Observations 04-2009

Mosaic, Benny Goodman, Ian Gillan and ...

My musical life has been picking up quite a bit lately after having been in a bit of a limbo for all too long. As you might recall, I wrote about not having bought anything for quite a while - and I'm planning on keeping that up - but these past few weeks, especially because I had some money left over and this or that opportunity presented itself, I "lashed out" and hit the "Buy Me Now, Idiot!" button all too often.

On top of that, I had the chance of spending much more time with my music again, listening intensively and giving liner notes, books and catalogs much more than a cursory glance.

So, here's a quick summary for those who, because of the beautiful weather we've had around these parts lately, don't feel like spending too much time in front of their glare or non-glare screens ... and believe me, what you are about to read could have been even longer than it is now:

01) A Call to Arms: Mosaic Discographies

I have this wonderful program called "WebResearch" (programmed for us anally retentive data collectors by life-saving macropool.com) which is the best program I ever paid for - and I have tons of programs on my 1TB drives.

"WebResearch" allows you to hit a "Save" button while reading just about any web page in your browser, and it will proceed to do it's damn best to save that page to a huge database, including all the page elements, no matter how weirdly that page was programmed, how many completely superfluous frames and tables it has and, most importantly, no matter how many things were screwed up while that page was programmed (scripts, formatting errors, programming deficiencies, etc.). "WebResearch", which is updated more frequently than 99% of the shite that's out there today, gobbles it up, tries to make sense of it and helps you file the page away, categorize it, tag it, etc. I could go on and on about this program, but if you are anything like me, I implore you to give it a try (no, I'm not affiliated with them, nor do I get any form of reimbursement for taking up valuable lines in this post for recommending both the company and their program). My life as a teacher, a collector and a voracious reader would simply not have been possible without that program.

Absolutely.

Grand.

Stuff!

To get back to the point: The other day I cleaned up the many hundreds of documents I saved and I found this inconspicuous folder entitled "Mosaic Discographies" ... and immediately raised both of my eyebrows ... a difficult feat at my age.

See, whenever I came across a complete discography for any of the Mosaic boxed sets, the smaller Mosaic Selects or their relatively new "Mosaic Singles" releases, I hit that "Save" button.

For all the uninitiated, "Mosaic Records" is a jazz collector's dream, a label which makes available some of the best (and sometimes most reclusive) Jazz had to offer throughout its existence and they do their very best to research, annotate, illustrate and master their releases to perfection.

But, and everyone who regularly hits the various iterations of their site knows that, they have been reluctant to keep online all the discographies for their various releases, even now that they have rather recently redesigned their site. Fact is, once a set goes out of print (their boxed sets are always limited to a maximum of 20.000 copies, sometimes less), it ends up on their "Out of Print" page and all the previously available information disappears into the deceased bits and bytes that are the Internet.

Gone.
But not forgotten.

I can only speculate as to the reasons for that move, but aside from a) laziness, b) the attempt to withhold information from those online copying bastards or, perhaps, c) the time involved in getting this stuff online again, I simply cannot fathom why they do not provide that service.

If you happen to need some information for OOP =(Out-Of-Print) sets, you usually have to hit some forums and find yourself at the mercy of those collectors who have that information.

So, when I saw my "WebResearch" collection of saved Mosaic discographies, I immediately thought of putting all of those I had collected online here, creating a new page on my site which links to simple "downloadable" text files (discographies and track listings) for each set.

This will take a while, but it's starting soon ... and will be continued, no matter if Mosaic decides to finally make that information available again or not. If they do, great, and if they don't ... you'll always have a one-stop to find what you are looking for. See, as someone who has been online ever since anything like "online" was invented, I have become distrustful of any site because even if things are made available at some point, they have a knack of disappearing again down the road when some new CEO decides it's not a viable business model.

Gone.

But not forgotten.

Disclaimer: I have too much respect for the work Mosaic does and I am aware of the fact that European "pirates" are ever eager to rip off the tremendous work Mosaic has done, so I will not offer cover photos of releases (ever) - although I have them all - which might help pirates or any other so inclined individuals to rip a complete Mosaic boxed sets with all the additional info. But, because Mosaic boxes are usually listed in the various online databases that help people automatically tag their personal rips, I do not believe I'm overstepping a line here.

Still, once this post is finished, I will contact the company and ask what they think about what I'm doing here. I really hope they will not object, especially because I have seen time and again how often fans of their work have to jump through I don't know how many hoops to get hold of discographical information.

And now, finally, to the point: I need some help in completing what I have. If you have any information, discographies, track listings, etc. for any sets that are not listed here (will be listed here), I'd appreciate if you can take 20 seconds away from your online time and mail it to me. You'd be helping out literally a million people looking for this stuff (you should see my log files here and the trillions of hits I get because I typed two words in some post or other, "Mosaic" and "Discography").

