New listens...

[3-LockBox]

in prog:

It Bites - The Tall Ships. Retro adult pop rock, but in a good way, a fitting follow-up to Kino's Picture ( I say that because of John Mitchell's involvement).

Martin Olford - The Old Road. Retro arena rock, but in a cheesy way. For fans of the genre really. Maybe fans of Arena, Pallas, or Pendragon would appreciate it.

Frost* - Experiments In Mass Appeal...maybe, if its 1986. I actually like this one though. While their last album, Milliontown, was like a harder edged, slightly proggier version of the aforementioned Kino album (again, because of John Mitchell's involvement), this album sounds like a good follow-up to the last Enchant album, Tug Of War (which I like a lot). But if Enchant's style was a tad too '80s for you, then you may want to move along (alas, John Mitchell is not singing on this new one).

Non-prog listening :

I'm still digging that new Land Of Talk album, Some Are Lakes, and I'm also enjoying the klatest from TV On The Radio and The Sea And Cake. A new one I'm still trying to digest, the latest from Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping, is an odd duck. I think I said on this here board some couple of years ago that these guys may be the new XTC, but this new one is all over the map, flirting with the hyper disco pomp of Scissor Sistors and the power pop of middle period Queen. The production kills it in places, with its groove killing stop-start mixing. I've actually noticed this on a few other releases recently and I hope its a short lived fad.

[ForeverAutumn]

in prog:

It Bites - The Tall Ships. Retro adult pop rock, but in a good way, a fitting follow-up to Kino's Picture ( I say that because of John Mitchell's involvement).

Martin Olford - The Old Road. Retro arena rock, but in a cheesy way. For fans of the genre really. Maybe fans of Arena, Pallas, or Pendragon would appreciate it.

Frost* - Experiments In Mass Appeal...maybe, if its 1986. I actually like this one though. While their last album, Milliontown, was like a harder edged, slightly proggier version of the aforementioned Kino album (again, because of John Mitchell's involvement), this album sounds like a good follow-up to the last Enchant album, Tug Of War (which I like a lot). But if Enchant's style was a tad too '80s for you, then you may want to move along (alas, John Mitchell is not on this new one).

Non-prog listening :

I'm still digging that new Land Of Talk album, Some Are Lakes, and I'm also enjoying the klatest from TV On The Radio and The Sea And Cake. A new one I'm still trying to digest, the latest from Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping, is an odd duck. I think I said on this here board some couple of years ago that these guys may be the new XTC, but this new one is all over the map, flirting with the hyper disco pomp of Scissor Sistors and the power pop of middle period Queen. The production kills it in places, with its groove killing stop-start mixing. I've actually noticed this on a few other releases recently and I hope its a short lived fad.

I didn't know that Of Montreal had a new one. Thanks for posting. Swish introduced me to this band a year or two ago and I've totally been digging them. I would never have equated them with XTC though. But I totally get the Scissor Sisters connection.

If you want to hear a band that sounds like XTC then check out The Kaiser Chiefs. They are quite the reincarnation.

I haven't been listening to much prog lately, but thanks for the reviews. I've only heard on Enchant disk, can't remember the name but it's a double CD that I bought used because it's OOP and was recommended. But it bored me.

Oh, BTW, I finally picked up the new Elbow disk that you like so much and I have to say that I agree with you...very good CD.

[3-LockBox]

I have the Kaiser Chiefs Yours Truly Angry Mob or whatever it was called - I liked it a lot, but the new one (I've only heard once) didn't float my boat.

[Finch Platte]

Is the It Bites new? If so, I can't believe they're still around!

Last one I got was this... ...way back when.

fp

[3-LockBox]

Yep, new album and same group...well...sorta. There is one new member. John Mitchell is doing the vox, so no Francis Dunnery. I think many fans of older It Bites would be a bit put-off by a replacement, since Dunnery's playing and singing is so distinctive, but I do like Mitchell - he's got such a great voice, I have no idea why he isn't singing on the new Frost. He does play geetar though.

[Mr Peabody]

Thanks for the recs, I'll have to put an ear to them.

