CTA - Sacred Ground

Over the years, I've reviewed a number of Chicago-related recordings - new Chicago, late-released Chicago, old Chicago re-recorded by the latest band, solo recordings by members of Chicago, a Toto recording with a Pankow horn arrangement, etc.

This one is something slightly different, although it could go under a solo album by a former band member. This one has a twist in that it's the second album by Danny Seraphine, the original Chicago drummer who left the band (was kicked out?) after Chicago 18. He's definitely trying to sound like Chicago, or as someone else has mentioned, like Chicago should have sounded had the David Foster era never happened.

Well, if the name of the band is an indicator, it may be more of a Chicago tribute band with not one, but two Chicago members involved. Bill Champlin also appears, and Jason Scheff has also appeared with them live in concert. Their first album was almost entirely Chicago covers, which is why I never bought it. This one is different. There is one Chicago cover and one BS&T cover (which Chicago often covered in concerts back in the day).

Tracks:
Sacred Ground
The Real World
I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know
Out of Reason
Primetime
Conviction (Song for Ronnie)
Strike
Chorale
Full Circle
Staring at the Sun
In the Kitchen
Take Me Back to Chicago
Go On
Daydream Lover

Before I rip it to shreds, let me first say that I like this album.

Package: Danny must have been the advocate of the nameless, faceless brand, because this is more nameless and faceless than Chicago. No liner notes, no listing of band members, not even writing credits.

Production: Pretty good, although sometimes the textures are a little dense, with less variety than a typical Chicago album. I don't really like the track order, and if Danny wants to sound more like old Chicago, he needs to have a better album concept. For example, Chorale was slipped into the middle of the album with no relation to what happens before and after. For the same reason, he needs to rethink who is sing which tracks. There were a few that would have sounded more like Chicago if Bill would have sung them, especially The Real World.

Horn arrangements: Many of these do sound like Pankow's distinctive horn writing - too much at times. Certain recognizable tropes sound like they were lifted straight from various Chicago albums, and others just sound bland (Strike).

Solos: Where are they? You don't get a horn solo until the 12th track (Take Me Back to Chicago). There are lots of guitar solos, and more keyboard solos than typical for Chicago. (Robert Lamm was never a great improviser.) For that matter, James Pankow recorded many embarrassing trombone solos as well as some awesome ones, and Walt was an advocate of wrong note solos, to the extend that very few were "right" note solos. Lee's recorded solos were generally quite good. To be honest, none of them are really masters of their instruments, but they did what they did really well, and were terrific as a unit. Chicago super-subs Lee Thornburg, Nick Lane, and Ray Hermann are probably all better players than the founding members.

As far as the concept goes, they (at times) sound more like Tower of Power or Blood, Sweat, & Tears than Chicago. Why? It possible is accounted for by more soulful vocals, especially from the unnamed tenor lead, and possibly thicker brass over-dubs. ILYMTYEK is a BS&T cover, but it sounds like it was covered by ToP. My real question is why they NEED to sound like Chicago. Yes, I love Chicago, but I think they should take it to the next step, become a band with named members, unique writing styles, and stable personnel. I would like to hear the individuals express themselves more, not just try to sound like Chicago.

This is getting long, and I haven't even discussed the individual tracks. Here is a brief rundown:

My favorite track is the instrumental, In the Kitchen. Here there is no attempt to sound like Chicago. In fact, I probably would have started the album with Chorale, In the Kitchen, then either The Real World, or Staring at the Sun. That would have been a typical Chicago progression, then something low-key like Go On. I would probably end the album with Out of Reason and Daydream Lover. The piano solo, Conviction, should have been paired with some more appropriate than Strike. Full Circle is the obvious candidate.

Staring at the Sun is a rocker, and at times sounds like (the brief) DeWayne Bailey-era late Chicago. The tenor vocalist and guitarist both sound like him and the lower voice sounds a little like Robert. One of the singers in Go On sounds like Keith Howland. The title track is good, but I wouldn't have started the album with it. It almost sounds like Foster-era Chicago, but with more brass and fewer synths. It does have the wall-of-voices like late Chicago. The Real World reminds me of James Pankow's Toto collaboration (Dying on My Feet - which I liked a lot) although it doesn't really sound the same. Primetime is another instrumental, which I think works well. Strike sounds like something off Hilary McRae's only album. I liked her album, but I don't really care for this. It also reminds me of Love Me, Do from XXX, which I didn't like at all.

My overall verdict is tough. It's not an album that I can't put down, yet I like it. If I could forget that this isn't really a Chicago cover band, I would probably give it 4 stars out of 5, but considering all my above criticism, let's say 3.5 stars. I might like it a little more than Robert Lamm's Subtlety and Passion, which I can't remember what I rated it, but I confess I haven't listened to it in a long time.

More upgrades

All summer I have put up with slow POSTing on my desktop. I was also suffering from lack of RAM. I put off upgrading until after we came back from the UK, and now I've done it.

I decided this time to go for raw speed. Over the years, I've used mostly AMD in my builds, but I've always come up against some incompatibility issues, the latest one being the Scarlett, which I solved in the end.

To switch to Intel, I had to get rid of the motherboard and memory. I opted for an unlocked i7-8700K which was illogically lower priced than the locked version. As I am going for stability, I won't overclock it. I went for a mid-level ASUS ATX motherboard and the fastest DDR4 RAM I could find. I went for 2 8GB sticks, so I have room to upgrade. (There are 2 free slots.)

