Vinyl Me Please Classics

Joe Mac said:
I’d say whatever the second Aretha is will likely be one of those. I wouldn’t mind Nina Simone being revisited in the classics if I’m still around.
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Nina Simone would be great, but I hope it’s not her if Storf is talking about the upcoming 2-3 Classics ROTM’s being the biggest Classics titles yet. I’ve got a lot of her studio albums (all the ones I love) on vinyl and they are all sound great!

I want an artist VMP haven’t exclusively done yet. But I want someone very popular and kind of unexpected like Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Otis Redding, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield etc
 
NathanRicaud said:
Nina Simone would be great, but I hope it’s not her if Storf is talking about the upcoming 2-3 Classics ROTM’s being the biggest Classics titles yet. I’ve got a lot of her studio albums (all the ones I love) on vinyl and they are all sound great!

I want an artist VMP haven’t exclusively done yet. But I want someone very popular and kind of unexpected like Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Otis Redding, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield etc
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How about Billie Holiday? I have read a ton of jazz biographies from 'the greats' (Miles Davis, Hampton Hawes, Art Pepper, Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane...) and almost all of them mention how amazing she was and how kind of a person she was etc. She would make a nice pick imo
 
Selaws said:
How about Billie Holiday? I have read a ton of jazz biographies from 'the greats' (Miles Davis, Hampton Hawes, Art Pepper, Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane...) and almost all of them mention how amazing she was and how kind of a person she was etc. She would make a nice pick imo
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Yeah, I’d love Billie Holiday! That would be really amazing! It would be something special!
 
Selaws said:
How about Billie Holiday? I have read a ton of jazz biographies from 'the greats' (Miles Davis, Hampton Hawes, Art Pepper, Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane...) and almost all of them mention how amazing she was and how kind of a person she was etc. She would make a nice pick imo
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NathanRicaud said:
Yeah, I’d love Billie Holiday! That would be really amazing! It would be something special!
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Yeah I‘d love to get some Billie Holiday! I wouldn’t mind some Ella Fitzgerald too. More of this quality, less Miller and Bobo throwaway nonsense!
 
Joe Mac said:
Yeah I‘d love to get some Billie Holiday! I wouldn’t mind some Ella Fitzgerald too. More of this quality, less Miller and Bobo throwaway nonsense!
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Willie Bobo was definitely a weak pick for the Classics track. But Lloyd Miller’s Oriental Jazz was a very good pick in my opinion. It just isn’t to your taste Joe. Oriental Jazz is a very wanderous, storytelling, cinematic listen! It’s got a lot of different personalities/scenes. It truly is a great album. It’s not throwaway at all. Willie Bobo though is a weak pick!
 
NathanRicaud said:
Willie Bobo was definitely a weak pick for the Classics track. But Lloyd Miller’s Oriental Jazz was a very good pick in my opinion. It just isn’t to your taste Joe. Oriental Jazz is a very wanderous, storytelling, cinematic listen! It’s got a lot of different personalities/scenes. It truly is a great album. It’s not throwaway at all. Willie Bobo though is a weak pick!
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Nah it was badly recorded pastiche by largely amateur musicians. Another Now Again nonsense pick. If it wasn’t for Bobo I think I’d have it as the worst classic ever. Byrd is my least favourite but I can see why others like it, it has merit it just really reacts badly with me for whatever reason. I think Miller and Bobo are both just poor, I see little merit in them even beyond taste. I’m happy that you take something from it though.
 
Joe Mac said:
Nah it was badly recorded pastiche by largely amateur musicians.
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This is narrow-minded. It’s OK if Oriental Jazz was recorded by mostly ‘amateur musicians’. Maybe that’s why the record sounds so adventurous, pure and has that charming meandering quality to it. There’s something special about this record! It’s not just another Now Again whatever kind of record! Oriental Jazz stands out. It’s such an interesting and contrasting mix of tracks as well. It’s just such an intriguing record!
 
NathanRicaud said:
This is narrow-minded. It’s OK if Oriental Jazz was recorded by mostly ‘amateur musicians’. Maybe that’s why the record sounds so adventurous, pure and has that charming meandering quality to it. There’s something special about this record! It’s not just another Now Again whatever kind of record! Oriental Jazz stands out. It’s such an interesting and contrasting mix of tracks as well. It’s just such an intriguing record!
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Narrow minded is a really easy and weak comeback when someone articulates why they don’t think something is of value. I have no intention of pretending to like things that I don’t like, never mind things that I think are more globally weak.

