It’s been an interesting month. My
heart still seems to be on the mend, despite I’m slated to have another
ablation in a month or so. It’s been a lot of tweaking over the past 7 months
and hopefully it’s winding down. I’m experimenting this month with unplugging
from Facebook, yeah, I’ve let it go. It was consuming me. I’ve fallen for a new
hobby, well, not so much fallen for it. I’ve always been in love with it. Let’s
shall we say . . . immersed myself. We’re talking high resolution music.
HDTracks.com is definitely the gateway drug. Just go there. You’ll see. It’s
impacted much of what you will read on my mix this month. Perhaps much more so
than any other dominating thing in any of my mixes before. But I think you’ll
like it.
1.
The Eagles Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 on CD:
This album will go down in history as one of the top selling albums in the
history of music in any genre (and according to Wikipedia THE top selling album
of the 20th century in the United States. If any conglomeration of a
band’s hits are as eclectic as this collection I think you’d be hard pressed to
find it. The CD sounds as good as any vinyl album and I defy you to take it for
a spin and not be taken back to sweet memories of youth. Our local high school
had a jukebox we were allowed to play at lunchtime. Each time I hear “Take it
to the Limit” (an oft repeated tune favorited amongst our high school’s fairer
sex) I’m instantly propelled to those days of angst, teen frustration and daydreams
about night things with the pretty girl who sat next to me in English class.
2.
Aftermath on Blu Ray: Arnold
Schwarzenegger may have outgrown his days of cheesy 1980’s one liners, but he’ll
never outgrow his Austrian accent. As a matter of fact several of his roles
take advantage of it. This is one such movie. He plays a character named Roman
who hails from Russia. Having long been an American citizen he goes to the
airport to pick up his wife and daughter who’ve been visiting the “old country.”
He horrifyingly discovers they’ve perished in an airliner crash inadvertently
caused by an air traffic controller who becomes caught up in too many tasks at
one time. The air traffic controller is so beleagured by personal demons after
the incident it causes a family breakup (his wife, the ever endearing Maggie
Grace leaves him, and you can’t help but not hate her for it) and he moves to
another state complete with a name change. Oh, but one cannot always escape one’s
fate. Schwarzenegger has been searching for him, just to get a proper apology
for his mistake which took his family away. This film captures the sad plight
of both men with equal sympathy. I honestly wrestled with the attachments I had
to both main characters in the film, and the ending really caught me off-guard.
It’s a depressing film, and the film’s muted grays and blues throughout the
movie reflect this.
3.
A Chosen Faith by John A. Buehrens
and Forrest Church: I spent my boyhood in church. Every summer I attended
numerous vacation bible schools and typically impressed every bible school or Sunday
school teacher I had with my divine-like knowledge of the “good book.” But
looking back I wonder if my faith was a result of my love for God or rather a
fear of spending an eternity in “the bad place.” So, imagine a Christian
denomination in which it’s believed God is too good to send any of his creation
to such a place. The idea is termed Unitarian Universalism. Clara Barton and
Ralph Waldo Emerson were members. I was turned onto this idea several years ago
by my friend Mark Lowe (who is now an atheist). I was disinterested at the
time, but Mark planted a seed. I’m doing research reading this book, and so far
it seems to speak to me. People cross in and out of our lives for a reason I’ve
learned. And perhaps I was meant to read this book. Mark, thank you.
4.
Def Leppard Adrenalize on CD: I remember when this
came out in 1992 and though I never owned it, I loved every song that played on
the radio. I wasn’t a super fan of Def Leppard (and had no idea Steve Clark had
died) but following on the heels of their epic Hysteria, who couldn’t
help but be a fan? I picked this up the other day and gave it a good long spin.
Joe Elliot’s vocals are as cool as ever, but I realized without Steve Clark
something was just missing. Phil Collen valiantly attempted to mimic Clark’s
style, and I admire his effort, but Steve Clark was unique. Still, it’s a fun
album and a great album to follow on the coat tails of Hysteria.
5.
DB Power Amp on PC: I’ve been
ripping a lot of my CDs into FLAC files now. This pretty much retains the CD
sound better than any other form out there and is compressive at the bare
minimum. CDs are recorded at 44.1kHz/16 bit. HDTracks.com offers FLAC titles in
96kHz/24 bit which as you would infer, are even better than CD quality. I’d been
using Windows Media Player to rip CDs to .wmp files or .wav files for years,
and it’s done a swell job. But FLAC is really where it’s at, and Windows Media
Player is just incapable. I’d used Media Monkey to play the few FLAC files I’d
purchased and it worked. It even rips CDs to FLAC, but when I did this it got
confused. My CD was untitled, the songs were untitled, and I had a difficult
time finding my music files. They weren’t in the default Music folder of my PC
where all of my other rips lived. So I hit some forums and found out power
users like a program called DB Power Amp. It costs $38.00 and when you download
it you can try it free for 21 days. I knew in 5 minutes I was going to buy it.
