Recent Acquisitions (October 2011)

Back from my much-needed extended holiday way down south, as close to the Sahara as one can get short of floating in the water just a few miles offshore. Twenty-five to thirty-something degrees Celsius each and every day, nary a cloud. Great places to see, a breathtaking landscape and lots of insiders’ tips in my back pocket.

Recent Acquisitions

“Recent Acquisitions” has been something I’ve had around for quite a while on this site, in one form or another. And looking back on past posts or drafts that never came to fruition, there’s one single aspect that stands out immediately. The shopping sprees of the past are long gone. It could be that I have reached a saturation point somewhat, although I do doubt that. It’s just that I have so much to listen to that whenever I stumble over more “Want-Need-Will Have” items, I’m reluctant to shell out the dough, mostly because my bad conscience (left shoulder, far right) parades those CDs in front of my inner eye that I haven’t really listened to intensively yet. Continue Reading →

George Shearing – Classic Album Collection (1951-1956)

George Shearing/George Shearing Quintet. Classic Album Collection. Golden Stars/IMC Music Ltd, 2008.

This 3-CD box (3 jewelcases in slip cover) was produced in Portugal under European public domain law, and although it does state that the music presented on these CDs was licensed from Intermusic S.A., George Shearing probably won’t see a single cent.

It is the first time that the first two albums included here have been reissued and the remastered sound is more than OK. I sometimes do wonder though what the earlier Shearing material could sound like. Up until today I have mostly heard cheapo remasterings only, and this one is heads above some of the dreck I have had the misfortune of owning. It’s not Mosaic, but for 11 Euro one can’t complain. Continue Reading →

UFO – The Chrysalis Years (1973-1979)

UFO. The Chrysalis Years (1973-1979). Chrysalis/EMI, 2011.

Remastered by Peter Mew at Abbey Road Studios, London. 4 CDs with 8 previously unreleased tracks (Electric Ballroom, Atlanta, 1974), 4 tracks available on CD for the first time as well as 5 bonus tracks. Simple 4-CD jewelcase packaging with a slim and rather sparse booklet. Continue Reading →

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 →