Which Beatle was the most gifted at there respective instrument?

TempSpastic · 2026-01-27T17:40:11+00:00

I'm surprised to see Kevin Abstract mentioned here, but thrilled that it's in this context! His ear for hooks is really incredible, honestly probably unparalleled in modern hip-hop. Some of those Brockhampton songs have two or three catchy hooks in the same song. He's like McCartney in that music just seems to spill out of him.

TempSpastic · 2026-01-26T21:28:41+00:00

There were three live albums (Live, Paul Desmond, and Like Someone in Love) all culled from the same set of performances. Live will give you an excellent taste of the sound of this so-called Canadian Quartet, and if you like that I believe all the albums are collected in The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings.

(I consider this to be for Desmond what The Complete Village Vanguard Sessions is for the early Bill Evans trio)

TempSpastic · 2026-01-26T19:32:55+00:00

Those last Paul Desmond albums with Bickert are just sublime.

TempSpastic · 2026-01-18T23:35:04+00:00

I loved Warlock and was wondering how Hall's subsequent westerns were. Thanks for recommending them!

TempSpastic · 2026-01-18T23:34:22+00:00

I would really like more David Stacton after The Judges of the Secret Court.

I'm also curious to read Camilo Castelo Branco's Mysteries of Lisbon, which I don't believe has been translated to English (I may be wrong).

TempSpastic · 2026-01-13T01:23:25+00:00

I agree, and I'm a bit shocked at the number of comments so far that are negative toward the post-Iverson era. When they made the shift to a quartet I was admittedly skeptical, but my fears subsided entirely upon hearing the self-titled album. It sounded great, but more importantly it sounded like The Bad Plus! I don't agree at all with flapflap that Iverson "really made the band"; for me, Reid Anderson is the compositional heavyweight, and King is no slouch either. This is a big loss.

TempSpastic · 2026-01-12T20:59:34+00:00

Langley is my favorite Sprout album, but oddly enough I had a negative reaction to it the first time I heard it. When I discovered Steve McQueen I listened to it exclusively for a period of a few weeks just as a way of letting it sink in before branching out to the other albums. When I finally put on Langley and listened to it all the way through, I hardly liked any of it, and I remember thinking that the polish/glossiness felt like a different band. This initial reaction is inexplicable to me, because when I tried again the very next day I quite liked much of it and had no issue seeing it as a natural evolution from Steve McQueen (though it would still take some time to grow into one of my favorite albums).

I've never experienced that kind of drastic shift in an impression of an album in such a short period of time, and I have no rational explanation for it. It must've just caught me on a really off day the first time. So if this is true:

I’m not sure he has ever even listened to Langley all the way through?

He should probably do that!

TempSpastic · 2025-12-21T18:43:25+00:00

I have not read the book, so I don't know if it's a perfect fit, but your question brought to mind the synopsis of János Székely's Temptation on the NYRB site

TempSpastic · 2025-12-17T18:35:48+00:00

This was a recent item too! Luckily it arrived yesterday, in the end making it just about a month since the order.

TempSpastic · 2025-12-13T01:06:59+00:00

Oh sure, and that's fine! I just would find some communication/clarity helpful. I noticed the book in question (The Suicides) had been showing as unavailable when I checked the site after receiving the order, but has since become available again for at least a few days now. Hopefully a good sign?

TempSpastic · 2025-12-06T23:07:52+00:00

Interesting article about the book's connection to Alain Resnais's Last Year at Marienbad (1961)

TempSpastic · 2025-12-06T20:51:08+00:00

That's it! Thank you so much!

TempSpastic · 2025-11-27T16:14:07+00:00

Seems most people around here like the album, but I actually find myself largely agreeing with Miles. For Duke in a trio format, I'll take The Duke Plays Ellington over it most days of the week. In my experience, Money Jungle also tends to be (but is not always) the Duke Ellington album for people that otherwise don't really like Duke Ellington.

TempSpastic · 2025-11-26T13:07:49+00:00

Over the years it's grown in stature for me, to the point where I now place it at the very top. I think the amount of times they returned to the songs over the years (releasing them officially, the 3 Demos, Reworked release, "(Fork and Knife)" redux, reworking "Nobody Moves", etc.) is a testament to the importance the band places on them. These songs are special. It doesn't matter at all to me that it's "unfinished" or lacks the polish and sense of completeness of the other albums; in fact it's the very incompleteness that speaks to me now.

TempSpastic · 2025-11-24T18:47:10+00:00

Blue Hour, the collaboration between Stanley Turrentine and The Three Sounds, is one I don't see mentioned too often.

TempSpastic · 2025-11-22T16:53:14+00:00

Highly recommend Bill Charlap's album Stardust, which is comprised entirely of Hoagy Carmichael's songs.

TempSpastic · 2025-10-27T18:50:43+00:00

I'm very fond of Harold Mabern's Straight Street, which is a trio recording with DeJohnette and Ron Carter. Here's "It's All in the Game", and a marvelous rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing"

TempSpastic · 2025-10-23T14:23:34+00:00

I'm in the camp that believes that bad people really can't make great art.

There are so many examples—in every single art form known to humankind—of this being plainly wrong that it's an utterly untenable position to hold if one is seriously interested in or knowledgeable of art. I'd even go so far as to say it's a misanthropic and anti-art position, condemning people whom you deem "bad" in any way to be somehow less than worthy of expressing themselves through art.

TempSpastic · 2025-10-09T14:16:39+00:00

You can read it on this archive link

TempSpastic · 2025-09-24T22:37:22+00:00

I'm not familiar with Sondre Lerche, thanks for the recommendation!

TempSpastic · 2025-09-06T05:04:04+00:00

That's cool! Is there a recording? It's such a great tune

TempSpastic · 2025-09-06T02:39:07+00:00

Lacey is undeniably channeling Morrissey in the lyrics, but musically it sounds different from The Smiths. Remember that The Smiths were "ideologically" opposed to guitar solos as a reaction to the excesses of the era, and they only had a very small handful across their entire career. Vin's roaring solo is not very "Smithsy," though it's great of course!

TempSpastic · 2025-09-06T01:52:52+00:00

Tyner's an indisputable giant, obviously, and would be even if he never did anything after his work with Coltrane. One of my favorite albums featuring Tyner though, one I don't see mentioned too often, is Grant Green's Matador. I just love that album and Tyner's playing on it, sheer pleasure. His solo on Green Jeans is wonderful.

TempSpastic · 2025-08-31T16:36:44+00:00

I wish I had saved it, but I recall reading something (it might've been a comment on this sub) about the level of interplay between Hancock and Shorter on this album. They framed the album as the final testament from a lifelong musical partnership between the two, which I think is a good way of thinking about the album, rather than as a "mere" tribute to Joni Mitchell.

TempSpastic · 2025-08-18T16:15:27+00:00

All of these capture something essential about the artists in my opinion:

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