[Pat D]

Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade; May Night Overture; Tale of Tsar Saltan, suite; Russian Easter Festival Overture; Christmas Eve, suite; Dubinushka; Sadko, musical picture; and The Snow Maiden, suite. Ernest Ansermet conducting the L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. London 443 464-2, 2 CDs. This is vintage Ansermet. This recording of Scherezade is classic, with wonderfully spacious sound, as are Ansermet's recordings of the Tsar Saltan suite, May Night, Russian Easter Festival overture, and Christmas Eve suite.

Manuel de Falla: Three Cornered Hat; La vida breve interludio y danza; El amor brujo. Teresa Berganza, soprano; Marina de Gabarian, mezzo-soprano; Ernest Ansermet, Suisse Romande Orchestra. Decca Legends 289 466 991-2. Again, these are among the best recorded performances of these works ever recorded, and the sound is first class in the first two (1961) and still very good with El amor brujo (1955).

Stokowski's Mussorgsky. Stoky's orchestral transcriptions of Pictures at an Exhibition, not perhaps quite as good as Ravel's, and A Night on the Bare Mountain; Stoky's Symphonic Synthesis of music from Boris Godunov--this is a real classic; and Stoky's rearrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestration of the Entr'acte to Act IV of Khonanschina. Matthias Bamert conducting the BBC Philharmonic. Chandos 9445. Serebrier has recorded this material for Naxos, but I much prefer the Chandos versions, especially the wonderful Boris Godunov synthesis.

The Very Best of Peter Paul and Mary. Warner Bros. Rhino R2 73161. This is a great collection.

ABBA, The Definitive Collection. UTVRecords 314 549 974-2. Inexpensive 2 CD set with lots of ABBA hits.

[3-LockBox]

whooaaa...

did I just see a ghost?

How the hell are ya Pat?

You know, not too long ago I came upon a new classical listen (for me anyway)...I was searching for quartets and qunitets and came upon this fella called Dvorak and I found that I like him a lot. Very soothing and relaxing. He also wrote some symphonies, but I have yet to look one of those up.

And of course, I had to buy one of them ABBA CDs for my wife after she went and seen Mama Mia, but at least her's was a single disc. Not as bad a listen as it sounds.

I have a couple of Decca reissues from First Impressions Music (an audiophile label) - Mozart: Three Divertmenti for Strings and Film Spectacular: Stanely Black conducting the London Festival Orchestra - both are XRCD24 mastered by JVC, both sound superb on my fullrange single driver/T-amp setup.

[bobsticks]

I picked up a couple the other day, John Coltrane's Africa/Brass and Earl Klugh's The Spice of Life.

Hyfi needs to check out the latter.

[Pat D]

whooaaa...

did I just see a ghost?

How the hell are ya Pat?

You know, not too long ago I came upon a new classical listen (for me anyway)...I was searching for quartets and qunitets and came upon this fella called Dvorak and I found that I like him a lot. Very soothing and relaxing. He also wrote some symphonies, but I have yet to look one of those up.

And of course, I had to buy one of them ABBA CDs for my wife after she went and seen Mama Mia, but at least her's was a single disc. Not as bad a listen as it sounds.

I have a couple of Decca reissues from First Impressions Music (an audiophile label) - Mozart: Three Divertmenti for Strings and Film Spectacular: Stanely Black conducting the London Festival Orchestra - both are XRCD24 mastered by JVC, both sound superb on my fullrange single driver/T-amp setup.

I guess I must seem somewhat ghostly!

I'm doing OK, but there's been some serious illness in the family and that has taken a lot of our time. I can't listen to music as much as I would like these days. I drop by AR every once in a while and see if I have something relevant to say.

[Mr Peabody]

Is this thread in addition to "What Is Spinning? or is it taking over?

[emesbee]

You know, not too long ago I came upon a new classical listen (for me anyway)...I was searching for quartets and qunitets and came upon this fella called Dvorak and I found that I like him a lot. Very soothing and relaxing. He also wrote some symphonies, but I have yet to look one of those up.

Have a listen to his Symphony No 9, "From The New World". Probably his most famous, and one of my favourite pieces of classical music.

[3-LockBox]

Is this thread in addition to "What Is Spinning? or is it taking over?

No. I don't suppose this thread could overtake that thread, nor do I care if it does. I suppose there is some sort of novelty posting on a huge, long running thread, but I usually avoid big threads like that. Whenever I have something to say about music, new or otherwise, I just post about it, in the present tense.

[Finch Platte]

...but I usually avoid big threads like that.

God, no kidding.

fp