[]eep]

Well, he's getting a new cartridge installed.

An hard and expensive lesson about responsibility. Also: don't hire a cleaning lady without giving her thorough instructions. And no temp. Ever.

 

[]eep]

Finally a new record. New for me anyway as I'm way past my teens and some things take a while to settle in. Even it's from 2014. And no, I'm not deprived in any way. I just have some breathing space now, so I thought "why keep things in your shopping basket if you will eventually buy them anyway?". It reminds me of a good run when I had overcome a sad time.

Sia - 1000 forms of fear.

I would call it overcoming fear and sadness and the strength of the human spirit. A bath of joy and positive feelings. It sounds, very youthful but as my friend said: "she is not as young as you'd think". She an accomplished writer and 'chandelier' and 'elastic heart' are quite memorable. Music to make you smile.

It's an old fashioned floppy licorice pizza. Packaged in a simple single cover with a double lyric sheet and a black paper sleeve that's black on the outside and very slick white on the inside. And it sticks to the lp like a motherf... Blowing didn't help, I had to pull it out with force leaving fingerprints where I don't want them.

It sounds pretty good. Not very loud which needs to be turned up higher than normal. That makes some swoosh very noticeable. But no crackling (I wanted to say static but that's a misnomer). Vinyl pressing is good.
The recording is up to modern studio standard. It's fresh, open, lush with artificial space. Nothing to distract from the music.

The artwork is good. Even if the photo on the cover is too blurry for my taste, it's very distinctive.

Music: 9
Sound: 8 and a bit
Pressing: 8
Sleeve and artwork: 7 for execution and 9 for the concept

 

[]eep]

Now is this how cognitive dissonance works? Preference over common sense? You could graduate on a study on this.

I just watched this video.

The video is interesting for multiple reasons:
First: the central message that vinyl overtook CD in sales in the UK in 2022
Second: even John Darko notices that all publications use the exact same wording. "they all seem to be singing from the same hymn-sheet" Now haven't we seen that before?...
Third: even though the message is clear, he is setting up an argument to the contrary.
Fourth: he is recovering from his eye operation and he is not trying to be serious
(been there, done that: being blind in one eye for a while gives you a whole new perspective on things, although he is supposed to see things clearer now ) As he clearly stated he is doing this as practice!

Let's just quote cpt Spock on this: "your logic is flawed". His basic premise is: popularity is counted in items sold, not in money spent. And he comparing to the numbers from Germany 2021 and USA 2021 when the news was '... for the first time in 35 years'. So... That means; it wasn't in 2021.

Also: the amount of money someone is willing to spend on something is a very good measure for intrinsic or even perceived value. That's economics 101. So if I have €40, do I want this lp or these 2 cd's? This means the perceived value of an lp (double album) is a lot more than a CD! That means it's a more than double as popular.
Not to mention that in the past the roles were reversed (€10 for an lp, €20 for a cd). That is why this is news. Dog bites man is not news, man bites dog is news.

By his reasoning I could state that razor blades are more popular than electric razors (even if the roles in technology are reversed). Or paperclips are more popular than cars... I buy a new electric razor every 10 years. The sales of razorblades is huge. There's even a sneaky sales model named after this: the Gillette principle (sell the proprietary gadget at a loss and cash in on the renewables). That's how you dupe someone.

Anyway, it seems that John Darko likes CDs better than vinyl. That's his prerogative. I severely dislike cd's and the salespeople that pushed them. I love vinyl. But that's beside the point.


Edit:
I just looked at the comments. And maybe that's the biggest takeaway. It doesn't matter what you say, how you say it or how weak your arguments are. 90% of people are divided in a bipartisan opposition stance, in this case CD vs LP. Only a few people wished him a good recovery. And only a few go into the arguments. And so far none that I saw disagreed based on arguments. I find that disturbing.

 

[The Jester]

Thing is, top 40 album charts, gold, platinum discs etc are achieved by number sold ?

