Your latest cd or DVD purchase

[Manatee]

Just arrived:

Jethro Tull - Bursting Out

Slightly used again, and I entirely forgot I'd ordered this.      As previously stated, it's my all-time favorite live album by anyone and was sorely needed on CD.

[Steve Jones]

"David's back.  Did you give it a good shake?"

[Manatee]

"David's back.  Did you give it a good shake?"

  Mr. Anderson does have a certain rustic charm, doesn't he?

[Steve Jones]

Mr. Anderson does have a certain rustic charm, doesn't he?

ISTR him entertaining us with a tale of them playing the Dambuster's March to the German audiences on that tour.  IMHO IA and Richard Thompson are the two finest performers when it comes to between-songs banter

I can't remember which CD it's on, but I love the way IA introduces a certain live staple as "The famous Led Zeppelin 'Whole Lotta Brick'"

[Steve Jones]

Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine.

£4.99 Amazon download.  Well, it would have been rude not to

[PH]

Since Devin's music is very loud most of the times, I wonder if an MP3 download would do him justice...
Cracking cymbals and all...

[Manatee]

Since Devin's music is very loud most of the times, I wonder if an MP3 download would do him justice...
Cracking cymbals and all...

I don't know for sure if ripping an actual CD to MP3 on your computer produces an appreciably different quality of sound than a direct MP3 download (and Amazon downloads seem to be at a pretty good bitrate), but I've played my Devin collection almost exclusively as MP3s on my computer (ripped from my CDs).  I became a fanatic listening to it this way, so my guess is a high-quality download would sound fine.

[Steve Jones]

Despite having a silly-money Hi-Fi, I do most of my listening via mp3s these days.  I don't pretend that the quality is anywhere near as good as I get on the Big Hi-Fi, but I find the latter inconvenient to tow around the garden or onto a train

When I do (rarely) find time to sit down for a proper listening session, I'm completely blown away with how much better things are on grown-up equipment.  This doesn't, however, mean that I don't have a whale of a time listening to plebian mp3s on my iPleb

Ki sounds pretty special in download format, so much so that I'm tempted to go for the real thing at some point in the future.  Ocean Machine isn't quite as good sonically, but then it is 12 years older.  It also sounds a damn site better than most people were used to on their shitty little record players when I was a kid

[Steve Jones]

Nevermore - Dead Heart in a Dead World.

I was expecting this on Saturday, but the postman let me down.  The CD was only £4.98 at Amazon so I couldn't resist plugging another hole in my collection

[Nicky007]

Nevermore - Dead Heart in a Dead World.

Yeah, I also played it twice yesterday. Has some great songs like Evolution 169, The Heart Collector, and Insignificant, and some pretty wild stuff too.

Another masterpiece from a group that can only make masterpieces (after their first album) 

Nicky.

[Bupie]

In the line of my 70's' classic and hard rock revival, and despite some Mega-interference  , I just ordered Uriah Heep's Demons and Wizards based on rave reviews. Another great name in rock history that I have still to discover. Hope it will be another rewarding listen. Plus, I read that this album has some progressive elements ... like most music of this period !

[Steve Jones]

Uriah Heep's Demons and Wizards based on rave reviews.

Not a bad choice, Sir, not a bad choice.  It does, perhaps, sound a little dated but I guess that's silly thing for me to say about something from 1972!

For anyone looking for a good all-round introduction to 'classic' Uriah Heep, you can't go wrong with the 1973 live album which is probably still my most-played Heep album many decades later.  Although the mighty 'Wake The Sleeper' will overtake it at some point

[Bupie]

  Thanks

I was hoping that you would show up bringing some useful comments as usual. Another band that you saw live, I presume ?

[Steve Jones]

Another band that you saw live, I presume ?

Yes, although I regret not catching them with the classic line-up immortalised on the 1973 live album.  Still great gigs, though

They're still going these days, if you ever get chance to see them.  The most recent album 'Wake the Sleeper' is, IMHO, the best thing they've ever done, although I tend to upset die-hard Heep fans by saying that

[Manatee]

Just arrived - two special editions:

IQ - Frequency (yes, time does pass, even in North America  )

Mastodon - Crack the Skye

[Manatee]

Finally arrived after being on back-order, a dainty little album on which the third longest song clocks in at 16:16:

Transatlantic - SMPTe

But I still don't get what the 'e' is for.   

[maddox]

But I still don't get what the 'e' is for.   