I actually think it’s worse than meh. I think it’s actively poor. I find the music and the use of foreign instruments pastiche rather than respectful and the recordings are really poor. It’s just all around bad. The amateur student musicians wouldn’t be a problem if it was good but as i don’t think it is it adds to the feel of a university thesis project for me.
 
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Joe Mac said:
Nah it was badly recorded pastiche by largely amateur musicians. Another Now Again nonsense pick. If it wasn’t for Bobo I think I’d have it as the worst classic ever. Byrd is my least favourite but I can see why others like it, it has merit it just really reacts badly with me for whatever reason. I think Miller and Bobo are both just poor, I see little merit in them even beyond taste. I’m happy that you take something from it though.
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I get its subjective and stuff but I actually really like the album. Its obviously academic in the sense that he was learning to play these different instruments and wanting to put what he learnt down on a recording, but at the same time it mixes in all of his past knowledge of jazz music (of which he has a ton) to create something different. The recording isnt the best, but in a way that kind of adds to the intrigue imo.
 
Selaws said:
I get its subjective and stuff but I actually really like the album. Its obviously academic in the sense that he was learning to play these different instruments and wanting to put what he learnt down on a recording, but at the same time it mixes in all of his past knowledge of jazz music (of which he has a ton) to create something different. The recording isnt the best, but in a way that kind of adds to the intrigue imo.
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Im glad you like it similar to Nathan but it just still doesn’t feel right to me as a classics pick, especially when there are so many great albums, or albums by great artists, out there. It’s something that would fit better into Now Again reserve or the once mooted, but seemingly now dead, crate diggers sub.

Perhaps I’m more salty as well because I’ve had to put my “challenge yourself” hat on 6 times this year in classics with the 5 jazz and 1 salsa and have only gotten 1 soul album back in return, it makes the albums that I feel are just sub par even worse because that could have been a great soul album.
 
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wmeugene said:
My ideal ratio is 3 Blues, 4-5 Jazz, and 4-5 Soul with perhaps one out of left field pick every year. Agree that Bobo and Miller were fairly weak and I can't say the Salsa pick excited me that much either (still haven't picked it up, but listened on spotify).
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My ideal would be 6 blues and 6 soul haha! But I think in fairness either 4 of each of the three or 3 of each of the three and 3 left over for the odd other (funk/salsa/gospel/etc) would be acceptable too.
 
NathanRicaud said:
Willie Bobo was definitely a weak pick for the Classics track. But Lloyd Miller’s Oriental Jazz was a very good pick in my opinion. It just isn’t to your taste Joe. Oriental Jazz is a very wanderous, storytelling, cinematic listen! It’s got a lot of different personalities/scenes. It truly is a great album. It’s not throwaway at all. Willie Bobo though is a weak pick!
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I really did enjoy Willie Bobo. Far from his best album but it really does have a sprightly atmosphere and it's a logical choice considering the Fania titles that VMP was doing a couple of months later. Different labels, different sound. Willie Bobo sounded like a blend of hard-bop, Latin rhythms and American pop (that cover of Fontella Bass' 'Rescue Me,' is a personal fav).

And then the Fania re-issues were something weirdly related and yet a whole different beast.
 
NathanRicaud said:
Willie Bobo was definitely a weak pick for the Classics track. But Lloyd Miller’s Oriental Jazz was a very good pick in my opinion. It just isn’t to your taste Joe. Oriental Jazz is a very wanderous, storytelling, cinematic listen! It’s got a lot of different personalities/scenes. It truly is a great album. It’s not throwaway at all. Willie Bobo though is a weak pick!
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Not to be a contrarian, but since we're giving opinions, I'll give mine.

Oriental Jazz is my least favorite Classics of all. From the mediocre recording to the actual music. I don't like it.

Bobo is a so-so album, but it at least sounds really good. Although mostly is filler, there's one killer track (Fried Neckbones and Some Home Fries). Sits in the bottom quarter of all the Classics, but I give it plays every once in a while when I'm in that Verve easy listening mood.
 
Murfocakes said:
This sounds like almost like a positive. So you thinking about staying then Joe? What was it that impressed you about your latest subscription?

You can check out anytime you like (but you can never leave)
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Honestly it’s 99% likely I’ll be gone but if there’s an album I really want they’re a store, just like any other, particularly while they still commit postal fraud to my benefit...

Honestly I came back for QOTSA and it was a pretty spectacular version but everything else about the experience has stunk.
 
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