Next LP...

Well, yesterday was one Hell of a session in the Cave...12 hours...16 LPs, one double.  To start this morning in the Den with my trusty Monoblocks and Souls, a little Laura Nyro.  It's all good but I enjoy most the albums released in the mid 70's after her return from retirement...after her divorce.  Mark.

A morning of Tom Waits on vinyl,

The Heart of Saturday Night
Small Change

JD

This next...

On the Dylan label I would lean toward Homage but it doesn't make sense.  This is supposed to be a crooner album harking back to those of Sinatra.  Why not use an old Columbia label from when Sinatra was on the label, like the one below...then no worries of trademark infringement. Mark.

PS...I'm watching the original "Music Man" on TCM...Love it.

Well Syd, there are two reasons why this album speaks to me so.

One is the songs. I don't know these from Sinatra at all, but I know these songs and they've spoken to me just as I know they've spoken to Bob. He has stripped them down to basics and given his version of them, and what he sings is not exactly what I would (if I could sing!) but it is clear to me how his feelings are generating the singing. I'm an emotional person and emotions well-communicated reach me. I've also spent the last few years with my guitars doing the same thing with songs as far as stripping them down to what I feel is their heartbeat and played around with the melodic heart with countermelodies and rythmic modes and I find that the process brings out the emotions in me in reaction to the song and sound. So I get the process and I feel the results.

Also. . . the mood, that mood of looking back and melancholia. I'm just coming out of that sort of a phase now, so that mood, that aura, is very "visible" to me and familiar and I can inhabit it. Having lost my wife, now mother, having left behind my adult home and my friends, having said goodbye to a woman I adored and loved deeply just because we had responsibilities that kept us across the country from each other. . . I swam, I lived in that mood for too long. And the mood and the feelings themselves have shaped my life. It's moved me further away from the hip and the pop, from the new and the raw. Makes my obessions over sound and collections of recordings shrink in importance. Having the right people in your life is far more nourishing and important than a treated room or the perfect reproduction of high res material or the hottest act in the performance venues. These songs have communicated this to me via Bob. . . and this album invokes that melancholy and nostalgia and climb to hope for the new.

And it's also comfortable for me to listen to this NOW as I've been able to release myself from the control of the mood and I've found the next phase of my life through the blessed intervention of Lucy and our love together. I can let Bob inform me of the feelings and mood and relate to them and not have to turn around and inhabit them again right now. THAT is also an appeal to this recording, being touched and moved. . . and able to walk away.

So really this is an album that has fascinated me in a way that many others the last few years haven't. And I bet it has staying power in my library.

I'm starting the music a little early today...out in the den.  I'm trying out some mid 60's White Print USA Amperex PQ 6922s that arrived Saturday.  

I haven't been in the Listening Cave since the long session Saturday but plan on a session tonight with a few changes.  I received some herbies products that I'll put in place...iso-cups and balls under the Torii, four larger softballs in a different kind of cup...not sure what it's called...larger metal cup with a rubber bottom...these will be under the TT and finally I'll move the soft tenderfeet currently under the Torii to the CSP3.  Oh, and I'll put 15 ohm resistors in the HR-1s but they may not stay there long.  

First CD...

I love this cover...

I'm not sure I could tell that I had the 7308s or the 6922 in the Monos, if I didn't already know...very similar...very good. Which is odd because recently I had a pair of Orange Globe USA 1968 Amperex 6922s that I didn't like...maybe they weren't broken in. Mark.

Next, another from Woody Shaw...

Lon,  since my Herbies Products arrived I've been reading about "Isolation"...currently a thread on Steve Hoffman's forum where you posted.  I am intrigued by a poster named Barry that advocates an equilateral triangle of isolation devices made from small blocks of wood with drawer pulls and 1/2" steel ball bearings...under everything.  What did you think?  Sounds cheap and I don't know enough to fault his reasoning. Mark.

Syd, if you don't like the Dylan LP just ask for your money back or a credit for something else.  No need to get something you know will go unplayed.  Mark.

I read some, probably not all, of that thread.  I see that the link in the first post is for the "Barry" I spoke of.  Now that I'm more interested, I may go back and read the thread more carefully. I'd consider trying the ball bearings with the Torii but not anything else...too dangerous...hehe. The Torii sits on a small table where I wouldn't be likely to bump it.  I won't be trying inner tubes either.  First I'll see how I like the new Herbies. But I'll keep reading...it's free! Mark.

Syd,  you changed your handle!

This next...

I like that one and the second one is even better, played it last week. Need to open up my Bream box again and take some out.

Next LP...

Sly & Robbie's "Dubrising", which came out last December, is the best dub album in ages, pressed on a double 45RPM

Exquisite mix and sound

Mark, you should be hearing more clarity and that can indeed lead to more treble energy with a number of tube choices.

The darned perplexity of these components is how much they show us of everything so remove one layer. . . there's more onion beneath. In my system, with my racks and platforms, the Tenderfeet definitely introduce a warm veil, a sort of shear. I tired of it as it was not showing me everything so that I can deal with everything. . . . And then I have to tune with the more that the Iso-Cups show.

One thing I did was I bought Deep Moss gemstones from Herbie's Audio Lab, I've never used the Super Hard Balls, so I don't know what they are like, I've used about six different types of Herbie's balls and the Deep Moss place a subtle emphasis on the lower frequencies, it's not exactly warmth, but it's a help towards a better balance. . . . I'm using the Deep Moss everywhere I have an Iso-Cup. I could mail you some Lampblack and Acrylic balls if you'd like to try those out. Also: move them around. If you get the Iso-Cups as close to the corners as possible I find that picks up the most lower frequencies.  . . .

Mark, here is the page on the site for the Gemstones; I think his descriptions are accurate. The Jasper may also work well, I may have some of those in my toolbox too, I'll check this afternoon if you're interested in trying some.

http://herbiesaudiolab.net/isoball.htm

There were several other types, he's running out of these over the years.

I can see that this can be daunting. . . . It does change the sound and very noticeably and it will spark the urge to make adjustments if it reveals a signature you're not enjoying. In my case I think it revealed to me that the Decware interconnects were not the best fit for my system.
So you may wish to go back to Tenderfeet and avoid further changes. . . . . Though those further changes will bring you benefits in dynamics and soundstage I think.

What I mean about the location of the balls is. . . having them at the farthest corners seems to bring out the most low frequency sound, full and deep.

I've been listening to alot of Eric Reed.

the new Steven Wilson LP  hand.cannot.erase

LP was my other listen last night...

Next...LP#1 of 2

Next LP.  My battery will be dead soon so I'll see you tomorrow.  Mark.

Last nites LP's



Really digging this LP....

I like it . . .I was somewhat disappointed with the releases after Insurgentes til this one, this one is meatier, less plagued by what Steven seems to think is "jazz." (I have the Blu-ray).