What's On My Turntable: Back To Mono
Greetings music lovers.
Gonna try something new here. Every so often as the spirit moves me (and when time allows) I will share with anyone remotely interested what has been spinning on my turntable lately.
Quick backstory. As you may or may not know, I love vinyl records. I think I got my first record player and several 45s when I was about three. Ever since, it's been a medium that produces a musically pleasing sound to my ears. One I'm accustomed to hearing, warts and all. And I appreciate the tactile interaction you get with playing a record. I find I'm more compelled to the listening experience overall. Rarely do I play a record while I'm doing something else. I have to be in the zone.
So with that, welcome to the first edition of What's On My Turntable. You may be surprised, perplexed, impressed or amused at what you'll see. But it'll always be interesting and diverse, guaranteed.
Right now, I have my mono cartridge installed on the turntable (an Audio-Technica VM610MONO for all you geeks out there) so all these are mono records. I do this every so often since I own a lot of older mono vinyl and to me they sound better this way than by playing them with a stereo cart. Phil Spector once argued that stereo was a gimmick prone to phasing issues and that mono created a stable, unified sonic image that stereo couldn't match. He's kinda right.
I actually prefer these versions to the ones on Cadence. Timeless. George Gershwin, Miles Davis and Gil Evans. Brilliant. This record has the best version of Barber's Adagio For Strings I have ever heard. Earl Palmer on drums. I'll leave it at that. Probably my favorite Tony Bennett record. Astonishingly, Beethoven was nearly deaf when he premiered this masterpiece in 1814. It's 2:30am and you just got off a gig at The Saloon. Put this on. One of the first Rock-N-Roll LPs I ever got. A present from my brother-in-law when I was about five. I don't think Sinatra ever cut a bad record when he was at Capitol. One of the first jazz records I remember hearing. We had a lot of folk music in our house when I was growing up. Man, Side 2 of this record just kills me.
Eclectic as usual. John.