Is $1,300.00 Too Much For A Pair Of Headphones?

Well, that's what I spent on a pair of Sennheiser HD-800 'phones. To briefly qualify, I am a headphone freak. I owned one of the first pairs of Koss Electrostatics from '69 which wired directly to the speaker terminals of my Scott 342B Receiver, weighed over 9 ounces, had red indicator lights on each earpiece that glowed brightly when the volume was cranked (nice!), and sounded awesome. Currently I own a set of Beyer DTC-770 closed back, one set each AKG 501 and 301 open backs, a set of Sennheiser HD-265 closed back, a set of Sennheiser HD-590 open back, and a pair of Etymotic Research In-Ear noise isolation plugs for commuting. I've been in dozens of recording studios and subjected to various species of "studio monitor" 'phones which by necessity needed to be flat, Er, dull to accommodate long sessions. At home many memorable evenings have been spent listening to music on headphones driven by a Grace Design m902 Monitor Controller/Hi-Rez DAC. Of all the models listed above I consistently reach for the HD-590s. They are extremely light, circumaural (fit over the ear) and have a detailed/transparent sound that present no fatigue over long periods. I am still quite happy with the '590s. When I heard Sennheiser had released a total re-think of their transducer technology in the HD-800s I was skeptical, but even more curious so_GULP!_actually ordered a pair from musicdirect. My order was slated for the second US-bound production run, and I received the goods in about 6 weeks. The packaging speaks "High Fidelity Component". The box is huge by 'phone packaging standards, has life-sized photos of the cans prominently placed, the carton is first rate, the foam is much sturdier than most "Audiophile" packaging. These are BIG transducers. The ear-cups are ingeniously designed with flat backs that mitigate the "phones forward" push I get from the AKGs, Beyers and HD-590s when listening from my Scandinavian lounger. The steel and plastic construction is more sophisticated than most "black box" receivers from the late '80s/early '90s, the cord itself is a work of art terminating at the cans with heavy-duty proprietary clip-plugs and at the amp end with a high quality 1/4" jack. So, "What's all the fuss about then?" I make no apologies for what I'm about to say; these cans sound absolutely incredible. Everything I enjoy about the HD-590s on steroids, in spades, "To the Moon, Alice!". I have not heard a more even presentation of extension at the frequency extremes, the most transparent mid-range in the universe of my understanding combined with the ability to create space that rivals my Dahlquist DQ-16s. One night deep into a session I reached to address an ear itch and was surprised when my finger hit the outer wall of the HD-800s! All of the design innovations incorporated into these 'phones relaxed me physically, and convinced my auditory receptors I was listening to speakers at real world volume levels. Yikes! I have since upgraded the cord to a Cardas model that has taken the performance even further. Double-Yikes!! As the saying goes, "I'd pay for that!". To my spend-long-green-phobic friend Doug, "Yes Doug, it IS too late to send them back!!"

Shaking Off The Rust

I was recently laid off from a company I got to not like very much. To get the most from this gift of time a friend suggested putting a daily schedule together designed to awaken my right brain. I'm putting the DAW production studio back together, writing these posts, and scheduling 30 minutes of drumming a day. For the first time in over a decade the kit is set up. With the exception of the bass drum they sound horrible and before I tune them I'm committing to getting back in shape (first things first!). Last Thursday I went back to the configuration that worked well for me in Someone and the Somebodies: ride cymbal in a vertical position above the floor tom, seating at an angle with snare in the middle, feet in natural alignments to ankle quirks, everything set to within easy arm's reach to ensure upright posture. I am more effective when sitting low. The bugaboo is I bought a new throne that sits me higher, and the adjustments have been difficult. To address this the snare and floor tom drums are elevated to the top reaches of their supports, the rack-mount tom as close to precarious as I will allow, crash cymbal squarely between the hi-hat and rack-mount tom. When I sat behind this configuration I immediately felt at home, could easily find all the components with my eyes closed and maintain posture. Now the challenge is to be able to switch from hi-hat to ride cymbal without breaking the beat or losing tempo! When I mentioned getting back to it to my friend Steve who drums for Tom Petty and I was thinking about working with a metronome to get my sea legs back he said, "Nah. Just get with some guys and play. They'll tell you when you f*ck up!"(Ha!Ha!Ha!). Guess it's time to round up the usual suspects...

