What Are You Listening To?

[musket]

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Truth was Jeff Beck's first solo LP. It is one of the classics of heavy British Blues pointing from John Mayal, Cream, and The Yardbirds forward toward Led Zeppelin. The LP included performances by 2 of the musicians who would later form Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones) and featured Rod Stewart on vocals, Ron Wood (later with the Rolling Stones), and Nicky Hopkins (who played and recorded with the Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Who, The Beatles, John Lennon and Ringo Starr, as well as a good many other bands.)

I caught the Jeff Beck Group at the Fillmore, sometime in 70 I think. They were truly amazing. They weren't primarily a blues band, though old Beckie could apply that ripping canvas tone to I-IV-V whenever he felt like it. The number everyone wanted, of course, was Shapes of Things. The CD of Truth is one of the most wretched pieces of transfer I've ever heard.

My favorite description of Beck comes from Charles Schaar Murray's Crosstown Traffic, a book about Hendrix which is close to hagiography and contains a good deal of bullshit about the blues that could only come from a white writer entranced with all things black. It was meant to be snide but was actually right on the mark for Beck at the time-- "the king switchblade of British rock guitar."

The great thing about Beck, his playing aside, is that he does whatever he wants to do when he wants to do it and if you don't like it, eff you. One minute it's Wired, the next it's Crazy Legs, his tribute to Gene Vincent and more specifically, Cliff Gallup, the greatest rockabilly guitarist of them all.

 

[brianvds]

That's sad, I did not know that about Sinatra--that he got that depressed. I love his music. So nostalgic. I hate that "morally questionable" crap about Ava. That sucks. Different times.

I would not have suspected the extremes of depression that Sinatra went through... let alone his suicide attempts. This seems so out of place from his external persona... which proves that you never know what demons others are confronting.

It happens particularly with Hollywood and music stars: of necessity, they have to maintain a public persona that seems flawless, and then we are all surprised when they turn out human.

I agree with your dislike of the "morally questionable" reputation that Ava faced... not unlike today's "slut-shaming". Liz Taylor faced the same for breaking up the fairy-tale marriage of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds... as if she was solely to blame as the Scarlet Woman.

What I find particularly galling about it is the asymmetry between how women and men are treated: if a woman sleeps around, she's a slut; if a man does it, he's quite the ladies' man. No. Either both of them are acting in unacceptable manner, or both are acceptable. I'm not a fan of double standards.

 

[stlukesguild]

I listened to Truth as a teen on an LP that I was given by a cousin who was moving over to all reel-to-reel recordings. I probably still have it with all my old LPs stored in the basement somewhere. I really ought to sell these things considering I no longer own a turntable. I'd probably get a decent price for them. I took very good care of them replacing the dustcovers with anti-static overs and storing every LP inside an anti-static cover stored upright on my shelves.

 

[stlukesguild]

It happens particularly with Hollywood and music stars: of necessity, they have to maintain a public persona that seems flawless, and then we are all surprised when they turn out human.

Well... with Sinatra it wasn't that he had a public persona that seemed "flawless"; rather, he always came off as a badass. His suicide attempts are shocking when you think of him as this tough guy with his Mafia connections and all his womanizing. It's as if we were to discover that John Wayne or Robert Mitchum were into cross-dressing.

stlukesguild said:
I agree with your dislike of the "morally questionable" reputation that Ava faced... not unlike today's "slut-shaming". Liz Taylor faced the same for breaking up the fairy-tale marriage of Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds... as if she was solely to blame as the Scarlet Woman.

What I find particularly galling about it is the asymmetry between how women and men are treated: if a woman sleeps around, she's a slut; if a man does it, he's quite the ladies' man. No. Either both of them are acting in unacceptable manner, or both are acceptable. I'm not a fan of double standards.

