Grateful Dead

I never owned a turn table but our family had one. Having never listened to vinyl and cd in a side by side comparison, I can not give and informed opinion. I have, however, listened to a cd ripped to mp3 and then transferred to an mp3 Zen Creative player and then plugged the same headphones into a cd player and listened to the same track . . .. and it sounded much better than mp3. Richer. Fuller. Warmer. The same words people who are pro vinyl typically use.

Maybe I won't get the turntable after all?

....Aretha Franklins.

When is a Telecaster not a Telecaster? Is any guitar with a Tele body shape considered a Telecaster? I have a Charvel Tele-style with a natural ash body and two Seymour Duncan humbuckers, and let me tell you a brutal metal sound can be gotten out of that thing. Also a Schecter Pete Townshend model like the one Pete plays in the Eminence Front video. Was always a sucker for the Kenney Jones era for some reason. It too has dual humbuckers with a coil tap and you can dial in anything from twang to crunch.

I have always admired Gretsch guitars, in the hands of other players. I can enjoy handling them in music stores but have never owned one. The necks aren't particularly forgiving. They seem to fight back a little, perfect for the aggressive pick attack of rockabilly... I could see dating one but don't think I could fall in love. Their greatest contribution to rock and roll, imo, is now realized as the Malcolm Young G6131-MY Signature Jet.

Been listening to Roy Buchanan and other blues all morning. Perfect for a chilly Colorado winter day, overcast... blues and strong coffee and a Fender Tele in my hands is feeling just fine. I tore out the stock pickups on this Tele (it's from the 2000's, not vintage) and installed a Roy Buchanan-cloned set. Cuts through nicely, cries and screams like a good Tele should.

Bunch of my friends are getting into the vinyl resurgence. We're all in our 50s and grew up with 8-tracks and vinyl to some extent, of course, then moved away from it but now many of them being older and gainfully employed are getting into filling up their houses with vinyl.

There's something to be said for admiring cover art and holding a record in your hands, and I do love the hisses and pops when the needle drops. The vinyl aesthetic is unparalleled, in my opinion. But I'll argue that the sound is not better. I believe it's an argument rooted in nostalgia and a purist's philosophy. Vinyl, to my ears, even on very high end equipment has a wonderful acoustic warmth, but suffers from midrange boominess and a loss of clarity and definition in the high end. Vinyl sounds like someone placed a pillow over the speakers, to a degree.

Now I know that's not a popular position to take these days, an inconvenient truth, but my ears don't lie. The human ear cannot hear the tops of the waveforms that are cut off by the digital format. Neil Young and Eric Johnson can argue the point all day long, and good for them. It's just my own personal truth after many side by side comparisons through the same speakers and power amp, going from vinyl to remastered cd's, there's no comparison.

Most prominently with Led Zeppelin and Steely Dan, there are buried tracks low in the mix of acoustic guitar and percussion that you can barely hear - or sometimes not notice at all - on the records, while on the cd the full sonic spectrum is crisp and punchy with no loss of bass, just that boomy pillow is removed.

It's cool, I love hanging out at listening parties where everyone gets to place one side on the turntable and drop the needle and pass around the album cover. I pretty much think everything was better in the 60s and 70s - the music and the movies, to be sure - but at the risk of invoking the wrath of purists who insist their high-end system says otherwise, vinyl may be cooler but digital sounds better.

I love The Rolling Stones and -- ain't it the truth that Keith is quite the survivor. Kryptonite. Silver Bullets. Nuclear Bombs. Nothing stops him. If you pounded a stake through his heart then he would just pull it out and have you down for dinner!

Yes old venues are a pleasure for a show. The Furthur shows here in New York City at the Beacon were a treat, and, likewise, Radio City Music Hall plus The Capitol Theater in Port Chester New York.

I would love to get a turn table and collect vinyl LPs. My place, however, is small so perhaps when I have more room. Yet I would not even know how to make a wise purchase on a turntable with stereo system because it has been so long since those days of having one in the family room as a kid, or lad, with the family. The salesman will try to sell me everything. I have got some research and catching up to do.

Holding vinyl albums in your hand and reading the liner notes while admiring the artwork is a pleasure! Everyone "in the know" says that the analog sound is superior to digital. I did get an iBasso DX80 dual audio chip music player used off of eBay which plays flac , wav, etc., and, added extra memory so it hold a tremendous amount of music and the sound is much, much, better than MP3 which is not a surprise.

I did not know about Setzer doing a Christmas show? Not to be callous, but after everything that has happened in Minnesota and that area -- I am surprised the venue is still standing and not a smoldering ruin.

Are we even allowed to celebrate Christmas this year or Hanukkah?

Lives here in the Twin Cities; puts on a Christmas show that I've heard great things about, but it's expensive and sells out right away (or close enough that one has to sit in the nose-bleed section for big bucks). The other issue is that he always BEGINS the Christmas tour here in Minnesota, so the show is the first week of November, when I'm NOT ready for Christmas music.

I was ready last year to pay attention and jump on tickets immediately, but then the poor guy's tinnitus got so bad that he had to cancel the entire tour of about twenty cities.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MY5CAGlLJL8

Keith Richards birthday today-77 in terms of linear time. If I drank I'd drunk.

Yes, you can't beat good old live venues, and vinyl or cds for later on. I got "40" on silver- grey vinyl, and it kicks like a donkey.

Your welcome. That's s a good interview and I liked the insight he gave on a Gretsch. I was streaming "40" via Amazon and will buy the physical cd because I like physical products and supporting the artists too. It would be great to a see a Stray Cats show at The Hammersmith Odeon or another band. I have an official Zappa show from that venue and bootlegs of other bands from Dimeadozen.

Deadegad - thanks for including that interview with Brian Setzer. I was at that gig where they play "Rock This Town" in one of the film clips included - the one at The Hammersmith Odeon, London on 27th June last year - a great night. That album he refers to in the article"40" is well worth getting if you haven't got it yet. There is also a live album from that last tour which is on my radar.