It's a bit of an odd list this year. JA "rocks," Bob Deutsch is ready to "die" for Mary Poppins, and Richard Lehnert is singing the "Song of the Elves."

Like they say about the baseball Hall of Fame, it's great to see "Illinois" and "Chavez Ravine" get on the list in their first year of eligibility.

R2D4 is always my favorite issue. Now how about collecting them all in book form?

Quote:
In another interesting thread, rgibran wrote:

"Sorry to take your quote out of context, but your right, JA ROCKS. Records 2 Die For has him getting his groove on with Creams music video DVD's in DTS/Dolby digital. Rock On JA!"

That's right: JA does rock. And, now, I'm wondering what other people think about this edition of R2D4. Anything you agree with? Disagree with? What are your personal R2D4s?

This should be a great fun thread. Looking forward to everyone's picks.

I Need to correct my above statement. I was a little confused. JA was rockin' to the Linear PCM on the great "Cream" DVD. It was Jon Iverson stating he prefered the DTS surround over the CD. Ja has been rockin' to the DTS or Dolby Digital of the "Eric Clapton & Various" DVD, summing up with the question "Why can't studio-produced rock CDs sound this natural, this unforced, this good?

Other things I liked?

Art Dudley picks MOTT THE HOOPLE! Too Kewl!

Things I disliked?
Nothin'. Listen to whatever the heck moves ya at the time.

My current picks, and I'll keep it to just two as in the R2DF format.

The Ray Brown Trio - Live At The LOA - Summer Wind
SA Hybrid Multichannel - Concord Records

Dave Grusin - Two For The Road - The Music Of Henry Mancini
DVD Audio - Verve Music Group

Enjoy...

RG

Laverne Butler-A Foolish Thing To do/Maxjazz
Nicholas Payton-Dear Louis/Verve
Steve Tyrell-This Guys In Love/Columbia
Four Play-Heartfelt/BMG
Mary Chapin Carpenter-Betwen Here and Gone/Columbia
Renee Olstead/Reprise
Jennifer Warnes-The Hunter/Attic &
Famous Blue Raincoat/Cypress
Lynn Arriale Trio-With Words Unspoken/DMP
David Sanborn-Backstreet/WB
Andy Williams-Greatest Love Classics/Abbey Road London/Capital
Dave Grusin-Discovered Again/Sheffield LP
" -NY/LA Dream Band/GRP LP
The Intimate Ellington/Pablo LP 1970/71
Mike Longo-Talk With The Spirits/Pablo LP 1976
Joe Pass-Virtuoso/Pablo LP
Linda Ronstadt-Whats New+Nelson Riddle/ LP Electra 1983
" -Lush Life+Nelson Riddle/ LP Electra 1984
Billy Joel-Fantasies and Delusions/Columbia
Murray Parahia-Handel & Scarlatti/Sony
" -Bach English Suites/Sony
David Benoit-This Side UP/LP
Grusin & Ritenour-Two Worlds/Decca
Michel Camilo-Solo/Telarc SACD
Josh Groban-Closer/Reprise
Gino Vannelli-Yonder Tree/Verve
Jayne Monheit-Dream With Me/nCoded Music
" Live At The Rainbow Room DVD
Diana Krall-Live In Paris/DVD
James Taylor-Live At The Beacon Theater/DVD
Bruce Hornsby-Three Nights On The Town/DVD
Phil Collins-Live in Paris/DVD

At first I was going to write some unkind words about this year's crop of R2D4 but then I read RG's post, which contains the following:

"Things I disliked?
Nothin'. Listen to whatever the heck moves ya at the time."

And I've changed my mind. Just because I haven't heard a lot of the records listed doesn't mean that I shouldn't, it means that there's quite a bit of good stuff that I've missed. Anyway over the years a whole lot of very fine records have made the list.

Here's two of my favorites, which may or may not already be on the list:

k.d. lang and the Reclines - Absolute Torch and Twang (Sire Records LP 9 25877-1 1989) Try to find the original vinyl if at all possible. lang's voice is (in keeping with the thread topic) to die for. Does anyone know who mastered the original LP?

John Hiatt - Bring The Family (A&M Records LP SP 5158 1987) Again, try to find the original vinyl if at all possible. This one was direct metal mastered by Stephen Marcussen at Precision Lacquer. I also have the DVD-Audio version and the original vinyl is far better.

Both of these records need to be rereleased by one of the audiophile record labels on 12,000 gram, hymen still intack, ultra virgin, nonpetroleum based vinyl.

Get Mickey to stick that on his Continuum!!!!!

Hi John,

I see that you have "Nicholas Payton-Dear Louis/Verve" on your R2D4 list. I seemed to have missed this one, I'll just have to pick it up.

You may also want to check out the Detroit based trumpeter Marcus Belgrave's Tribute to Louis Armstrong. He's been doing limited touring with a midsized big band around the east coast. Do a quick google search and see what you can find. I have some live stuff I downloaded a while back and it's quite good. He will be playing in New Brunswick, NJ (a bit of drive for me but I'm thinking about it) in early March if anyone is interested. I don't believe that there are any offical recordings of this ensemble available as yet.

And you should also check out the wonderful "Doc Cheatham & Nicholas Payton" CD on Verve from back in 1994. Doc (91 years young) and Nick (23 years old) really tear thing up on this recording.

As I've said before, man does not live by free jazz alone.

Quote:
k.d. lang and the Reclines - Absolute Torch and Twang (Sire Records LP 9 25877-1 1989) Try to find the original vinyl if at all possible. lang's voice is (in keeping with the thread topic) to die for. Does anyone know who mastered the original LP?

Without a doubt, the finest example of this womans extraordinary talent. A shame the Country Western industry and fan base would never really accept her, otherwise who knows what heights she may have soared to. Unfortunately, everything she's done since this triumphant recording has paled by comparison. A bit surprising coming from Jazzfan, but one fine recommendation Ralph.

RG

How do we feel about music reviews with separate ratings for sonic quality and performance? Should we avoid them because it's preferable to emphasize enjoyment-factor alone? I'd be interested in opinions about an admittedly non-objective sonic-quality rating? ..."Whoa, what happened to the party?," "oh! dubiousity!" or "like, really, really kewl!" (with repetitive head nod)?

I guess as audiophiles, we tend to be wary of the label that we listen to the sound and not the music...

Back to the topic, I found the R2D4 to be only moderately interesting this year (nice graphics though). I listened to a number of clips on Amazon to get a taste of the material. I guess you can't save your best stuff for every year. But you guys always rock, anyway, in my book. And how much does my opinion matter? You'll need to do a double-blind validation study to determine if your readers indeed enjoyed R2D4 this year. Ha! ..Right, C4PO?

atalio,

You seem to be missing the point. Sonics/performance ratings for music are covered in the magazine's music reviews. The content and format of R2D4, on the other hand, is consistent with its prescription -- "to die for."

I'm not following the humor in your second paragraph. You offer your opinion, then say it doesn't matter. Not very constructive...

Ah, what a difference a day makes...

-atalio