Unfortunately, these double-standards continue to exist today. Some few years ago this creep hacked into the iPhones of Jennifer Lawrence, Scarlet Johansen, and Kate Upton, among others, and posted the personal nude photos online. There were any number of posts on social media blaming the actresses for having documented their personal lives and not the asshole who hacked into their phones and posted these personal images. Around the same time, the story made the news about a porn actress whose former boyfriend and pro wrestler had beat the living crap out of her because she had dared to move on and had a new boyfriend. He broke her jaw, knocked out several teeth, broke a couple of ribs, etc... I couldn't believe the number of comments by guys... who likely love porn themselves... who blamed her and suggested that if you work in porn you're obviously a slut and get what you deserve... because somehow women who are sex workers, pose nude, or even have posed wearing bikinis are somehow less than human.

 

[stlukesguild]

This is an interesting recording. It only has a single aria from one of Mozart's best and best-known operas... in this instance, The Magic Flute. The album as a whole is made up of lesser-known arias from lesser-known operas. But Sandrine Piau is an exquisite singer... one of those who could sing the phone book and I'd still listen. Perhaps she is an example of my argument over on the Recently Discovered Art thread of the importance of form over content.

 

[Artyczar]

In the 1990s, I sold my Gretsch set of drums to the drummer that was currently playing for Beck. Just a little interesting tidbit. They were blonde maple, really pretty--just a 5-piece standard set. Back then, I think I only got $700 for them. No hardware, just the drums. He was a nice guy, but I can't remember his name

 

[Artyczar]

That is so sad about the nude photos and the guy who beat up his girlfriend. This stuff happens so much outside of the celebrity world as well and it's horrible. People are so quick to judge others for the most basic things, and things that are just no ones business. the double standard, I don't think will ever really go away. I just can't see it happening no matter how much better it seems to get otherwise in today's social landscape.

 

[stlukesguild]

Continuing on my way with Mozart's "Concert Arias". These are arias that fall outside the realm of his operas. Some are alternative arias for his operas not usually included. Some were written for operas or choral works never completed. A majority are arias written as "stand-alone" works scored for voice(s) and orchestra.

 

[brianvds]

It happens particularly with Hollywood and music stars: of necessity, they have to maintain a public persona that seems flawless, and then we are all surprised when they turn out human.

Well... with Sinatra it wasn't that he had a public persona that seemed "flawless"; rather, he always came off as a badass. His suicide attempts are shocking when you think of him as this tough guy with his Mafia connections and all his womanizing. It's as if we were to discover that John Wayne or Robert Mitchum were into cross-dressing.

Perhaps they were just never caught out.

 

[stlukesguild]

As usual, I spent part of Sunday listening to Bach:

I hadn't heard these marvelous works for quite some time. The only thing that bothered me was the blatant greed of Sony. The entire 2-disc set times in at just over 80 minutes. That could easily have been put on a single disc. But then I purchased my copy several years ago through an Amazon Marketplace dealer and probably paid less than $10 for the set. Yesterday I listened to the recording through my computer on Spotify.

 

[stlukesguild]

Hilary Hahn, like Anne Sophie Mutter, is a brilliant violinist and a champion of lesser-known as well as modern works for the violin. Mozart's Violin Concerto is a brilliant and well-known staple of the repertoire. Hahn pairs this with Vieuxtemps' Violin Concerto no. 4... a late-Romantic work that certainly should be better known.

 

[Dave Woody]

 

[Dave Woody]

This is a blues in Cminor, Flavio is playing a Bb diatonic harmonica in third position.

I am no pro, but one diatonic 10 hole harmonica can be played in three keys essentially and
not all the notes the harmonica produces, work, from key to key.
A harmonica in A plays first position for songs in A.
An A harmonica plays second position for songs in E ( most common )
An A harmonica plays third position for songs in Gminor

It is all a bit tricky. Then there are bent notes to be had, flutters, tongue blocking, chords,
octaves, dynamics and using your hands cupping the mic tight and releasing that cupping
to get a wah wah effect. Then there are effects and amplifier nuances too.....love this little instrument.

 

[Dave Woody]

I once went to a classical concert...Bach, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Chopin all very beautiful but when they
did the Mozart.....it had me giggling uncontrollably.....
As a musician myself, my problem is that I don't just listen, I also absorb what is going on
from a compositional point...and this Mozart music was, to my ear, clearly teasing us by
setting up, leaving, returning to the melody and then adding a bit more, leaving again and then
later returning with greater flourishes as if icing a cake we saw him bake.