I fortunately could keep all my drives and PSU, but I discovered that I had no parallel port for my laser printer. I bought one, but it shows up as LPT3. Score won't recognize that, and oddly very little else did. Fortunately, I have a JetDirect port, and it seems to work fine over the network, although for some reason it won't print multiple copies.

I set it up and it is blisteringly fast. The latest versions of iTunes say my graphics card is too slow to play video, and I can't seem to roll back to a version that does, even though Apple says I can.

The last piece of the puzzle was that I was getting a low frequency rumble on my speakers. Since both the Scarlett and the JBL monitors both support balanced cables, I bought some, and now I have crystal clear sound.

Now that I have everything set up properly, I have no complaints (other than the multiple print issue). Re-authorizing Windows was tricky, but somehow I succeeded.

A review update, of sorts

These past few months have brought more hardware woes, which have inspired me to update some of the things I said in the last blog on Windows 10.

I had a hard disk failure (Samsung SSD 850 PRO), which was under warranty, and has since been repaired, but not before I bought a new one. I was lucky to be completely backed up, and after I installed the new drive I was able to read the old one, although I never did get it to boot.

After refreshing my installation, I was still having some problems:
1) My computer was slow to POST, but that seems to have fixed itself. I'm not sure what I did that fixed it, but it seems to be OK now.

2) When coming out of hibernation or sleep mode, it freezes for a short time. I haven't figured out why.

3) I have had a lot of problems with that Creative X-Fi, and it may have been the driver that killed the old SSD. I finally ditched it, and have opted for an external option: a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. You have to be careful with it. I read some instructions when installing it that you had to attach it to a USB3 port if you have an AMD CPU in your computer (which I do). That, I discovered, is only if you have version 1 of the unit. In fact, I discovered that with version 2, it is better to plug it into USB2. When I ordered it, I decided not to install it until I upgraded my SATAIII card to one that also has a USB3 port. I tried two, and one didn't work at all, but the second one did. Unfortunately, it was competing for bandwidth with my HD, and causing dropouts. In the end, I put the Scarlett on a USB2 port and started using ASIO4ALL to control it, rather that the Focusrite driver, which kept looping (in Sibelius or Finale). It also hogs the device, so I have been leaving the Directsound drive on by default, so it shares with other software. I'm not sure of the advantage of using ASIO just for playback anyway.


My laptop

About 5 years ago, I purchased an HP Split X2. It has become a little long in the tooth lately for two reasons: The SSD (system drive) is full. There is a second drive (SATA) in the keyboard, but if I separate the two, obviously, those files become unavailable. I've installed a 128 GB SD Card, and gotten around some of the problems, but I think there is a speed penalty there.

I decided that I would upgrade the SSD and the RAM. I was having difficulty opening the case and was afraid to do it, so I tried to find out what I can do online. Unfortunately, there are about 10 different model numbers for the Split X2, and I didn't know which was correct. The software gave me the official number, but that wasn't listed on the site.

Finally, I tried Crucial, who have an online checker for such things. It told me I could install an 8 GB kit (2x4GB), but it didn't look like the SSD was upgradeable. I was about to order the memory, and possibly take it to Best Buy to be installed, but then decided to try to open it up again. I was able to pry it open, and eventually discovered there were 4 screws hidden under the grille for the speakers (glued on). I carefully removed the grille, detached the screws and opened it up.

At first, I didn't see the memory or the SSD, then I found a small card partly covered up by a label that said Micron RealSSD C400 mSATA 128GB. That sounded like a hard disk to me, and I eventually discovered that it was. Replacing it with a larger one would proved difficult, although I eventually found a 256GB version on Ebay, so I ordered it. I wanted a 512GB, but never found one.

Next, the memory. I couldn't find it for the longest time, but eventually, I looked under the heatsink cover, and there it was ... soldered to the motherboard. So much for that idea.

So, it was the opposite of what Crucial said. The SSD could be upgraded, but not the memory. The SSD will arrive by Friday, and I've ordered an USB adapter to copy everything across. Should be (ahem) fun. At least, I'll have some headroom on the drive, so it should speed things up.

More on Windows 10

I've had a chance to live with Windows 10 for a while, and I want to update a few things.

Control Panel

I finally found the classic mode Control Panel. It was hidden in the All Apps section of the Start (Window) menu. It had everything I was used to, and I've pinned it to the start tiles. You can find all the other administrative and system tools down there as well.

Virtual PC

The old Virtual PC that came with Windows 7 Pro no longer works. I use to use it for some older programs that I have, like some label software. I also had installed Sonar, but I've switched to Pro Tools, so I don't really need it anymore. I needed CorelDraw the other day, but I couldn't open Virtual PC, so I'm not sure what I'll do yet. I might stick it on my old laptop, just to convert some files. There is supposed to be a new VM called Hydra, but I haven't found it yet.

Mail

I liked it when it first arrived, but I got a new laptop for work that had Outlook on it, which is so much better. I still prefer Thunderbird on my desktop, but it doesn't show new messages in the tiles like Mail and Outlook. I may ditch it when it when my ExQuilla license needs renewal. ExQuilla is the plug in you need for MS Exchange services. It used to be free, but now requires a $10 annual subscription. I have Outlook 2007, but not 2013 like on my work laptop. I'll decide later.