02) Benny Goodman, "Angelo's" and "Mosaic"

In my last post I mentioned that I'm working on a Benny Goodman post. That one is proving to be much more difficult for two reasons: I noticed that I do not a) have adequate (re)issues of some seminal material and b) Benny Goodman is too important to me to just "throw out" a post on him on this site. So, in short, the post is delayed and I will take my ("damn", thank you) time completing it. The more I have thought about it, the more central Benny Goodman has been to the various stages of my musical "life" and I don't want to do a "quick 'n' dirty" just to get a post out there. Additionally, what I have written so far consists of much more than my usual babbling and is a mile and a half long, so whenever I have time, I'd like to streamline it and improve on it. Just wait ... it'll be around relatively soon. Within the confines of 2009, I think.

In the meantime, I have acquired two important additions to my Benny Goodman collection, the second part of the "Yale Archives" series (Vols. 6 through 10) which, for some reason, I didn't pick up when it was widely available, and, secondly, I performed a slightly delayed jump on Mosaic's 7-CD "Classic Columbia and Okeh Benny Goodman Orchestra Sessions (1939-1958)", and am enjoying the hell out of it it as I type this.

But that's not the point. I'd like to veer off into an online shopping anecdote. Actually, what happened, made me write an e-mail that I'm going to send off within a minute or two.

What follows, might have been a feast for Freud, the lack of CDs at the time not withstanding:

Here's the background:

Although the Benny Goodman Yale Archives releases have gotten mixed reviews across the board, they are important to me. Years ago, I picked up the first five volumes which were collected in a boxed set and when I went through all of those the other month, I was enticed to seek out the second boxed set that contains volumes six through 10.

So, I did my usual web research-stint, bookmarked this and that, read up on one or t'other mail order dealer, checked recommendations and starred reviews ... and decided to acquire the second boxed set via a second-hand outfit named "Angelo's CDs & More", hailing from various shops around Colorado, my order having originated from Littleton.

Here's what went down:

I hit the US Amazon.com marketplace, found the boxed set for $18.95 from " angelosmailorder" and because I had an Amazon voucher for income I made via livingwithmusic.com (thanks, guys and gals!), I ordered the set for ... nothing. I didn't pay a single cent.

When the set arrived here, it was packaged safely, contained the slightly used box with pristine copies of the CDs plus jewelcases and cover sheets (it looks and sounds unplayed) and brought Christmas here at the beginning of spring.

But ...

I had a closer look at the box and affixed to it was a postage label stating "$18.55 - US Postage - Int. First-Class".

I have no idea how the American postal system works, but this is what I figured:

Angelo's either put the boxed set up for $18.95 and then got hit with postage that basically equaled that amount, or ... I don't know shite (hey, I'm German).

So, I sat down to write this (which will go off today):

"To whom it may concern,

in the beginning of April I ordered a Benny Goodman boxed set ("The King of Swing: Rare Recordings from the Yale University Music Library") from you via Amazon marketplace. It arrived here in excellent (!) condition and exceeded (very much so) my expectations in regard to the quality of the set (you made it sound more used in the description than it was).

As an avid collector, I was one happy camper when I received the set. So, this is not a complaint!

When I had a closer look at the box used to ship this set, I noticed that you spent $18.55 on shipping it to me which, if my knowledge of mathematics isn't as bad as it used to be, results in a profit for you of 40 cents.

If that is the case, I would very much like to reimburse you and make sure that you actually get what the transaction was worth. Please let me know if I misinterpreted the transaction and, if not, let me know how I can transfer $20 to you via PayPal (the only service available to me which doesn't cost you or me and fees). No matter what, I'd like to thank you for the smooth transaction and commend you on your excellent service.

Sincerely, Volkher Hofmann

P.S.: I will mention the transaction in the following post on livingwithmusic.com, my website. "

A few hours later, I got this response:

"Hello,

Thank you very much for your message!  We always love getting positive feedback from satisfied buyers.

What happened with this order was, Amazon issues us a shipping credit of $6.89 US for all international orders, but then, as you saw, the actual shipping cost was $18.55.

If you'd like to pay the difference of $11.66, please send us your credit card number and expiration date, and we'll be glad to run it through our store (unfortunately, we have had problems with PayPal in the past, so we no longer use it).

Again, thank you very much.  Angelo's CD's & More"

Then I sent them the information to charge my credit card with the difference needed for them to make some sort of profit.

Why?

Because it was the decent thing to do.

Most people would call me "stupid", "an imbecile" or outright "old-fashioned", but the service was excellent,  the wares were top-notch ... and they went out of their way to get what I wanted to  me fast.

What the hell else does anyone want?

03) Ian Gillan Remasters: Born of Necessity

God, these remasters suck.

Really, I have lots of crappy remasters, but these take the cake for remastering idiocy. The worst thing is, a long time before I bought two of them I knew that they would suck.

Still, I bought them.

When I was about half as tall as I am today, at a time at which I still had twice the hair I have now, I had two Ian Gillan LPs, "Glory Road" (1980) and, especially, "Future Shock" (1981), which I consider to be his best solo effort.

The latter, "Future Shock", was OK as an LP, but already then I thought it sounded like it was recorded in an extremely crowded sardine can. The sound was "off", "centralized" (not much of a stereo spectrum to write home about), and altogether it sounded like "tunnel acoustics" ... even after a bottle of Cacique or two.