Hey! Where'd You Get That NEU! T-Shirt?

I got it by ordering the limited edition LP Boxed Set of remasters by NEU! co-founder Michael Rother after the passing of Klaus Dinger. The box also comes with a stencil of the logo so I can create my own NEU! t-shirts. Thanks Michael! One fine evening in 1975 I was at a party where my friends Rob (lead guitarist in many of my bands) and Tristram (bassist in several bands we co-founded) lived. It was a typical party for this set, about 200 people including pre-med students, NE Conservatory students, various drag queens, lounge lizards, and neer-do-wells like yours truly. I walk into a room and there on the bed next to the wall is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen wearing a sheer nightdress that was pulled up over her knees, with no underwear. I like this room! Then the music caught my ear and the woman was forgotten. "What's this?".."NEU! from Germany" said the person overseeing the turntable. The piece is "Hallogallo", a straight 4/4 beat over which sparse overdubbed guitar lines wah-wahed, strummed, fuzzed and after a while I found, were playing something that sounded actually written. Yikes! I really like this room! I was hooked, I was hooked, my brain was cooked!! And I hadn't sampled the "Psychedelic Grape Juice" yet. We listened to the entire first album, "NEU!" and the entire second album, "NEU!2". The next day I went out and bought these albums. And "NEU!'75" when it was released a few months later. These LPs still remain sources of comfort. NEU!'s recordings have been sampled again and again, most infamously "Fur Immer" by System 7 as the basis for the tune "Interstate" from their album "power of seven". What these two drop-outs from Kraftwerk accomplished influenced a generation including David Bowie (who carbon-copied a section from the first album's "Negativland" as an outro), Brian Eno, Rhys Chatham among the heavy hitters, and several of my bands: The Molls, Someone & the Somebodies, Dervish and Auto66. Once, when I was describing how Tristram and I worked together as a rhythm section he quipped, "It's a good thing for you I like NEU!". It's a good thing there was NEU! Thanks Klaus and Michael! Your work continues to inspire me.

The Compact Disc: NOT Perfect Sound Forever

I'm old enough to have witnessed the comings and goings of touted media formats. Quad-encoded LPs (never opted in), Reel to Reel Tape (owned a rock solid Sony TC-355), 8-Track Tape (only in a few of my dad's late '60s era Chevys), Cassette Tape (owned several decks including one of the first Norelco portables), Beta (never opted in), VHS (only when stereo S-VHS became available), Dolby Encoding (Ugh), Digital Audio Tape (have 2 machines), Compact Disc, Super Audio CD, DVD-Audio, Blu-Ray Disc (several players), Mini Disc (yup, got a recorder) and I'm sure I've forgotten one or two. When the CD format was launched in the early '80s the format was marketed, "Perfect Sound Forever!". If that meant no surface issues like crackling from dusty grooves, occasional skipping, cross-talk from poorly mounted cartridges/worn out styli, then sure. Where the theory fell apart was in the sound. If anyone here suffered from the first round of Beatles CD issues you know what I'm taking about. Many early CD re-issues of back catalog were created from RIAA EQ'd master tapes (overly simply put this EQ curve is radically inverted for the purpose of being processed properly by the cartridge transducer) and the sound was perfectly re-produced un-inverted RIAA equalization, bright and harsh with bloated bass. Yes!, Er, Yikes!! When the CDs caught on I was working in the music department at The Harvard COOP in Harvard Square Cambridge MA (AKA, The COOP), world-renowned and we sold a lot of LPs. We set up a small bin with a short sampling of CD titles. When revenues for one month hit $20K out of that bin, the writing was on the wall. Eventually The COOP became a CD only shop, and not many years later the department was closed. Quick aside; even though improvements to sampling bit-rates and over-sampling techniques took digital sound into reasonable parameters, whenever I took a project into the recording studio and the heavy lifting was done by digital multi-track recorders the producers would always have an analog multi-track machine on hand to "warm up" the drum/vocal/guitar tracks. In blind A/B comparisons the feeds through the analog deck clearly smoked the straight digital feeds, by A LOT. Back to originally scheduled programming...Indications to me the CD format wasn't going to last came early. The record companies used the CD to "commoditise" music solely for greed, and in the long run the public caught on and a mighty backlash ensued. Napster came along and the major label "distribution clout" disappeared. During the hey-day of CDs Neil Young used his star power to ensure all his releases were supported on vinyl and thanks to a few other big name artists who followed suit one record pressing plant was kept in business. Two decades later recording artists are monetizing their content directly through their own Websites and outlets like Amazon/iTunes. There are boutique vinyl re-issue labels galore that have pressing plants in house, and the majors are also jumping in. Many new releases come with digital download codes, and many others will include the CD version of the album for free! Now THAT puts the legacy of the CD in perspective!

