'Finding Forrester' - esp. for Coleman's "Happy House", Frisell's "Over the Rainbow", Kamakawiwo'ole's "Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World", and of course Davis' "In A Silent Way".

Track listing
1.  Recollections - Miles Davis
2.  Little Church - Miles Davis
3.  Black Satin - Miles Davis
4.  Under A Golden Sky - Bill Frisell
5.  Happy House - Ornette Coleman
6.  Over the Rainbow/Photo Book - Bill Frisell
7.  Lonely Fire - Miles Davis
8.  Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
9.   Vonetta - Miles Davis
10. Coffaro's Theme - Bill Frisell
11. Foreigner In A Free Land - Ornette Coleman
12. Beautiful E. - Bill Frisell
13. In A Silent Way - Miles Davis
 

The Sex Pistols are alrgiht as far as I'm concerened but I prefer the Ramones, they were alot more fun and didn't take themselves so seriously.

The Sex Pistols took themselves too seriously???

Miles was very happy with this LP while (in his autobiography) he expressed indifference with the highly regarded "Sketches Of Spain".  I actually like the last of this series - the lowly regarded "Quiet Nights".  It is short, but I think it is also pretty good.

Anybody know why Dr. Richard Davis didn't make it to the Hollywood Bowl (as billed) for this?  I like his work on BlueNote (such as on Dolphy's "Out To Lunch", his several recordings with Andrew Hill, and with Joe Henderson).  He also did a beautiful job as a session artist on Springsteen's "Meeting Across The River".  What a player! 

I love the "boom, boom, boom, BOOM!" drumbeat in "Be My Baby". The Jesus and Mary Chain copied it on "Just Like Honey" and a couple of their other songs, and Camera Obscura also used it in their song "Eighties Fan".

 Billy Joel's 'Say Goodbye To Hollywood' perfectly concatonates with 'Be My Baby' - same beat, same time, same key.  If you put the 2 songs together and remove the pause track you, seamlessly, get 1 song. 

you can hear an inferior remix is used on the back to mono and best of ronettes cd's from abcko

 It seems to me that Donna Clarkson may eventually acquire control of the song should she prevail in her wrongful death suit against Spector.  Should this occur, it could well be that the sound will then be improved.

It seems like Zappa gets overlooked when this question comes up. I should have nominated Frank, ... so I do.  He always had an amazing lineup.  Great musicians, recognizing the level and of his music, gravitated to him.   They had to be good since among his works are some of the most challenging pieces to perform in music history (and not just rock music history).  His bands were able to perform  consistently at an amazingly high level because Frank rehearsed them 6-12 hours a day - 5 days a week.  Some of the musicians complained it was like having a regular job but it was a mandated commitment to excellence that yielded great musical rewards.  A key to his live performances were the complicated series of hand signals Frank utilized.  If they ever had a bad night, it probably had nothing to due with the level of performance. 
Of course anyones choice of "greatest" is generally limited to those artists that they like the best. You would be hard pressed, though,  to find another artist who gave himself a more difficult challenge on stage and was able to meet it's requirements so impeccably.
         

The Grateful Dead, like the Who were certainly first rate at their best.  However, over the years the quality of their performances was inconsistant.   While a little bit of that might be due to the risks the Dead took in on improvisation, I would say that the main reason was drug abuse and that this was true for the Who also.   I suspect that abstinence from the use of drugs greatly helped Springsteen (and Zappa for that matter) to maintain an impeccably consistent level of high performance over their careers.  Zappa was addicted to tobacco but  avoided all illegal drugs and tried to see that the rest of his bands members did also.             

No, I am talking about the original Quadrophenia tour,  Los Angeles Nov. 22, 1973 (on the 10th aniversary of the assasination of President Kennedy).  They were flat.  It did get a lot better at the end of the show and they did an (apparently rare for that time) encore.  Townsend was unhappy with the performance and to his credit (and to some success) tried to fire things up near the end of the show. 

Springsteen

The Who, Van, and the rest are (or were) right there at their best but they have not always at their best.  Springsteen consistently has been for so many years.  Certainly I've seen  the Who do a stellar show but also a (not terrible but) less-than-stellar one (Quadropenia tour Los Angeles).  Townsend even said they stunk the next day blaming it on the sound system (which  may well have been right).   

But clearly Jimi was willing to let Noel have his tracks. I mean, they're there. It's not like Noel could use some power and influence over weak little nobody Hendrix!

My understanding is that is exactly what happened.  Hendrix was a soft  touch and easily taken advantage of  - despite the power he theoretically wielded when he made it commercially.  No way should the JHE have been any kind of a democracy. 

(Btw, I LOVE those songs. No kidding. Not just being difficult. I think they add a great pop touch to albums that can otherwise meander a bit too much for my taste.)

I don't hate the songs at all.  I even like "Mother" for what it is.  I just  feel that it  interupts the 'Syncronicity' album like 'Trancedental Meditation' would have if it had been stuck in the middle of 'Friends'.  (Even as it is 'TM' stands out like a sore thumb at the end of the record - and I like the song a lot.) 
In the case of the Hendrix L.P.s, I feel that  Noels stuff would have been better suited on his own album.  He should have been helping Hendrix instead of pestering him and  pressuring him, in order to put his lead vocals and lead guitar on Jimi's records.             

