[GRX]

Decided to start off with a few Jazz favorites on original release vinyl. One thing I like about these is the detailed info provided about the music. This genre sounds great through my early 70's era 5-way speakers with 15" woofers in sealed enclosures. Much better then boomy bass reflex boxes.

The final image makes a great statement about needles. No idea how many hours are on my diamond. Wonder where I could find a mid-50's vintage "Columbia Needle" these days.

[GRX]

Naturally had to bust out the Bitches Brew. No Jazz collection would be complete without it. Both sides of the first record are a single song each. Twenty seven minutes of Fusion Jazz euphoria. Plus great gatefold artwork.

[Alvin]

Awesome collection GRX thx for sharing

[bird72]

I dig seeing what others play! Great stuff......

I like to mix it up, records that don't go together in a row, keep it hoppin'....

My Feat choice triggered a non vinyl play, a really great boot kind of tape.

Any Old And In The Way fans? Also, the 72 Ann Arbor has some great stuff. Early Bonnie Raitt, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Freddie King, Howlin' Wolf... yowza.....


Eclectic mix.......
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This one has amazing sound, still......
.

[bird72]

Grateful Dead bootleg, circa 72. It is cool people lugged reel to reels to shows and somehow found a way to press to vinyl. I understand there were two ways to do this. One is have an "in" at a pressing plant and do an unauthorized midnight run. The more amazing way was there were some mad scientist basement pressers.... The first bootleg of magnitude was Bob Dylan's basement tapes (with The Band). Dylan was in seclusion in Woodstock, NY after bike accident. He and management let tapes out for others to record so his music was out there (Mighty Quinn example). Pretty soon tape was being copied and floated around. Soon vinyl pressings happened and bootlegs were born. Today with downloadable anything, the pirate thrill we got is gone. But it is fun in the analog world to track down source stuff "from the day".
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Typical econo artwork and lettering cover. Hand drawn copy of skull & roses album cover.
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They did splurge on a photo back cover of Captain Tripps.
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Plain center vinyl is thick as a 78!

Coincidently I was at that show as a fifteen year old kid as older sis corrupted me. I got to tell Dead bassist Phil Lesh that story once and his response was: "And you haven't been the same since, right?"........

[Diego]

A distant relative co-wrote several Little Feat songs.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by Diego

A distant relative co-wrote several Little Feat songs.

Reminds me of this Iconic College Station TX local Biz "Dixie Chicken" http://www.dixiechicken.com/history.php I'll have to break out my Little Feat LPs now which will then lead me to Dixie Dregs from my North Carlina Days

"Dixie Dregs biography
Formed and headed by composer/guitarist extraordinaire Steve Morse (KANSAS, DEEP PURPLE) in 1975, the DIXIE DREGS are a bunch of extremely talented musicians whose intricate style has a definite MAHAVISHNU flavour plus an off-beat, weird sense of humour. A perfect mix of power and finesse American style, they blend Southern boogie with lots of prog goodies thrown in such as funk-driven licks, fun country-style pickin' fusion, baroque acoustic classical bits, rockabilly metal, bluegrass and jazz - think of them as a more complex, instrumental version of KANSAS. They split up in 1982 but made a successful reunion again in 1992, gracing us with a total of seven studio albums, four live cd's and one standard 'greatest hits' type package ("Divided We Stand", '89).

"Free Fall" ('77) and "What If" ('78) are definite favourites although the more jazzy "Dregs of the Earth" ('80), "Unsung Heroes" ('82) and "Full Circle" are certainly worth checking out. "Industry Standard" ('82) isn't exactly bad but it does show the band taking on a slightly more commercial direction. The album "Bring 'Em Back Alive" ('92), recorded over two nights at Atlanta's Center Stage, is a must-have for all DREGS fans.

If you like hot, jaw-dropping fusion, you can't go wrong with these guys, especially with such albums as "Free Fall", "What If" and "Bring 'Em Back Alive". All are very highly recommended.

: : : Lise (HIBOU), CANADA : : :
Dixie Dregs official website HERE

[Diego]

Not only did he co-write "Dixie Chicken," but he also was involved with the Fraternity of Man, the group who did "Don't Bogart Me," which was made famous in Easy Rider.

[Alvin]

That's really cool Diego...remember that "Don't Bogart Me" expression, song and seeing Easy Rider for the 1st time @ Drive-In when it was a new release w parents (in '69?)...

Here's one of the Dregs albums in my collection and worth a listen to IMHO.
DREGS of the EARTH" Dig the cover art.

[Alvin]

How do you evaluate used vinyl before purchasing?

Stopped in @ local 1/2 Price Books that also sells new & used vinyl. They DO NOT have Pre-listening capability prior to purchase (sure they have a liberal return if defective policy though) as most shops used to back in the 80s & 90s.

Occurred to me as I pulled a "Peter Gun" LP out of the sleeve that displayed a big scratch - how do I know what quality stylus and equipment these were played with?

What do you do for evaluation?

[Half-Inch Stud]

Kinda regret selling my clean Little Feet Waiting for Columbus album.

[GRX]

Unfortunately there is no way to be sure unless you actually listen to the record. Consider that playing one is a destructive process, coupled with the possibility it may have been played with a poorly tracking needle, the record may look flawless yet fidelity could be seriously compromised.

