eMusic Biggest Bangs for the Buck (6 tracks or fewer)

[Pete C]

I thought I'd start a thread specifically for recommendations of albums with very few tracks, subscription stretchers, as it were. I figure on any plan 6 tracks works out to less than $2 per album.

I'll start with Paul Bley, About Time. This is a solo album of 2 tracks only. While I don't think it's as sublime as Nothing to Declare, any solo Bley is worth a listen, and again it's only 2 tracks for about 45 minutes of music.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I'm eyeing the Art Ensemble of Chicago Live in Paris albums, both volumes of which are 2 tracks each.

[BFrank]

6 tracks or fewer? I bet there's a LOT.

For starters:
George Adams/Don Pullen "Life Line" (Timeless)
George Adams/Don Pullen "Earth Beams" (Timeless)
"Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus" (Candid)
Charles Mingus "Reincarnation Of A Love Bird" (Candid)
Charles Mingus "Town Hall Concert" (2 cuts!) (Fantasy)

[shrugs]

do they have Mingus Live At Carnegie Hall?

[Vince Kargatis]

This is a frequent topic at emusic, on boards and in lists - you can search using 'site:emusic.com inurl:messageboard' (or sub 'showlist' for messageboard for lists) plus appropriate keywords like "one track" or "4 tracks", whatever. I'll try to dig up actual useful links later. I pointed out some long goodies to Gary earlier:

Originally Posted by Vince Kargatis

Ok, some longer ones. I don't know your emusic id so can't check your dl list, so will just list some, in no order:

Jane Ira Bloom - Like Silver, Like Song or Mental Weather

Luciano Berio - Coro

Herb Robertson NY Downtown Allstars - Real Aberration

Andrei Eshpai - Concerto No. 2 ("Symphony #7)

Padmashri U Shrinivas

A cheap way to try out The Decemberists: The Tain (EP)

Try this great, wacko vocal piece from Esotonian composer Lepo Sumera - "Saare piiga laul merest (Island Maiden's Song from the Sea)" (track 9) from SUMERA: Island Maiden's Song from the Sea

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by shrugs

do they have Mingus Live At Carnegie Hall?

No, that's on Atlantic. I've always wondered whether Atlantic has the first half of the show in the can (I was there)--it was the quintet with Bluiett, before he was replaced by Walrath.

[shrugs]

Originally Posted by Pete C

No, that's on Atlantic. I've always wondered whether Atlantic has the first half of the show in the can (I was there)--it was the quintet with Bluiett, before he was replaced by Walrath.

Maybe it was in the infamous Long Branch,NJ warehouse fire....

[BFrank]

Pete.......you didn't mention all the Gene Ammons albums that are <6 tracks.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by BFrank

Pete.......you didn't mention all the Gene Ammons albums that are <6 tracks.

I didn't mention much, but those Ammons jams are nice. I downloaded all of them in the unlimited days.

[shrugs]

A lot of the BS/SN recordings are low in track number.



has only 3 tracks.


Croquet Ballet, baby

[Surfer]

Fela Kuti

[Pete C]

I have the following in my saved queue, all but a few are Black Saint/Soul Note:

Art Ensemble of Chicago live in Paris vol. 2 (2)
Art Farmer Quintet at Boomers (4)
Big Band Charlie Mingus (4)
Adams-Pullen Live at the Village Vanguard (2 discs, 4 tracks each)
Don Pullen - Warriors (3)
Mal Waldron Quintet - Crowd Scene (2)
Mal Waldron Quintet - Where Are You (4)
Mal Waldron Quintet - The Git Go (2)
Mal Waldron Quartet - Seagulls of Kristiansund (3)
Billy Harper in Europe (3)
Billy Harper - The Black Saint (3)
String Trio of NY - Rebirth of a Feeling (5)
Oliver Lake - Clevont Fitzhubert (6)
Muhal Richard Abrams - Mama and Daddy (4)
Sun Ra - Hours After (5)
John Lindberg - Trilogy of Works (3)
Anthony Braxton - Four Compositions (quartet) 1983 (4)
John Carter - Dauwhe (5)
Archie Shepp - A Sea of Faces (4)
George Lewis - Shadowgraph (4)
Lester Bowie - The 5th Power (5)
Paul Bley Group Live at Sweet Basil (5)
Live Air (4)
Leo Smith - Go in Numbers (4)
Bennie Wallace w/ Corea, Gomez & Richmond - Mystic Bridge (6)

That's 27 albums/102 tracks.

[BFrank]

That's a GREAT album/track ratio of .26.

I've got close to 50 albums saved for later in my new "BS/SN" list. Althought I don't have a calculation for that yet.

[Vince Kargatis]

Two emu threads for classical:

One-track Classical Works

10 Great Classical Albums - Only 50 Tracks

[Gerardo A]

Originally Posted by Pete C

Don Pullen - Warriors (3)

I've been listening to this one for the past couple of days, got it in vinyl in Streetlight in Santa Cruz for $5. Pullen's solo in the first track is breathtaking.