 

[]eep]

Thing is, top 40 album charts, gold, platinum discs etc are achieved by number sold ?

That's a very good argument. I hadn't thought of that. However... (I hate saying that) starts from the premise that those numbers are of equal price. That's why the singles charts and album charts are seperated.

Yet it's true that popularity is counted in numbers. I can say that because I'm sitting here with all my friends.

That's why I always want to check my premises and get my definitions straight.

Yet however you look at it, vinyl is on the rise and cd's are losing popularity. With all the propaganda since the last 40 years for CD that is somehow surprising and headline worthy. Cd's are better. And radiowaves are still traveling through the aether. And every day the sun still rises. Safe and effective.

 

[The Jester]

Hard to make any decent analysis from such uneven results, back when single sales were relevant efforts could be made to make one more attractive compared to the competition, the old “double A side” where you got not only the “hit” song from the Album but another good track on the “B side” too instead of the usual “filler track”, and they were all counted on physical record sales,
Now along with physical media there’s paid downloads, streaming platforms etc so now, how is the latest “#1 hit” decided ?, sales + paid downloads + # of streams, or just one or two, with streams is it just reaching the listening time needed to see the artist paid or listening to the whole track ?,
Not that it bothers me either way, I still buy what I like on physical media, between LP and CD the gap has rapidly closed and its now more down to mixing and mastering for popular music, with so called “audiophile” recordings Vinyl is a mature technology that those with a long history and experience of recording with it can extract its best qualities, and there are also those experienced enough to do the same with digital recordings,
Eventually digital will be a superior format, losses occur in physical conversion, and still the weakest links are the transducers, microphone at one end speaker/headphone drivers at the other, as computing hardware gets better/faster/cheaper the complex math algorithms needed for accurate D/A conversion will have less of an impact than RIAA EQ, cutter head, stamping and cartridge replay, …. Eventually … it’s getting closer all the time.

 

[]eep]

I came across a nice needledrop of one of the very rare reverse cut records. This is by Tacet an audiophile label that uses tubes etc. It's called oreloB and it's up to you to un-Ravel that mystery.

 

[]eep]

Today I received a big box. Obviously they didn't have something better because the article was simply dropped in and filled with airbags. Last time it was dramatic and the DHL guys was too ashamed to even make it to my front door. This is not going to help much against rough handling. Anyway, it arrived undamaged and very quick.

As you can see, unfortunately, it's all from digital. (edit2: though as I'm listening to Symphonie n° 1 - Der Titan; it sounds very good). Even the old recordings. But it's about the music. Hard to get, not to mention the complete set.
It's a limited edition, but I can't find any serial.

Oops. Found it. Outer sleeve. 2525 out of 2600 (to the soundtrack of Zaegers and Evans - In the year 2525... if man is still alive...) . Rather high number. One of the last

 

[]eep]

I ordered 4 albums on Amazon and the last one arrived today. 1 album in another oversized box. It wasn't even closed properly (tape not over 1 flap so that came loose). Maybe they should combine shipping better instead of short-paying employees? And buy more mailers... Tss. Anyway it arrived ok. I think (minor crease but dunno what caused that).

So
The 25th anniversary limited edition of the iconic album

Prodigy - The fat of the land

Doesn't that look great? The original album cover looked kind of happy.

Like in the movie 'Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy' the crab that rushed to meet the landing vehicle/teakettle... Wheee, wheeee, wheee... Crush!
Wait.. Here it is:

This album over looks dark, menacing and heavy metal techno. Just like the label, simple but spot on.

This album just punches you in the gut, just when you are relaxed and mesmerized by the oriental voice of Ofra Haza... Bam. It starts from a distance and comes at you like a train. It's loud, it's boisterous, it's original.... And it's 25 years ago already. Dang, I'm getting old! But the shock of this album still resonates.