My girlfriend actually elbowed me in the ribs to stop me chortling.

 

[Dave Woody]

Music has never made me cry, but I get all emotional and cry uncontrollably trackside at Formula 1 circuits.
Something about the feel of the sound, being part of heart and souls dedicated, totally, to the thrill of it all.

Hard to describe if I am honest.

 

[brianvds]

Hilary Hahn, like Anne Sophie Mutter, is a brilliant violinist and a champion of lesser-known as well as modern works for the violin. Mozart's Violin Concerto is a brilliant and well-known staple of the repertoire. Hahn pairs this with Vieuxtemps' Violin Concerto no. 4... a late-Romantic work that certainly should be better known.

"Video unavailable." But anyway. YouTube is a great resource for discovering new music - the entire 19th century produced a HUGE number of relatively obscure works that are perfectly listenable.

 

[stlukesguild]

Mozart was indeed very playful. In fact, this is something of a hallmark of the music of the classical era. It was certainly true of Haydn & Boccherini... among others. This, unfortunately, has been interpreted by a good many post Romanticism as proof of the lack of "seriousness" of the music (as well as literature and art) of the era.

Brian... gotta love the greed of the recording companies that block videos in this or that country due to copyright disputes. There are several videos of Hahn's recording of Vieuxtemps' concerto available at my end. Maybe you can access one of them. If not, there are undoubtedly recordings by other violinists available.

 

[stlukesguild]

Looking at the cover of this CD, I thought the recording would be dominated by French bon-bons or 19th-century French composers. The first piece IS by Ernest Chausson... but the rest of the album is given over to the Russian, Sergei Prokofiev, and the Finnish, Einojuhani Rautavaara. What does this have to do with Paris, I pondered? I found the answer in a review of the recording in Paris Update:

"At first glance, the title would seem to be something of a misnomer. What do an American violinist, a Finnish conductor (Mikko Franck), and a musical program dominated by Russian and Finnish music have to do with Paris? The answer is that all of the non-French works had their world premieres in Paris, and this recording represents the culmination of the long association that Hahn and Franck have had with the Paris-based Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. And, as Hahn points out in the accompanying booklet, her own violin is Parisian, built by the renowned violin-maker Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume in 1865."

The opening piece is Ernest Chausson’s opulent Poème... a piece of lush, 19th-century Romanticism. This is followed by the lyrical first violin concerto by Prokofiev. The recording closes with Deux Sérénades, written for Hahn by the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara. Hahn has long been a champion of the composer’s music. Sadly, the composer died before he could complete the orchestration for the second serenade.

 

[stlukesguild]

Some time ago Musket made the case for female guitarists being perhaps the finest at this point in time. I can't dispute him not knowing enough about the guitar and guitarists... even within the classical music realm. I can say, however, that one could make a strong argument for women being the best living violinists. Among the many brilliant female violinists who come to mind I could include:

Julia Fischer
Tamsin Little
Kyung-wha Chung
Nicola Benedetti
Janine Jansen
Patricia Kopatchinskaja
Ekaterina Valiulina
Sarah Chang
Midori
Isabelle Faust
Rachel Podger
Rachel Barton Pine
Elizabeth Wallfisch
Hilary Hahn
Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Anne-Sophie Mutter may arguably be the finest living violinist. She certainly is my personal favorite. I never miss one of her recordings. This marvelous 4-disc set is one of a cluster of her recordings of Mozart dating from 2006 that are surely among her crowning achievements.

 

[brianvds]

Brian... gotta love the greed of the recording companies that block videos in this or that country due to copyright disputes. There are several videos of Hahn's recording of Vieuxtemps' concerto available at my end. Maybe you can access one of them. If not, there are undoubtedly recordings by other violinists available.

Yup, they're fighting a losing battle. More astute businesses have learned to make good money in the absence of copyright protection; some actually even encourage people to copy and spread their stuff around.