Recent Purchases

[Jack in Wilmington]

The board was kinda slow today, so I thought I'd post something.

Picked these up recently either on recommendations from other AR members or magazine articles.

1. Zebop............. Santana. Came from a Mr. P post while we were talking about the newest Santana release. Zebop is much better.

2. Emily's D+Evolution........Esperanza Spalding. This latest offering of Ms Spalding's came from a review in Stereophile when it got the "Recording of the Month" accolade.

3. I Still Do............Eric Clapton. One of our posters (you know who you are) recommended this and it's a good listen even as Eric fights some physical problems

4. Unhalfbricking.........Fairport Convention. This came sadly on the heals of Dave Swarbrick's death. He was FC's fiddle player on this excellent recording.

[sjtm]

The board was kinda slow today, so I thought I'd post something.

Picked these up recently either on recommendations from other AR members or magazine articles.

1. Zebop............. Santana. Came from a Mr. P post while we were talking about the newest Santana release. Zebop is much better.

2. Emily's D+Evolution........Esperanza Spalding. This latest offering of Ms Spalding's came from a review in Stereophile when it got the "Recording of the Month" accolade.

3. I Still Do............Eric Clapton. One of our posters (you know who you are) recommended this and it's a good listen even as Eric fights some physical problems

4. Unhalfbricking.........Fairport Convention. This came sadly on the heals of Dave Swarbrick's death. He was FC's fiddle player on this excellent recording.

Picked up Zebop based on Mr. P's post as well. Like it a lot.

[Mr Peabody]

Glad you guys liked Zebop. For your next fix you might try Marathon which is earlier than Zebop but I believe is the same singer. Overall, I still like Zebop a bit better. Also, if you can find it, Abraxas Pool, is a Santana like album with Greg Rollie (vocals/keys) and Neal Schon, it has some tasty tracks, there's a killer instrumental that starts out slow with Schon's electric guitar then later in the song he kicks the fuzz pedal on and gets down then comes in for a landing to slowly take it out. To my knowledge the album didn't do much commercially but should have gotten some recognition. The sound is Latin Rock but more of a Journey production.

Not meaning to keep rambling but do either of you have or heard any of the 3 first Journey albums before Steve Perry joined the band? I don't think it ever came to CD but a double LP was released back in the day called In The Beginning which featured the best tracks from these 3, that's the way to go. All 3 full length albums were released on CD and probably really well priced. The sound is a mix of Classic Rock & Fusion.

Jack I listened to some of Esparanza's tracks some time back, not sure if the album you mentioned, I didn't get into it. I might like an earlier Classical but her modern stuff seemed pretty wild, I don't know what you call it, maybe Avant Garde or Modern. How do you like the album you mentioned?

Have you heard of Lyndsey Sterling? She plays violin but more of a Pop or EMD style.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Glad you guys liked Zebop. For your next fix you might try Marathon which is earlier than Zebop but I believe is the same singer. Overall, I still like Zebop a bit better. Also, if you can find it, Abraxas Pool, is a Santana like album with Greg Rollie (vocals/keys) and Neal Schon, it has some tasty tracks, there's a killer instrumental that starts out slow with Schon's electric guitar then later in the song he kicks the fuzz pedal on and gets down then comes in for a landing to slowly take it out. To my knowledge the album didn't do much commercially but should have gotten some recognition. The sound is Latin Rock but more of a Journey production.

Not meaning to keep rambling but do either of you have or heard any of the 3 first Journey albums before Steve Perry joined the band? I don't think it ever came to CD but a double LP was released back in the day called In The Beginning which featured the best tracks from these 3, that's the way to go. All 3 full length albums were released on CD and probably really well priced. The sound is a mix of Classic Rock & Fusion.

Jack I listened to some of Esparanza's tracks some time back, not sure if the album you mentioned, I didn't get into it. I might like an earlier Classical but her modern stuff seemed pretty wild, I don't know what you call it, maybe Avant Garde or Modern. How do you like the album you mentioned?

Have you heard of Lyndsey Sterling? She plays violin but more of a Pop or EMD style.

Haven't heard Lyndsey Sterling, but will be sure to check her out.

I have the self-titled first album of Journey and like you I don't care for the Steve Perry years, but I do like their early stuff.

I haven't listened to the Esparanza Spalding tracks enough to really form an opinion. I've gotten into the habit of listening to the featured release on Progressive Ears if I have it in my collection, and lately I've had a good number to listen to.

[Mr Peabody]

I do like the Steve Perry albums although I stopped buying the albums after Escape, later than that sort of lost me. There's a hand full of tracks I like after that I got the Best of for like Separate Ways and Faithfully.

[dean_martin]

Recently purchased a vinyl copy of Serge Gainsbourg's histoire de melody nelson from 1971. It's one of those "glad I heard it before dying" records (not that I expect to die any time soon). I had waded through several 60s-70s girl singers/group compilations from Japan, Vietnam, France, and Italy and gravitated to the French sound. A couple standout French tracks were written by Serge Gainsbourg which led to exploring his music. Much of it is interesting pop tunes, but histoire de melody nelson is more akin to a "concept" album with deep grooves. My "favorite" albums vary over time, but I think this one will hover around the top for awhile.

[nobody]

Yeah, that Historie de Melodie Nelson album is a great listen. I'm not really too big on most of his catalog, but that one hits a sweet spot for me.

I just got a trio of new records last night...

Qluster: Echtzeit
Lovely ambient piano and synth stuff from the most recent incarnation of Cluster.

Kendrink Lamar: Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
Like a lot of people, I fell hard for Pimp a Butterfly last year so I needed to check out his previous stuff and this was not at all disappointing. Great stuff.

Tycho: Dive
Been listening to digital versions of this for a few years now and decided I needed a vinyl copy. Great chillwave music for kicking back. A nice, hazy, lazy listen on these crazy hot summer days.

[Stone]

Yeah, that Historie de Melodie Nelson album is a great listen. I'm not really too big on most of his catalog, but that one hits a sweet spot for me.

I just got a trio of new records last night...

Qluster: Echtzeit
Lovely ambient piano and synth stuff from the most recent incarnation of Cluster.

Kendrink Lamar: Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
Like a lot of people, I fell hard for Pimp a Butterfly last year so I needed to check out his previous stuff and this was not at all disappointing. Great stuff.

Tycho: Dive
Been listening to digital versions of this for a few years now and decided I needed a vinyl copy. Great chillwave music for kicking back. A nice, hazy, lazy listen on these crazy hot summer days.

Had no idea Cluster (now Qluster) was still putting stuff out. I've been listening to their stuff with Eno a fair amount lately. How does it compare?

BTW, I haven't been disappointed in anything I've heard from Kendrick Lamar. I recently bought Section 80 on vinyl, and while maybe not AS good as GKMC, TPAB, or UU, it's still really damn good.

[nobody]

Had no idea Cluster (now Qluster) was still putting stuff out. I've been listening to their stuff with Eno a fair amount lately. How does it compare?

BTW, I haven't been disappointed in anything I've heard from Kendrick Lamar. I recently bought Section 80 on vinyl, and while maybe not AS good as GKMC, TPAB, or UU, it's still really damn good.


I really like the new Qluster. If you like the stuff with Eno, you probably would as well. The new one definitely leans toward the ambient, relaxed end of the spectrum. Peaceful and quiet. I tend to play it early in the morning.

And yeah, hard to go wrong with Kendrick Lamar these days. It seems to me like hip hop in general has been having a good last couple of years, or maybe I'm just paying more attention lately.