Right now I am listening to ...

[unleash_me]

James Taylor - Greatest Hits

 

[unleash_me]

Soldier in the rain - Diana Krall

 

[Kamal]

Two great Jazz Albums-
-The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Back Home.
-Ahmad Jamal: The Legendary Okeh & Epic Recordings.
Strongly recommended.

 

[unleash_me]

Sister's Lounge

Good suggestions Kamal. keepem coming!

 

[dinyaar]

promises & lies---- UB40

 

[unleash_me]

Café de Flore: Rendez-Vous a Saint Germain des Pres [Compilation]

Today I got this album. Old one, released in 2002 I guess, but man what an awesome selection of tracks - good compilation of some of the best artists with genre ranging from jazz, soul, launge, downtempo and chillout. This is NuJazz at its best!

 

[persiflage]

Unleash_me, I will probably get that one on your recco then, next time I am at Rhythm House.

Just the other day I was in a situation at the store checkout (familiar I'm sure to all music buffs) where you have way too many many titles in your shopping basket - and the spouse is giving you strange looks. I chucked this one out because it was competing with some other fantastic titles.

This morning, my listening progression was as follows:

Miles Davis, 'Kind of Blue' (straight out of bed, still mellow)
Dire Straits, self titled album - the track 'Water of Love' (mid-tempo)
Little Richard, 'Long Tall Sally' (ready to go!)

 

[dinyaar]

Dear Persiflage,
Simple solution dont take ur wife on ur CD shopping spree!!!!!!
Hmmm Dire straits/Dire straits has some great songs. Actually all the tracks are great. Next time at Rhythm House (if u are as finicky as me) ask Anil to get u the imported versions of the cds u have shortlisted. He will check international availability and order them 4 U!

This evening heard a few cds that Anil Kumar (forum Member) sent me. Giorgio Moroder and Lipps inc.

 

[unleash_me]

Patricia Barber - Verse

I believe once in a while if you feel like pampering your hifi, slip in this SACD. Silky smooth!

 

[persiflage]

Dinyaar sir, interesting... should be fun to do an Indian vs Import comparison of the same title and see.

Kamalji: that Brubeck album is truly amazing.

This morning was totally different though:
Thumri, the music of love: A compilation from HMV
Barkat Ali Khan: Ghazals

Unfortunately the latter is low bit-rate mp3. Would give my right hand for a higher fidelity copy...

Happily the weekend is almost here!

 

[dinyaar]

Hey Persi u will be shocked at the difference in most of the cds!!!!!!!!!!
Some recent titles from memory are Hell Freezes over - Eagles,Long Road out of Eden -Eagles, Best of Sting, both Dido albums, All Dire Straits...............
The imported cd is much better.
Some Indian copies are good too but if the import is available its a safer bet.

 

[soundsgreat]

Hi,

This indian Vs imported is done death in the other threads ! so won't comment on the same !!

But here's something Am sure not many have done and got surprised !!

I recently got the Audiophile version of direstraits and Mark knopfler "The very best of Private investigations" I already had the HDCD version of the best of the dire straits "Sultans of the Swing",So I put in this new Audiophile CD and played the private investigations,Was I surprised to the core ! the bass in the track was not at all attacking(which it was not suppose to) and was very soft ! I thought may be Am not able to gauge the sound and tried it couple of times,but the result was same !! then I put in the HDCD played the same track , the sound was totally different to say the least,the bass attack was strong with the drums sounding very natural and had the right timbre !!

The same goes to the Eagles "Hell Freeze Over" I tried the old one and recently got the JVC XRCD2 version of the same album, this time the XRCD was the one which scored the marks !!

So the point here is forget indian Vs imported !! in imported itself you have this kinda variations !! How one needs to decide and spend his hard money without having to listen which is better is only known to god I think !!

Regards

 

[dinyaar]

Hi Soundsgreat,
The point i am making to Persi is that when the import exists and is available its a safer bet in most cases. Most of the XRCD s i have heard have been very good and HDCD( though hard to find) will only sound better than RB cd if the cdp has the decoding. Am i correct? Have a few HDCD s. An Alabama i have sounded wonderful on my old NAD c542 (with HDCD) and the same emotion in the voice is not reproduced in my '5 STAR CRACKER' (AS what HI FI suggests) cyrus CD 6 (No HDCD).
Any more finicky about cd quality and i will have to take the almighty to Rhythm House and help me choose!!!!
Regards

 

[soundsgreat]

Hi,

No No Am not talking bout you recommending ! Dinyaar please don't misunderstand !!

The thing is as I said and made the point that how difficult it is even in the imported cds to choose thats all !! that has nothing to do with your recommendations !!

