So, how much James Brown is enough? For veterans of the 7digital Xmas sale of several years ago you might think enough already, but there is something for consideration. I noticed there's a new Marmot Records set at eMu, James Brown - The Collection 1959-1961, 74 tracks, 174 minutes. I wondered if this was a re-do of a Classic Albums CD set, but yes and no - James Brown - Five Classic Albums Plus, has 89 tracks. The Marmot set only goes about 4/5 of the way through Disc 3. The CD has, to quote -
Import-only four CD set containing a quintet of albums from the Godfather Of Soul plus a plethora of singles sides and live tracks. Includes the albums Please Please Please, Try Me, Think, The Amazing James Brown and James Brown Presents His Band. 89 tracks.
. The Plus, from one of the reviewers, is a bunch of live cuts on Disc 4. I haven't tallied how many of all these are on the Star Time box set, but being a JB freak I decided I had to go for the CD from an Other Seller for a total of $9.34 since all the 7digital downloads were in 320kbps I don't want any low bitrate stuff polluting the collection. I think I can safely say I now have enough.
Uh oh, I just spotted trouble on the horizon if this is the start of a series - Tamla Motown 1961 - 7 Classic Albums. Everyone knows the hits but what were the albums like? Not today though.
I'd be a little wary of "digitally enhanced for superior sound quality." Prob. means "extra echoey"
All of the albums in this series say that. I've got about ten of them and no complaints so far - they've been a path to filling in large swaths of jazz, vocal jazz and country at bargain prices - often stuff I would not have wanted to invest in at original album prices but am glad to have now.
@doofy, @BigD-Bluez - I have 7 of them. I've read reviews about the quality of the audio (mostly "meh"), and while they won't win any awards, I haven't noticed anything egregious. It has been a great way to fill-in my collection. They're very solid (sonically) overall, and much better than most of the music companies (Columbia, MCA-Universal) when they first put older albums onto CD's - I have a Bobby Blue Bland CD that just goes silent for a minute - I figure the "best available source" was somebody's LP with a big scratch that they felt was best dealt with by deleting that part of the song. The major labels have been (moderately) better since.
Some of this music might not ever get the re-mastering other releases get - I've been very happy with what I've gotten. I might download the Jackie Wilson set from eMu - I'll report back on that quality after d/ling and listening.
Sweet! I just opened up and started playing this CD box set, a non-graverobbing actual Prestige collection I got from Amazon, Sidesteps - five CDs of Coltrane as sideman, for a very reasonable $21.45. This is less than half the price of the MP3 version at Amazon. Granted, I (and probably you) have at least half of these tracks already but at the price I really liked the concept of the collection, and to have it on CD at this price seemed very nice. Nice fat liner notes booklet with it too. No idea why it's so reasonable.
Downloaded another of the ongoing stream of collections from Marmot Music, $6.49 for Sarah Vaughan - The Collection Volume Two 1958-1962. It comprises the albums After Hours, The Divine One, Dreamy, No Count Sarah, Sarah + 2, Vaughan and Violins, and You're Mine You. There was one song missing from one of those albums as tallied against the Wiki discography. Decent bitrates and sound. If you combine this with the CD or MP3 version of Eight Classic Albums (see Amazon or 7digital - no overlap between them) you have an instant Sassy library. I was particularly stoked about After Hours and Sarah + 2, which are her with just guitar and bass, Mundell Lowe on the first, Barney Kessel on the second (which has that killer version of Key Largo) - these alone were worth the price.
Two Hours with Thelonious - Thelonious Monk Quartet. Two disc set, $17.98 at Amazon, $6.99 at emusic.
ETA, and a caveat emptor on another one - BT noted over a year ago that this Monk collection is cheap at emusic - you can buy the same album on another emusic page for twice the price.
Oöphoi (real name: Gianluigi Gasparetti - I just learned he passed away in April) was an Italian ambient artist who at his best made the most ethereally pristine sounds of just about anyone, gossamer threads of weightlessness realized in sound. (Hymns to a Silent Sky is my current favorite but there's a lot I haven't heard.) The following are massively underpriced as of time of writing:
The album is a single one hour + track and is currently priced at $0.89 on Amazon US. You can stream it here on youtube. It's also $0.49 at emusic for those still with accounts.