Stability

As far a I have experienced, Windows 10 is quite stable. The only problem I have had has been my Creative X-Fi driver, which has a habit of disabling itself when the computer goes to sleep. That means no sound and no midi. I have had intermittent success restarting it in the Services snap-in, but usually I need to restart.

Start up

I think it starts up a little quicker than before. I've ordered an SSD drive, which I'll install next week, and that should make starting up less annoying. My laptops restart in about 20 seconds, as opposed to my desktop (SATA HD) which takes minutes. I wish I could install more memory like my work laptop has (16 GB as opposed to 8 GB). It's really fast. Excel spreadsheets update instantly.

Edge

I still don't use it. All my bookmarks are in Chrome, which I have installed on all my machines, so I don't see any reason to use it.

Mini

My last post discussed that my Toshiba Encore Mini had not yet updated. Well, it finally did, and promptly "bricked." There is only 16 GB of HD space on it, which wasn't enough to back up the old OS. Fine. It has a 128 GB memory card in it, so I redirected the back up there. Great.

Not. When it tried to boot, for some reason it panicked and wanted to reinstall the old OS. Unfortunately, you need the OS to read the memory card. It looped, and without an OS to install, I couldn't revert. To make matters worse, I couldn't download recovery media from Toshiba. I had to purchase it, and eventually discovered that the model number on my Encore was missing a digit, which made it impossible to use their online ordering system. I also couldn't reach them by phone, and it took about two weeks for their support forum to sufficiently answer my question that I could order it.

Instead, I purchased an HP Stream 7, which boasted 32 GB of HD space, plenty for the install. The good part about that was that I created Windows 8 recovery media, and restored my Toshiba. It formatted the drive a little smaller - I think because their OS recovery partition was larger. That precluded me from upgrading to Windows 10.

Except that when I upgraded my desktop, I created upgrade media. It was tricky balancing when the media was plugged in and when the keyboard was. Eventually, I had a clean upgrade that worked, as well as recovery media. Everything was perfect except that in portrait mode, the screen rotates the wrong way. I've tried many ways to fix it, but none have worked, so now I have just locked the rotation.

I prefer the HP Stream 7, because I can do more with it as a result of the more memory. I have discovered, however, that it's audio system is noisy, so I use the Toshiba to do any streaming that I want to do. That's a good use for it.

I still prefer Windows 10 over 8 at this point, and I think probably over Windows 7 as well.

Windows 10, first impressions

I'm not going to re-hash all the new features. That's been done in all the computer mags, and frankly, I'm not really going to use them.

Installation
I have 3 computers that will get Windows 10. The important thing for me was to get all my computers running pretty much the same thing. That was the lure of the free Windows 10 for me.
I had a desktop running Windows 7 Pro, a laptop running Windows 8.1, and a 7" tablet also with 8.1.

Actually, I have another desktop running Windows Me for Score and another desktop running Ubuntu Linux, which I never seem to use, but it is supposed to be able run Score 4 natively with working MIDI. It's not an easy set-up, and when I got the midi to work, Score kept crashing and when Score worked the MIDI crashed.

Back to Windows 10. My laptop was the first to upgrade. I never got the time to upgrade message, but when I opened Windows update, it was ready. Thus far, I haven't run into any real problems with it. There are still some of the same annoyances I had with Windows 8.1. Sometimes the mouse pointer submerges in Chrome, so I have to use the touch screen. Splitting the screen from the keyboard doesn't always fix it now. That's new.

My desktop never gave me the message to upgrade. I finally stopped waiting and deleted the downloaded files in the c:\Windows\Software\Distribution\Downloads folder, and manually called wuauclt.exe /updatenow from the command prompt. That worked. I didn't stick around to attend the upgrade, but everything seemed to go smoothly. When it finished, there was a little problem with the video card driver and my 2-display setup, but that was fixed by restarting a couple of times.

So far everything else has worked except my sound card. That required re-installing the driver. Windows 10 knew to activate the Creative AutoUpdate, but it showed the exact same build I had installed. I ran the installation anyway, and it worked after a restart.

My tablet still hasn't upgraded. It says it's ready and compatible, but I was going to wait. I'm getting close to giving up. Maybe another day or two.

Apps
Mail
I use Thunderbird for email on my desktop, but it isn't very portable. MozBackup didn't work last time I tried to use it, so I couldn't transfer the setup to my laptop. Instead, my laptop works on Imap and Exchange, so the files aren't local, and they don't delete from the server until my desktop tells them to. That means I use Mail on my laptop and tablet. The new Mail app didn't migrate all of my settings (passwords, mostly). After that, it took a while for it to sync with the remote servers. Now it's fine and works a little quicker than the old app. The layout is a little better, but selecting multiple emails takes an extra step now. I may go back to Thunderbird. Mail did crash once.

Internet
Edge
Since I'm accustomed to using Chrome, I'll probably stick with it. It has all my favorites synced between my devices. Edge looks clean and quick, but it keeps thinking it's my default browser, even after I've changed it in Chrome. So far, it seems fine on my desktop.

Calendar
Seems better than before. I incorporates all my calendars, except my Google calendar. I still don't know if I'll ever get into the habit of using it regularly.

