AXPONA: Sony

[amirm]

They played the old standby, No Sanctuary Here by Chris Jones. http://shz.am/t40165092

My notes say "not bad."

Next was discover California Dreamin' by Diana Krall. http://shz.am/t147782635

They said they had ripped this from LP using their turntable with USB output. They should have left it alone as it sounded lispy with clearly distorted highs.

 

[NorthSky]

That's from her latest; I just listened to it (CD) this past weekend.

" Diana Krall paid tribute to her father on Glad Rag Doll, the 2012 album sourced from his collection of 78-rpm records, and, in a sense, its 2015 successor Wallflower is a companion record of sorts, finding the singer revisiting songs from her childhood. Like many kids of the 20th century, she grew up listening to the radio, which meant she was weaned on the soft rock superhits of the '70s -- songs that earned sniffy condescension at the time but nevertheless have turned into modern standards due to their continual presence in pop culture (and arguably were treated that way at the time, seeing cover after cover by middlebrow pop singers). Krall does not limit herself to the songbook of Gilbert O'Sullivan, Jim Croce, the Carpenters, Elton John, and the Eagles, choosing to expand her definition of soft rock to include a previously unrecorded Paul McCartney song called "If I Take You Home Tonight" (a leftover from his standards album Kisses on the Bottom), Bob Dylan's "Wallflower," Randy Newman's "Feels Like Home," and Neil Finn's "Don't Dream It's Over," a song from 1986 that has been covered frequently in the three decades since. "Don't Dream It's Over" slides into this collection easily, as it's as malleable and timeless as "California Dreamin'," "Superstar," "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word," or "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)," songs that are identified with specific artists but are often covered successfully. Krall's renditions rank among those successes because she's understated, never fussing with the melodies but allowing her arrangements to slink by in a deliberate blend of sparseness and sophistication. It's an aesthetic that helps transform the Eagles' "I Can't Tell You Why" and 10cc's "I'm Not in Love," singles that are as successful as much for their production as their song, into elegant torch songs, yet it doesn't do much for Newman's pedestrian "Feels Like Home," nor does it lend itself to the loping country of "Wallflower," which may provide the name for this album but feels like an uninvited guest among these majestically melodic middle-of-the-road standards. These stumbles are slight and, tellingly, they put into context Krall's achievement with Wallflower: by singing these songs as sweet and straight as the dusty old standards on Glad Rag Doll or the bossa nova on 2009's Quiet Nights, she demonstrates how enduring these once-dismissed soft rock tunes really are. "

 

[amirm]

Yes, I bought a download of it sometime last year. A lot of people are tired of her, having been overplayed at audio shows and such but I found the new album enjoyable.

 

[NorthSky]

I just played it again this morning; it's smooth but I find something missing in it, affection and devotion and high production values.
For example, the assisting vocals, they are dead...on the first tune. The bass is reasonable but it lacks articulation, like the rest.

This is from an inferior CD recording, and from my system. I tell it like it is; I don't like this CD music recording...it's not vibrantly moving and the quality sound is not there in all its love fury.

Maybe the hi-res download and the LP sound better. To me it's a clear sign that CD is dying big time when you can have better sound quality for more money.
Anyway, I got all Diana's CDs and some videos too on Blu, and that last CD of her I don't recommend it for sound quality and production values.
It has no essence. Sad because I love my neighbor Diana, but on this one (CD medium version) it simply ain't my cup of tea in the Sahara desert.

Plus you said that the LP ripping through the USB port has no magic either, with distortion you could hear.
It's a sad state of the affairs on "quality sound" in the year 2016. ...And from such a high profile artist like Diana Krall...the people recording her and ripping her from the LP through a USB exit. Diana and the musicians and second vocals and recording engineer they simply didn't give their best love on that CD recording. ...It's a botched job in my all honest opinion.
It sounds like a quick release for a quick buck... Some of her other CDs are much better than this last one. * I'm thinking of Adele too, except that Adele she's 100% Pop.
Some reviewers must have a great CD player and DAC... But I don't think so because other recordings sound fantastic. Nah, this one has inferior production values...the CD, definitely...or my ears are in shamble.

Audio exhibitors should know better, in their quality recording music selections. ...That's where 99.999999999% of the audio sales essence is.
The rest is in the speakers positioning and the room's acoustics. ...Me sincerely thinks.

 

[RayDunzl]

Early Diana Krall was pretty enjoyable, when she was working.

Late Diana Krall is a bit lame, just coasting.

 

[NorthSky]

Yes, she used to be good with well recorded CDs. ...It must be Elvis and his bad influence.

 

[TBone]

Early Diana Krall was pretty enjoyable, when she was working.

Late Diana Krall is a bit lame, just coasting.

Sadly, Wallflower is easily her most compressed album to date.

You'd think, in 2015, they'd have wanted to record a few of these iconic songs with less compression and >dynamic content than the ancient originals, but it seems the reverse is true.

1966, Cal.Dreamin=DR11 (D.Krall lamer version=DR8).

Her sultry/spity limited singing range/style totally butchered Superstar.