Also:
This one is a 23 minute piece, and is $0.99. (this one's $5.99 at emusic)
@Plong42 good catch, hadn't noticed that - had already bought it from Amazon.
ETA, it appears from the reviews that the whole track is actually what you get on emusic, not just the 3 minutes...
I don't know if this is new material or not (I am inclined to believe it's four previously released albums), but it brings together the works of four Catalan composers. 250 minutes, $6.99 at eMu.
Hey, BT, thanks for that - A JSP box and me flush with 50% booster in my pocket that's a wrap. P.S. Extra fine that this is the 4 CD set for the same price as they have the 2 disc One and Two sets at.
I have to poking around the SFL's because I'm convinced I have some other boxes tucked away that this would be the time for. Weekend coming.
I'd been considering getting the album Anno Domini High Definition by Polish prog rock band Riverside, but wasn't quite $6.49 in love with it. Then I noticed emusic has a page for the album here and another page for it here (slightly different distributors), and while the album price is the same for both the track pricing is significantly different. At the second link track 4 is listed as having a duration of 1:59 and therefore is not album priced and can be had for 0.49; the track (as can be seen on the other page, where it is correctly album priced) is in fact 10:49 long. Also, track 1 is 0.49 at the second link and 0.69 at the first. Tracks 2 and 3 however are cheaper at the first link (0.69 rather than 0.79). That means with selective buying between the two pages, tracks 1-4 can be had for $2.36 - and the remaining track, track 5, can be bought for $1.99 on Amazon at one of its two pages for the album, bringing the album down from $6.49 (emusic) or $4.95 (Amazon) or even $9.99 (Amazon's other page for this album) to $4.35!
ETA, one can save another 12 cents by getting the last track at CD UNiverse
That has to be among the most byzantine examples of album pricing I've seen.
Using my 50% off booster, I bought the 8-disc(!) Elvin Jones Blue Note box (part of the Capitol Vaults Jazz series) for 50% of the member price $19.60. 511 minutes of music for $9.80. Nice stuff too, especially for moderate Joe Farrell fans like me.
For those who like ambient collections, notice that the second and third Air Texture volumes are double albums (vol 2: 139 minutes, vol 3: 159 minutes) but priced as single albums at emusic and amazon. Lots of good artists, each collection curated by a pair of prominent ambient artists, original tracks. Emusic link (vol 2: $6.49, vol 3: $6.99) Amazon link (vol 2: $5.99, vol 3: $9.49)
Karg, you sold me on that Elvin set, even though I had a couple of the albums. I just got the Paul Chambers too...already had some of the others, thanks to our Australian friends!
Doofy, here's the album/year list for that Elvin set, if you haven't gotten to retagging yet. If you want me to email you the full playlists I can - I generally used discogs to verify track listings.
Puttin' It Together 1968
The Ultimate 1968
Poly-Currents 1969
The Prime Element 1969
Coalition 1970
Live At The Lighthouse 1972
Merry-Go-Round 1972
At This Point In Time 1973
Mr. Jones 1973
Listen to "Champagne Baby" if you want to feel enthused about the purchase. That's the one that came up in a Rdio shuffle of the Capitol Vaults series and perked my ears up, after which I saw what a steal it was.
5 disc box, which eMu has at $29.95, is only $9.49 at Amazon - 5 Leyendas del Buena Vista, self explanatory title, one CD's worth per legend. What I've listened to so far is great.
@plong42 - I just picked that album up last week, after I found The Rough Guide To Latin Psychedelia. Reminds me I need to fix the dreaded Reggae tags they downloaded with - stinkin' eMu.
5 disc set of film music. I'm a big an of Tindersticks. I'm seeing at a price of...$3.89? I think I paid $11.10 - still a good price for the set (it's what I'll be listeningto at work today).
