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... pretty damned good?The process of unearthing, cleaning, re-sleeving and generally rejuvenating long-stored vinyl has seen a number of these Windham Hill vinyl albums re-surface from "storage oblivion".
Each and every album, once properly cleaned, has delivered an amazingly low noise-floor, great tonal balance, rock solid imaging, broad & deep soundstaging and a thoroughly enjoyable listen...
The quality of these (circa 1984-1989) pressings has easily been as good as, if not better than, many of the latest "audiophile-quality", 200gm virgin vinyl releases - and the inner sleeves they used were also very similar to the Nagaoka heavy plastic ones sold via HFN&RR's accessory shop.
Follow Ups:
Found this statement on a sticker inside my Shadowfax s/t LP after this thread prompted me to pull out the few Windham Hill LPs I do have. Not the best music, but great sounding LPs.
But their production methods and quality control always seemed to result in impeccably playable vinyl. The aforementioned late Michael Hedges was an incredible talent, as is Liz Story. William Ackerman, George Winston, Alex De Grassi, and a few others were more than listenable as solo artists and in ensemble. One I particularly enjoyed, Mark Isham, even wrote the score for a few movies. I still listen (revisit) these Windham Hill artists when I feel the need to soothe my soul, not stir it :-)
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
and that was the reason I always skipped over mine to play something else more interesting. I dunno maybe I just dont 'get' windham Hill stuff.I'm going to play some tonite to see if I can get some culture in me.
I have Windham Hill CD's and VHS tapes (I have subsequently dubbed to DVD's) and I'm looking for more.
I prefer recordings of crickets or ocean waves. Same effect, but more interesting to listen to.
Shadowfax is pretty good but the rest... I bought a bunch of these WH's because I knew the sound would be good. They are best to listen to if you can't sleep.
and the production of most is excellent. Most recordings employ minimal miking and minimal post production stuff resulting in very natural sounding recordings. I particularly enjoy Michael Hedges, Will Ackerman, and Liz Story. Watching Hedges live is an experience in itself - I've seen him on three occasions. Whether you like his style or not, you've got to admit he is talented. While I have all of his albums, I'm especially fond of Aerial Boundaries . What struck me about hearing Liz Story live was her ability to perform selections that sounded exactly like her recordings. Consistency. Many artists are simply sloppy when you hear them live. I gather the Julliard training helped. Wedding Rain is a wonderful work and recording as well made in the early analog days.Moreover, I like the company. This is not Sony. While opening an album for play in the garage system, a leaflet fell out. It contained a letter from the CEO (who also happens to be an artist, Will Ackerman) about the company philosophy. Here are a couple of his observations:
"Without abandoning our acoustic roots or turning our backs on the work we have done in recent years, it will be our ambition to continually bring new sounds, new instrumentation, and new musical forms to the Windham Hill catalog, thereby expanding the parameters of what this label has to offer. Hopefully we will again confound those who like to ascribe a simple term to explain our company...We will do our best to resist stasis."
i thought i had made an amazing discovery and was going to write tas and 'hip' them to it but the more i listened, the more i realized that most of the music was hollow.george winston copped keith jarret's style from koln koncert and never advanced. same-o playing.
there are exceptions like hedges and isham, and their magenta label even had ben sidran for a while (great discs, those, got 'em on vinyl and cd).
as for consistent playing, i like consistently good playing but not carbon copies of recorded performances. some variation in the performance is to be looked forward to as long as its done well.
at the long beach blues festival one year, robert cray came on to play and it was as if someone put the record on. that bores me.
...regards...tr
...like consistently good playing but not carbon copies of recorded performances.So, you prefer performers to constantly change the original music?
both ben sidran and dan hicks do songs about canned music. if you have seen either, you will know they change things up a bit in performance. the same for mose allison and many others.if i want to hear the original performance, i will play the record.
btw, have you ever seen the cover band 'which one is pink?' ? VERY much like floyd and when they played locally here once, alan parsonsmixed for them. good stuff.
How the plucks on the strings from Tucks guitar come off on the recording is simply incredible.
The new age stuff isn't my cuppa tea musically, but great sound quality. I do have a really good Anthony Braxton LP on the Windham Hill subsidiary "Magenta" label that is both sonically and musically worthy.
