Are there any artists (living or dead) that you go out of your way to avoid collecting?
The flipside to last week's question is hard to resist: Are there any artists (living or dead) that you go out of your way to avoid collecting?
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Bitches Brew straight up
Sony/Legacy’s 40th anniversary, deluxe reissue of <I>Bitches Brew</I>, Miles Davis’ landmark fusion double-album, is everything that the company’s 50th anniversary reissue of <I>Kind of Blue</I> tried to be but wasn’t: a fitting commemoration, handsomely packaged, with liner notes by a scribe (Greg Tate) who fully grasps the music and its cultural significance, and—a remarkable achievement—a boxed set that warrants tossing the original out.
Back In The U.S.A.
So call me a wild colonial boy, but while I found European record stores fun and all—and being in huge Virgin megastores stuffed full of jazz and classical records made me long for the days when they were still in the U.S.—one visit to Jerry’s Records in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania made me realize what that rock and roll immortal Chuck Berry said best— “Anything you want, we got right here in the U.S.A.” Jerry’s is easily, I mean EASILY! one of the top five record stores here on Starship Earth. The man is a mensch, the store is a huge, rambling barn of a place, and my God does he have the product. No onesies at Jerry’s. You often have many different copies of a single title to choose from. Never, ever miss Jerry’s when you’re anywhere near Pittsburgh. Seriously, the place is as much a shrine to the vinyl LP as it is a store.
German Afternoons
Berlin was a much smaller market yet there were some interesting music stores, headed by <B> Mr. Dead & Mrs Free</B> which sells only new vinyl. Nearby was <B>Rock Steady Records</B> (pictured above) which had a decent selection of used vintage vinyl. I hear the flea market by the Brandenburg Gate has a number of vinyl dealers but somehow I never made it there.
Long Player en Francais
The Ugly American: stalking the streets of Paris’ Latin Quarter, tongue wagging, wrists dragging along the pavement like Quasimodo, desperately searching out record stores in which to spend my rapidly depreciating (Go!) Euros.
Vitus Audio MP-P201 Masterpiece Series phono preamplifier
This massive, two-box beauty from Denmark costs $60,000, and I wish I could tell you it wasn't really better in most ways than the already outlandishly priced and sonically superb Boulder 2008. I can't.
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Listening #93
One more word for unhappy consumers, in any marketplace, who confuse praise for the new with rebuke for the old: 20 years on, I continue to admire the best qualities of my <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/turntables/1103linn">Linn Sondek LP12</A> turntable (itself not the first LP12 I've owned). I smile to think of all the records I enjoyed during those two decades.
Someday We’ll Look Back
Hi! Sorry, sorry. What’s going on?
Is there an artist, living or dead, whom you collect obsessively?
It might be Miles Davis, John Zorn, or the works of Eric Satie. Is there an artist, living or dead, whom you collect obsessively?
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