French director Claire Denis began her decade-long working relationship with the British band Tindersticks in 1995. She initially approached vocalist/songwriter Stuart Staples about using the song My Sister, from their second album in Nénette et Boni; Staples suggested Tindersticks write something original for her project. While an instrumental version of My Sister with a different arrangement appears in the film, as does the original version of Tiny Tears, the group did indeed compose a beautiful, chamber jazz-tinged score for Denis, beginning a relationship that has resulted in soundtracks for six films thus far. Tindersticks released the soundtracks to Nénette et Boni and Trouble Every Day as albums on their own. Those two projects and the other four scores are included in this handsome five-disc box issued by Constellation. The other scores represented are Vendredi Soir (Friday Night, 2002) by Dickon Hinchliffe (who has since left the group for a successful career scoring films), LIntrus (The Intruder, 2004) composed entirely by Staples, 35 Rhums (35 Shots of Rum, 2008), and White Material (2009). Listening to the various discs, one gets an idea of just how the band itself has shifted in scope and form and responded to Denis scripts and rushes with increased confidence that is now almost instinctual. The music especially in the longer scores for the latter two films offers its own narratives and stand alone. There is a willingness to take more chances with instrumentation, texture, tonality, and dynamic. The oddest disc on the bunch and one of the most satisfying is the split between LIntrus and Vendredi Soir. The former is a harsher, percussive more abstract series of musical cues that employ feedback and noise along with a decidedly angular if not dissonant architecture in contrast to the latters sparser, more pastoral cues filled with chamber strings and piano. Its somewhat jarring between the end of one and the beginning of the other (they are placed in reverse order), but deeply satisfying nonetheless. The score for 35 Rhums is the most uncharacteristic in the bunch, but it also may be the most seamless piece of music here. The two previously issued soundtracks have been remastered, to boot. Tindersticks fans will simply have to own this package as it offers an equal but different dimension of their pop persona. The matte black, hard paper slipcase contains five silk-screened sleeves with stills from the films that correspond to each CD. There is a 52-page booklet with stills, color photographs and an authoritative essay by Michael Hill. The vinyl edition is more limited but even more handsome. Thom Jurek
1-4 Dvorak No. 9 - "From the New World"
5-8 Beethoven No. 3 - "Eroica" (repeat from Big Beethoven Box)
9-12 Beethoven No. 5 (repeat from Big Beethoven Box)
13-16 Mozart No. 41 - "Jupiter" (repeat from Big Mozart Box)
17-20 Mendelssohn No. 4 - "Italian"
21-24 Schubert No. 5 (repeat from Big Schubert Box)
25-28 Schubert No. 6 - "Little C major" (repeat from Big Schubert Box)
29-32 Haydn No. 101 - "The Clock" (repeat from Big Haydn Box)
33-36 Haydn No. 103 - "Drumroll" (repeat from Big Haydn Box)
37-41 Beethoven No. 6 - "Pastoral" (repeat from Big Beethoven Box)
42-46 Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique
47-48 Schubert No. 8 - "Unfinished" (repeat from Big Schubert Box)
49-52 Schubert No. 9 - "The Great" (repeat from Big Schubert Box)
53-56 Beethoven No. 7 (repeat from Big Beethoven Box)
57-60 Mendelssohn No. 5 - "Reformation"
61-64 Mozart No. 40 (repeat from Big Mozart Box)
(from Amazon reviewer)
1-4 Brahms No. 1 (repeat from Big Brahms Box)
5-8 Brahms No. 2 (repeat from Big Brahms Box)
9-12 Brahms No. 3 (repeat from Big Brahms Box)
13-16 Brahms No. 4 (repeat from Big Brahms Box)
17-20 Tchaikovsky No. 4 (repeat from Big Tchaikovsky Box)
21-24 Tchaikovsky No. 6 (repeat from Big Tchaikovsky Box)
25-28 Sibelius No. 2
29-31 Sibelius No. 5
32-35 Mahler No. 1 - "Titan" (repeat from Big Mahler Box)
36-40 Mahler No. 2 - "Resurrection" (repeat from Big Mahler Box)
41-45 Mahler No. 5 (repeat from Big Mahler Box)
46-49 Mahler No. 9 (repeat from Big Mahler Box)
50-53 Ives No. 1
54-56 Ives No. 2
57-59 Ives No. 3 - "The Camp Meeting"
(from Amazon reviewer)
2 GB, 20 hours of music, $2. I'm going to pass - I already have too many big sets of classical music I don't listen to - but it looks like a good deal even if you have the other boxes.