Settings
Control Panel
Classic mode seems to be gone. That means I have to use Search to find what I'm looking for. I usually do in the end, but it is annoying. I always reverted to Classic Mode in Windows 7. Now I'll have to give in.

Personalization
I was hoping for some spiffy backgrounds, but there is only one Windows 10 one, which is OK, but I'll probably look for something else. Goodbye Aero. I guess they must have decided that it used too many resources. The colors to seem to automatically coordinate to your background, though.

Look and Feel
It feels quicker, possibly having to do with losing Aero. I'm still not convinced by moving the tiles to Start Menu. Yes, it's back. Is it better than Windows 7? Probably not. At least it is there. I had to reassign my toolbar to the taskbar, but I do like the fact that the pinned apps appear on both displays now. Thunderbird seems quicker ... in fact, the second time I use each program, it seems to work better. It did lose some of my shortcuts from the Windows Explorer. (I'm not sure I've found everything that was in my old Documents folder either.)

Metro is still there as an option, and I may activate it on my laptop touch screen. The charms menu is gone. I didn't hate it like most users. I may look to see if I can re-activate it.

Stability
It's stable so far, but I haven't really put it to the test. I haven't checked all the programs I use, so I'll have to come back to those.

So much for now. I'll update once I try doing some heavy lifting. Now, I've got Spotify playing, Chrome, and Thunderbird going. I might try to catch part of a baseball game later. That often screws things up.

More later

Chicago XXXVI "Now"

This is what every Chicago fan has been waiting for. A new album of new music without the shackle of a label. Ignore XXXII: Stone of Sisyphus, since it was recorded in the early nineties, and most devotees had bootleg mp3's that were floating around the Internet, probably due to Dewayne Bailey, who left the band shortly after the recording.  The previous new music was released as XXX on Rhino with muted success, partly due to the fact that Rhino is an oldies/re-release label and I don't think they did a great job on marketing. They released XXXII as an afterthought, with almost no publicity at all, in spite of being one of the best albums Chicago ever produced.

You can also forget the numbering. In fact nobody is sure what XXXV is, possibly the Nashville Sessions, which has no number on its spine. There is also the Chicago in Chicago DVD. Wikipedia has XXXIV as Live in '75. XXXIII is O Christmas Three, their 3rd Christmas release. XXXI is a 40th Anniversary "best of" set.

Tracks:
Now
More Will be Revealed
America*
Crazy Happy*
Free at Last
Love is Forever
Something's Comin' I Know*
Watching all the Colors
Nice Girl
Naked in the Garden of Allah*
Another Trippy Day

Although the album isn't due to be released until July 4, 2014, the band streamed a preview last week. I had heard three of the four singles which have been available on iTunes for about 6 months. The last one, Naked in the Garden of Allah preview didn't really connect with me, so I decided to wait for the album. There are a number of premium packages available for pre-order on Chicago web store.

There is something for everyone on this album: edgy Kath-era-like bluesy-brassy stuff, Foster-era poppy ballads and some Robert Lamm solo album-like songs.

The title track starts a little cheezy, but has the best hook of all the songs. It sounds like real Chicago, perhaps from Chicago X. In fact, there are several songs that strike me as taken from that album. Love is Forever may be their best ballad since the 80's, again with a great hook. Nice Girl is one of my favorites, as it sounds like early Chicago, but not too much.

Another Trippy Day, Watching all the Colors, and More Will be Revealed are Robert Lamm leads. I don't know for certain that he wrote them, but the second sounds like it is from his Bossa Nova project. I'm not all that crazy about them, but Crazy Happy and Something's Coming I Know (also Lamm leads) are excellent. America is a nice patriotic rocker, if you are into that sort of thing.

Free at Last has some of the best music. A lot of it sounds Kath era, but the brass work sounds a little Hot Streets-ish during the verses. The only problem I have with it is that it starts and stops a lot. I would probably re-edit it, if I had the chance.

Finally, Naked in the Garden of Allah. I really don't like the words, but I like the music quite a bit. I don't know what else to say. It has one of the best brass breaks on the album.

If you like the free roving Chicago brass, this is the album for you. Every song has it, almost too much. Overall, I like this album a lot. There is too much Robert Lamm for my taste. I think he had too much influence on the production, at least the artistic decisions. His later music has become a little too predictable and same-y, even to the point that Nick Lane provided some of the brass arrangements. For those who don't know, he is James Pankow's sub for some of their live gigs, and has arranged the brass on Robert's solo albums. (I remember him from the Maynard Ferguson band of the 70's.)

I can't give this anything less than 4 stars (of 5), as it should please most Chicago fans, including myself. Will it get them new fans? Is it "current" enough. Probably not.

Evanescence

I've discovered a new guilty pleasure. In these pages, some of you have read my reviews of music as wide in variety as Deep Purple and Avril Lavigne. This is one of those.

A while back I stumbled onto some Evanescence videos on YouTube. I had been pointed towards a single from the latest Avril Lavigne album, which I thought was a far cry better than her previous effort. Perhaps she's growing up. Unfortunately, her lyrics haven't. On the sidebar, sat a load of Evanescence tracks, so I tried one ... and another ... and another. I had always avoided them because they had been described to me as angry girl music.

