Friday, September 30, 2022
Thursday, September 29, 2022
Monday, September 26, 2022
Saturday, September 24, 2022
Thursday, September 22, 2022
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Zoot Horn Rollo
Decca secrets’ give-away
A word about 'Pancake' pressings:
In some cases as this Decca SXL edition, its very first pressing can't be deep grooved on the label. In case of 'edge groove’ it's the circular indentification about 1cm from the edge of the label.
Apparently this groove was caused by the conversion of old 78rpm pressing plants to the production of 33rpm LPs - the groove coincides with the label position of old 78s. Sound wise these are stunning, real valve technology stuff.
However, these other very first pressings, (with the text 'original recording by' at eleven o'clock on the label, like the WBG SXL ED1 issues) were stamped with a groove 2-3mm in from the label edge.
Known as the 'pancake' pressing these editions are more usually found in boxed sets, thought to be pressed on machines used by Decca for London pressings from 1958.
Thanking Saulo Zucchello 🥇🥇🥇
Saturday, September 17, 2022
Daniel Lanois - Piano, Player
Press play on Lanois’ captivating new instrumental collection, Player, Piano, and you’ll be transported, too. Each song here is a portal, an invitation to lose yourself in the moment and disappear into a world of imagination and memory. Lanois recorded the entire collection himself, capturing a series of gentle, exotic piano performances at his studio in Toronto with the help of co-producer Dangerous Wayne Lorenz, and the results are both intimate and expansive all at once. Melodies unfold slowly with patience and grace; ethereal arrangements drift around them like fog rolling through the mountains. More than just an album, Player, Piano is a gateway into a cinematic sonic universe full of mystery and wonder, a place where the lines between reality and fantasy blur and deep truths and desires reveal themselves in profound and unexpected ways.
“Making this record transported me,” says Daniel Lanois. “I got to travel to Cuba and Mexico and Jamaica. I got to visit with the ghosts of Erik Satie and Oscar Peterson and Harold Budd. I got to go back in time to my work with Brian Eno and Kate Bush and Emmylou Harris. And I did it all without ever leaving my studio.
Thursday, September 15, 2022
Zappa & Capt. Beefheart 🥇
Look at those shoes 🥇
Zappa and Beefheart photographed in London, late October 1969. The photo was taken by Alec Byrne at an event to promote Straight Records and Trout Mask Replica. This is a new colourised version (by John H. Donovan Jr) of the original black and white photo.
Monday, September 12, 2022
Analogtechnik DST15 La Scala Platinum in spades 🔝
At my friend Marco’s place: unique first-class ALE horn system and - marking his return to the analog/vinyl spinning after 10+ years - the mighty Analogtechnik’s La Scala Platinum/Meteor DST15 mounted on the legendary, iconic Shindo Meursault RF-773 13” arm on a temporary arm-base with Be Yamamura air-bearing turntable!
The best of the crop 🥇
Ortofon DS-3 cartridge scale
In my opinion, “the” analog-lover precision-scale of choice for the most discerning cartridge fine-tuning 🥇
Wednesday, September 7, 2022
Friday, September 2, 2022
Tim de Paravicini über alles 🥇
A cool EAR/TdP’s leaflet with nice seldom seen pictures which I found in my archive.
Missing dearest Tim a lot, lately 💔