the_record_on_my_turntable raze the aladdin sessions (lester young) from leonard feather's liner_notes: "'prez got that tone, so different from coleman hawkins', because that's the way he wanted everything in life,' a former lester young sideman told me many years ago. 'i got him a pair of shoes once, and one day i came in and found them in the wash basket. then i realized they were hard-soled shoes, and he would always wear moccasins or slippers. it had to be soft and gentle or prez wanted no part of it.'" 241125 ... raze music from big pink (the band) the band lost a good chunk of their soul when richard manuel's songwriting voice slipped away. that voice was never stronger than it is right here. "in a station" and "lonesome suzie" are almost too beautiful for words. and i always have to stop myself from moving the needle back to the beginning of "tears of rage" so i can hear it again. few album openers hit so hard. 241129 ... raze don juan's reckless daughter (joni mitchell) the critics have always said this one of joni's worst albums. the critics are fucking morons. 241204 ... raze swordfishtrombones (tom_waits) this wasn't my first tom_waits album. that was "heart_attack and vine". but i think it was my second or third. i grew up in the eighties, so i have a higher tolerance than most for the period's sometimes unwise production touches. still, one of the wonderful things about albums like this and "rain dogs" is that they sound like they were recorded yesterday. while other producers were busy sticking a million microphones in front of a drum kit until it sounded like nothing and cranking up the reverb to eleven, mr. waits here was dragging a metal chair across the studio floor, barking into a megaphone, and bashing a dresser drawer with a two-by-four. human noises don't date. as time goes by, they just put on weight. 241208 ... raze show some emotion (joan armatrading) i don't really know what to say about this one other than, "holy shit, this is some good stuff." killer bookends, too. 241217 ... raze tramp (sharon_van_etten) not my favourite thing sharon's done. that's always going to be "epic". but i like this a lot more now than i did when it was new to me. she's got a way of weaving vocal melodies that stop me in my tracks. it needs to be said: this is not a great-sounding record. i don't think it's a bad pressing. i think whoever cut the lathe was working with the digital master used to make the cd, which is never a good idea. what was already compressed to death as a spinning piece of plastic sounds almost absurdly congested in this format. the music is good enough to survive that indignity. but it sure would have been nice if they'd left some dynamics intact. 241221 what's it to you? who go blather from