it's the music baby...

[sunnysal]

Today I had to set up the christmas tree (down here we cannot get real trees so I have a plastic/wire type christmas tree thingy). I always crank the tunes while doing this nasty job, dancing around the house while wrestling with all the little braches, etc.

ANYWAY, today I go the itch to play some stuff I had not listened to for a long time. I put on the Rolling Stones "Get your Ya Ya's out", perhaps the worst sounding live recording EVER, and low and behold I was diggin' it!

The Stones at the top of their game belting out early rock classics.

What was wierd was that I did not notice how badly recorded the music was, I was diggin' the MUSIC.

All at once I became aware of the contrast between listening to music and "hearing" it (I think I stole that from "white men can't jump" but who cares...). I was dancing to Chuck Berry tunes, not listening to the perfect rendition of the cymbals. I had not realized how my musical frontiers had begun to narrow once I had been bitten by the audio bug, how I had gravitated towards better recordings to the detriment of better music.

I later found myself tracking through the worst of my recording and discovered they contained some of my favorite music.

I am sure I would be thrilled if some of those albums were re-released in remastered form (like Elvis Costello's seminal "My Aim Is True" which sounds f*king awesome in remasters from Ryko) but I also am sure I will be listening to my rump-shaking favorites now with greater frequency and to my well-recorded by sometimes uninspired albums less.

warm regards,

tony

[ben.]

Well, Tony, that's what it's all about isn't it? Man, when the two come together, though...

[Daddy Dee]

Tony,

Glad you got the tree decorated to tunes.

You are absolutely right about Ya Ya's being horribly recorded. It was the first 8-track tape I ever purchased years ago. Of course, it sounded great in my car stereo at the time. In a nostalgic mood earlier this year ordered the CD and was astounded at how bad it sounded.

[greg928gts]

I'm in the same situation Tony, I'm constantly searching for the sythesis of great music and well recorded sound. It does limit the choices. I find that I can listen to the music if it's just on in the background, that's when I put on the old cd's of music that I enjoy. But when I sit down to seriously listen to my system, I'm there for the experience, and I'll always choose the better recording.

Greg

[jdm56]

tics me off, really. People in the business of making and selling SOUND, who seem to not know how, or maybe just not care how to do it well. Especially on anything recorded since the late 50's. There is really no excuse.

[jt1stcav]

Ditto. I find that alot of the music I like to listen to but don't due to their lousy sound are on the RCA Red Seal label from the '70s. MCA digitally remastered a few of these old recordings on CD and at least they're tolerable now (not perfect, but as close as they can get to being enjoyable).

[D-MAN]

I think that they got it right in the otherwise bad movie "Mr. Holland's Opus" with the "Is it fun?" question about playing music.

When it is, it carries through to the listener, and well, that's it - It's FUN...

DM