Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jan 11, 2016 21:44:59 GMT
I think that there are performers on the 'edges' of acceptance and they're quite happy to be on that edge. I'll name two thers you wouldn't like Mick for the same reason. Frank Zappa. Prince. Bowie is another one of those artists who went in and out of popular stuff like Prince. Zappa wasn't ever really accepted in the mainstream. Bowie was at some points but he changed so much and moved on and away fro. Mainstream acceptance. The compression thing isn't good. Especially given that he wanted the album to kind of be an important one. He knew it would be his last. Perhaps now he's died, someone might release a less compressed hi res version. That might well happen I suspect. His market included a lot of Americans and to crack that place, it needs to go out on crappy radio stations galore. Compression helps in that situation since on limited bandwidth, it becomes one of the loudest on the radio. I'm sure though that the master is there in all its glory, ready to be remastered properly for the 'minority' market. It's not the performers decision to do this. It's taken out of your hands. Not sure that he's perhaps such a big market in the UK since we don't temd to react well to people who do something very out of the ordinary. That's why he lived in the USA for so long.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2016 22:40:31 GMT
I know this will be somewhat controversial given the mood in this thread but Blackstar is total & utter garbage in my opinion. Save your money & buy something else instead.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2016 22:43:24 GMT
Just having a wee listen to this. It's really not bad at all. You listen to this and he still sounds somewhat relevant whereas you listen to McCartney's recent material (anything since early Wings to be fair) and wish that someone would put him out of his misery I've never really read up on compression, other than in relation to computer files. With audio is it essentially chopping off frequencies at the extremities? The recording seems fine to my ears but seems to lack a bit of 'height', almost like the dynamics are a bit squashed. Edit: last couple of tracks feel a bit less inspired and with only 7 tracks in all it seems quite short. Wonder if that was always the plan or if deteriorating health dictated it.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2016 22:51:16 GMT
I know this will be somewhat controversial given the mood in this thread but Blackstar is total & utter garbage in my opinion. Save your money & buy something else instead. Done. Just bought this instead: Cheers Gordon!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2016 0:48:08 GMT
Face? Meet palm.
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Post by hifidez on Jan 12, 2016 9:11:58 GMT
David Bowie was allways there... obviously. I appreciated his art-form approach and I noted how he did not (or very rarely) sing with an American accent, which is very unusual.
My eldest son was more of a 'fan'; he introduced me to 'Heathen' which I enjoyed very much while favouring the early tracks over the ones towards the end. This album was also one of the first SACDs I bought and even rigged up a 4.0 surround systme to hear what the surround effects were like.
Bowie was teherfore on my 'to do' list. Never quite got around to concentrating on him that bit more. Sad to say his death has prompted me to address this. I will set time aside on Wednesday for my first listen to Darkstar.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jan 12, 2016 9:27:57 GMT
Darkstar is a difficult album, Derek. Heathen is one that I really liked as well though.
For me, certain peiods were really good while others were hard to accept. I didn't actually like early Bowie and thought he was a bit arrogant, although very polite mostly, in interviews.
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Post by elysion on Jan 12, 2016 14:15:39 GMT
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jan 12, 2016 14:48:05 GMT
Heathen is one of my favourite Bowie albums.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2016 21:46:40 GMT
Bowie was around for a good long time. Unlike in Diyah, where things seem to appear and then just as quickly disappear!
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jan 12, 2016 22:21:00 GMT
Learned that in RG. It did the job.
Do you want it back to read? Done. I put it back for you. Thought everyone had seen it.
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Post by elysion on Jan 13, 2016 19:24:56 GMT
Heathen is one of my favourite Bowie albums. This song is really nice. I never really got into Bowie's music and some of his stuff is "difficult" as also mentioned above. But some songs are certainly iconic and he has also influenced other musicians. Many well known musicians have passed away in the last few years. Although it is normal to see an alternation of generations from time to time, I'm a bit concerned when I look to what is coming thereafter.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jan 13, 2016 20:00:44 GMT
The future does look a bit 'missing', I think you're right Christian. Heathen is really nice, but it's also quite strange how we know a lot of his early stuff, without realising it. He can be very difficult to take for some, I agree. I had another listen to Darkstar today and you know, I quite like it. It's dark and a bit morbid. He obviously didn't write it for money because he knew that he didn't have long. It's more like a personal thing. At one point, he's describing his own death and his feelings about it. Quite sad really. He really couldn't have cared whether it turns out to be popular or not, but I like it and the way he uses words. Compression does get a bit in the way, but if you're going to buy any album because compression isn't there or is low, then you're going to have a really lacking collection. I'm afraid we have to get past that now and listen to the music not the file. Sad fact is that many audiophiles really don't listen to music. Musicians tend to listen for complex meanings within the sound rather than listen to the tune. Different perceptions which is fair enough. I think some can be too quick to criticise before listening properly and many, many people listen superficially. It is quite common for people to listen to an album just once and then condemn it as poor right away. Albums seem to have to instantly appeal which is a sad reflection on the state of today's music imo. Musicians know full well, that instant pleasure is the thing to do if you want to sell. That fact in itself makes them produce and make music that fits that formula. The loudness war is just getting it as loud as possible for radio playings. In fact, it's the listeners who are shaping where music goes....... Modern people also want a 'quick fix' where superficiality wins and depth becomes too taxing. Zappa had a similar problem, but the British in particular can be very limited in what they accept which is part of why he may have gone to America. I'm not trying to say he was the greatest or anything like that. What surprises me is how quick many on the internet have condemned what I think may be a great album on further and detailed listening, if only we can get past compression and superficiality. YELLO are Swiss based and had they have been British, they wouldn't have been accepted. In the UK, it was 'The Race' that really got them noticed. You see, suoerficiality and a good video got them more mainstream in the British market. That still happens now. However, I can agree that some might not class this as 'music' because it has dark edges, compression and some strange harmonies going on in there. With time, I think this one will settle and many might go over to the dark side of Bowie and see it as a powerful, personal message about his own death. Another two albums of his that tou might like are 'Reality' and 'Black Tie, White Noise'. He also did a BBC recording but I'm not sure whether it was retailed. It's a live performance and is extremely good. I just checked and I'm not sure if it was released but this is an example of him live when he was younger. At least you get 30 seconds of each track! www.amazon.co.uk/David-Live-Bowie/dp/B001J9S6HK/ref=sr_1_1?s=dmusic&ie=UTF8&qid=1452717762&sr=1-1-mp3-albums-bar-strip-0&keywords=David+bowie+LiveBtw, I really appreciate what you said earlier. Thanks. One thing I have loved about how this forum has shaped itself is the interesting comments on Music and not pure focus on just gear. Some stunning videos posted by Alan and the 'Currently listening to' thread has brought stuff to me that I'd never heard before. I'll always be very proud how that took a hold in a hifi forum because it's pretty good imo.
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Rabbit
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Post by Rabbit on Jan 13, 2016 21:34:37 GMT
In fact Christian, just had another listen and I think it's really good. I've been looking around the internet for reviews and there seems to be split opinions on it.
There's a lot going on in there and on more lostens, you catch more as well.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2016 23:00:00 GMT
I think the future of music looks bloody brilliant. It's just that the industry & people's lives have developed in such a way that we'll probably never see another icon as such. There's a mass of artists out there with bags more talent than some of those icons who have recently passed away. Don't be so damned pessimistic people!
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