The Software! The Software!

Collecting is perhaps the most stupid hobby a human being can submit to. I mean, really, I could have taken up knitting or keeping my somewhat flabby frame in shape, but, no, I had to go for collecting … of all things.When I was young (yeah, right) I collected stamps, especially those with any space-related depictions. At that time I didn’t care that most of those were geared towards collectors or came from states that were not much bigger than the stamps they issued. Then I focused on Scandinavian countries because I lived there for years and today I have limited my activities to getting newly-issued Danish presentation packs. Still, I ended up with several cupboards full of albums. Continue Reading →

“I was unfashionable before anyone knew who I was.” (Paul Desmond)

Recent Acquisitions

End of the year, which starts in Germany mid-summer with the sale of Christmas cookies at major supermarkets (go figure), is usually a busy shopping time. I don’t know why that is, but every year I seem to find bargain prices all over the place at a time when things should actually be full price to pull as much money out of customers’ pockets pre-Christmas time as possible.

On top of that I’ve taken to pre-ordering items which are often not delivered until weeks or often months later. I’ve noticed that for some rare material pre-ordering prices are usually substantially lower than one week after release and with material I have on my list that I really want to have, I usually don’t wait.

Additionally, if you hunt around second-hand online sites as much as I do, you know there are times when things on your wish list pop up all at once whereas at other times nothing happens for months. These recent three months have been like that: a lot of items from my wish list showed up, one by one and within a short period of time, and I bought more than I usually do. Continue Reading →

A musical life in Denmark of the 1970s, 80s and 90s

Even at the risk of alienating some of my regular readers (those that haven’t been alienated by my long absence around here already), this is the start of a longer series, many parts of which have already been completed. The reason is very simple, really, What I’m about to expand upon, I’ve had first-hand experience with, lots of it, and if one really starts researching what’s available on the topic, there is either laughingly little (inaccurate at that) or only highly fragmented information available online. I kid you not when I say that about some of my favorite music, there’s hardly any information to be had whatsoever.

On the one hand, what I’m going to write about here can hardly be called essential listening for anyone outside of Denmark, none of it is relevant in an earth-shaking manner, nor does it belong into the must-have category for international collectors, but on the other hand it made up a huge part of my musical life for quite some time and, as I will try to show, a lot of it was and/or is of the highest caliber. It is also the core experience that turned me into a collector, into a musician and into someone who has since then always tried to get to know new music, outside of the commonly trodden paths. Continue Reading →

Fleetwood Mac: The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions

As you know by now, I tend to review things here that I like. Some of you might even argue that I go overboard at times, recommending music I’ve grown to love with a truckload full of emotionally charged adjectives and adverbs. Be that as it may: I’m about to do it again.

So, sit back, pour yourself a good stiff drink … and read on.

I’ve gone on record before saying that the early Fleetwod Mac had perhaps the best two working guitarists in the business at the time (and certainly in hindsight as well; even more so, really) and, after having listened to “The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions” for I don’t know how many times these past weeks and months, I will now go on record saying that in my book the pairing-up of Peter Green and Danny is perhaps the most successful one musically that I’ve enjoyed for several decades and that Danny Kirwan, despite his more than sad career later on, was/is perhaps the best guitarist I’ve ever heard. Continue Reading →

Jump Jive And Wail

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“The trouble with most musicians today is that they are copycats. Of course you have to start out playing like someone else. You have a model, or a teacher, and you learn all that he can show you. But then you start playing for yourself. Show them that you’re an individual. And I can count those who are doing that today on the fingers of one hand.” (Lester Young)

The Loudness Wars

If you have been a regular reader of my site, you know that without the Steve Hoffman Forums I would be lost in the sea of mostly crummy remaster jobs permanently released all around the globe. If you also happen to be a regular on those forums, you probably also know that there are various camps frequenting the site, including a large group of hardliners that basically damn everything that isn’t a flat transfer, and I can understand them, especially if they have invested heavily into extremely expensive gear which reveals each and every fault of a recording. But even if you have just a decent and maybe only a mediocre stereo setup like I do, you can’t help but notice that record labels seem to have overstepped an invisible (but clearly audible) line: Too much is just too loud, too maximized, too compressed and too darn harsh. There’s no other expression for it but to say that a large number of releases and reissues just suck. Continue Reading →