A great recent interview.

www.stereophile.com/content/lyle-lovett-music-among-great-players-can-be-conversation

I have his "Lyle Lovett and His Large Band" album on LP. I'd like to hear his new one.

But scrolling down after that, linked at end,

www.stereophile.com/content/dance-dont-swing-new-jazz-scene-london-and-uk-gearbox-monitoring-system

was very interesting as well.

I've only heard the most obvious older references of those mentioned... time to go searching out more?

I've got the first 3 on vinyl - Lyle Lovett, Pontiac, Lyle Lovett and His Large Band.

Good performances, some superb songs, sabotaged by increasingly awful recordings (no surprise they are all digital).

Time for another listen ?

Maybe he needs to employ his ex wife to be in the band.. I'm sure she could generate some additional sales.

Found an old Fremer TAS Tracking Angle review of Pontiac where he notes it was recorded on a Mitsubishi X800 at Soundstage Studios...

" Soundstage my ass ! These folks don't seem to know a soundstage from a stagecoach. They should call the place Shipwreck studios. "

From his Pontiac album. Great song

Jul 20, 2022 12:13:41 GMT 12 michaelw said:

I've got the first 3 on vinyl - Lyle Lovett, Pontiac, Lyle Lovett and His Large Band.

Good performances, some superb songs, sabotaged by increasingly awful recordings (no surprise they are all digital).

Time for another listen ?

As I wrote, I only have (and had heard) the latter.

So I thought I ought to look up what else and since.

Weirdly Discogs doesn't seem to have Lyle Lovett and His Large Band even listed!

But it looks like I could borrow 3 from my local library, and the Jimmy Webb looks interesting too.

However I don't know (yet) about "increasingly awful recordings".

Your impressions of which ones?

I thought the sound quality on Lyle Lovett and His Large Band was great;- the dynamic range on the first track surprising, even on LP.

Turn it up to hear the narrator speaking normally, and the large band comes in at full on volume.

So I'm encouraged to read that the same producer engineer is on his most recent album. From the article:

"Lovett is equally adept at extracting top skills from his studio collaborators, especially longtime producer and engineer Chuck Ainlay, who helmed 12th of June, and to whom I feel indebted for 1989's sonically astounding Lyle Lovett and His Large Band. Though Lovett doesn't consider himself an audiophile, he appreciates good sound in concert venues and at home."

And he seems to care about his live sound too. From one of the comments in the Stereophile article:

" ... Lyle likes his sound to be right for how he hears himself. Sooo... what he does is travel with 2 mixing boards when he's on the road - one for the night he's playing and the next one leap frogs to the next concert venue - ready when they get there.

Their standard settings are where they start when mixing to each individual venue's acoustics.

NOTE: his mixing board is between 7 and 8 feet wide.

Based on probable cost, that's a pretty solid commitment to great sound for the people right there."

and more.

So I look forward to listening to some more from him.

I used to prefer the first side of Lyle Lovett and His Large Band over the second, still do, but a couple of friends into country & alt country have slightly broadened my appreciations, tastes too since.  ;=})

Jul 20, 2022 15:27:59 GMT 12 robertr said:

From his Pontiac album. Great song

Thanks for the introduction!

I'm sending it to a country music etc. loving friend who also owns a boat -

The NPR Tiny Desk Concert suggested after is pretty cool too.

(I've paused it after the first track to write;- next two are from the Lyle Lovett and His Large Band album.)

On Discogs Lyle Lovett and His Large Band is listed separately from the rest of the LL catalogue.

This is the one I have

www.discogs.com/release/14259322-Lyle-Lovett-And-His-Large-Band-Lyle-Lovett-And-His-Large-Band

I sampled the three I have on hand - Lyle Lovett, Pontiac, LL and His Large Band,

All were ordinary sounding - flat, airless, bandwidth limited - the sound gets blander, more annoying as he moved from analogue recording to full digital.

I've got some early Nancy Griffith albums recorded at the same Soundstage Studios which are even more noxious to the ears.

Hmm mine is this one:
www.discogs.com/release/5143750-Lyle-Lovett-And-His-Large-Band-Lyle-Lovett-And-His-Large-Band

The label says both RCA Victor MCA 42263, and Curb Records VPL1 6808.

Had a further listen to Lyle, still blah

And a couple from about the same period,

John Hiatt - Slow Turning - live sounding, immediate, engaging

John Mellencamp - The Lonesome Jubilee - punchy rock - want dynamics ? Check the opening rimshot on Cherry Bomb

Jul 21, 2022 18:45:21 GMT 12 michaelw said:

Had a further listen to Lyle, still blah

And a couple from about the same period,

John Hiatt - Slow Turning - live sounding, immediate, engaging

John Mellencamp - The Lonesome Jubilee - punchy rock - want dynamics ? Check the opening rimshot on Cherry Bomb

Got a bunch of Lyle's on vinyl and I pronounce them to be good. I like the wry sense of humour. Looking forward to the new one.

That Slow Turning LP did my head in. I think it is a great album but I could NOT find a vinyl copy that wasn't noisy as hell. I had US/UK/Australian/Canadian 1987 pressings and all had various faults. I finally cracked it with the 2018 re-release.  Any record with the great Sonny Landreth on it is worth pursuing to the gates of hell.

Have you heard Mellencamp's new one? Strictly a One-eyed Jack.


 

Seen a video clip, looks OK.

I went through multiple pressings of Slow Turning too,
The worse were the ones with one good side/one bad side.

Eventually found a minty Aust. pressing - it has a nasty looking mark one one side but it's inaudible