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Running close on the heels of the 105th AES Convention in San Francisco, the DVD Forum held its conference two days later in the posh Hyatt Regency near the SF Airport. Attended by a variety of computer and consumer-electronics industry folk who manufacture and sell DVD discs and hardware, more than half of day one was devoted to the emerging DVD-Audio format. Although the presentations became highly technical at times, the sheer variety of possible formats and applications for DVD-Audio became apparent. Whether this is a blessing or a fatal flaw, all agreed that the consumer will…
JOHN MARKS
BANTOCK: Omar Khayyám
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, mezzo-soprano; Toby Spence, tenor; Roderick Williams, bass; BBC Symphony Chorus, Stephen Jackson, choirmaster; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Vernon Handley, conductor
Chandos CHSA 5051 (3 multichannel SACD/CDs). 2007. Brian Couzens, prod.; Ralph Couzens, eng. DDD. TT: 2:51:31
BANTOCK: Omar Khayyám
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, mezzo-soprano; Toby Spence, tenor; Roderick Williams, bass; BBC Symphony Chorus, Stephen Jackson, choirmaster; BBC Symphony Orchestra; Vernon Handley, conductor
Chandos CHSA 5051 (3 multichannel SACD/CDs). 2007. Brian Couzens, prod.; Ralph Couzens, eng. DDD. TT: 2:51:31
Orientalism always exercised a tremendous pull on the British imagination, and here are nearly three hours of settings—as lush and suggestive as an Alma-Tadema nude—for vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra, of verses by a medieval Persian poet.…
DAN OUELLETTE
BEN ALLISON & MAN SIZE SAFE: Little Things Run the World
Ben Allison, bass, acoustic guitar; Michael Blake, tenor & soprano saxophones; Ron Horton, trumpet, flugelhorn; Steve Cardenas, electric guitar; Michael Sarin, drums
Palmetto PM 2131 (CD). 2008. Ben Allison, prod.; Matt Balitsaris, prod., eng. DDD. TT: 53:21
BEN ALLISON & MAN SIZE SAFE: Little Things Run the World
Ben Allison, bass, acoustic guitar; Michael Blake, tenor & soprano saxophones; Ron Horton, trumpet, flugelhorn; Steve Cardenas, electric guitar; Michael Sarin, drums
Palmetto PM 2131 (CD). 2008. Ben Allison, prod.; Matt Balitsaris, prod., eng. DDD. TT: 53:21
Hands down, Little Things Run the World stands as bassist-composer Ben Allison's most adventurous CD, and is in the top echelon of 2008's jazz albums. It's lyrical, colorful, edgy, and teems with exuberance. Conceived with careful…
LELAND RUCKER
BOB DYLAN: World Gone Wrong
Columbia CK 57590 (CD). 1993. Bob Dylan, prod.; Micajah Ryan, eng. AAD. TT: 43:58
BOB DYLAN: World Gone Wrong
Columbia CK 57590 (CD). 1993. Bob Dylan, prod.; Micajah Ryan, eng. AAD. TT: 43:58
They're calling this the worst economic period since the Great Depression. Fifteen years ago Bob Dylan channeled the Mississippi Sheiks, popular among Great Depression audiences because, as he observes, "their songs are faultlessly made for these modern times." And so they are: Songs of hypocrisy, lust, and economic and political turmoil. Songs blaming the other guy. Songs, written decades ago, that show that, as a species, we haven't changed much.…
Back in the last century, I mused in this space about the essential difference between recorded sound and the real thing. I had been walking to dinner with friends when I heard the unmistakable sound of live music coming from a window. But here was the kicker: rather than the instruments being of the audiophile-approved acoustic variety, they were two amplified electric guitars. Their sounds were being reproduced by loudspeakers, yet it was unambiguously obvious that it was not a recording being played through those loudspeakers, but real instruments.
"What on earth can be the readily…
Pat Metheny Orchestrion
Pat Metheny, guitars, orchestrion programming.
Nonesuch 516668-2/-1 (CD/LP). 2010. Pat Metheny, prod.; eng. AAD? TT: 52:06
Performance ****
Sonics ****
Pat Metheny, guitars, orchestrion programming.
Nonesuch 516668-2/-1 (CD/LP). 2010. Pat Metheny, prod.; eng. AAD? TT: 52:06
Performance ****
Sonics ****
As silly as it sounds now, there was a time not so long ago when musicians were certain that the drum machine was the big bad wolf. Musicians everywhere wrung their hands at how it was the beginning of the end of live music; how hordes of unemployed drummers would soon be wandering the streets; how it was only a matter of time until acoustic instruments in general were on the way out, to be replaced…
Almost every assumption you might make about Vienna Acoustics' Klimt The Kiss loudspeaker by looking at it would be wrong. It is not a stand-mounted two-way loudspeaker. It's a three-way, with a coincident tweeter-midrange. And that ain't no stand—it's an integral part of the speaker. It does not have a conventional cabinet—there are two separate enclosures, complete with micrometer control of both vertical and horizontal axes. And those sure aren't plain-vanilla drive-units—they're about as unique as they come.
When I say you, of course, I mean I. When I first saw The Kiss ($16…
Although The Kiss is (sort of) a stand-mounted speaker, dainty it ain't. Almost 2' deep, it occupies about the same footprint as many floorstanders. Also, despite a higher-than-average specified sensitivity of 89dB, it wants a bit of welly from accompanying amplifiers.
My only other setup-related thought is that the asymmetrical stands may not anchor The Kiss as well as a less stylish solution might. Even with meticulous leveling, mine rocked a bit, until I placed 25-lb York barbell plates on their bases—inelegant but effective.
Kill then, and bliss me / But first come kiss me…
However, Zappa also leavened all his studio tinkering with substantial sections of essentially unaltered live recordings. "Little House" includes some of the most extended such passages, and, as The Kisses reminded me, is an awfully good example of how excellent the Mothers could sound on the right night in a good hall. But back to those drums: they really knocked me out through the Vienna Acoustics. They were alive and in the hall, with loads of air and crunch.
I'm pretty sure, based on the lack of fancy drum flourishes, that it's Jimmy Carl Black bashing the skins, and I have to…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, stand-mounted loudspeaker with integral stand. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) enter-vented silk-dome tweeter coincident with 7" (180mm) proprietary Flat-Spider-Cone midrange; 9" (230mm) proprietary Spider-Cone woofer. Frequency range: 36Hz–20kHz. Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Recommended amplification: 50–180W.
Dimensions: Loudspeaker: 21.3" (540mm) H by 10.75" (273mm) W by 21.3" (540mm) D. Weight: 95 lbs (43kg). Stand: 29" (730mm) H (including spikes) by 10.75" (273mm) W by 21" (530mm) D. Weight: 50 lbs (23kg) each.…