[Gary Sisco]

Indian classical is the way I go for long tracks.

[Vince Kargatis]

And there's loads of those. There are great long ethnic music tracks on the Inedit label, e.g.:

http://www.emusic.com/album/Yusuf-Om.../11120685.html

http://www.emusic.com/album/Alem-Kas.../11083695.html
http://www.emusic.com/album/Alem-Kas.../11083897.html

http://www.emusic.com/album/Matar-Mu.../11078121.html

All recommended. Great label to investigate in general.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by Vince Kargatis

One-track Classical Works

Thanks for the link.

My last 3 december tracks: Rzewski: The People United Will Never Be Defeated (62:30; van Raat); Lutoslawski: Symphony #3 (31:34; A. Wit, Polish National Radio Symphony); Bartok: Miraculous Mandarin (32:26; P. Eotvos, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie).

[Felix]

Braxton's Iridium set is there, fewer than 6 tracks for each disc, for a total of 35 tracks for the whole 9-CD set. That's a bargain.

[Pete C]

The Waldron dates with Ricky FOrd & Sonny Fortune (Crowd Scene, Where Are You) are fantastic. I much prefer this group to the more conservative front line of Charlie Rouse & Woody Shaw on Git Go--for me they don't really mesh so well with Waldron's vision.

Most of the Butch Morris conductions discs on New World are 4 tracks or fewer.

Max Roach, Speak, Brother, Speak -- just two tracks and fabulous.

[BFrank]

Originally Posted by Pete C

Most of the Butch Morris conductions discs on New World are 4 tracks or fewer.

I never noticed that series of albums before. Any suggestions on which ones are better than others?

[shrugs]

Originally Posted by Pete C

The Waldron dates with Ricky FOrd & Sonny Fortune (Crowd Scene, Where Are You) are fantastic. I much prefer this group to the more conservative front line of Charlie Rouse & Woody Shaw on Git Go--for me they don't really mesh so well with Waldron's vision.

Most of the Butch Morris conductions discs on New World are 4 tracks or fewer.

Max Roach, Speak, Brother, Speak -- just two tracks and fabulous.

the title track Crowd Scene is f'n hot. I used to use it as a warm up before work.

Flat-Out Jump Suite, baby

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by BFrank

I never noticed that series of albums before. Any suggestions on which ones are better than others?

I listened to the whole Testament box while I was working on my downtown music history at NYU, and it's hard to keep them straight, but I found the cross-cultural ones especially interesting: 25 & 26 (Turkey), 28 & 50 (Japan)

The notes to the box can be found here:

http://www.newworldrecords.org/liner_notes/80478.pdf

[Vince Kargatis]

Iirc, 15 is pretty good, with Rova et al. But yeah, as a group, hard to keep them straight. Morris as improv-conductor suffers from a predilection to direct overly frequent pulse rhythms which get on my nerves after showing up everywhere.

[BFrank]

Originally Posted by Pete C

25 & 26 (Turkey)

The notes to the box can be found here:
http://www.newworldrecords.org/liner_notes/80478.pdf

Turkey........of course!


Thanks for the PDF link. A lotta reading there.

A few years back I went to a Butch Morris performance in a small theater space in the W30s somewhere. It was part of a whole week of Morris performances around the city. Very interesting show. Probably not more than 20 people in the audience, though.

[BFrank]

Originally Posted by Pete C

The Waldron dates with Ricky FOrd & Sonny Fortune (Crowd Scene, Where Are You) are fantastic.

DL'd "Crowd Scene" - smokin'!
Reminds me a lot of 80's-era Pharaoh.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by BFrank

Reminds me a lot of 80's-era Pharaoh.

I think you'd also like Carlos Garnett's Fuego en mi Alma.

[BFrank]

Originally Posted by Pete C

I think you'd also like Carlos Garnett's Fuego en mi Alma.

Just from the clips, "Under Nubian Skies" sounds more interesting. You know that one?

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by BFrank

Just from the clips, "Under Nubian Skies" sounds more interesting. You know that one?

Yes, I downloaded both of them about 8 years ago, but for some reason it didn't appeal to me as much.

[John L]

Sonny Rollins Live in London 1965 volume 3 just arrived - a two disc set with only 6 tracks. That is two hours of vintage live Sonny Rollins in good sound with Stan Tracy on piano for 3 bucks.

If you don't have volumes 1 and 2, download those as well. If you like Sonny Rollins, you won't be sorry.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by John L

Sonny Rollins Live in London 1965 volume 3 just arrived - a two disc set with only 6 tracks. That is two hours of vintage live Sonny Rollins in good sound with Stan Tracy on piano for 3 bucks.

If you don't have volumes 1 and 2, download those as well. If you like Sonny Rollins, you won't be sorry.

Thanks for the tip. I see vols. 2 & 3 listed, but not 1.