Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler First CD to test on new axiom fronts (for you)?

Coltrane's Blue Train on CD. I can't remember which vinyl because basically I've pulled out about 75 records to listen to since they arrived last just over a week ago.

A little OT, but Mark & Rick...

Which Stevie Ray disk would you say is his best? I have liked everything of his I have ever heard, but have never owned any of his music.

Fred

pretty sure it was dark side of the moon...it was quite nice, will have to listen to it again now that i have my new receiver.

I think the first CD I played was Triumvirat's "Old Loves Die Hard". Still not sure why, but that has been a favorite test album since it came out.

Hi Fred:
Sorry I missed this post/question originally! I hope Rick and others jump in here because the following is only my opinion!

It's a tough call for me because honestly I love them all! I'm only going to touch on the non-posthumous releases…

For a casual listener, I'd probably recommend The Essential..... It has...ummm...all the essential most popular tracks but still offers some variety in terms of style...

Note that the following studio albums have been remastered and had extra tracks added....

His first studio recording, Texas Flood is just raw and gritty work by the original trio. In the running for my favorite release. Standout tracks for me are Pride and Joy, the title track, Dirty Pool and Lenny.

His follow-up Couldn't Stand the Weather is more diverse and "polished" than Texas Flood. Has the title track, Cold Shot, Tin Pan Alley and a cover of Hendrix's' Voodoo Chile: slight return) on it. Also in the running for my favorite release.

Soul to Soul wasn't, in my opinion, one of the stronger releases. It has Ain't Gonna Give Up on Love and Life Without You…two tracks that I love. If you stood it on it's own, it would be a great guitar and blues disc. But in comparison to the others, it just doesn't work quite as well for me. This was the first disc that included Reese Wynans on keyboards.

Live Alive is, again, one that doesn't stand up to the others in my opinion. Some nice moments, but it was at the height of the bands' heavy drug use and though I wouldn't call it "sloppy" by a long shot, it's just not as tight as everything else (including other live recordings).

In Step is his most "contemporary Blues" release, bordering on blues-rock on some tracks. This was his first sober release and there's some added horns, etc. It has some of my favorite tracks: Crossfire, Tightrope, Wall of Denial and Leave My Girl Alone. This one also competes for a favorite of mine.

Besides "Best-ofs", some posthumous releases that are worth mentioning are "The Sky is Crying and Live at Carnegie Hall

I agree with Mark ... if I were to recommend just one SRV album to someone not familiar with most of his stuff it would also be the 'Essential' disc just because this particular disc pretty much reviews his career from beginning to end.

Don't know that I have a personal favorite disc from him but 'Texas Flood' seems like it gets it's share of play from me. I really like anything and everything he did ... out of all of those heavy toned, fast passed songs he's noted for, the one song I never will get tired of listening to is his acoustical song 'Life By The Drop'.

I believe SRV had so much more music to share had he lived longer and I also believe while some folks seem to lose their roots after hitting the big time, this guy would have been singing the blues all along.

S'ok, I forgot about my post until I wandered through today.

I tend to like first albums, so Texas Flood is on my list of must buys.

the I'm not a fan of 'best ofs'. Call me old fashioned, but Artists create albums/disks to be listened to as a whole. I remember hearing that Niel Young canned and re-cut an album because he didn't like the way it came out. Even paid to have the albums already pressed destroyed.

Thanks guys. When I finally have the pennies saved to pick up M60s I'm gonna have so much fun!

Fred

Fred, I am glad to hear I'm not the only one that feels this way. I really have a hard time just sitting down and listening to one or two songs. Like you, I believe the artist created an album with the intent of all the pieces fitting together--sometimes creating a nice ebb and flow to the music. Whenever I listen, I make sure it's for the duration.

High five to you!

I agree.

Also, if you like the artist and want to go back and buy the original releases, there's redundancy with tracks you already have.

Plus, they sometimes feel "disjointed" as most artists evolve in some fashion, and putting a track from their first album onto the same best-of with a track from their tenth album doesn't necessarily work together.

I do believe in "best-ofs" though when it's an artist that I KNOW I wouldn't buy a bunch of individual releases. For instance, I'd be perfectly happy to buy a one or two-disc set of the Best of Ray Charles, but would very likely never buy and of the 100 or so individual releases he probably had in his lifetime.

I respect that some people want to flirt with an artist or have a one night stand but not commit to a long term relationship.

Wait. maybe I should have used a female artist in the above example instead of Ray Charles!

I probably feel more strongly than most about this because I tend to like artists that do themed releases.

With music evolving to the download model, I wonder if this has effected how artists put together their EPs

Fred.

P.S. Gotta love someone who quotes Bullwinkle.