So what did Santa, or anyone else, bring you this year in terms of music? Any new favorites already? List your holiday booty here...18 responses total.
I usually get quite a few cds for christmas, this year was no exception... I got The return of the Aquabats (their first album), Led Zepplin II, and Dave Matthews Band - Listener Supported (their new live album), from my parents. My sister bought me the new Ani DiFranco album (which I already have), and a friend of mine bought me the Reality Bites soundtrack, which I had and loved on tape, but couldn't listen to it anymore when it melted this summer in my car, and I got rid of my tape player. I was kinda hoping for a guitar this christmas, but on the other hand, they're expensive, and I'd rather buy myself a nice one.
I got Hendrix. The best of Jimi Hendrix. It has all the cool ones, Foxy Lady, Purple Haze, All Along the Watchtower, and my favorite, Little Wing. I first heard Little Wing done by Stevie Ray Vaughan and he really did it proud complete with buzzing amp (I thought something was wrong with my CD player when I first heard it). Then I heard Hendrix' version. It's almost identical but Jimi is singing the words and it's considerably shorter than SRV's version. I really wish that Hendrix and SRV could've lived long enough to play together on this track. Man, that would've been something. As for All Along the Watchtower, I don't think you can compare Dylan who did it acoustically, and of course, Jimi's classic version. I'm thinking more about what the words mean and what they symbolize, of course this could lead to more gray hair. ;)
Eric gave me two Janis Joplin CDs, and my grandparents gave me the Chicago Symphony's complete symphonies of Beethoven on CD. All Along the Watchtower is yet another example of how good a songwriter Dylan was, so long as someone else was singing, IMO. Alas, his lyrics don't get all that much more intelligible when someone else does them.....
My brother made me a cd of some really great old skool and dance songs he owns. I begged for them over Thanksgiving, and he remembered which ones they were! =) I was quite pleased.
I got the Linda Ronstadt boxed set, and I gave my brother two Melanie CDs. I gave my sister the new Beck CD, with tickets to his Hill Auditorium show attached.
No music CD's here - I seldom request 'em. However, I did request David Jasen and Gene Jones' new book _That American Rag_, a history of American ragtime. Mary indeed ordered it for me, but unfortu- nately it isn't quite published yet, so I'm (somewhat) patiently waiting...
I got Shania Twain's "The Woman in Me" and Laurie Anderson's "Bright Red" albums.
the last time someone bought me music for christmas it was pearl jam <gack> anyway, I pretty much have to buy my own presents anyway, so this year for music I got Steeleye Span's Horkstow Grange (a bit different hearing them without Maddy) and Jaqui McShee's Pentangle - Passe Avant, which is pretty good stuff.
(I'd been wondering about the New Pentangle; copies are plentiful at Borders in Ann Arbor.) NP: "The Well-Tempered Synthesizer," from Wendy Carlos' "Switched-On Box," a four-CD set of Carlos's early Baroque recordings. Carlos got the rights back from Columbia and produced a very nice reissue package, with a big fat book discussing the philosophies and practices involved in producing these albums, 30 years ago. Also some bonus tracks, including demos with narration from Carlos. This was a gift from Leslie.
Got a 2cd compilation of various Chopin piano pieces, entitled "Music of the
Night," from Santa; that was nice as we don't have many Chopin CDs.
Mum'n'Dad gave me Kronos Quartet's _Night Prayers_, because I asked for it:
it's a cd of "modern classical" music mostly by Middle Eastern & Russian
composers, some of itdrawing from those regions' folk traditions.
Highlights include a haunting setting of part of the Catholic mass
("Lacrymosa") for string quartet & soprano; a piece based on a Jewish
synagogue refrain ("K'vakarat") for the quartet and tenor (at least I
believe the singer is a tenor; the program notes put only "cantor" after
his name which isn't overly help[ful as that just means singer. He has one
of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard, warm and almost vibratoless)
and the title track by Giya Kancheli, which is possibly the most perfectly
written piece of "modern classical" music I've heard and which has a
very weird & wonderful electronic part involving a tape of a massed choir.
And my aunt Lois gave me a cd, "Rain, Steam & Speed" by a Kiwi rock band
called "The Mutton Birds" A lot of people on the internet have compared them
to R.E.M. or the Talking Heads, but I won't because I don't have any of their
albums. :) I find I like a bit more than half the songs on it; nearly all
of them are interesting instrumentally,with neat guitar effects and such,
but I don't like all their lyrics. The style is often sort of folk-rockish,
but generally more electric than acoustic. Best songs: "Small Mercies," with
catchy but simple electric guitar riffs and almost gospel-like lyrics;
"Jackie's Song," almost purely acoustic and with strange but very memorable
lyrics and a good tune; "Pulled Along By Love," nice straight-ahead rock
song, "Goodbye drug," a laid back tune with a pedal steel guitar, reminded
me of crosby, stills & nash. "AsCloseAsThis" and "The Falls" are good too,
though they didn't have such good lyrics as the others mentioned.
BTW, what's an "e-bow guitar," which is used on a couple of the songs
(including "Jackie's Song,")? An electric guitar played with a bow?
It has a fluid sort of sound, not unlike the pedal steel guitar.
The Mutton Birds sound interesting for my tastes; I might order this from amazon.com.
Didn't get any CDs for Christmas, but I did pick up "Fairport's Cropredy Box Set" (the 30th anniversary, I think) as my anniversary present from Bruce. All live, all mixed with commentary and crowd noises, so not musically fantastic, but the closest I'm going to get to a live show, so I'm happy.
My daughter sent me the Play-A-Song songs from the Wizard of Oz book. There is a photo still from the movie on the book side of this thing, and a push pad with the pre-recorded music for the song that goes with it. Also, the lyrics are there, so I can sing along. Ha, Ha, Ha! Ho, ho, ho! And a couple of tra-la-las! Thats how we laugh the day away In th merry old land of Oz. Se said it was the weirdest thing she could find. I'm glad.
I got a gift certificate to Best Buy. Traveled over there and picked up a pair of CD's - one by Kansas, and one by America. They're both "Hits" cd's but that's alright, because they have cool songs on them.
Also got a Limeliters CD. Cool stuff, Maynard.
re #14: That reminds me that I keep meaning to pick up "Hearts", the America album that was produced by George Martin.. Used to have it on LP, inherited from my older sisters, but except for their first album, their greatest hits, and a bunch of albums from their "way-past- their-prime" period it's hard to find America's stuff released on CD.
Not a thing. We got some Flooz for trying out a web messaging service, and we got some cheap CDs with that, but that was it. The Matrix was our lone Christmas present, and that's a movie.
Spent my $25 Tower gift certificate getting a discount on the (relatively) newly remastered Solti/Culshaw set of Wagner's Ring. Got $30 additional off due to the Tower clearance sale.
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