It’s that good. It even makes multiple passes if it rips a bad part on the CD
in an attempt to get it right, but the topper is this: It rips .wav and
FLAC at the same time in a single pass. What will they think of next?
6.
HiFi Walker
H2 High Resolution Player: My
music listening has outgrown my smart phone. It was time to move up in the
world. And boy did I. This little music player can play any kind of file
imaginable, including DSD files. It weighs as much as a pistol and is a glossy
piano black, but its real beauty is its sound. The first time I listened to it
my mouth dropped open. All of those years wasted on a smart phone! It’s compact
enough to take anyplace, and I actually look forward to getting home from work now
just so I can listen to it and lose myself in a book. $138 on Amazon. It’s a
cheap ticket price to enter the land of music bliss.
7.
Sennheiser
599 Open Back Headphones: So many sets of headphones have hung their hats
on my Amazon wish-list over the past three years I couldn’t make up my mind on
what to pick until I started spending hours reading reviews and watching
YouTube reviews of premium cans. I’d never entertained the idea of open back
headphones (in which the back of the headphone is open so it produces a much
wider soundscape at the expense of people around you being able to hear what
you are listening to.) But when I finally decided on these 599s by Sennheiser
and I put them on for the first time, I was sold. Listening to 10,000
Manics perform on their MTV Unplugged album sounded as if they were
performing right in front of me, honey wood flooring, soft amber lights, Natalie
Merchant’s black hair shining blue under those lights and the acoustic twang of
those instruments. I swear I was there. Picking up these cans was like moving
from Pabst Blue Ribbon beer to a bottle of recently discovered French
Revolution era wine found in the attic of an old chateau. Sound on these things
is incredible. And though they are more designed for home use, with their
chocolate brown and butterscotch ice cream color I just want to wear them out
in public to show them off. But I’ll keep them as the beautiful woman at home
who waits for me
8.
Panzer Corps on PC: I picked this up
on a Steam Sale last year. It’s not what you’d find on a grognard’s shelf, but
for a beer and pretzels type war game it’s probably one of the best on the
planet. Remember the old and venerable Panzer Commander ? Well, call this
its spiritual successor. You begin with a handful of units and as they gain XP
and prestige commensurate with their actions on the field of battle you can
purchase more units. It’s a hex style game with a minimum of flash and
graphics, but when you play it you’ll see that’s a big part of the game’s
charm. I’m still in the tutorial section, and I have to admit it’s pretty
challenging. There are scenario packs that consist of the whole of WWII
including the Allies side. And do you know what? The game is on sale on Humble
Bundle right now.
9.
Neverwinter Nights on PC: My brave
and true Paladin, Edward is still at it. I’m level 9 now in the middle of
chapter 2 (of 4.) I’m in the process of saving four village lads who were led
astray by a werewolf, bitten, and now they themselves are afflicted. Such is
the great writing of this RPG. The graphics still hold up quite nicely. Going
on vacation? Stick this on your laptop and you can eschew the crappy cable TV
the hotels offer. I’m still trying to get the spell casting down, and coming to
realize my Paladin is more of a guy who relies on brawn and bravery than
magical shenanigans. Some of the quests seem disconnected, but then they all
come together. If you’ve never tried an RPG before, it’s a great place to
start. The only caveat is there is no four-six party mechanics. It’s just you
and a “henchman” you hire from one of the local inns. Still, very good stuff.
It’s a game I’ll be honored to say I beat.
10.
Blondie Eat to the Beat on CD: Birthed in
1979 this was Blondie at their best. Recording during the day and hitting the
infamous NYC club, Studio 54 at night with drinks and drugs, and despite the
never ending conjecture and bickering, this was the pearl created by the
friction of this great band. Did you know Blondie was accredited with creating
the very first rap song? And this album was neck and neck with The Police’s
early works of reggae music. Highlights include “Union City Man,” and “Shayla,”
both testaments to Deborah Harry’s remarkable vocal talent. And much like The
Police, this album resonates with not only reggae, but punk and New Wave.
Probably not as well known as Blondie’s other works, it remains my favorite by
them.