Lenny Breau, You Left Town Way Too Soon

Last night my friend Vince was over and we were having fun spinning various species of discs. One tangent led us to jazz guitarist Lenny Breau. I pulled out his album "Swingin' on a Seven-String" with the great Buddy Emmons on pedal steel guitar supported by Jim Ferguson on acoustic bass and Kenny Malone on drums. The opener, "Back In Indiana" is a brisk free-wheeling swing with blistering trade-offs and melody splits between Emmons and Breau. This is the real deal, it just doesn't get much better. Lenny and Buddy made 2 albums together, the first, "Minors Aloud" is worth it for their send-up of Charlie Parker's "Scrapple From The Apple" alone. The story I've heard is Buddy worshiped Chet Atkins and had gone to Toronto to woodshed, network and get gigs. One day Chet was in Toronto visiting the RCA studios for a place to do some ad hoc recording sessions while on the road. He and the manager were walking down a hall of practice rooms, and the playing in one room caught Chet's ear. Chet is rumored to have said, "This cat's doing some of my tricks, only better!". Chet knocks on the door, walks in, Lenny just stops dead, transfixed and unable to speak. Chet breaks the ice and offers Lenny an opportunity to come to Nashville and see what can come together. Lenny did very well and became a local legend, even recording an album of acoustic duets with Chet. The playing on this record is stunning, and you can hear them amusing themselves several times throughout. I had the pleasure of meeting Lenny in 1980 at party at my parent's house where Lenny was invited to play some tunes with the great clarinettist Brad Terry who was a friend of the family. Lenny was a small guy with slightly too long arms and HUGE hands. A natural physique for serious guitar playing (KK Downing of Judas Priest and Peter Frampton are very similar). We actually had a chance to chat, I got to play piano for him (there is a picture) and he offered kind words, "You sound a lot like Chick Corea, Man!". He had to leave for a solo concert in Portland Maine that night and we never saw each other again. A few months later I got a call from my Dad, "Lenny was murdered yesterday, the police think it was a drug deal gone bad." Oh those demons. The world lost a true genius that fateful night. Fortunately, including the albums mentioned above, there are half a dozen excellent recordings under his own name and readily available through the usual outlets. If you haven't heard this guy and are a fan of jazz guitar I can't recommend Lenny highly enough. Thanks for the legacy of excellence Mr. Breau! 

Miles Davis: The Bootleg Series

Recently Legacy issued the first installment of Miles Davis, The Bootleg Series: Miles Davis Quintet Live In Europe 1967. This is the legendary band with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. The set captures the unit in performances from Antwerp, Copenhagen and Paris. The sound is acceptable period "mono field recording" quality which is rendered irrelevant by the performances. This band was at an apex no other quintet before or since has equaled. Take Wayne Shorter's "Footprints". This composition receives 4 treatments (including a scorching rendition from a Stockholm performance on the accompanying DVD). The arrangement is fairly set in stone, and just when you think Davis, Shorter and Hancock have plumbed all that can be each rises to the occasion with deeper introspection, especially Davis who at this time is telegraphing a new direction for his voice he would soon dive deeply into beginning with "Filles de Killimanjaro". for me, this set is absolutely essential and bodes well for what is to come. I am REALLY REALLY PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE hoping there is more in the can of the band Miles had for 18 months from '74-'76 that featured guitarists Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas, percussionist Mtume, Sonny Fortune on flute and sax, Al Foster on drums and Michael Henderson on bass guitar. I saw this band in 1975 at the legendary Paul's Mall in Copley Square Boston for 4 sets over 2 nights. This was "On The Corner" attitude. The band gathers onstage, hanging out and tuning up, then Miles saunters out like he's crossing the street smoking a cigarette. He stops and all of a sudden jerks his head at the audience, puts on a look of "what th'?", raises his right hand, executes a finger snap and the band kicks in like they've been on pause...Blam! Miles was having fun, especially with Pete Cosey. During one set Miles was at the end of a butt and walks over to Pete's station, offers the smoking stick, Pete stops playing and gives 2 thumbs down while sticking out his tongue in disgust, Miles doubles over in hysterics. This band has been documented well in the studio on "The Complete On The Corner Sessions" where Miles and gang were inventing "Black Rock". The live albums "Agharta" and "Pangea", recorded on one day of a tour in Japan (Agharta in the afternoon and Pangea in the evening) have yet to receive the reissue treatment they deserve which sparks my little rant of earlier. Hey Michael Cuscuna! Is more there and when can we hear it?

