Listening: Great Sounding, Inexpensive Records

As in vinyl records. Here is a list of great sounding and in many cases, older, recordings. If you're a collector check the vinyl versions out if you can find them. If you prefer to stream first, buy later search for these on your streaming music service of choice. As to whether or not you enjoy the music itself your mileage may vary of course. Go ahead and explore. You may find some gems and that you've not considered nor heard of before before I pulled on your coattails with this list.

Make It Easy On Yourself by Burt Bacharach (on the original A&M Brown label)

Winners: Featuring Go Away Little Girl by Steve Lawrence on Columbia 360 Sound Stereo. Remember 360 audio?

Ruby Baby by Dion on Columbia Guaranteed High Fidelity Mono. Remember mono? It can sound fantastic.

The Lady and the Unicorn by John Reborn on Reprise Orange Steamboat Records.

Emerson, Lake and Palmer on Cotillion Blue Label Original. ELP anybody?

Big Bad John and Other Fabulous Sings and tales by Jimmy Dean on Columbia 360 Sound Stereo.

Striking It Rich by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks on Blue Thumb Original.

Walk Right In bt The Rooftop Singers on Vanguard Black Label Stereolab.

Mr. Lucky Goes Latin by Henry Mancini on the RCA Black Living Stereo Nipper label.

Island Paradise: Exciting on the Spot Recordings. The Authentic Sounds and Music of Hawaii, The 50th State. Wesley Edwards Presents (Capitol Black Label Dynagroove Stereo.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from Hugh Montenegro and His Orchestra. RCA Black Label Dynagroove Stereo.

Ambush by Marc Benno on A&M Brown Label Stereo.

Visions: American Legends" A New Look and a New Sound by Larry Elgart and His Orchestra on MGM Black Lion Label Stereo.

Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful on Kama Sutra Mono.

America The Beautiful: An Account of its Disappearance by Gary McFarland. Skye Black Label Stereo.

The Spectacular Johnny Horton, Columbia Stereo 360 Sound

Hang 'Em High: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack from Dominic Frontiers on United Artists Orange and Red Stereo.

Wildflowers by Judy Collins on Elektra Gold Label Stereo Original

My Lord What A Mornin' by Harry Belafonte on RCA Victor Black Label Nipper Living Stereo.

Center Of The Circle by Roger Kellaway on A&M Brown Label Stereo.

Jesse Winchester on Ampex Ble Label Stereo.

Enjoy finding this new music from older, established artists who cared not only for the music but the sound quality of their records as well. Start searching...

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Listening: Hania Rani's "Ghost" new music release

I first learned of Hania Rani during the pandemic while learning how to find my way around the Bandcamp website. Mesmerized by her music samples I downloaded "Live From Studio S2 (Complete Sessions)" which has become one of my go-to albums ever since. Rania is a pianist, composer and vocalist from Poland and her piano playing often times seems inspired 'in-the-moment'. Her music is well recorded and inspiring.

Ghost is a new album, just released this early May. I encourage you to check out her new music and back catalog on Bandcamp. Some albums are available via download (in a variety of formats) as well as vinyl and CD (not all are available in a physical format). While my preference is for CD or vinyl the shipping costs from European artists are prohibitive. Therefore thus far my Bandcamp purchases have all been downloads in AIFF format and all sound wonderful. Other formats are available if AIFF is not for you.  A splendid album, here are the notes from Hania's Bandcamp website regarding this fine album:

Hania Rani announces her new album, Ghosts, bringing her songwriting and beautiful vocals to the fore and featuring special guests Patrick Watson, Ólafur Arnalds and Duncan Bellamy (Portico Quartet). 


Ghosts is the sound of an ever-evolving artist and, just as the album’s title suggests she passes repeatedly and gracefully between musical worlds: as composer, singer, songwriter, and producer. This album builds on Rani’s earlier successes Esja and Home with an expanded yet still minimal setup of piano, keyboards, synths (most importantly her Prophet) and features more of her mysterious, bewitching voice. Its spirit is warm, beckoning one into an ambitious double album that unfolds at an exquisite pace, informed by her revelatory, exploratory live performances.

