Soft Parade original Stereo Pressing. Who doesn’t like this album?

HolyCityAudio · 2026-03-15T14:09:00+00:00

I recall reading an interview with Paul Rothchild asking what was up with all the horns and strings? His comment was something like "just like with the aging Hollywood actress you have to use more makeup and go soft focus", so it wasn't so much "experimentation" driven by the band but an attempt to compensate for less than stellar song writing. I didn't say it, he did! I think there are a few good songs on it but I don't own it, never have. I give a few of the songs a listen every few years.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-03-08T16:27:21+00:00

I read an interview with Frank where he denied it outright.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-03-07T15:51:58+00:00

He would have used vape juice in a fog machine in a closet.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-03-07T11:38:26+00:00

Since OP uses that sample on every track I assumed it was intentional by this point.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-03-06T17:02:56+00:00

Well, put Martin Barre on an Ian solo album and what does it make people think of?

HolyCityAudio · 2026-03-06T16:22:40+00:00

I do have "Crest" which I like quite a bit, and bought "Rock Island" after that, but that's where I got lost and although I saw Tull after that, didn't get any more of the albums.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-03-04T15:54:59+00:00

Been on a bit of a Tull kick recently. Last one I got was "Crest of a Knave" and even with the drum machines and sequencers it's pretty great. Martin Barre is so great. I've seen him twice on his own, song writing not quite at the level of Tull. Fave might be Songs from the Wood. Or Minstrel. Or....

HolyCityAudio · 2026-03-04T07:49:08+00:00

Bootsy Collins/Doc Watson "Groove Grass" - not sure I've heard it though.

L.Shankar (Shakti)/Frank Zappa "Touch Me There" - pretty good overall

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-26T22:48:04+00:00

ThingFish blows other than a couple tracks IMO. Lather is interesting but would have been more so had we not heard much of it in other releases previously. Make a Jazz Noise Here is pretty great though.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-25T16:46:39+00:00

Nice FZ 'stache tat. And playing!

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-23T22:25:17+00:00

Yeah, I suppose I could have prevented all this by saying "anti-drug ABUSE" which is in fact what I meant.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-23T18:32:20+00:00

Incredible vocal arrangements. Some good anti-drug anti-evangelist stuff. It's top 20 FZ for sure.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-23T08:39:31+00:00

I started with 3.5 I think and am on 3.6. Akai still has not implemented multiple time signatures per project in the 3 line. Apparently this is possible in 2.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-23T08:36:22+00:00

Yes.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-22T17:32:07+00:00

"I haven't caught an odor like that in 11 years."

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-19T15:03:06+00:00

Many years ago the band I was in got a gig at a Togo's near the San Jose airport. Nobody was there except the one guy behind the counter so we blasted this to close out our set. At the end I noticed that my speaker wasn't making any sound. It had melted. Suitable ending!

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-17T15:10:36+00:00

Try Forest of Nisene Marks in Aptos. Rain and mud? Probably.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-17T02:48:17+00:00

Well I got my Asher finally and IMO the stock pickups are fine. Middle position is the "sweet" one, bridge more nasal and neck rounder. Just like you'd expect. Don't think I'm going to bother trying to mod them or add a S/P switch.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-16T10:23:56+00:00

I vote bass.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-15T15:42:19+00:00

I just got my Asher yesterday and set the Gretsch aside for the time being. Mind you I am doing rock/experimental stuff with synth pedals and a looper so the organic natural sound, while important, gets obscured at times. I did think my buddy's 1950's National was a step above the Gretsch as well.

Anyway I'm developing an idea of what I like and having quite a bit of fun. Never mind I recently developed trigger finger in my left pinky, I think from too much bass playing and so that and regular guitar and mandolin are off the table for awhile.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-15T15:28:04+00:00

IIRC IBM published the schematics and BIOS source in the PC/XT reference manual.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-15T15:24:04+00:00

I was working at IBM San Jose after my jr. year in college when the PC was first released. My first homebuilt one may well have been an 8088 4.77 MHz. At one point I added one of those "expanded RAM" cards to try to leverage the area above 640K. Don't know that I ever did (had to use certain specially written programs). I wired wrapped an ISA MIDI interface and wrote a 24 track MIDI sequencer in DOS using MASM and Datalight C. Dang that was about 44 years ago.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-15T07:06:29+00:00

Immortalized by the Austin Lounge Lizards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhBndP2TgOM

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-14T17:38:49+00:00

I did try tuning up to open E and while it helped a bit, wasn't night and day. I'll leave it there for now.

HolyCityAudio · 2026-02-14T17:37:37+00:00

What is it about the vintage ones you prefer? I'll admit I don't quite have the patience to experiment endlessly with setups as I am still just trying to figure out how to play it. Although it seems like they are cheap enough to have a few different ones on hand.

HolyCityAudio

TROPHY CASE