My Lunchbox from Hell This weekend, I picked up the electric guitar, and fired up the Gallien Krueger to do some jamming. I almost forgot how epic the tone of this kick ass little amp was. I bought it way back in 1985 or so. I remember doing the Guitar Center/Guitar Showcase puch-pull to get it for something less than $500, probably a 20% discount from the list price. It is a small-ish practice...
I remember my early years of listening to music. When I was gifted a modest hifi system, and began buying records (no tapes in that era), I listened to my LP’s sparingly, as I didn’t want to wear them out. As I learnt with my Sargent Pepper soundtrack (the movie, featuring Peter Frampton) you can wear out a record. So, as soon as I could afford it on my paper route money, I bought a...
Part two in the online music services reviews. Today, it is Google Play and its All Access “Subscription” service. In 2011 when Google announced Play and their music service, my hopes were high. I was an early adopter (from when you needed an invite to join Gmail), and I assumed Google would rock this. You could store your music in their services, and play it anywhere. Up to a...
Part one of a series on music services, I will start with Amazon Prime. Back when iTunes music store was top of the list, and sold DRM encumbered tracks, Amazon opened their music store, selling un-protected MP3 files. Turns out that this was more than a sharp stick in Apple’s eye, but the lever by which the music publishers lost the ability to demand DRM on music sold. But, it did begin...
Recently, I blogged about a seminal Rolling Stones Album, "Let it Bleed". I was of the opinion that if you needed only one Rolling Stones album to accompany you to a deserted island, it was the album. One of my FB friends, Joe Palmer offered up the predecessor of the 1969’s Let it Bleed, the 1968 album "Beggar’s Banquet". So I took his advice, plopped down some...
When a band has been around as long as the Rolling Stones has, looking at their catalog can be daunting. Do you buy something really early? Or how about a best-of collection? It can be a crapshoot either way. However, with The Rolling Stones, there is one album that you can buy with confidence, and be cure to have a set of tracks that are timeless, classic, and thoroughly enjoyable. I speak of...
While I inherited a pretty awesome amount of vinyl LP’s of Jazz and Classical from my father inlaw, my rock and roll collection has been almost nil. I am missing the collection I jettisoned in the 1990’s in my frenzy of moving. Fortunately, with the revival, there are ample opportunities to expand and augment. One band that I never really had a lot of vinyl of is Led Zeppelin. Not...
Last year my father in-law passed away, a sad occurrence. However, we inherited his stereo and music collection. A couple hundred LP’s with a lot of jazz and big band recordings from the 50’s through the 70’s, and even some more modern items. This weekend, I have the stereo setup, an okay Marantz unit, with some decent bookshelf speakers, and a Sony belt drive turntable. Nothing...
I have been on a nostalgic twist in music lately, reliving my early days of prog rock fandom, and reminiscing about all the vinyl I used to have and got rid of in my flurry of moves in the 1990's. Ah good times indeed. There is one classic prog rock staple that I am embarrassed to admit that I have never owned any of their albums, but have followed many of the band members' later careers...
When two progressive rock (prog rock) fans get together, there is really only one question that matters. Wakeman or Emerson. If neither of these names rings a bell with you, then you might as well navigate away now. The question is who do you prefer, Rick Wakemen (keyboard player from Yes, and who has had a prolific solo career with probably 100 albums), and Keith Emerson, master of the modular...