Few people think of Szell as a Bruckner conductor but these lean, precise interpretations - the thick, monumental Eighth benefitting especially from that kind of approach - are two of my most cherished from the two dozen accounts (or so) of the Third and Eighth that I have on my shelves.
I haven't played this in donkey's years, but I like it more than I used to. But man, it's long--a little tough to get all the way through it. Some really good moments on it though.
Tonight I've been listening to the last 2 albums by "Jeff Lynne's" ELO. "Alone In The Universe" & "From Out Of Nowhere". I've had them a while (AITU for longer, FOON fairly recent), but never actually put them on until now. I can not believe how bad they are.
The songwriting is passable for what they are: Wilbury-esque rockabilly nuggets. In the old days they would have been merely B-sides.
The sound is jaw-droppingly bad. The best I can do to describe the sound quality (the 2 albums are actually so similar one would be hard-pressed to tell they were 2 separate albums) is like this: Lynne was playing the instrumentals on a little radio, then set up a microphone and recorded his voice singing over them--all the while sitting in a sealed cardboard box under a blanket. His voice is unnaturally louder than the music and, while I have no proof of this, it sounds like he subtly used autotune.
In the past, even when Lynne's songs were only so-so, the playing and the SQ was enough to still make them very worthwhile ("Discovery" being a good example of this--in fact that album now assumes a new luster in comparison).
I just don't know where the fault lies. But he definitely needs to stop playing all the instruments himself and interact with an actual group of musicians and maybe an associate producer. And he REALLY definitely needs someone that he trusts enough to listen to their advice when something's not working.
I guess it serves me right for buying them without listening to samples first. And I should point out that I have bought every album at least twice (3 times in some cases)--original vinyls, CD's, remasters, imported comps, box sets, singles, you name it. I loved the Electric Light Orchestra right from the start. But this... I don't even know what this is.
Usually I would post pix of the covers. It's really not worth it in this case. It's not too late, Jeff. You can fix this. Many of us have excellent hi-fi gear. Please make it worth having.
I love these old style live tapes. They just put some mikes on or above the stage. Unlike modern recordings which go directly into the mixing board and lose the ambience of the place. This CD and the Stones GOT LIVE IF YOU WANT IT, make it seem you are in the audience. Perfect sound be damned.
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