I'm reluctant  to overly criticize hits that I may not like because they clearly have their place.  There are others who have enjoyed them and who would I be to say they are "bad"?  However (imo) there are some songs that do not belong on the album they appeared on.  They might be ok b sides or rarities but detract from the record they came out on.  An example is Noel Redding's  "She's So Fine" on  Hendrix's 'Axis - Bold As Love'.  So is Redding's  "Little Miss Strange" on "Electric Ladyland".  Noel was a good musician, but to me it is a given if you were playing in Jimi's band or on one of his records that you were there as a sideman and you were there to support him.  I remain astounded with the audacity  suggested by the existance of those tracks on those albums.  Another example would be 'Mother' on the Police's 'Syncronicity'.  Andy Summers song is interesting in it's way, but it does not fit on this album.  It would have been an excellent B side.           

Without out a doubt it would have to be Buddy Holly. He was a Brian Wilson prototype and I would give my left arm to step into some alt-universe where he didn't die in that plane crash to listen to what gorgeous music he would have created.

I would most like to hear what John Coltrane and Jimi Hendrix would have done if they could have continued their careers.
I suspect Coltrane would have gone electric for a while.  I'm guessing Hendrix would have played some jazz with Miles Davis then made a pop album when he needed to replenish his bank account.   

Number 2 would be Kurt

It would be really nice - if you could bring him back cured of his depression otherwise he would likely be pissed off to be back.

Imagine Nirvana if they moved Dave Grohl to Rhythm Guitar, brought in a new drummer, and fanned out the music writing responsibilities between Grohl and Cobain. It would have been a partnership to rival Lennon and McCartney IMO.

'I Want To Hold Your Hand' in E minor?  But would it sell? 
   

Anyone have preferences or prejudices on sound with
the previous remastered, the DCC Gold Disc, and the 2007 remastered versions?

'The Ronette's Greatest Hits' appeared in true stereo on the Phil Spector International label in 1976 or thereabouts. I think it was a Polydor license deal for only a couple of years.

I would like to hear that.  How is the mix and is the sound superior to the disappointing sound on the "Back To Mono" box set.

Bob Dylan album trios:

1. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
    The Times They Are A-Changin'
     Another Side Of Bob Dylan

2. Bringing It All Back Home
    Highway 61 Revisited
    Blonde On Blonde

3. Planet Waves
    Before The Flood
    The Basement Tapes

4.  Desire
     Hard Rain
     The Bootleg Series Vol. 5:Bob Dylan Live 1975,
     The Rolling Thunder Revue

5. Slow Train Coming
    Saved
    Shot Of Love

6. Time Out Of Mind
     Love And Theft
     Modern Times

I have not, but it is an interesting question you bring up.  I would speculate that it would have sounded very good.  He was a recognized session pro with great chops at that point and likely raised everyone elses (in the band) game.  I did get to see Jan and Dean perform, in 1964, in Phoenix, Az. with a band that was essentially the Wrecking Crew.  They were awesome.  The level that they played at, compared to what I had heard from good local acts, was electrifying.   I would say they were as tight live as they were in the studio, perhaps more so.  I recall that they really seemed to enjoy playing before a crowd.  In retrospect that might well have been an accurate observation, though I did not completely understand who they were at that time.  Afterall these were guys that normally spent day after day plying their trade for long hours in small studios with no real audience interaction except from the record producer.  In these teen clubs, on short tours, they got to show their stuff off, to enthusiastic fans in real time and in person.
 
So I would say that Glen was probably energized and great at those shows.  I would further suggest that it is where he got the nerve to take the risk of leaving session work  and starting his own career, which he did right after doing his BB road gig.   

Elvin Jones
Roy Haynes

Rock - Johnny Barbata

[Al Foster who plays with McCoy Tyner now is unbelievable ...i also believe he did a stint with Miles.
/quote]

I also like longtime Tyner drummer Aaron Scott.

I think of it as similar to how Miles Davis often spoke glowingly about pianist Ahmad Jamal, who, while cool, doesn't seem anywhere near good enough in any way to be a major inspiration to a genius like Miles.

I rate Jamal as one of the jazz piano greats.  Right up there with Bill Evans, Denny Zeitlin, Herbie Hancock, and the like.  The source of his strength is a little more subtle because it comes as much (or more)  from what he doesn't play than what he does. His use of space has been a major influence in music, and certainly so on Miles.  Without Jamal's influence there would be no 'Kind Of Blue' as we know it.  Jamal's "Poinciana" from 'Live at the Pershing' is amazing.  He's still around and playing too. 
I agree though that there is similarity between the Wilson-Spector and Davis-Jamal influences.  However with Davis it was somewhat about making a statement by minimizing while with Wilson it was somewhat about making a statement by maximizing.     
   

But then: Brian has a tendency to 'repeat'. It can be heard on SMiLE blegs with those ongoing repeats of the 'Bicycle Rider' theme, for instance. I always felt that repeating favourite tunes for Brian function as 'sedatives', to make him feel at ease. Anyone else ever thought this?