"E" is just one of the letters from Peter Trewares name. 

They didn't like SMPT so they just put the E behind it.

[Steve Jones]

Also, SMPTE means something in that it's the time code used in MIDI and other signals.  Whether they had that in mind, I don't know, but I personally think it rolls off the tongue better with that extra 'e'

Perhaps it's 'e' for extra...

[Nicky007]

"E" is just one of the letters from Peter Trewares name. 

I don't know if you're trying to make some joke, Mad, but this time I'm Mr. Serious (a rare occasion, guys), and if you change people's names, then you can put in as many e's as you want. Just in case there's some misconception, let me tell you that his name is spelled Trewavas.

Aint that so, Maed ? 


From Wiki - Transatlantic (band):

"Originally intending to include Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos, Morse and Portnoy tapped Flower Kings guitarist/vocalist Roine Stolt when Matheos was unable to participate. The band completed their lineup by adding bassist and progressive rock veteran Pete Trewavas from the group Marillion.

The name of the group was originally planned to be Second Nature, but was changed to Transatlantic on suggestion by the cover artist Per Nordin.

Their first album, 2000's SMPT:e (a play on words, as both a combination of the members' last initials, as well as a common machine time protocol used in high end recording studios) received strong critical reviews, including 'some of the best progressive rock music ever written' (Robert Taylor in Allmusic) and 'a fireworks of ideas and incredible musicianship' (The Metal Observer). However, many critics of the neo-prog genre see Transatlantic's music as being derivative.

A subsequent tour of the United States led to a double live CD, Transatlantic Live in America, and a video of the same name. The band showed their musical heritage on the live CD, presenting covers of The Beatles' Strawberry Fields Forever, as well as a medley of Genesis' epic Watcher of the Skies and Firth Of Fifth.

Though SMPT:e contained the thirty-one minute opus All Of The Above, the band's second studio album, 2001's Bridge Across Forever, found the band flexing their muscles further in the long form for which progressive rock is known. The CD contained just four tracks, the twenty-six minute Duel With The Devil, the fourteen minute Suite Charlotte Pike, and the twenty-six minute Stranger in Your Soul making up the bulk of the disc, with the title track coming in at a relatively scant five minutes.

Transatlantic disbanded with Morse leaving the mainstream prog scene to launch a new career as a Christian musician, a move which included his leaving Spock's Beard as well. A live DVD of the band's last tour was released in late 2003, featuring all aforementioned epics plus a rendition of the Abbey Road medley by the Beatles. The extended edition also contains a cover of Pink Floyd's Shine On You Crazy Diamond. As an added bonus for progressive metal fans, Daniel Gildenlöw of the band Pain of Salvation sits in throughout the DVD as a 'fifth member' of the band, playing keyboards, guitars, percussion, and even doing some vocals, both background and lead.

On April 16 2009, it was officially announced that the band had reunited and begun work on a third studio album, with an eye on a release in late 2009."

Nicky.

[Bupie]

Finally arrived after being on back-order, a dainty little album on which the third longest song clocks in at 16:16:

Transatlantic - SMPTe

Lucky you. An album worth a desert island's collection 

[Bupie]

Just ordered :

Dream Theater - Black Clouds ...'s 3 cds SE.  I know what I told on the dedicated topic but the price was reasonable (on par with single cd edition) 

Wishbone Ash - No Smoke Without Fire

[Manatee]

Just Arrived: Devin Townsend Project - Ki   

Now I can stop watching the mailbox like a dog who knows you've got food.

[Iggy]

Just Arrived: Devin Townsend Project - Ki   

Now I can stop watching the mailbox like a dog who knows you've got food.

Ah you should have been listening to TMGB - Dinner Bell while you were waiting

[Steve Jones]

Wishbone Ash - No Smoke Without Fire

Quality choice.  I hope you'll both be very happy together

Dream Theater - Black Clouds ...'s 3 cds SE.  I know what I told on the dedicated topic but the price was reasonable (on par with single cd edition) 

Indeed.  I've got that on pre-order myself and the cost of the 3CD set was actually less than the single CDs from The Tangent and The Flower Kings I was looking at.  If nothing else, Dream Theater seem to give you value for money - although I did decide to pass on the mega-deluxe-more-money-than-sense edition, complete with life-size inflatable band members

I'm counting the days...

[Steve Jones]

Anathema - Judgement
Opeth - Deliverance

As you can see, I'm planning a cheerful and upbeat weekend