Comments
Uh oh, I just spotted trouble on the horizon if this is the start of a series - Tamla Motown 1961 - 7 Classic Albums. Everyone knows the hits but what were the albums like? Not today though.
If we every get a steady Guvera source again, they have the complete Motown singles series, which I believe was recently concluded
Some of this music might not ever get the re-mastering other releases get - I've been very happy with what I've gotten. I might download the Jackie Wilson set from eMu - I'll report back on that quality after d/ling and listening.
Two Hours with Thelonious - Thelonious Monk Quartet. Two disc set, $17.98 at Amazon, $6.99 at emusic.
ETA, and a caveat emptor on another one - BT noted over a year ago that this Monk collection is cheap at emusic - you can buy the same album on another emusic page for twice the price.
The album is a single one hour + track and is currently priced at $0.89 on Amazon US. You can stream it here on youtube. It's also $0.49 at emusic for those still with accounts.
Also:
This one is a 23 minute piece, and is $0.99. (this one's $5.99 at emusic)
ETA, it appears from the reviews that the whole track is actually what you get on emusic, not just the 3 minutes...
I don't know if this is new material or not (I am inclined to believe it's four previously released albums), but it brings together the works of four Catalan composers. 250 minutes, $6.99 at eMu.
I know nothing about these recordings, but I do know it's a lot of Shostakovich (6 discs) for a single-disc price. Any informed opinions?
6 hours, $6.49
I have to poking around the SFL's because I'm convinced I have some other boxes tucked away that this would be the time for. Weekend coming.
I'd been considering getting the album Anno Domini High Definition by Polish prog rock band Riverside, but wasn't quite $6.49 in love with it. Then I noticed emusic has a page for the album here and another page for it here (slightly different distributors), and while the album price is the same for both the track pricing is significantly different. At the second link track 4 is listed as having a duration of 1:59 and therefore is not album priced and can be had for 0.49; the track (as can be seen on the other page, where it is correctly album priced) is in fact 10:49 long. Also, track 1 is 0.49 at the second link and 0.69 at the first. Tracks 2 and 3 however are cheaper at the first link (0.69 rather than 0.79). That means with selective buying between the two pages, tracks 1-4 can be had for $2.36 - and the remaining track, track 5, can be bought for $1.99 on Amazon at one of its two pages for the album, bringing the album down from $6.49 (emusic) or $4.95 (Amazon) or even $9.99 (Amazon's other page for this album) to $4.35!
ETA, one can save another 12 cents by getting the last track at CD UNiverse
That has to be among the most byzantine examples of album pricing I've seen.
Emusic link (vol 2: $6.49, vol 3: $6.99)
Amazon link (vol 2: $5.99, vol 3: $9.49)
Puttin' It Together 1968
The Ultimate 1968
Poly-Currents 1969
The Prime Element 1969
Coalition 1970
Live At The Lighthouse 1972
Merry-Go-Round 1972
At This Point In Time 1973
Mr. Jones 1973
Look forward to getting through it all...Live at the Lighthouse is the only one I really knew.
Rough Guide To The Best Music You've Never Heard, 30 songs, 127+ minutes of music. For the eMuser crowd, there are a few familiar names.
@plong42 - I just picked that album up last week, after I found The Rough Guide To Latin Psychedelia. Reminds me I need to fix the dreaded Reggae tags they downloaded with - stinkin' eMu.
5 disc set of film music. I'm a big an of Tindersticks. I'm seeing at a price of...$3.89? I think I paid $11.10 - still a good price for the set (it's what I'll be listeningto at work today).