I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, it is angry girl music, but the lyrics are all that I wished Avril Lavigne's would be. They are poetic and deep, and the music is far more complex than I ever expected. Amy Lee has been described as "the breakup singer", and I can see where that comes from, but she's more interesting than that. Granted, she sings more about dying than I would care for, especially on Fallen, their first album.

The self-titled third album is much more mature than that. Yes, it is about breaking up, but now she's learned that maybe it is worth soldiering on. It's still heavy, with some orchestral moments, and poignant piano work. I struggle for highlights because it is all so even and good. The lone exception is that I'm not fond of the last song, Swimming Home. I particularly like the tracks with the more complex beats, Change, Erase This, Sick, and Never Go Back, but I'm hard-pressed to choose one to take to a desert island.

If anything, that is the only disappointment of this album, there isn't a single song that is so amazing that it eclipses the rest of the album, like Bring Me to Life or My Last Breath from Fallen. What sets Amy Lee apart from Avril Lavigne, apart from the lyrics, is that Avril's albums have one or two 5+-star songs and the rest are 2-3-stars. Swimming Home might be a 3-star, but the rest are probably 4.5-5.

Because the album is so consistently good, I'll give it the full 5-star rating.

Double standards

I was just reading some Facebook chatter about someone slapping Beyonce's bottom. Almost everyone in the discussion blamed Beyonce for not dressing appropriately, that it was giving the wrong message to kids, etc. Only as an afterthought did someone, say, "Oh yes, and it goes without saying that, no matter what she was wearing the man shouldn't have touched her."

I chose to stay out of that discussion, because I knew what I had to say would be inflammatory, considering the political views of the participants. While most of them were male, all of them were white and Republican. (I would have said conservative, but conservative means preferring the status quo, and not tinkering with a system that works, or almost works. Republicans want to go back to a system that never worked - we are talking about free-reign capitalism of the early 20th century. They say Reagan, but they are so far to the right of Reagan, that he would be considered a liberal now.)

Anyway, Beyonce, if you are dressing in those skimpy dresses and showing so much skin, you deserve
getting spanked.

Hold on!

These people are the same ones that say, guns don't kill, people do.

Okay, let's couch that in the terms of this topic:

Skimpy dresses don't spank, people do.

Can you see the parallel logic? You are saying above that if you take away the skimpy dresses, men will stop spanking women's bottoms. But take away guns, and people will continue to kill others.

You could say that if you take away skimpy dresses, you might reduce groping. These "conservatives", however, refuse to believe that taking away guns will reduce gun violence. Instead, they cling to an out-dated second amendment.

They say that they should be allowed carry weapons equal to those of the government, so they can protect themselves from said government. In that case someone should be demanding that it should be legal to possess nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction.

We are told from our school days that the best antidote to bad government is the ballot box, yet we cling to weapons that are often misused for evil purposes.

Around the world countries with gun bans have had mixed results, mostly depending on how effective their governments are. The UK has one of the best records of those countries, with less than 1% per capita of the gun violence of the US. On the other hand, Mexico is in the midst of a drug war, and although they have a recent gun ban, their gun violence per capita is higher than the US. (Where do they get their guns? The US, of course.)

The bottom line is that men are going to grope women regardless of what they are wearing, and if someone is intent on killing, they won't need a gun to do it. If you can at least reduce the firepower, you can reduce the number of deaths. One single shot weapon is not going to kill as many as a semi-automatic in a short span of time.

It's time to make the hard choice: repeal or limit the second amendment. (I'm afraid skimpy dresses are first amendment territory, so unless you want to limit free expression, too, you'll have to live with seeing a little too much of Beyonce's flesh.

Miles Davis: Live in Europe 1969 (Vol. 2 from the Bootleg series) CD review

I picked this up, because I like Chick, Miles, and Wayne Shorter. It didn't disappoint. The sound could have been better, although it is pretty good for a video from 1969. The bass seems a little low in the mix. I've heard that Vol 1 of the series has a similar issue.

There are a few things that I would change. Firstly, there is little change of repertoire over the 3 discs and DVD. Granted, all the performances were noticeably different, but If there were other tracks available (apparently there are), I would have liked to hear them. I prefer the acoustic version of Nefertiti over the electric one, for example. Were there other acoustic performances?

On the DVD, there weren't any graphics to note when they started new charts. Sometimes the transitions are very difficult to catch, and the graphics might have helped.

Overall, I'm glad I bought it, and will order Vol 2 when I can afford it.

4 out of 5 stars

Chicago - The Nashville Sessions

I haven't reviewed a new CD for a while. I've got some new ones in the pipeline, but here is the first:

Chicago - The Nashville Sessions

When it comes to Chicago, I'm a bit of a complete-ist. I have all of the numbered albums, either on Vinyl or on CD, plus one "boot" of the Toronto concert that everyone seems to have released, as well as Live in Japan on MP3s. I also have several of the solo albums by Robert Lamm, Peter Cetera and the Howland-Imboden Project (and HLMP). I don't have any of the DVD's, but there are a couple on my wish-list.

The problem with Chicago is the lack of new music. Several years ago we got XXX (2005?), which I don't know how that was achieved except through counting some greatest hits and Christmas albums in the numbering. What are 27-29? Good question. What is 22? Another good question, since it was later released as XXXII (recorded in 1994?). What is 31? Apparently there is an album of new music in the works. What will they name that? 40?