Back in the 80's a couple friends and I would make long road trips to LP conventions during the period when everyone was unloading their records in favor of CD's. While they were looking through the various rock sections for better copies of things they already had, my main objective was obscure Jazz and Blues recordings which I had not heard before. Most of which still have not been transcribed to digital formats even today. Sadly, I unloaded most of my good recordings, along with over a ton of old Pontiac iron, while downsizing living conditions some years later.

[Diego]

Kinda in a similar vein, this story may be of interest:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...ine/blues.html

[bird72]

Originally Posted by GRX

Unfortunately there is no way to be sure unless you actually listen to the record. Consider that playing one is a destructive process, coupled with the possibility it may have been played with a poorly tracking needle, the record may look flawless yet fidelity could be seriously compromised.

Back in the 80's a couple friends and I would make long road trips to LP conventions during the period when everyone was unloading their records in favor of CD's. While they were looking through the various rock sections for better copies of things they already had, my main objective was obscure Jazz and Blues recordings which I had not heard before. Most of which still have not been transcribed to digital formats even today. Sadly, I unloaded most of my good recordings, along with over a ton of old Pontiac iron, while downsizing living conditions some years later.

Blues is SO hard to find! I attribute it to a couple of things (guesses).... those records lived hard. They got played while drinkin' was happenin', get togethors, blues types.... heck, packin' them around in a tattered suitcase while stopping at roadhouses along the way basically I think they got rode hard a lot. Found some early Albert King recently in extreme nice shape and was dumbfounded. The other thing is the people that have the good blues vinyl LOVE IT. So them sellin'? ha.................. blues is like religion to many!

As for buying.... ALL visual for me, no options. Some city stores have turntables (and usually cr@ppy systems) so that is a way to hear. A good sounding record will never look bad, that is first. So bad rashes, scratches, unless rarity overrules, pass.... A good looking record can sound bad though. 80's pressings can suck perfect shape. Tracking heavy can kill the disc, even scratch free. But for the most part, if a record looks really good, it in probability is. Part of the game is every so often you buy a dud. The other day I did something I haven't done since the 70's....... I had a Leon Russell so dirty, but it was sand all through the double cover (?). I put them in the sink and washed.................. stacked in the dish drainer, ha............

[Gator67]

Here are some goodies from my collection…picked these up about 20 years ago while stationed in Germany.

[Alvin]

Originally Posted by Alvin

How do you evaluate used vinyl before purchasing?

Stopped in @ local 1/2 Price Books that also sells new & used vinyl. They DO NOT have Pre-listening capability prior to purchase (sure they have a liberal return if defective policy though) as most shops used to back in the 80s & 90s.

Occurred to me as I pulled a "Peter Gun" LP out of the sleeve that displayed a big scratch - how do I know what quality stylus and equipment these were played with?

What do you do for evaluation?

Originally Posted by GRX

Unfortunately there is no way to be sure unless you actually listen to the record. Consider that playing one is a destructive process, coupled with the possibility it may have been played with a poorly tracking needle, the record may look flawless yet fidelity could be seriously compromised.

Back in the 80's a couple friends and I would make long road trips to LP conventions during the period when everyone was unloading their records in favor of CD's. While they were looking through the various rock sections for better copies of things they already had, my main objective was obscure Jazz and Blues recordings which I had not heard before. Most of which still have not been transcribed to digital formats even today. Sadly, I unloaded most of my good recordings, along with over a ton of old Pontiac iron, while downsizing living conditions some years later.

Originally Posted by bird72

Blues is SO hard to find! I attribute it to a couple of things (guesses).... those records lived hard. They got played while drinkin' was happenin', get togethors, blues types.... heck, packin' them around in a tattered suitcase while stopping at roadhouses along the way basically I think they got rode hard a lot. Found some early Albert King recently in extreme nice shape and was dumbfounded. The other thing is the people that have the good blues vinyl LOVE IT. So them sellin'? ha.................. blues is like religion to many!

As for buying.... ALL visual for me, no options. Some city stores have turntables (and usually cr@ppy systems) so that is a way to hear. A good sounding record will never look bad, that is first. So bad rashes, scratches, unless rarity overrules, pass.... A good looking record can sound bad though. 80's pressings can suck perfect shape. Tracking heavy can kill the disc, even scratch free. But for the most part, if a record looks really good, it in probability is. Part of the game is every so often you buy a dud. The other day I did something I haven't done since the 70's....... I had a Leon Russell so dirty, but it was sand all through the double cover (?). I put them in the sink and washed.................. stacked in the dish drainer, ha............

Agree and thx for the replys.

[Alvin]

I posted these LP covers on another thread...reposting them here as a reminder to original listeners and heads up to newbs!


...

[Tom Hand]

Saw that show on Kansas the other day on TV. What a great band!! I had no idea they were made of such talented guys and did so much back when they were big. And they are all still around and such great friendsll!
Tom (close to Kansas in Missouri) Hand

[Tom Hand]

Alvin, here is why I asked a while back about the Last Factory. We were fortunate to have been able to work with the owner and President, Walter Davies, on the Record Cleaning products back in the mid 1990s. I am so glad the company is still off and running today and still selling the very unique cleaning solution.

[Half-Inch Stud]

Tonight; Played Allman Bros Live (not at the Filmore) at about 10W/Ch, and Zappa Apostrophe @ ~100W/ch.

through Frazier 6x10" stacks & a pair of 15" full range speakers.

Noticed a random-varied noise early on: wiggled a preAmp ground and boy did it go to the noise floor.

Ahhh, time for a glass of wine, with the wife & pet dog at my side. Vinyl is still good.