I think we all do that in some form and that it is not behavior unique to Brian.  I also don't think it is necessarily a bad thing either.

But it struck me that the tone is,  that there is something odd about Brian because he listens to a song that he REALLY LIKES repetitively.  But if that is inherently bad what   would listening repetitively to something you DON'T LIKE over and over be?  I am not trying to say anything about Aegir at all.  I'm sure that I have done something along the same line at some point.  I am saying that folks tend to kind of hold Brian's behavior up to a different standard - labeling rather "normal" behavior as "odd".  I know I have listened to "Louie, Louie" by the Kingsmen like that. Heck I have listened and marveled to just the short simple guitar solo by George Harrison in "You're Going To Lose That Girl"  over and over for at least a half hour.   Now I may be weird, but I don't think that was weird.  It was very pleasant.                     

So I've been listening to Be My Baby on loop for the past 45 minutes, and I really don't see what's so special about this song. I don't think the arrangement is very exciting, and I hate those frickin' castanets or whatever that percussive Latin sound is

So what was your reason for listening for 45 minutes nonstop if you don't like it?  I could  understand perhaps once or twice, as a part of some academic exercise.

Thomas Edison saying "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

Actually for me it was U.S. "Nature Boy" by  Nat King Cole

For BB's with birthdates within the time parameter offered by this website:

Carl Wilson:    U.S. "Old Buttermilk Sky"  by Kay Kyser     

David Marks   U.S. " You Call Everybody Darlin' "  by Al Trace   

Funny, your comment about how Monk could have taken him. That's what Monk is quoted as having said, too. But remember, Miles was a boxer...and a mean motherfodaer. I wouldn't have messed with Miles Davis.

 
That was Miles commenting on the incident.  He said that Monk could have easily taken him if it had actually been a physical confrontation.  ( I am paraphrasing because I don't have his autobiography handy).  He did go up to Ray Robinson's Harlem gym and have Sugar Ray train him for a while.  But my take is that it was just recreational.  He certainly could be mean talking on occasion but I don't think he was really a street fighter at all  - Bob Dylan, by the way, has his own private gym and ring up in Santa Monica.  Bob suffered the indignity of being knocked down by a woman, actress Gina Gershon,  a few years ago.  He apparently took it like a good sport.  When Dylan got up off the mat, he told her, "I need a good woman to kick my ass every now and then.".  It probably was worth it to go a couple of rounds with her.  It being his gym and he being the singer/songwriter that he is,  he probably doesn't take too much grief about it.   A 1972 Dylan/Davis 3 rounder though might have been an interesting and spirited bout.               

By the way, the details of the incident you're referring to vary

  I tried to stay within the details of Miles 'corrected' version of the story.  I think that Miles qualified   1) that this was basically a good natured interaction (friends, foes, and inanimate objects alike were referred to as MFer's by Miles)  2) Monk (a large but good natured  man) could have kicked Davis's butt in short order if so inclined.
- But he really did want Thelonius to lay out.
 

there are recordings of the session under "Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants." And Monk being Monk, he lays out, all right ... during his own solo, barely playing and being obviously obtuse. Miles tries to rescue it by suddenly coming in to solo himself--you can hear him moving toward a mic to do it, with the change in tone as he approaches it. And right when Miles begins to play, BOOM, Monk finally goes into a true solo. It's pretty funny.

   

I think I have that in the 'Legendary Prestige Sessions' box  I'll have to go listen for the incident.  Do you recall the song?         

the theoretically technical players will tend to try to vary the simplicity of the part without being good enough to really send the song off in an interesting new direction.  But the people with good feel always nail it, even if they're on an unfamiliar instrument.

Hey Adam!  Glad to hear affirmation from the leader of a great working band. I hope the rest of your tour is a lot of fun and  I'm looking forward to your next  gig back here in the West Coast Southland. 

 

The drummer I called up tonight only had to play a solid beat for four minutes, but he sped up, slowed down, inserted breakdowns that didn't need to be there, made off-time bass drum patterns, and I'm sure he thought he was helping. 

 

Sounds like Thelonius Monk on piano.  You might take a cue from Miles who frequently sat in with Monk at the Five Spot and elsewhere.   A soloist who listened  to Monk's rhythm support could get lost quickly (even if his name was Coltrane).   On at least one of these occasions, when it was Miles turn to solo, he turned to Monk and said in his (permanantly raspier than Dennis's) voice: "Lay Out, MF'er, lay out!"     

They're not touch-sensitive. You play the notes and they sound or they don't. Period.

I disagree.  Good music is not as boolean as you are suggesting at all - not on organ or any other instrument.  Delay, Timing, and what you don't play are big parts of it.  A part like that section of GV might be played dorky or great on a given performance (and both takes might be technically correct).  In fact, the dorky take might be technically more correct.  Soul and feel are always a part  of artistically sucessful rock or jazz.  That's why Miles Davis always got frustrated when he tried playing with great classical players.  He would try to explain to them, when they would just play the song to technical perfection.  "No, No  you've got to play something that's like the song, but different." - and they would just not be able to figure that out or know what to do.