Listening to Now (In Surround) - Volume 2

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Max Cooper - Emergence (ATMOS 7.2.4)
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John Lee Hooker – Free Beer And Chicken
ABC Records – ABCD-838 (QS LP)

* This is a 1974 album encoded to QS Quad, produced by Ed Michel and engineered mainly by Baker Bigsby.
Here's the discogs link for more info:
https://www.discogs.com/release/2454082-John-Lee-Hooker-Free-Beer-And-Chicken
Just finishing up with a decode and conversion of the LP; and since there's no Poll for this as far I know, I'm going to go into a little detail about it here. If a Poll was to ever materialize, just cut and paste this into the thread for my review/vote (posthumously if need be.)

I had previously tried a decode of this album from a later 1991 CD release from BGO, but wasn't impressed with the decode. So I decided to seek out a first run LP and check that out. Reflecting back now, perhaps it's just the way the recording/mix turned out.

What I'm finding from my careful listening of the LP decode is what I believe may be a kind of group recording in the studios with the band in varying spots circled around and lots of mic bleed through; making it have that live in the middle feel, but with little real discrete elements in the mix. Some folks that may know more about the way recordings were done at these type of sessions please chime in with additional thoughts.

As for the music overall, I'm really liking it; just a real hard nosed, get down and dirty Blues album with a surprising amount of guest players on it.

Some individual song impressions/details-

On "Five Long Years" you've got Joe Cocker sharing vocals with J.L.H.; Flute – Sam Rivers and Guitar – Jim Kahr, Wa-Wa- Watson.

On "713 Blues & 714 Blues" (which I just let run together as one song) the great session guitarist of the day Howard Roberts plays; and a nice Violin by Sugarcane Harris.

On "Homework" some more Howard Roberts & Wa-Wa Watson on guitars and some Synthesizer [Moog and Arp] by Clifford Coulter; to nice effect.

"Bluebird" was one of my favorite tunes here, with the Tower OF Power Horns; and real interesting Bass [Moog Bass] effect by Clifford Coulter.

"Settin´On Top Of The World" is another fav., with some new & old world instruments played giving it extra texture- Coconut Banjo – Peter Berg (3); Electric Violin – Michael White (2); Kalimba, Xylophone [Balophon], Finger Cymbals [Chinese Hand Cymbals], Bells [Ganquok Bell], Shaker – Kenneth Nash; Tom Tom, Synthesizer [Moog] – Fatz Wess.

On "Collage" (long medley of tunes) there's more Joe Cocker vocals on "The Scratch" and lots more Tower Of Power Horns throughout.

I'd give the music a solid 9, but the mix only about a 6; but since I'm really liking the music, I'll go with an overall 8 rating on this one. Just too bad the mix couldn't have been just a little more discrete.

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John Lee Hooker – Free Beer And Chicken
ABC Records – ABCD-838 (QS LP)

* This is a 1974 album encoded to QS Quad, produced by Ed Michel and engineered mainly by Baker Bigsby.
Here's the discogs link for more info:
https://www.discogs.com/release/2454082-John-Lee-Hooker-Free-Beer-And-Chicken
Just finishing up with a decode and conversion of the LP; and since there's no Poll for this as far I know, I'm going to go into a little detail about it here. If a Poll was to ever materialize, just cut and paste this into the thread for my review/vote (posthumously if need be.)

I had previously tried a decode of this album from a later 1991 CD release from BGO, but wasn't impressed with the decode. So I decided to seek out a first run LP and check that out. Reflecting back now, perhaps it's just the way the recording/mix turned out.

What I'm finding from my careful listening of the LP decode is what I believe may be a kind of group recording in the studios with the band in varying spots circled around and lots of mic bleed through; making it have that live in the middle feel, but with little real discrete elements in the mix. Some folks that may know more about the way recordings were done at these type of sessions please chime in with additional thoughts.

As for the music overall, I'm really liking it; just a real hard nosed, get down and dirty Blues album with a surprising amount of guest players on it.

Some individual song impressions/details-

On "Five Long Years" you've got Joe Cocker sharing vocals with J.L.H.; Flute – Sam Rivers and Guitar – Jim Kahr, Wa-Wa- Watson.

On "713 Blues & 714 Blues" (which I just let run together as one song) the great session guitarist of the day Howard Roberts plays; and a nice Violin by Sugarcane Harris.

On "Homework" some more Howard Roberts & Wa-Wa Watson on guitars and some Synthesizer [Moog and Arp] by Clifford Coulter; to nice effect.

"Bluebird" was one of my favorite tunes here, with the Tower OF Power Horns; and real interesting Bass [Moog Bass] effect by Clifford Coulter.

"Settin´On Top Of The World" is another fav., with some new & old world instruments played giving it extra texture- Coconut Banjo – Peter Berg (3); Electric Violin – Michael White (2); Kalimba, Xylophone [Balophon], Finger Cymbals [Chinese Hand Cymbals], Bells [Ganquok Bell], Shaker – Kenneth Nash; Tom Tom, Synthesizer [Moog] – Fatz Wess.

On "Collage" (long medley of tunes) there's more Joe Cocker vocals on "The Scratch" and lots more Tower Of Power Horns throughout.

I'd give the music a solid 9, but the mix only about a 6; but since I'm really liking the music, I'll go with an overall 8 rating on this one. Just too bad the mix couldn't have been just a little more discrete.

View attachment 78008
I never realised this was a Quad release! I'll see if I can find the CD the LP is a 'trifle' expensive especially if you add in P&P to the UK
 
Flora Purim, Stories to Tell (1974), in a really clean conversion from CD-4. George Duke on Keyboards, Earl Klugh (and, guesting on one track, Carlos Santana) on guitar, Miroslav Vitous and Ron Carter trading bass duties, and Airto (natch) on drums & percussion. Produced by the legendary Orrin Keepnews. And I think it's safe to attribute both the quad and stereo mixes to Jim Stern, who also worked on Woody Herman's Children of Lima? (@steelydave: another one for the quad engineers database?) Beautiful set.

View attachment 72788

In an effort not to clutter the poll thread, I'll note here that Purim has released a new album at age 80:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/16/flora-purim-if-you-will-review-80th-birthday-dianahttps://florapurim.bandcamp.com/album/if-you-will
 
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Listening to the Dual Disc of Anne Murray - I'll Be Seeing You. Not much discussion about this one on the forum. The mix is really nice, and the fidelity is awesome. Probably not some people's cup of tea, but for those who like jazz standards and covers of other popular tunes, she is a great singer, and the surround is excellent. I picked it up in a used record store in great condition for $2 plus tax. At that price it can't be beat!
 
Listening to the Dual Disc of Anne Murray - I'll Be Seeing You. Not much discussion about this one on the forum. The mix is really nice, and the fidelity is awesome. Probably not some people's cup of tea, but for those who like jazz standards and covers of other popular tunes, she is a great singer, and the surround is excellent. I picked it up in a used record store in great condition for $2 plus tax. At that price it can't be beat!

Totally agree....an outstanding MLP DVD~A 5.1 and much overlooked on the forum....and a rare Capitol Records hi res 5.1 transfer!

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