The Nashville Sessions is un-numbered, so it avoids that issue (maybe). It is a re-recording of 15 of their mostly-Kath-era hits. (There are two lame Donnie Dacus-era songs, too, from Hot Streets.)

Why did I buy it? 

I was hoping it would be an updating of the hits like the live Chicago 26 album with the latest personnel, but it wasn't. Recorded in 2009, Bill Champlin is gone, but there is no sign of the two new guys, Lou Pardini, and Walfredo Reyes (who arrived later). I can live with that, but the premise of this album is wrong. What they have done is re-recorded the songs almost exactly as they originally appeared, attempting to even duplicate some inaccuracies.

Why?

Got me. You get the same solos, for the most part, and as much a re-creation of the original vocals as they could assemble without Kath, Cetera, or Dacus. You get the singles versions of Make Me Smile and More than Ever, crunched together to simulate the Ballet for the Girl in Buchanon, but separating out Color My World. They even further truncated the ending of More than Ever for no obvious reason. Was this an error in the editing room?

The sound is clearer than the originals, although I think the saxophone is further back in the brass mix, especially evident in the songs from Chicago VI. They might have tracked the brass individually, and that means they don't blend as well as in the old 16-track masters. The brass doesn't seem as full as in the original Chicago II recordings, although it is cleaner. The originals were noisy and slightly distorted, and very flat, even in the Rhino re-release. The brass in general might be further back in the mix, and are much drier.

Do I regret buying it (for $13.99)?

Well, yes, I suppose. For what it is, it is over-priced. You can only get it direct from the band through TopSpin Records, and the label is Chicago Records II, not to be confused with Chicago Records, who released 26, and some of the greatest hits albums. I don't know the story, but I assume they wound up that entity when they signed their deal with Rhino, only to reform after their Rhino contract was complete.

Chicago has yet to make it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and for me, it is easy to see why: Terry Kath. He was a great guitarist, but the band never moved on. Even with this release they are re-hashing Kath-era hits in order to solidify their HOF creds. He died over 30 years ago guys, get over it! You will only find new fans with new music by the new guys. That's what Deep Purple has done over and over again. Simper is gone, so is Coverdale, so is Bolin, so is Blackmore, so is now Jon Lord. They moved on and another new album is imminent. They are already playing the new songs in concert before the release. That's how you do it. That's how you build and rebuild your audience. Stop trying to sound like Chicago 1976. Be Chicago 2013. Chicago was envisioned to be a faceless brand, but has turned into a Terry Kath tribute band.

2 (out of 5) stars for me, because the originals were so good, but I don't need yet another rehash of the hits.

Pell grants

Today, a panel of experts determined that Pell grants were a waste of money. I didn't read the report, but I heard what they said about it on NPR. Apparently, they said that too many grant students dropped out of college. Why? They had enrolled in colleges with high dropout rates, or they had quit because they had to work.

Why should they have to work? The grant supplies them with ca $3750 for their studies. I can't remember whether the story said on average or maximum. Either way, my answer is clear.

The answer isn't to cut Pell grants, but to increase them. $3750 is nothing compared to what students pay for their education, when they could pay over $50,000 a year. If they go to a university that costs significantly less, they are likely to be in ones that have higher dropout rates. If they dropout to work, they are probably struggling to pay the rest of their tuition. If the grants were higher, that wouldn't be so much of a problem.

They also said some students weren't ready for college. Very few are, and in some cases, college is really just High School 2.0, a stopping place on the way to graduate school, where much of the real learning takes place. In many cases an undergraduate degree only provides the rudiments to enable students to step to the next level, and as such teaches little more than rote learning. It is in graduate school where students assimilate and apply that knowledge. Personally speaking, I didn't know how much I knew until I took my qualifying exams for my doctorate.

Those Pell grants, as meager as they are, enable students to attempt college who might not otherwise have a chance. Even if only (say) 10% of the students go on to their degree, that other 90% at least took a stab at it, and might have found a love of learning that they wouldn't otherwise have realized. College isn't for everyone, but some won't know that until they try it, and who knows how much they might learn in that 1-2 years before they drop out.

Too many people these days have a jaded look at results. They must get an A, or they must finish their degree, and that degree must get them a high-paying job. Nothing is guaranteed, but you will never know if you succeed until you try. Not only is there merit in making the attempt, but there is benefit in gaining knowledge even if you don't complete the degree.

Don't cut Pell grants. Expand them into a program that will enable students to go to and finish college without crippling financial hardship. The opposite would dumb down the population, and while it might make Republicans happy (more under-educated people tend to vote Republican) and save money from the budget, it may cost us more in the long run.

Quartet

Over the weekend, I watched the new British film Quartet, which was almost a who's who of British cinema over the age of 60. Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins, Billy Connolly.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, but not for the story. It was wonderful to see all the retired musicians taking cameos during the film. Apparently, all the extras were real retired musicians. I knew a few by reputation, but one I knew personally, the clarinettist (Colin Bradbury) who featured a lot, especially near the beginning of the film. He was one of my clients several years ago. (I visited his house on a couple of occasions to help him with his computer and Score.)

Particularly enticing was hearing Dame Gwyneth Jones sing an aria just before the ending. She still has it. I think I last heard her as Brunhilde in Die Walküre in the early 90's. There is some lovely music throughout the film. Dario Marinelli skilfully piece together familiar music, with his arrangements, and I believe a little incidental music of his own, although I couldn't be sure.

The story was predictable, and I won't even bother with it. The real story was that of the extras, the retired musicians, who, while struggling with the physical aspects of their profession, still exhibited moments of genius. (There was a trumpeter that did some jazz improvisation about half way through that really stood out.)

Maybe it's time ...

I've been thinking about this for some time. Gun advocates worship the second amendment like it is their religion. Believe me, it is a false God. Jesus said live by the sword, you will die by the sword (paraphrased from Matthew, but it also appears in Revelation). Guns pervade American society, and people say the only protection is to have a gun of your own, like having an armed guard at Newtown. Unfortunately, if your opponent's gun is drawn, it is already too late for you. It would be better if there were no (or fewer) guns altogether.

Maybe it is time to repeal or limit the second amendment. It basically gives us the right to bear arms to protect ourselves from tyranny.  At this point, what could a single gun do against today's government, and what good have they done in the past? The Civil War cost thousands of lives. That was the only relevant conflict on home soil. Congress could do it. The states could do it, but neither will. Gun advocates say we should protect the Constitution, but this is an amendment, folks, not something that was put into the original document. There are three ways to amend the constitution. We can do it, and the Supreme Court can do nothing about it. Unfortunately, the political will isn't there. Our representatives have been bought by the gun lobby.

OK, what are the alternatives?

Yes, ban assault weapons and high-capacity clips. They aren't needed for hunting, and are too big to effectively protect you from a home invasion. Are you going to leave it loaded beside your bed? I hope your kids don't find it.

Yes, make background checks more thorough and mandatory. That will stop a few potential murderers. Require them for all sales or transfers of weapons.

Here is one thing that I think would be more effective: license guns the same way you license cars and trucks. License (and re-license) every weapon individually EVERY YEAR and through every transfer. Like cars and trucks, make the cost reflect the firepower of the weapon. A single load/single shot weapon would cost the least, up to semi-automatic hand guns which would cost the most (banning the powerful high capacity weapons altogether, or give them a punitively high license fee). That would discourage the ownership of multiple weapons and deter people from amassing an arsenal. It would also alert the authorities to those who do purchase more than a few weapons. Just like a vehicle, a person would have to carry the license for each weapon with them when they are carrying a weapon.

What does this do? As I said, it 1) deters people from purchasing multiple weapons. It also 2) helps the authorities keep track of the location of weapons. According to the Chief of Police in Chicago, that is the single most critical problem. They don't know when weapons change hands. Of course, criminals will still flout that law, but it does 3) make owners responsible for the location of their weapons and what is done with them. If you lose a weapon (or if it is stolen) and don't report it, YOU are an accessory to crimes that are perpetrated with it. As it stands, the responsibility is solely with the perpetrators of the crime. Of course, it should be that way, but the blame should reside with the irresponsible owner as well. Theoretically, the police should be able to trace every weapon through its licensed owner.

This simple change doesn't conflict with the second amendment at all, and it could be an additional revenue stream for the stressed federal budget. It is probably something that should be devolved to the states, but it wouldn't work as well. The ban on assault weapons doesn't conflict with the right to bear arms, only the type of arms.

You could also limit the sales of ammunition, but that would be difficult to enforce.

Why has no one proposed this? It seems to me like a simple effective answer.

Sandworms of Dune

Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The sad thing about this is that I sort of liked it. There were some stupid things, though. Did Frank Herbert really intend to bring all his characters back for a shoot-out at the OK Corral? Obviously, Murbella, Sheanna, and Idaho had to be there, but they were all accounted for in Chapterhouse. What is logical about bringing almost everyone back? Maybe Paul and Leto ... maybe ... just maybe ... but everyone? No.

The narrative was good, and there are several (sometimes predictable) plot twists, but the ending was a head-slapper. The story was mostly finished with 100 pages to go. In some ways it seemed like Frank Herbert sketched the story up to that point and the Bri and Kev decided on an easy solution. Frank never really took the easy route (except maybe to finish the first trilogy).

This ending was reminiscent of the movie (the original, not the expanded version that I haven't seen), where everything comes out fine and dandy at the end.

For the last 100 pages, I expected a Götterdämmerung ending, possibly where there is an emotive blood-bath of the main characters. No Kwisatz Haderach could really save the universe in an instant.

Unfortunately, that's what happened. Paul tells Duncan that he's the KH, and he says oh, maybe I am, and the magic Oracle comes and transports Omnius and the entire evermind into another dimension. Then Erasmus, who wields the real control submits to Duncan. But let's not forget the Face Dancers who are killed in an instant by some failsafe that Erasmus has hidden in their code - that's instant throughout the universe! Duncan shares with Erasmus, who decides it is time to leave this mortal coil, and everything is hunky-dory. Oh, and the epilog flits around the universe to give everyone the chance to put everything right and say goodbye to Herberts' loyal readership.

Did Bri and Kev lose their senses of tasted and decency? I was reasonably happy until the end, and then they blew it.

And now I've talked myself into lowering my rating to two stars, just because of the ending.


View all my reviews

Neither, nor...

This morning on NPR there was a big debate: Was Jesus a Republican or Democrat?