I picked up Michael Hedges first LP on Winham Hill. The thing had no inner sleeve, some minor basement water damage on the bottom of the cover and cost me a inconsiderable $2.00.I promptly cleaned it up on the VPI 16.5, and then gave it a spin. It played in NM condition!
The sound is pretty impressive, as is (was) Michael's guitar skills!
"David! You can KILL a man with a chopstick!" -Keith Charles, Six Feet Under
It's an excellect *audition* LP as well IMHO which is a good excuse to listen to it more often. :)
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
... "Aerial Boundaries" (1984) was his second album, and "Watching My Life Go By" (1985) was his third...He was killed in an automobile accident in 1997...
Some Hedges trivia:
As the music itself suggests, “Hot Type” was inspired by the sound of a typewriter and was originally titled “IBM Selectric II Correctable Typewriter”, however, IBM’s lawyers wouldn’t allow Michael to use the name. So he sarcastically changed it to “Mood Music for Corporate Lawyers” and eventually settled on it’s final title ("Hot Type"). In the old days of printing, all type was cast into metal, called “hot type”, similar to the hammers on a typewriter.
Everyone gets free advertisement from having duped people into wearing their t-shirts...people sporting billboards from Coca-Cola to snow-board manufacturers.Why the occasional, "You can't do that?" from people like IBM? Free advertisement is free advertisement (although I do my best not to be a billboard for corporations).
****
If I had more money I'd soon be broke...but I'd have more LPs!
The recordings and pressings were very good, some of the best in fact. Too bad the music wasn't always up to the presentation.
In My Opinion.
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groove
I inherited a stack of minty Windham Hill LPs many years ago. They had uniformly excellent sound and their quality control was right up there with the Japanese pressing plants.Unfortunately, the music was typically bland, hairless, and limp; perfect background fuzak to sooth the deservedly frayed nerves of rapacious BMW-driving 80's yuppies, but otherwise generally insipid fare.
I'm a fan of bassist Michael Manring, but his Windham Hill work was downright vapid in spite of the technical prowess it displayed.
I ended up selling all but one; Tuck and Patti's soulful "Love Warriors."
I don't listen to background music, and great sound quality does me absolutely no good if it's little more than a vehicle for a potent soporific.
piano tinkling, spiced with a heavy dose of wu-wu?
(-:
Not to mention boundless noodling of strings and thumb-pianos buried deep within a nutritious reverb-encrusted outer coating.
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groove
Okay, let's agree that much of the earlier material (circa 1981 - 1986) was somewhat schmaltzy and a wee bit like 15mg of Valium on a 12" form-factor, but the "middle-period" from 1987 to 1990 saw some interesting material released...Bernardo Rubaja & Cesar Hernandez' "High Plateaux" saw South American folk/jazz rhythms fused with harp and charango to produce a very interesting melange that showed some early divergence from the tinkly piano bit.
The introduction of electronic music from the likes of Colin Chin, Fred Simon and Schonerz & Scott continued this divergence, as did the introduction of a Japanese electronic pop group (Interior).
Michael Manring kicked off with the application of an electric bass as a lead instrument after splitting away from Montreux (and Darrell Anger).
Behind this, Shadowfax & Tim Story were also peeling off in another direction.
And then the Portland, Oregon-based group, Nightnoise, introduced a Celtic undertone that was to hang around for a while.
This "diversification" also saw the formation the Windham Hill Jazz "sub-label" with the likes of Tuck Andress, Patti Cathcart, etc.
All tinkly piano? Not really... Beethoven-substitutes? Nope!
Interesting? Yeah.. Great music? Not really...
Guess we'll see what the local wisdom is here, thus far in the thread not too many big fans, though ........
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groove
"Isn't nature wonderful?"I don't understand this comment.
Windham Hill has always been known for top-notch sonics. The music never was my cup of tea, but I appreciated the fact that they built a very devoted customer base.
Look and feel (and good sonics) of WH has always reminded me of ECM. Neither label marketed specifically as "audiophile", but those in the know considered them to be so.
... about the sound of moquito sneezing, magnified 100,000 times, etc...It's sorta become a family tradition and slips in where it doesn't really belong - sorry...
DevillEars
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