So, when I hit a second-hand store some days ago, I stood there, debating with myself if I should shell out the relatively small amount of money to get a double-CD set ("Glory Road") and a single one ("Future Shock"), both supplemented by extra takes.

I don't know if you know the feeling, but because of time pressure, I had something like 120 seconds to weigh the pros and cons. I remembered the abysmal reviews these remasters had garnered around the web, I recalled the hour-long phases of frustration when listening to absolutely crummy remasters on my home system, but I also looked at the packaging, the liner notes and the available material of those remasters.

And then I bought them (for the price of a "Double-Whopper Cheese")!

Why?

Because I knew from lots of research that if you happened to be looking for the earlier issues of those two releases, you would have had to pay a multitude of that amount (or look forever to get those a little cheaper). Yes, if you spend each and every day looking around the Net, from the North pole to the South pole (and inbetween), you might be able to unearth a good copy by chance, but because I simply do not have the time to do that, I decided to cut the waiting time short and go with the remasters.

After all, the last time I looked, the only good issue of "Glory Road" cost above Euro 60.

'Nuff said.

So, because of that warm-and-fuzzy feeling I often got when I heard those two LPs, I jumped in, took the two (three) CDs home and ... enjoyed them. Yes, they are prime examples of the mindless, profit-oriented and primate-like remastering of important releases, but they also afforded me instant gratification when I hit numbers that were the soundtrack to my more or less "normal" (strike: "wasted") youth.

I have given up hoping that labels and engineers will veer away from what is essentially the destruction of our common cultural heritage (the upcoming Beatles remasters not withstanding) and, most importantly, I have given up hoping that I will be able to afford some of the more or less reclusive original releases that are above the primordial slime produced today.

Yes, these remasters are eq'd, boosted and leveled to an extreme, headaches included by proxy, but Ian Gillan's stuff from the beginning of the eighties also rocked your socks off. If you happen to be the more discerning fan, you might want to differ, but a lot of the material presented on these two former LPs was a carbon-copy of the Deep Purple sound, especially "Glory Road".

On top of that, "New Orleans" off "Future Shock" happens to be a cornerstone of my collection, and I've enjoyed the number, despite the "Blues Brothers II" take at the end of said film. ;)

So, I bit the bullet once again, probably hating myself for having done so years down the road.

As my dad used to say, after half a decade in South America: "Dat's 'de life in 'de tropics!" :)

04) Twitter, err, uhm ...

I think Twitter is the equivalent of small pox. It's "in", although it should be "out", and it is a platform for every idiot - planet-wide - to let six plus billion know that he/she has just been to the toilet (and "successfully completed the visit"), has just bought a liter of milk or has just decided to kill him- or herself. Rubbish, superfluous banter, stream-of-consciousness blather, imbecilic crap and ... a waste of time.

Of course, I latched on to the fad. :)

Not to contribute anything more worthwhile, but just to radiate the feeling that nearly 50-year old geezers can do it to.

So, I added a "Twitter" newsfeed, posting anything music-related (mostly) whenever I come across it.

If I actually manage to keep it up and add on to it regularly, I will give said stream a permanent home on a page of my site. If not, .... you'll notice.

05) Public Apologies

It's time to go public with some apologies, all of which I'm not sure I should post here. But because the Internet forgets quickly, does not store anything you've ever written and is quite forgiving, I thought I'd sneak 'em in here on the sidelines. Here we go:

First and foremost, an apology has to go out to "Kate" of "Cider Press Hill". I started an interview with her - which was close to completed, but never published. She invested quite a bit of time on it and must have been up in arms when it didn't go through. Another one has to go out to "Reader #1" of this site, Hans Koers, who has to take the full brunt of my irregular but stunningly self-centered stream-of-consciousness rants that I like to throw at unsuspecting e-mail contacts once in a while. Hans is one of two cool Dutch people I know, a very understanding fellow with tons of knowledge, a collector who understand the pitfalls of our affliction and, most importantly, someone who faces life head-on. Thanks for listening, Hans! The last one has to go out to one of my students from 10th grade "bilingual" English, ("Yes, Siree Bob"), Clemens Thomas, who is a budding musician, a young man with a broad interest in the most diverse genres and someone who is not limited to the everyday-shite that's available around the globe. Again, I made more promises than I could keep contact-wise, and all I can say is that I will try my best to remedy the fact.

Once again, all of you good folks out there, that's it.
Life's good.
The weather is fine.
The music is good to perfect.
Let's live it up.

Go outside, get a fresh breath of air, enjoy life and, most importantly, keep rockin' and swingin'.

Cheers!

P.S.: I will update the gallery soon, adding my most recent purchases.

Related Posts

1. Observations 10-2009
2. Observations 02-2009
3. Observations 03-2009
4. Observations 06-2009
5. Discographies and Lists
6. Discographies
7. Buddy Rich Sessions
8. Cancer and Music
9. Vrrrooom (Site Update)
10. Jazzmatazz