Yes you are true that HDCD needs a compatible player ! but in the above post I forgot to mention the fact that I played both the CDs in the Marantz CD5001 (which has come to me for review since one of my friends wants to take up dealership of Marantz for bangalore) and as you know this model is not HDCD compatible model !!

Am very glad that atleast you have some place and people who will help you select the right stuff !! for us no way no how !! we are on our own,as none in bangalore is educated enough to help in this matter ( talking bout the stores and the staff there ! ),

Btw how much does the rhythm house charges for these imported stuff ??

Regards.

 

[dinyaar]

Hi,

No No Am not talking bout you recommending ! Dinyaar please don't misunderstand !!

The thing is as I said and made the point that how difficult it is even in the imported cds to choose thats all !! that has nothing to do with your recommendations !!

Yes you are true that HDCD needs a compatible player ! but in the above post I forgot to mention the fact that I played both the CDs in the Marantz CD5001 (which has come to me for review since one of my friends wants to take up dealership of Marantz for bangalore) and as you know this model is not HDCD compatible model !!

Am very glad that atleast you have some place and people who will help you select the right stuff !! for us no way no how !! we are on our own,as none in bangalore is educated enough to help in this matter ( talking bout the stores and the staff there ! ),

Btw how much does the rhythm house charges for these imported stuff ??

Regards.

Arre dear soundsgreat am not offended or misunderstanding.Relax buddy and remember what unleash and me told u some time ago. (Vices and all) hahaha
Any progress on those fronts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Take up dealership for marantz and send me one good SACD player ASAP. Really fed up scouting.
This place Rhythm House is an ancient place and has some quality people working as sales staff. Have been there ever since i was in school (to buy records) and hence know all the guys. Basically if its a mediocre recording they will tell me upfront and then i wait for a better copy.
Charges are in the range of 300/- to as high as 525/-. but to me it seems reasonable as if i were to buy from UK the best deal i would get is 3 cds for 20GBP which still works out costlier.
Regards

 

[persiflage]

Very nice discussion, please keep it going

Dinyaar bro, didn't you have a Marantz SA7001 (regular or KI) already? Or I might be mistaken.

I actually think the UK is actually one of the worst places to buy CDs (speaking only and strictly price-wise). I found America to be much much better, most stores do periodically release excess inventory through 3-5 dollar bins (esp. useful for getting hands on offbeat titles which may not have mainstream appeal).

And BMG Music Service is God's gift to mankind. They allow very decent prices provided you commit to buy a certain number of CDs in a year. Fulfilling the volume commitment is never difficult for the likes of us, given that they have a very healthy catalogue.

Wonder if we'll ever see such a proposition in India in our lifetime. Sigh.

 

[soundsgreat]

Hi,

Thanks for that ! no such luck with the !! Am always concerned about offending or misquoting someone ! so I will always try to clear if I think my reply has had any negativity (IMO).its just that Am here to make friends and learn something not argue with others and prove anything ! so always on a constant self ramification mode !!


Yes I've also decided that he better take it !! will have meet today and discuss the details ! I had alreasy told him that there's not much to think about it ! just take it,but he wanted me to checkout some stuff before committing anything to the importer/distributer !!

So my job is done (I think,and its free service mind you ) ! anyways why Diyaar the Maria fellow should have marantz products in mumbai (parallel importer) did you check with him ??

In any case let me know the model # will talk to my friend and ask him to get it for you !!


Ok 300 seems fair ! though 500 is bit high, but as you explain its ok aswell I guess !! I checked their website some time back and found prices of few Cds too much compared to others so kept quite. Example the Anoushka Shankar's Anuroug Cd is listed at 100 bugs in Indiatimes the same is at 425 in rhythms website . As to my knowledge this particular cd was never replicated in india and was always imported so I reckon both (indiatimes and rhythm) had same imported Cd !!




Regards.

 

[dinyaar]

Soundsgreat am not easily offended so dont worry. And i have no problem being corrected when i am wrong buddy. Please first get those vices and then the dealerships. HAHA. On a serious note i wish u all the best in ur endeavour.

Persi buddy i just could not get the KI player for over a month. Even offered the guy an additional 10K!!!!!!!!! (grey mkt was quoted 38K) as i felt he was in a fix as he had confirmed a price and now could not deliver. Finally got impatient and irritated and bought the cyrus in Jan./feb.
As regards the Uk well i go there twice a year so even though its more expensive i buy some cd s that i know would be difficult to procure locally.

Maybe with the current rate of inflation/sagging markets/ridiculous oil prices i will have to reconsider.
Cheers

 

[suniil]

Sorry guys,

Amy winehouse: back to black
You know 'm no good

 

[unleash_me]

Oh really?! then make the count 2 Sunil! - cuz I like her songs

Infact, am now looking for this cd- Back to Black [EXPLICIT LYRICS] [LIMITED EDITION] [IMPORT]- in my rack!