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What Are You Listening To?

For reasons unknown, I've long been a fan of what I'll call "classic" electronic music: stuff made at, and soon after, the dawn of the synthesizer era. Keating, Carlos, and Jarre - to name a few of the ones I consider the greats in the field.

I recently "discovered" a contemporary of theirs, Isao Tomita, and have spent a good part of today listening to a variety of his work.

My feelings are mixed. I am far from impressed with most of his stuff (for a variety of reasons). However a few pieces proved better than the others, and one was outstanding. But here's the thing: had it not been for their very good, and in one case phenomenal, quad surround sound, my overall rating of his oeuvre would have been: m'eh!

That one phenomenal case?

abum_front (Small).jpg

abum_back (Small).jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
JeffMackwood said:
For reasons unknown, I've long been a fan of what I'll call "classic" electronic music: stuff made at, and soon after, the dawn of the synthesizer era. Keating, Carlos, and Jarre - to name a few of the ones I consider the greats in the field.

I recently "discovered" a contemporary of theirs, Isao Tomita, and have spent a good part of today listening to a variety of his work.

My feelings are mixed. I am far from impressed with most of his stuff (for a variety of reasons). However a few pieces proved better than the others, and one was outstanding. But here's the thing: had it not been for their very good, and in one case phenomenal, quad surround sound, my overall rating of his oeuvre would have been: m'eh!

That one phenominal case?

View attachment 7938

View attachment 7939
Click to expand...

Wow! Talk about a flash from the past! That name brings back memories.
 
Getting back to those "classic" electronic music pioneers...

My previous post inspired me to pull out a DVD-Audio copy of Jean-Michel Jarre's Aero (2004). It's basically a remix (5.1) / remaster of his greatest hits up until that point - with a few new tracks.

It deserves to be listened to from start to finish, but if you are short on time just do Oxygene 2 and Oxygene 4. Fantastic music in an incredible surround mix.

I could listen to this stuff non-stop! (In my main HT, with everything loafing along at a few Watts per channel, I was completely immersed in the sound and the moment.)

Jeff
 
Just when I thought it could not get better, this evening I played a recently-acquired DVD-Audio version of Walter Carlos' Switched-On Bach (1967). It was in glorious Quad (4.0). Terrific mix. This was the (vinyl) album that first created a lifelong love of synthesizer music done right. It's also the album that made me realize how much deep bass could be contained on a recording - and be completely missed by a system that was incapable of reproducing it. It was not until 1978, when I acquired my first pair of Koss CM/1030s that I had any inkling as to how low and powerful it went.

DVDA (Small).JPG

ps. If I'm not mistaken, I think I once owned the quad 8-track release, but sold it, along with my other tapes, when I sold the Sears quad console / system.
 
Flint said:
I believe that's been Wendy Carlos for several decades.
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Yes, but that album, when released, was by Walter Carlos.

Had I been referencing Wendy Carlos' later releases I would have referred to her as such.

This to avoid confusion in case someone, unaware of all of this, saw my post and decided to seek out a copy.

Here, for example is a current listing for the original album, in vinyl, on Amazon.com.

And by the by, I prefer Walter's original release over Wendy's later re-workings of the same material, which, for the longest time, were the only CD copies I could find, forcing me to play the vinyl version instead.

Jeff

ps. Bruce Jenner's Olympic achievements remain Bruce Jenner's. Which is no slight on all of Caitlyn Jenner's subsequent achievements.
 
JeffMackwood said:
Yes, but that album, when released, was by Walter Carlos.

Had I been referencing Wendy Carlos' later releases I would have referred to her as such.

This to avoid confusion in case someone, unaware of all of this, saw my post and decided to seek out a copy.

Here, for example is a current listing for the original album, in vinyl, on Amazon.com.

And by the by, I prefer Walter's original release over Wendy's later re-workings of the same material, which, for the longest time, were the only CD copies I could find, forcing me to play the vinyl version instead.

Jeff

ps. Bruce Jenner's Olympic achievements remain Bruce Jenner's. Which is no slight on all of Caitlyn Jenner's subsequent achievements.
Click to expand...

My LP copy, which came out before she was a woman, says Walter, but CD copy says Wendy, so I guess it can vary.
 
It's only been the last couple of months that I've come to understand and appreciate just how large the number of DVD-A and SACD recordings have been issued (and I'm still learning of more) and especially how many contain some form of surround sound: 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 5.1 and 7.1 - to name all the ones I've seen.

The most recent being two albums in SACD 5.1 from the marvelous French chanteuse Zazie: Rodeo (2004) and Zen (1995).

Front.jpg

front.jpg
 
Listening to my huge Line Array speakers has created a nostalgia for the stuff I discovered as a kid, the very stuff that made me want to make music and build better and better stereo systems.

Today I got out my classic Wings (Paul McCartney & Ronnie Lane), "Venus and Mars" album:

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I just love these guys.. been awhile since I listened to them and can't understand why it took so long.
 
Working outside have SiriusXM Classic Vinyl. They have Southern Rock BBQ. If you like Mountain, Stevie Ray, Black Crowes, Blackfoot. You're going to enjoy. Great for pulling weeds, trimming stuff and BBQing.
 
A lesson in brilliant pop-rock (powerpop) songwriting: Jason Falkner singing "She Goes to Bed". The acoustic version is just as engaging and brilliant as the fully arranged studio version.

 
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It has been WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY too long since I last listened to this album. It's one where I like every song on the album I think...
 
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