allthumbs

Me too. I just meant the characters they sing about are past their prime and somehow have a grander vision of themselves as they were once, unfulfilled promise but Fagen's voice always sounds as if the character is a vacuous narcissist or on the brink of a moment of self-awareness, amidst the humour is a kind of bitterness, not so much in growing old but in something that kind of died in them along the way. A "whole conference" on the American Middle Class white male could be based around SD's songs. Kind of like Philip Roth with music!

OK. I can't hear it myself, SD has always been slick, oil on water slick, and painstaking, but I have heard these stories before about the Beatles and CSN&Y recording Deja Vu (arguing over one or two notes in a harmony and almost coming to blows) etc. As I get older I've grown a little weary of the Dan sound but Everything Must Go I consider a high water mark in performance and song quality and right up there in the top 3 or 4 albums IMHO that had been released I think in the year I saw them at Rod Laver and I was hoping to hear that performed live, but unfortunately (to some degree) they ended up doing the hits. I developed a real appreciation for Becker's guitar playing, probably underrated even now.

Are you referring to the recorded sound or the music itself? Steely Dan whether as a group or as separate solo efforts by Fagen and Becker, in my opinion are not an "emotional" group full of feeling outside of the groove. The songwriting is too humorous, too cool and ironic. Fagen could never remove the slight sneer from his voice. In a cabaret setting with some different arrangements the song lyrics are hilarious and someone should be planning a revue using the songs as a basis for a comedy show. The continual nostalgia, the longing for the glory days or what was and what might have been has informed so much of Dan's output and it became more absurd as they got older an for me encapsulates the baby boomer generation that failed to grow up, had it all and continues to whinge and complain. When I saw them live last time they were in Melbourne I didn't get the feel that there was one improvised note in the whole performance, the energy is in their exactitude like classical musicians. Gaucho is a great album track by track it is absolutely solid and funny, extremely funny!

I have become so enjoyably lazy that I now pretty much just stream music from ABC Classic either via my Computer or via the TV on Channel 27. I am just looking for some clarification, I run the TV via the optical output to my Topping DAC and into my Cambridge 651a amp. My question is, is the TV acting effectively as a pre-amp? It sounds great. I was always impressed with ABC JAzz on Channel 201, but the Classic sounds phenomenal. Is the TV transmitting FM or the Digital equivalent, because the playlists are not always the same when compared.

Interesting discussion going on over at Harbeth HUG between Alan Shaw and Alan M of March Audio. https://www.harbeth.co.uk/usergroup/threads/a-speaker-designer-shares-his-thoughts-with-an-amp-maker.79659/

I've said before I don't listen to music as I did when I was 13 when it meant more than anything else right through my early teens and I was a guitar player back then so it meant a whole lot to me. I listen to a lot of music not with the same ardour as a young fuy, but most of it in the background always enjoying those moments when it catches me, grabs my attention more fully, discovering a new artist or performance, a unique instrument, virtuoso playing, a simple melody, a long forgotten song an heretofore unknown composer. Why I listen, not sure, I am always flabbergasted with people that don't listen to music. It is I feel something very primitive and instinctive to the human species. In many ways I wish there was not so much of it and that access to it was not so easy or its use so nonchalant it might move more people to making music.

I saw Leon Redbone at the Bottom Line in NY around the late 80's, I'd known of the guy, Southern Gentlemen in Colonel Sanders suit. I'd missed Wainwright III by a week or so, but hey it's the Bottom Line. Really great show enjoyed every minute of it he had a great really tight band and a devoted audience.

That was the first Davis album I ever heard and I kinda got it straight away and I don't think I have listened to it since. This will prompt me to get hold of it and give it another listen.

@sakabatou I think you are entirely correct, and I certainly got the wrong end of the stick. So I looked up ripping SACD to DSD files and knew right away that is not for me, life is too short. Still like SACD on the Pioneer though. Cheers for the clarification.

I should clarify, according to the manual DSD is supported from what I have read on the net it is only via the USB connector. Unfortunately I can't seem to get that to work. There is a lot of info on the net (too much) and I am trying half-heartedly to work my way through it, but the general consensus the BDP-170 does (should) work. So at the moment I am limited to playing SACD via the co-ax cable. Still with nice results.

Keep an eye out for "The Looming Tower" begins next week. I read the book years ago and I doubt they can go into so much historical detail and background but I have heard good things about it.

You could almost start anywhere in Davis' career and end up in the same place going backward and forward in time from which ever album you initially buy. For many ******* Brew may have been their introduction leading them back in time to Kind of Blue, or others starting with Birth of the Cool and ending up with we We Want Miles with all the stops on the way. Because he recorded on different labels a "best of" may not encompass all of his different styles, but a couple of best of albums may be a good start. I dig Miles for his groove and how he remained contemporary to his times and for catching and creating waves of style and for his identifying so many talented apprentices as a bandleader along the way but I was never a great fan of his trumpet sound, weird huh? You don't have to like Davis it's not a crime, but you can appreciate him, plenty of other roads in Jazz to travel.

I don't know, they had two years to make it and two less episodes to shoot. I think they may have had a more grandiose vision for the 2nd season trying to make it more nuanced and intricate than season 1 and to some extent they succeeded INMHO.

There are at 3 simultaneous crime investigations at various stages in Season 2 in and the historical Tate-LaBianca murders to boot. How many do you need? Plus you get Son of Sam. The circumstances and social setting of the crimes set in Atlanta point out the various ironies and hypocrisies, social and political when compared to the Manson murders, none of which are heavy handed beat you over the head with an irony bar, but simply stated within the dramatic action itself. Dostoevsky managed with the death of the singular Alyona Ivanovna for Crime & Punishment and managed to get a whole book that was considered "heavier going".

No it's me, I thought season 2 way out scored season 1. My reasons being the characters were already in place, and so there was less explanatory dialogue as to why they were who they were, the irony of Tench's kid's predicament is a great and ironical counter balance to the show, thirdly the first really convincing Charles Manson on film even outclasses Steve Railsback's portrayal and using CM's words. Just a thumbs up for a drama that relied on nothing more than procedure and a total absence of action unless swatting a mozzie while on surveillance counts as action. If you like Iranian film, Asghar Farhadi's film "About Elly" is on STAN and features many of the same actors that appeared in "A Separation" another great film by Farhadi.