Ghosts is also an album of collaborations as Rani is joined by Patrick Watson, who breathes unearthly life into the ethereal ‘Dancing with Ghosts’. ‘Whispering House’is written and recorded with her friend, Ólafur Arnalds and casts a peaceful, ineluctable spell; and Portico Quartet’s Duncan Bellamy contributes vital loops to ‘Don’t Break My Heart’ and ‘Thin Line’. 

Rani’s lyrics are partially inspired by a two-month residency in a small studio in Switzerland’s mountains, where Rani was working on the soundtrack On Giacometti for a documentary about the renowned Swiss artist. “Where I stayed was once an old sanatorium in an area which used to be very popular, but now there are huge abandoned hotels where the locals say ghosts live. I mean, it's kind of a local belief system – these ghosts even have names! – but once you're deep into nature or some abandoned place, your imagination starts working on a different level.”

“The edge of life and death,” Rani summarises, “and what actually happens in between: this was what really interested me. Even singing the word ‘death’ was quite a shock. It’s such a weird word to say out loud, and people are afraid of it, which I found extremely interesting. Most of the songs probably still talk about love and things like that, but Ghosts is more me thinking about having to face some kind of end.”  

Find her latest album here https://haniarani.bandcamp.com/album/ghosts  Ghosts is also available on streaming platforms.

Thank you very much for visiting Hear More Music. Have you signed up for free updates?

Doug

Reviewing: Streaming (high-res) music using your iPad or iPhone

There is a trend by audio electronics brands of offering a separate component, a 'streamer'. This component usually has its own display and connects to your home wifi. These component streamers connect to your streaming service of choice (Qobuz, Tidal, Deezer, Spotify, etc) and send that music stream onwards ho to your audio receiver, integrated amplifier or pre-amplifier via a cable interconnect. Easy enough...but not always.

An Apple iPad can act in the same fashion as said streamer. Using an Apple Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter* you can connect the iPad to your stereo and stream high-res and standard CD quality sound from your favorite streaming app. I've included some photos to help visually explain how to connect the cable spew.

The white Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter is white and looks like this:

Connect the Adapter into your iPad's lightning port. Then connect a USB A-to-C cable from the Adapter into your amplifier's DAC (digital-to-analog convertor) or, to your own free-standing DAC. In my case I'm using an outboard Modi DAC from Schitt Audio**:

Then connect the Lightning to USB 3 Camera Adapter to power. Here is a photo of mine connected to an extension cord:

In this configuration AC powers all three, the USB 3 Camera Adapter, the iPad and the Modi DAC***. No need to run separate power supply to the Modi.

Open the App(s) of your choice and stream the music via wifi into the iPad and out into the DAC and your audio amplifier. This also allows you to enjoy and higher resolution music streams if you subscribe to such.

*https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MK0W2AM/A/lightning-to-usb-3-camera-adapter

**https://www.schiit.com/products/modi-plus

***https://www.schiit.com/public/upload/PDF/modi%20plus%20manual.pdf

Good luck and enjoy!

Doug

#ipad #streaming #hirez

Listening: Wynton Marsalis Plays Louis Armstrong’s Hot Fives and Hot Sevens

In the 1920's Louis Armstrong recorded with two groups of jazz musicians. Enter the Hot Fives and, the Hot Sevens. in 2006 Wynton Marsalis recorded many of both jazz groups songs in this live session at the Jazz At Lincoln Center in New York. If you love jazz this is a must listen. Upbeat and slow selections abound with very good sound quality, tone and pace. Aside from streaming on the usual services such as Deezer, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal and Qobuz, you can download in either (MP3 or WAV formats) from the Jazz At Lincoln Center online store at https://store.jazz.org/collections/music/products/louis-armstrong-s-hot-fives-and-hot-sevens?variant=40659316572245

I've contacted Jazz At Lincoln Center to inquire if these recordings are available on CD or vinyl LP but have not heard back from them as of posting of this review.

Whether you stream or download this music needs listening to. Jazz enthusiasts will surely embrace them and those who are just now exploring jazz as a music medium will be introduced to great music and audiophile-level sound quality (except for the MP3 lossy format).

Edit: The folks at Jazz At Lincoln Center were kind enough to respond to my question about availability of this recording on CD and vinyl LP. Unfortunately they have no other plans to release this on physical media at this time. So, streaming or via download from their website is the only way to enjoy this great recording.

Thank you very much for visiting Hear More Music!

Doug