s also a video there regarding George Harrison’s subsequent lessons with Ravi Shankar: