Nobody's life: Music

推荐：郭虔哲的“爆米花的滋味”

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 02:05:14 GMT

《爆米花的滋味》专辑是郭虔哲在2001年发行的，爆米花的滋味这首曲子要表达一种甜甜的幸福感，就像小时后吃爆米花的满足，只要忆起心头便不自觉泛起一阵温馨。音乐以低沉的音效揭开序幕，像在等待爆米花惊人的爆声那般，随后在甜美的乐声中，背景开始带入兴味十足的拍手与顿足，催化乐曲进入了更兴奋的状态。勾引起你我心中，那个最纯真，最不凡的快乐滋味。

俺爹曾在台湾上学，以前就听他说起过在台湾生活的点点滴滴；小时候还认识几位台湾来的阿姨，大家每星期都会见几次面，还有机会尝到她们亲手包的皮Q馅脆ㄟ台湾水饺。。。虽然我从来没去过台湾，不过二十多年后再听这张碟还真有几分浓浓的“乡土味”，想起那些阿姨，不知道她们过的怎么样。。。

知道这盘CD还是向CY借来的，CY不常听音乐的都对它爱不释手。其中用大提琴来演绎的“歌仔戏随想”，绘声绘影的，真的值得一听。

1. 序曲记忆中的海岸
2. 爆米香的滋味
3. 白鹭莺之歌
4. 歌仔戏随想
5. 夜曲o火金姑
6. 甘蔗舞曲
7. 脚踏车的岁月
8. 雾访梅花鹿
9. 天黑黑
10. 祝福

J.J. Cale - I am a big fan of you

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:33:27 GMT

J.J. Cale的音乐对于我真的是百听不厌的，一流的节奏感，把blues, folk, country混合的恰到好处，自成一格；一口气在Amazon把他所有的、我没有的唱片都放到购物车⋯⋯

一个伟大又极其低调的布鲁斯摇滚大师 (you are a genius!)，因为您的低调，我才没大出血

去年的"The Road to Escondido" (J.J. Cale & Eric Clapton)，其中有11首是Cale作词作曲，这张专辑赢了50th Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album....我最喜欢其中的Sporting Life Blues, Hard to Thrill, When the War is Over, It's Easy, blah blah.

嘿

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 15:02:35 GMT

今天出去又带回来9盘CDs...

还有几张雨果⋯⋯

最近有些“器材疲劳症”，对音乐还是乐此不疲啊⋯⋯

Prefab Sprout

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 12:24:27 GMT

最近迷上了英国的Prefab Sprout合成芽乐团，成名于80年代，但从来没有成为主流pop. 在Yahoo淘碟的时候淘得他们的"The Best of Prefab Sprout: A life of Surprises"，里头收入了很多经典好歌，听着听着仿佛时光倒流回到80年代了。主要成员之一的Paddy McAloon更被"All Music Guide"形容为"one of the most underrated lyricists of the '80s". 不过这位填词人兼歌手2006年的时候却因为美尼尔氏症听力严重受损，哎。

非常喜欢他们的"The King Of Rock 'N' Roll", "When Love Breaks Down", "Carnival 2000", "Goodbye Lucille #1 (Johnny Johnny)"，等等等等。

下面是收入在"Steve McQueen" ("Two Wheels Good")里的Goodbye Lucille #1, 真的很好听噢。

Bill Evans Trio - Waltz for Debby

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 01:41:27 GMT

（转）金城武的禮物Mitsubishi汽車廣告中之專輯
史上最美麗的鋼琴三重奏

　　村上春樹--在唱片中，伊文斯的演奏好的沒話說。人類的自我(而且還可能是抱著許多問題的自我)，透過所謂才華這過濾裝置，變成稀有的美麗寶石紛紛掉落地上的樣子，我們可以清晰地歷歷目擊。---村上春樹/爵士群像

企鵝爵士評鑑★★★★
All Music Guide to Jazz★★★★★
1.入門爵士樂的十大名盤
2.最能被古典及流行樂迷接受的爵士專輯之一

　　1950年晚期正式出道的比爾．伊文（Bill Evans），於1959年與貝斯手史考特．拉法羅（Scott LaFaro）和鼓手保羅．摩遜（Paul Motian）組成了生涯中最著名的三重奏團體。　　這個三重奏團體留下的幾張錄音裡，《給黛比的華爾滋》是最著名的一張。這張專輯錄製於一九六一年六月二十五日，是在前衛村酒吧的現場演出，演奏悅耳動聽，三位高手表現平衡出色，數首情歌都達醉人的境界。這場演出的十天後，貝斯手史考特在一次車禍中喪生，也使這張專輯成了他的最後錄音，更增價值。

无题

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 01:06:04 GMT

昨天出去，又入了一些碟...

最近比较迷Ibrahim Ferrer...

玉置浩二的最新专辑。找不到Duke Ellington的Money Jungle，店员说，we've been out of stock for a very long time...看来，我只能从amazon上入了。

Last but not least, 一张古典...

昨日的午餐，太精致了，吃不饱。

PC Audio

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 12:55:50 GMT

受jlingo影响，从实验室把我的toshiba satellite 2400搬回来，装SP2装Foobar2000装ASIO4ALL的，主旨是把这台放着不用的PC笔记本“废物利用”，做成一个"Bit-perfect"的转盘，本来想弄个EMU 0404 USB，却没货，想到bel canto dac3 usb可用，就放弃了入EMU 0404 USB的念头。jlingo却在一旁怂恿道：“you shall go for the off-ramp I2S (US$990), haha"。瀑布汗。

Foobar2000 (FLAC, APE, ALAC) -> ASIO4ALL -> High speed USB2.0 Cardbus -> Bel Canto DAC3 USB -> RPX-33 MKII -> Grado RS-1

照这个说明设置好后，耳放、解码暖机1小时后，听：可能是RS-1没戴好，那“音场”的深度 (depth) 不行，最显著的却是相当高的解析、非常清晰的细节，但是少了warmth，少了音乐性。而这点，jlingo也同意。原来直接把bel canto dac3 usb接上iMac，我听到了些须mid bass hump，在Foobar2000 (ASIO)底下却是非常干净、平衡。听Jazz这一类音乐是非常的适合，我甚至连乐队如何耍弄bass的都能听出来。

但是PC audio方便的地方就是什么歌都能信手拈来，不需要去架子上眯着眼睛去找想听的，想听什么看看各种文件夹就有主意了。

酒红色的心

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 21:30:29 GMT

Paper终于发了，昨天出去又淘了7张CDs，在HMV竟然找到玉置浩二大叔的“酒红色的心” ... 算是收获不小

玉置浩二 - 酒红色的心（日本引进，贵）

Thelonious monk quartet with John Coltrane at carnegie hall (poor recording T_T, but the music very good)

B.B King Blues On The Bayou

Bill Evans - Conversations with myself

Robert Johnson - Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues（最早的Blues大师，影响了一代人: Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Eric Clapton. 这张封面的照片也是他唯一的一张照片。录音不好，但是听起来很有怀旧的味道）

Wes Montgomery - Bumpin' On Sunset

Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (某烧友从几个月前就极力推荐，我到现在才入手，嘿嘿。。。录音不好，一点怀旧的味道都没有！！只能在iPod、电脑音箱上听听，还是不错的。朋友的系统：SOTA Vanguard CDP/Monarchy 22B DAC > Melos SHA-Gold > RS1/W5000 竟然可以忍受这种录音？）

Jazz in the Mood

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 04:39:03 GMT

推荐几张最近很喜欢的Jazz CDs，以前室友的收音机播放各种类的Jazz都很容易让我入睡，而且还本能的厌恶之，以为听了这样的调调我什么都做不了了，a waste of time. 可是近来，我购买的CDs都是Jazzzzzzz，听着身心受用、舒服，不想睡但就是觉得好听，心境和口味改变了，听什么都OK。难道我真的老了？

Steve Davis Quartet - Alone Together

Louis Jordan & Chris Barber

John Coltrane - One Down, One Up: Live at the Half Note

Martin Taylor - Nitelife

Ruby Braff & Ellis Larkins - Duets

PS. 现在我的搭配底下，RS1没有头中效应，整个结象在眼前，而不是左边和右边，好的录音比如Ibrahim Ferrer的Mi Sueño，Steve Davis Quartet的Alone Together，那个音场好深~~ 特别是Ibrahim Ferrer那张碟，RS1温厚又扎实的声音实在把我融化了，看来我喜欢这种温厚的声音啊。把RS1玩好（？），这样的搭配，不包括RS1自身，差不多1万多新币（很便宜了吧！），相信再上去可以更好，无法想像了。当然，有这个钱还不如上箱子吧？可是没有自己的房子，耳机还是比较方便的说。

Edition 9 IS AMAZING!!!

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 23:21:10 GMT

接近200小时的煲机，在听Buana Vista Social Club，一种前所未有的听感，深深震撼了我....

不过, edition 9对CD录音质量真的不是一般的挑剔...

Murders, Drownings and Lost Loves

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 07:45:00 GMT

真的很好听，从Mapleshaderecords网站上试听几只曲子后就爱上了兰草的调调（strong beat，节奏感很强，适合跳舞，我的脚板还不自觉的打起拍子...），今天刚收到CD，听的爱不释手，听的如痴如醉，用W5000听的，竟然表现的出奇到位，美国乡村音乐不再是Grado专项，咔咔~~~

Love Love Love

Tue, 29 May 2007 06:20:43 GMT

Love Love Love by The Mountain Goats

king saul fell on his sword
when it all went wrong
and joseph's brother sold him down the river
for a song
and sonny liston rubbed some tigerbalm
into his glove
some things you do for money
and some you do for love love love

raskalnikov felt sick
but he couldn't say why
when he saw his face reflected
in his victim's twinkling eye
some things you do for money
and some you'll do for fun
but the things you do for love
are gonna come back to you one by one

love love is gonna lead you by the hand
into a white and soundless place
now we see this
as in a mirror dimley
then we shall see each other
face to face

and way out in seattle
young kurt cobain
snuck out to the green house
put a bullet in his brain
snakes in the grass beneath out feet
rain in the clouds above
some moments last forever
and some flare out with love love love

The Sunset Tree

Thu, 24 May 2007 14:46:41 GMT

Just received this CD from amazon today, The Sunset Tree by Mountain Goats. These are lo-fi audio but the musics are nice plus strong lyrics, although the guitars and piano didn't sound like the real things, the distortions actually sound quite good on my system (all solid states). :-O Maybe that's why people LOVE vacuum tube equipment, haha..

So I shared this to a friend that I like the distortions, and he told me in return, "I'm a fan of tube artifacts in tracks.. (Peter) Kruder use a fair bit of crackle and phizz.. makes for a super listen!" WOW!!

I love almost every songs on this album at first listen... and yeah, music always sounds better at night.

How to discover more music?

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 12:35:15 GMT

The title says it all, how to discover more music? Or how to get yourself exposed to more music?

These are the 'methods' I find very handy!

i) Use pandora.com
Go to their website and type in your favorite artists or songs, and they will create a station that explores for you. The sound quality of their internet station is remarkable. Can you help me discover more music that I'll like? Yes, they can help you.

ii) read Music forums
Such as Audio Asylum, pink fish media, SH forums, head-fi's music forum (ignore other forums, don't say I did not warn you), any forums that you can post and search and read will be good enough. Generally you can read about others' recommendations, this is what you want. If you are more sociable than me, get to know some forummers that share the same music tastes with you, they'd know something better that you never know.

iii) Get to know some musicians
Why? They can show you around which guitar shops they normally hang around , and which CD shop they like to go. The owner of the shop usually very cool to talk, knowledgeable in the genres you are not familar. They are the live version of Pandora! :P

iv) Check amazon
How you know if this album is good or bad? I usually would check amazon's ratings and customer reviews. Reliable, as a result, I like what I bought so far. "Customers who bought this item also bought", this show you the connection of the album you bought with others that you've not experienced yet.

v) Create your own radio @ last.fm
Registration is free, onced you are done with registration, just start to listen, listen, listen, listen.......... It will organize nicely your weekly top artists, overall top artists, overall top tracks you have been listening for you. Besides that, it will explore other neighbours who share similar preference as you, and a taste-o-meter. Must try! A sample of my radio.

After all these homework, I would write down the album names I am going to get next time onto my Treo 650 (with the help of ThoughtManager).

Happy Listening!

What songs tug your emotions the most?

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 05:51:57 GMT

For me, they are (no particular order):

Starless - King Crimson

Blues For Mama - J.J. Cale

Fade to Black - Metallica

Paranoid Android - Radiohead

Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 Op. 92, second movement "Allegretto" (Directed by Carlos Kleiber)

Epitaph Including March For No Reason And Tomorrow And Tomorrow - King Crimson

Ain't No Sunshine - Eva Cassidy

Chopin's Nocturne in F minor Op. 55 No. 1 - Peter Nagy

Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor

J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos No.5 D-dur: 1. Allegro (BWV 1050) - Directed by R. Goebel

J.S. Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze - Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Hayman

Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd

Famous Blue Raincoat - Leonard Cohen

All I Ask Of You - The Phantom of The Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber)

Little Wing - The Corrs

谁懂 - 伍思凯

Whoa, pretty much but these are what I can recall at the moment. "Sentimental, too sentimental!"

Are you tone deaf?

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 08:16:16 GMT

http://jakemandell.com/tonedeaf/

Through my crappy laptop speakers, I got 75% correct. I think they are testing on the memory too.

Katie Melua

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 04:01:15 GMT

Chris上周给我发来一个链接，是Katie Melua的I cried for you的MTV. 看完MTV，靓声，靓女，富于感情的歌喉，不容忽视的一个22岁小女生，于是开始关注这位年轻才华洋溢的Katie Melua.

昨天到Gramophone (city hall)去找她的碟，没货了，这也难怪，最近不知怎么连echoloft那边也有人开始关注她，我当然“抢”不过他们。到对面adelphi，在new disc village找到两张，最新的Piece by Piece (special bonus edition, CD + DVD)和她第一张专辑Call off the search. 新加坡地方就是小，在试听唱片的时候一个高大的身影走进来，哎呀，竟然是Benny（就是那个Burmester全套的米人）! 一问之下原来也是来找Katie的CD的。。（我在前天把那个MV的链接发给他，然后他在Pandora.com又陆续找来她的作品试听...）买好了他就到music by design找他的老朋友去了（他是这家发烧店的大客户），和CF (MBD老板）、Adrian和Eugene他们仨一起听...据说他们仨被I cried for you感动的说不出话来，这也太夸张了。不过他们的设备好（burmester, cary, 还有那一只2万美金的箱子，一对就4万美金的Magicos...)，这也是有可能的。

本着买正版的决心，这两张碟就花了$62.5...我和CY的心还在疼...That beauty need only be a whisper.

Katie Melua - I Cried For You (MTV)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftZAZWLrWKo

本周爱听的CDs

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 16:53:45 GMT

Livy的龙虎榜，排名不分先后：

1. Radiohead - OK Computer （最爱第二首，Paranoid Android，据说歌词灵感来自于The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy小说中那个大头机器人Marvin; I may be paranoid, but not an android，连这句话的语气都象极电影中的Marvin...)

2. Radiohead - The Bends

3. Uriah Heep - Demons and Wizards （4个多月前听不喜欢，现在重听，...超爱，我又回到了rock mood最近）

4. Karl Bohm - The Great Mozart Concertos (Berliner Philharmoniker | DG) - 5 CD Set （我的bedroom music)

5. Jeff Buckley - Grace （真是百听不厌，天使般的嗓音，可惜此人已作古，年纪轻轻，哎。）

6. Joan Osborne - Relish (有点听过头了，开始腻了）

听的次数太频繁，估计再过一周这些CDs就要从“榜上”除名。现正搜寻Katie Melua的唱片，美女，美声。

Bridge over troubled waters - Eva Cassidy绝唱

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 22:58:03 GMT

每次测试器材，我都用Eva Cassidy的最后录音Live at blue alley来试音。这是近年来难得的精彩录音，无论演唱、编曲和录音，都近乎完美！其中Bridge over troubled waters是我的最爱。原唱者应该是Simon and Garfunkel，还有不同的演唱版本，不过Eva的演绎也让人耳目一新。不罗嗦，听歌：

Bridge over troubled waters

Aego M speakers

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 08:52:29 GMT

几年前买的Altec Lansing 2100 speakers今天终于正式被我淘汰了，取而代之的便是这新登场的Aego M (Acoustic Energy)。和它差不多价位的还有Klipsch的ProMedia 2.1，不过Klipsch声音比较bright，听久了耳朵累。

原来的Aego 2已被Aego M所取代，虽然我没听过Aego 2，不过烧友Chris曾有一台而且对它评价还不错。反正我只用来听听mp3，打打游戏，能让我享受音乐而不是让我分析。扛回来一听果然物超所值啊，不说做工，两个satellites拿在手里沉甸甸，其声音细腻，中频饱满清晰流畅，立体感超好的，作为消费者级别的箱子真的很好了，要说缺点的话，就是低频速度慢，特别在我放发烧碟的时候这缺点就完全暴露出来了，不过听一般录音的曲儿还真听不出来。啊，说好只听mp3，就别那么挑剔了。等听了一段时间，将subwoofer tweak看看。

Lost in Space

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 15:02:30 GMT

by Aimee Mann

Lost in space above all drifting
To a place where planets shifting
The moon erased, it's features lifting
The glare

But I am the stuff of happy endings
Though mostly bluff, belief suspending
But close enough for just pretending
To care

And I'm pretending to care
When I'm not even there
Gone but I don't know where

Well she's the faith and I'm the devil
Who keeps the pace and clears the rubble
And lost in space, fills up the bubble
With air

By just pretending to care
Like I'm not even there
Gone but I don't know where
It split like a cell
And man cannot tell
The lie from parallel

So baby beware
I'm just pretending to care
Like I'm not even there
Gone but I don't know where
Gone but I don't know where
Gone but I don't know where

Lost In Space

兰花花

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 23:23:21 GMT

昨天入手了一张雨果〈兰花花〉(HRP 771-2），前阵子一直在想新加坡哪里可以找到雨果唱片，问过老狼他只说让我到他家去听，后来当然没去成。昨天和小强外出到Tiong Bahru吃中饭，偶然发现那里原来有家That CD Shop...

进去转转，我以为这家CD店和Sembawang, HMV之流差不多，不过才转了半圈发现我错了。虽然其规模没有gramophone (city hall)的大，但是其CD品味已经足以使人印象深刻。

因为是午饭时间，只能随便逛了，然后我在店里一角落发现了都是雨果唱片（要深入店里就能看到）。我的memo上写着要找的这张陕北民歌〈兰花花〉竟然就在架上！没有细想，拿了它和另一张彭修文的〈将军令〉就到柜台要求试听。在That CD Shop似乎所有CDs都能要求试听，柜台小姐给了我一只AKG的耳机就让我自己试听（没注意型号，但感觉比gramophone的AKG耳机稍微高端一点）。他们家用的Marantz CD player，很可惜我又来不及注意型号。。

忙碌了一天，终于能回家好好欣赏这张〈兰花花〉，CD共录有20首曲子，都是陕北民歌中的精典。演唱的都是中国国家级的著名歌唱家，例如冯健雪、员恩凤、马子清、杨巧、于桂荣和张智斌。所灌录的陕北名曲包括“女儿歌”、“兰花花”、“泪蛋蛋泡在沙蒿林”，“五哥放羊”、“走西口”、“上一道坡坡下一道梁”等等。我自己的设备也还可以的，曲子的演绎与录音皆精彩绝伦，扣人心弦。“兰花花”开始时中间稍左处有一把笛子领奏。除了笛子在中间稍左之外，尚有扬琴（中间稍前）、二胡（左边）、高胡（二胡右边）、笙（高胡右边）、此外还有琵琶与一些弹拔乐器（扬琴右边）、唢呐（琵琶右边）、木鱼（琵琶右边稍后）、大革胡（或大提琴，在琵琶之后）、倍大革胡（或低音大提琴、在唢呐之后）。而歌唱家杨巧便站在中间稍前的地方唱出兰花花。

个人还比较喜欢马子清演唱的“走西口”，其唱腔特色真“土”，而且还“老土”的可爱，韵味无穷。

总之，此张〈兰花花〉演绎与录音俱佳，是难得的一张精品。如果只是怀旧，那些学生时代常在电台节目中听到的许多好歌，这张〈兰花花〉能让你感觉时光似乎又倒流了。

某人让我上传几首，现“友情放送”，一星期后链接将失效：
（PS: risumfiriri兄，不好意思，又借你的表情符一用~）

兰花花
山丹丹开花红艳艳
走西口
五哥放羊
泪蛋蛋泡在沙嵩林