I'm sorry folks, but he was neither. Each side put forward subtle readings of difference, but if you actually read the Bible, it's loud and clear in many places, no more clear than in Acts:

All that believed were together, and had all things in common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. (Acts 2:44-45)

There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”). He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. (Acts 4:34-37)

There are more clear places, even in the Gospels. I'm not advocating Communism in America, but the message of the Bible is clear: that you must take care of those less fortunate than you. If it means Welfare, that's provided for in the Preamble of the Constitution. You should read that, too.

American Evangelicals are putting words into Jesus' mouth. Listen to what he said, not what you read to turn it to your own narrow putrid conservative agenda. His was a message of love and cooperation, not of vengeance and denial. That's Old Testament. Oh, I forgot, the Old Testament doesn't count unless it suits your purpose. The Evangelicals have become the new Pharisees, more holy than the God they worship ... the one they have made in their own image.

This Summer

I'm now moved in and have already taught for two weeks. Soon I'll be able to settle down and write ... well, hold on ...

I've been informed that this summer two of my arrangements will be premiered at Per Nørgård's 80th birthday concerts. Of course, that assumes that I finish one of them (don't worry, Michael). There is still lot's of time, and I'm working on it now. The other is Bach to the Future, which was supposed to be premiered last year, but was postponed due to a schedule conflict. So, it will be off to Copenhagen.

In the meantime, that will delay work on my piano concerto, but I'm still hoping to finish by the summer. The piece is about 60% there, and I've already arranged half of that. I just need to finish the arrangement, fill a hole in the middle and write the ending. Easy, right?

My other writing may have to wait. There are just too many things happening right now.

Moving day cometh

As I come ever closer to moving back to America, I've been struggling for inspiration. The past few days, I've spent some time on The White Room, trashing two scenes completely and adding another from Rebecca's POV that paraphrases (a little bit) the missing action. I'm still wondering if I should miss it altogether. There are a couple exchanges in the missing scene that I need, and I'm not sure how to bring it back in the new context.

I would really rather write something new, but I've got two novels that need rewrites and loads of unfinished work. I'd also like to write and send out some new short stories, but that will have to wait.

On Being Mortal

Life sucks sometimes,
dreaming, planning your future,
but it doesn’t work.
It’s not so easy.

You can’t have your cake,
much less eat it.
There is always something in the way,
or someone.

Grand designs die with a whimper.
You do what you can
with what you were given –
not much.

My lottery tickets never win,
the numbers never come up.
I have to work for it all now,
but I’ve grown lazy.

I wish I’d laid a foundation,
shook the right hands,
greased the right palms,
slept with the right ... men.

That was a hurdle too high for me;
my switch-hitting is limited to baseball.
Maybe I’d be famous now,
in certain circles.

If I’d practised hard,
where would I be now?
It’s prostitution
to get what you want.

I played safe, conventional;
no chances, me – play by the rules.
Don’t hurt, don’t get hurt.
Someone always does.

They say you are as old as you feel,
but who are they?
Young or blessed with a silver spoon.
Where are they?

I have things to be thankful for,
I know, but the tunnel is getting blacker.
I’m starting over
with no light at the end.

Yet I don’t give up,
it’s all still to play for;
I won’t have time to enjoy the prize,
if I ever win.

Grease those flaccid palms,
buy the ticket,
sleep with ...
no, still not that.

I’m still playing safe,
playing the long game,
but how long is that?
Not long enough.

Times, they are a-changin'

Isn't is sad when your largest referrer is a Russian bot? I haven't been that prolific as a blogger lately and it shows.

Things are changing. We are moving to Syracuse in January and I've been busy packing things up to ship out before the end of October. We'll have to be ready to teach and work as soon as possible when we arrive, so all our stuff has to be there.

That means that I have had to go through all the old computer equipment I've had sitting around, and decide what is usable and chuck out the rest. Of course, there is all the old nostalgia attached, like putting my first "super-computer" back together. "Super" meaning an Athlon 1333 RAID with as much RAM as I can cram into it. I'll need to use it for Score and then throw it out or sell it in December ... or possibly give it away.

It's almost like giving away your first born. I mean, it's old news now, and it can't even run Windows 7, but there is a certain bond that I have to break. A harder break will come when we take our first computer to the tip. It's a US MacPlus from 1987. JD and I gave it to each other as an engagement present instead of a ring. It seemed much more useful at the time. The keyboard is missing a key and the box hasn't even been turned on in at least a decade. It's useless, but it will be sad to see it go. Two more Macs are going, too. Our Powerbook is dead, and our Performa 630 won't run anything recent, and won't even connect to our network, being one of the last AppleTalk Macs. It is the last non-PowerPC Mac. Again, that makes it completely useless, except that it has JD's dissertation on it. Somehow, we need to retrieve it and put it on something that a PC can read, in a format that a PC can understand. (It was written in WriteNow, which I hope has an RTF export. Otherwise, it would probably be better to scan it ... over 1000 pages of heavily formatted text.)

As you might guess, not much writing is happening. Once all our stuff is gone, I might start going with my laptop again. We'll see how manic things are.

More ID Crisis

I've progressed to chapter 5 on this, setting up a conflict between Cherie (who exists in Sam's world) and La-Ra, who appears only in Sam's "dream" world, and in the latest novel he's written.

I haven't had a huge amount of writing time for this, since we are preparing to move house soon, but I'll keep visiting it from time to time.