Cleve Pozar, Where Are You?

In the early 70's I was a Bar-Back at the Copley Plaza Hotel. on Saturday nights my beat was The Merry-Go-Round Room. Yes, there actually was a merry-go-round in the center of the room and in this iteration, the decor was 1930s speak-easy: Black Naugahyde, cream chiffon drapes along the walls lit very discreetly, chrome bannisters and trim. The hostess/manager was the awesome Judy Wilson, all 6 feet of her, black hair in a flapper bob always decked out in a tight evening dress complete with long cigarette holder (you could smoke in clubs back then). The entertainment was the creme-De-la-creme of jazz artists and practitioners of the American Popular Song. More on this later. My first night I walk in and Chris Connor is singing Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" and the band is in the stratosphere with her. The drummer catches my attention because he is playing legit poly rhythmic be-bop light as a feather. The kit was a kid's set, the kind you could get at Sears with the exception of a real snare drum, and the bass drum which was a full sized floor tom. At the break he comes over to the bar, makes a soda with lime and I ask, "How long have you been coordinating your independence?" to which he guffaws and says, "I'm amazed anyone notices! I'm Cleve, what's your name?" Robert "Cleve" Pozar in fact. A wiry 5 foot 5 enigma. Turns out he'd spent time with Bob James (the avante-garde pre-smooth jazz Bob James), Peter Ivers (post beat generation oddity who became a cult phenom), had been asked to join the fusion band Weather Report numerous times which he refused citing, "No Martial Arts Bands!" (flying egos). He also had a solo percussion act which was AMAZING. He had these long Echo-Plex tape loops of bowed vibes, whale-like vocal sounds created by his son, Mingus (at that time a 5 year old, "L'Enfant Terrible"). Solenoid switches affixed to his snare drum triggered beaters that struck gongs, he had a retro-fitted organ pedal keyboard that played a small carillon above which he had 2 tabla drums. He gave me a recital one afternoon playing several pieces from his album, "Solo Percussion". It was like performance art. Cleve moving rapidly from station to station playing various configurations of instruments. I have never seen anything like it since. The ingenuity, quality of the compositions and sheer integrity of the performer. We actually formed a rag-tag ensemble with the intent of creating music for a local improvisational dance company. The members consisted of Cleve and one of his students on drum kits, another student on conga drums, Rob Davis who played lead in my band The Molls on electric guitar, and myself on Farfisa organ through an Echo-Plex. The music was based around a reworking of four pages from Louis Bellson's "4/4" with the patterns mirrored playing against each other. When the two patterns met there was a calamitous fill, then repeated. Rob and I were given absolute freedom with the mandate, "No White Rock!" (i.e. no major or minor chords, and absolutely NO barre chords). Every so often Cleve's son Mingus would come in, climb up on a table next to a rack strung with pots/pans/bells/shakers/flatware,etc., and leap onto the structure shaking with all his might. You don't see THAT every day! We'd play for 2-3 hours straight until Cleve would stand up, light a cigarette and say, "I Quit!" with a huge smile. We drifted apart towards the 80s with Cleve moving west and sadly never kept in touch. My memories of our times together remain some of the best in my life to date, and I truly believe I was in the presence of genuine genius. There is one more Cleve story that will be shared in the context of the Merry-Go-Round Room post. Cleve, if you're out there I hope all is well. Drop me a line would Ya?