I only listened to the first side so far. I was a bit weary of the silver vinyl because I have another one that is very noisy. But this is almost transparent (like Star Trek Scotty's 'transparent aluminum') and it sounds just fine. Quiet. Good pressing, flat. Plays great. It's not 180g. If guessed I'd say 150g from the amount of 'floppyness' (introducing a new word here?). I'm not allowed to guess anymore; I weighed the lp at exactly 150 grams. Just FYI.

The sound is good. It sounds less agressive than the CD. Less bone-dry and fast but more thumping dynamic. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. But you can really get lost in the music. I had the idea that the soundstage is less wide than usual, again that is my subjective thought at this moment in time. What I did hear is more realism, more defined space with real instruments instead of just a wall of sound.

This is a clear must have. An album that defined an era.

Music: 10
Pressing: 9
Sound: 9
Arrangement of paper and ink: 9

 

[]eep]

Also, this is available for preorder. First Kevin Grey all tube engineering, recording and mastering from his new label studio.


If any of my thread buddies in EU isn’t able to get it but want it. Let me know. I’ll have more then few copies of it.

For more explanation, see this. Glowing review.

 

[FYFL]

For more explanation, see this. Glowing review.

I got 4 copies. Sounds great. Just finished a needle drop.

 

[]eep]

Remember the guy snapping the cantilever off of his new $10000 cartridge on het $600k set? I guess he made all that money selling snake-oil to his trusting customers. And now he thinks he is helping them to "avoid being scammed".

Karma is a bitch as they say. And still, some never learn no matter how tough the lesson. He probably 'withheld the truth' about that too since a cartridge repair doesn't cost 10k.

Just look at the title and then read the comments.


He is going on a 'Chinese-hate' rant again. Dude, you didn't get scammed, you bought a decent power cable that is sold at a price that makes the Chinese some profit instead of the same thing made in China that makes YOU 5k and your supplier 4.9k. Most commenters popped his right away. And not after a week, when his sponsor had his money's worth, when it's over the Atlantic. Balloons on powerlines... That's killing 2 birds with one stone!

I unsubscribed this testosterone steroid blimp.

----

Something else... Anyone see this year's Grammies? Sponsored by...
"I am Satan and I approve this message". It just shows what today's music industry stands for. No wonder people want to return to wholesome times with 'nostalgic' lp's.

 

[FYFL]

Remember the guy snapping the cantilever off of his new $10000 cartridge on het $600k set? I guess he made all that money selling snake-oil to his trusting customers. And now he thinks he is helping them to "avoid being scammed".

Karma is a bitch as they say. And still, some never learn no matter how tough the lesson. He probably 'withheld the truth' about that too since a cartridge repair doesn't cost 10k.

Just look at the title and then read the comments.


He is going on a 'Chinese-hate' rant again. Dude, you didn't get scammed, you bought a decent power cable that is sold at a price that makes the Chinese some profit instead of the same thing made in China that makes YOU 5k and your supplier 4.9k. Most commenters popped his right away. And not after a week, when his sponsor had his money's worth, when it's over the Atlantic. Balloons on powerlines... That's killing 2 birds with one stone!

I unsubscribed this testosterone steroid blimp.

----

Something else... Anyone see this year's Grammies? Sponsored by...
"I am Satan and I approve this message". It just shows what today's music industry stands for. No wonder people want to return to wholesome times with 'nostalgic' lp's.

I don't watch tv. It's garbage. I though that someone brought PC as a trade-in....? Perhaps I missed something.

 

[]eep]

Well, the Grammies used to be the big grammophone music awards... And it's not on TV anymore. But that it's garbage... Like JP reacts said: when you embrace pc all that is left to shock the public to try to attract a bigger audience seems to openly worship Satan. Oh well... What do you expect from America. Idiocracy has become commonground. Only the movie didn't dare be this open and explicit.

 

[]eep]

You know who won 7 Grammies when it actually still meant something? The man who just died at the blessed age of 94; Burt Bacharach. If I state he was the most prolific hit writer, I think I'm not far off. In 2008 he was proclaimed 'the greatest living composer'. He sold a lot of vinyl. So many songs you know but probably never realised he wrote them.

And still does...