Hanging With Nokie Edwards

As many of you know one of my all time favorite bands is The Ventures. Their drummer Mel Taylor was my inspiration to want to play music and be in bands. I've always loved their voice, lead guitarist Nole Floyd "Nokie" Edwards. Nokie can wring things out of melodies, and blaze like hell when called upon. In the early '80s The Ventures had a hit, "Surfin' and Spyin'" (featuring The GoGos on vocals) backed with the rocker, "Black Sand Beach". They hit the road playing small rock clubs and ended up (several times) at Jonathan Swift's in Harvard Square Cambridge MA. On one occasion I brought my Ventures LPs and proceeded to hound each member until I got autographs (Don Wilson got away, damn it!). I caught up with Nokie at the bar, we took stools and began to chat. Nokie is a BIG guy and at the time he loved scotch & sodas, lots of them, one right after the other. We talked for almost half an hour about his approach to finger picking, the banjo tuning/de-tuning techniques he uses in support of vibrato/tremolo fret expression, his influences (Chet Atkins, Les Paul) while he casually took each album and autographed the cover. While we were talking bassist Bob Bogle comes over, "Hey Nokie, we're going on in a couple of minutes" "Okay Bob". 5 minutes later drummer Mel Taylor comes over, Hey Nokie, "We're on in 2 minutes" "Okay Mel". 5 minutes later rhythm guitarist Don Wilson comes over, "Hey Nokie, we're on in 2 minutes" "Okay Don". 30 seconds later Mel Taylor leans in, "NOW NOKIE!!!" "Okay Mel, well Jon, I gotta go. It's been swell talking with you. See you at the party after?" When Nokie took the stage he'd consumed at least 8 scotch & sodas, he played excellently, never looking at his instrument, wearing a smile the whole time and engaging the audience (Hey Billy Zoom of X, you take a cue from Nokie?). Thank you for all the excellence and elegance Mr. Edwards!

Taking The Computer Out Of The Equation

I've been building a digital music library which is at 1TB and growing. I manage this through iTunes with storage on 2x2TB Caviar Black drives in SIIG II USB3 enclosures. For the last few years the D/A conversion is accomplished with a Grace Design M902 Monitor Controller that also has an excellent headphone amp. I run this single-ended (analogue) to a McIntosh pre-amp and the sound is very respectable.

My McIntosh system is pre-amp, 2x400w power amps and universal disc player. The radio is either through iTunes or my trusty Nikko FAM-500. The selection through iTunes has way more depth than what can be picked up by a traditional tuner. Sure, the quality varies depending on the bit-stream, and by opting in to paid subscriptions better sound quality minus commercials can be had for short green.

I LOVE my McIntosh gear. It is beautiful to look at with the hand-stenciled glass face-plates, the sound is All-American: big, bold and hefty. Recently I've come to realize, great as this McIntosh stuff is, it is not future-proof and_GULP!_I traded it for an NAD system.

Yikes!! Am I CRAZY???

NO!!! The amp, the new C390DD is a total re-thinking of integrating control/switching/amplification. All functions occur in the digital domain right up to the speaker terminals where a 150watt/channel Class D amplification stage routs signals to the speakers. The architecture is software based and infinitely upgradeable. I have also installed 2 modules for analog and HDMI inputs. The sound is absolutely stunning. Where the McIntosh is as described above, the NAD just gets out of the way and presents a tight, lively, holographic image with timber accuracy and transparency. I've connected my PC directly via asynchronous USB connection that up-samples to 96K and can handle files up to 192K.

The radio is NAD's new C446 Digital Media Tuner. This is where it gets interesting. The C446 is Ethernet capable so connects directly to my router, is supported by a NAD portal that has hundreds of stations from around the world, plus stations can be added any time. Within minutes of configuring my account on the NAD portal, I turned the PC off and was accessing traditional Persian music broadcasting from Tehran. This device can also access music files stored on a NAS (Network Access Storage) device. The computer is taken out of the equation!

I still use the PC for importing/converting/organizing my music files and feeding the NAS, and otherwise it's off.

All this would be meaningless except for one thing: My toes have been happily tapping along more than ever! 

Congratulations NAD on a job well done. 

The Electronic Music Pioneer You Might Never Suspect

A friend of mine recently shared a video clip of the Raymond Scott Quintette performing "War Dance For Wooden Indians" from the film "Happy Landings", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbR6YZs8hqs (the drummer is AMAZING). There are also clips featuring Scott discussing his "Manhattan Research Project" and I was reminded that I actually have all of this on LP. When not conducting his famous ensemble Scott ensconced himself in his studio to create sound mosaics, zany ditties and experiments. Some of this work was done as background music/sound effects in advertisements for Vicks Cough Drops, Auto-Lite Spark Plugs, Nescafe, ETAL. He even created the first electronic keyboard called "Raymond Scott Clavivox" that predated the Mellotron by several years. I love this stuff. Scott's compositions for traditional instruments are quirky enough, when left to his own devices in a vacuum the results are even more madcap. And at times awe inspiring by the sheer advanced conceptualization. Track 5 on Vol. 1, "The Bass-Line Generator" and Track 9 on Vol. 2, "The Rhythm Modulator" are incredible. Scott imagined and created devices that did things way before the development of modules known as "sequencers", and I'm going out on a limb here to say that his inventions gave birth to the notion of what is possible by generating patterns through the manipulation of high frequency waveform oscillators controlled by low frequency oscillators. "The Bass-Line Generator" sounds at times so much like what Kraftwerk accomplished I'd not be surprised that Ralph und Florian owned or knew of these recordings. Thank you for all the fun and inspiration, Raymond Scott!

Does It Really Have To Be Perfect?

What begs the question for me comes from hearing snippets of audio from today's "artists of the moment" where the reliance on technology is exploited to render "perfect" takes, down to pitch-correcting the star's inaccurate vocals. I've been told stories of how certain A&R executives now base decisions during the recording/production process according to "audience/demographic" metrics to determine appropriate "product placement" and in some cases re-tool the "product" to a degree not resembling what was outlined in the original recording contract. For me, this seems to be a direct correlation to our country's obsession with "perfect". There is no true creativity in perfection. Back in 1968 the great record producer Mickey Most (Jeff Beck, Donovan) was quoted, " I don't think there is any art in gramophone records." What I think he is saying is, getting the "perfect take" can drag a recording project to it's knees, be the knock-out punch putting everyone on the ropes or on the mat counting down to zero for the TKO. I was in the studio with a project and the lead guitarist kept informing the producer about changes in pickup configurations and amp settings. After a half dozen of these the producer said, "All I need from you is a performance". It doesn't have to be perfect. If everyone is in synch to the feel and testifying, "It's a Take!" Thoughts?

If You Have A Turntable You Need These!

One Christmas long ago, in a simpler time, my parents gave me 1. A pair of drumsticks. 2. A practice pad. 3. An LP called, "The Ventures In Space". I learned the basics of drum strokes from playing along with Mel Taylor's pounding. Eat Mel's dust Ringo and Charlie! This was I think their 10th album. The Ventures went on to make many more albums and honestly not all of them were great ("Super Psychedelics" comes to mind). But there is a core group of records I always go back to time and again. On a recent trip to Newbury Comics I was grateful to find Sundazed has taken on a 180Gram vinyl re-issue series and the first batch includes a representation of my all-time Ventures faves. "Surfing", "Walk, Don't Run Vol. 2", "The Fabulous Ventures", AND "The Ventures In Space". I've owned these on LP since they were released and have opted in on CD re-issues(Ugh). These new pressings are STUNNING. Mel Taylor's rapid-fire rim-shot snare snaps on "Penetration" from "...In Space" leap out of the left channel with a "Take THAT, you Brit-Wimps!" attitude, Nokie Edward's lead on the awesome opener, "Out Of Limits" FINALLY gets the attack and bite right. I have a friend, Brendan, who shares a similar "Music Freak" omnivorousness and we are constantly acquiring and sharing. When I cued up "The Bat" from"..In Space" at real world volume level he just sat there with an open-mouthed, "OhhhShhh*ttt" stare. Say No More!

I'm addicted to S C S I 9

OK, I really like electronic music and have even created some in my time. Every once in a while something comes along that just defies my ability to ignore. On a self-dare I recently picked up S C S I 9's "Metamorphosis" on KlickRecords. These guys fall directly in the genre pioneered by Monolake, Sounds From the Ground, Biosphere, Pete Namlook, ETAL. They obey a rhythmic and sonic template so rigorously that I have become a believer through their sheer persistence. When I first put this on I didn't want to like it, "Well executed but too derivative...", and by the last piece, and I don't say this lightly, I felt compelled to play the disc AGAIN.  Yikes! Don't fight it, relax, turn off your mind....