Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Let Your Woman Flow To Her Own Natural Rhythm Dept. - Chi Coltrane

This here uber-rare album has been kindly donated by Four Or Five Guy© Nathan Nothin' ("I dig chix!"), and is presented @320, for all you bat-eared wine-sippers out there who use words like soundstage without cringing. Not only does the recording feature frequencies outside the range of human hearing - the kind you like - there are also hi-res scans of the album sleeve and inner bag and other good shit you'll need an electron microscope to appreciate! Hoo boy! But what of the music? As always, we cluster at the feet of The Amish Schoolma'am Of Rock Critics for his wise summation:

"A remarkable percentage of female singer-songwriters resemble movie stars, at least on their album jackets, which makes me wonder whether companies sign them because they sing and write. There's a hit single to go with the flowing blonde hair here. It's a humdrum r&b rip-off that's about as catchy as the Buffy Sainte-Marie imitation, which makes it better than the rest. C-" 

Well, Bob has a problem with good-looking, rich people who make records - especially if they're women. I wonder why that is? Resentment, you say? You're not suggesting that he's denying his inner woman with movie star looks and flowing blonde hair who makes records? Hmm. You'll make your own mind up about the album, but I'll just say it's swell, like all the music you find on th' IoF©, and if you have any other records by Chi, frisbee 'em over!

 

47 comments:

  1. To get a bite of this hot biscuit, simply state where the quote in the title of this piece came from! You can SO do this!

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  2. Bob Ross' show where he paints a river?!?

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    1. This is as on-the-money as your Dr. John vote - which means you are at least consistent, which at your age is a good thing. Be proud of your consistency!

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    2. If only my bowel movements were this.

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    3. Glad you brought up this subject, Pmac! I think your poop problem is down to lack of fiber in your diet. A daily bowl of porridge oats in the morning will restore both consistency and regularity to your bowel movements.

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    4. So that crabgrass I eat in the morning is not the answer?!?

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  3. It's A Beautiful Dreck.


    As always, Christgau is an asshat

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    1. JKC nails the quote. Mind you, I like IABD - a LOT - so I'm not linking the album for him. Someone else come up with the answer. Take a wild guess. Give you a clue - WHITE BIRD!!! *sings* "in th' mo-orninggggg ..."

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  4. Replies
    1. I think he joined after Marrying Maiden? (wupes! what a give-away!)

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    2. Billy Gregory, a latter day member, is a NO resident the past few years. Got some unnecessary notoriety a couple of years ago when he was attacked by a gutter punk while leaving a gig. Gutter punk was killed in the ensuing altercation. Thankfully, there were many eyewitnesses and videocams and Billy was never charged.

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  5. Replies
    1. There is no best bitrate, only the right bitrate.

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    2. No! I'm too upset for bitrates. I just saw a vision of Kim Kardashian's butt on my grilled cheese sandwich.

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    3. Isn't Crypto Currency currently an unacceptable form of dinero for paying for one's tab (no Hunter) load of Virgin Mai Tais at the IoF girl & bar...?

      Oh, wait. BITRATE, not BITCOIN.......

      Never mind..............

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  6. Many years ago, in the early days of digital audio and MP3s, I did an experiment with a friend who had a very high-end audio system, and pretty good ears. He only listened to 180-gram vinyl himself but agreed to lend his expertise. Disc space was at a premium back then, so we wanted to arrive at a bitrate that was economical, and yet acceptable. We stated by listening to the same track sampled at 16 kbps and worked our way up to uncompressed WAV files, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, etc. We both agreed that we could hear no practical difference after 192. Especially after a few drinks. After that, and for years, I sampled everything at 192, but eventually popped it up to 320 because why not? Disc space was no longer an issue. But I don't grit my teeth listening to those old 192 kbps files.

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  7. I rip CDs I own at 256 for use in portable and I'm fussy about audio. Bitrate is far from the whole story.

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  8. High bitrates appeal to audiophiles, but they're not always better, because it has to contend with bottlenecks. So If it's going to be downloaded, and listened to on physical audio formats, a high bitrate makes sense. For streaming, a lower bitrate can be streamed effectively. Most people will notice a significant drop in quality below about 90Kbps.

    Also, a high-bitrate and high-fidelity file does not matter if it’s not delivered on quality hardware. If users are listening on mass-market earbuds or headphones, they will not be able to get everything that high-fidelity audio offers anyway. CD-quality bitrate, which is high, sounds its best on a high-end stereo system that is able to adequately express the very high and very low frequencies that 1,411Kbps is able to accommodate. Most earbuds, and most (but not all) desktop speakers, will not be able to express those frequencies.

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  9. below 160 is reducing high frequencies on stereo signals when using classic mp3. other methods to achieve good sound with lower bitrates (eg. mp+) lost out because their inventors wanted (more) money and standalone audio players didn't support them. since a while (2017)mp3 is usable free !

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  10. Hope no one is laying this bitrate thing on me. For my blog I have multiple friends who want 320Kbps or better. I don't have storage room for FLAC so I just do everything 320.

    My home stereo system is various audio-technica stuff & my headphones are Koss Pro4S, not top-end by any means but not trash either. Even my old ears like the 320 best, especially high end.

    But really, I'll listen to anything at any rate if it's what I want to hear.

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    1. Absolutely not, Nate. This thing rose again - like the South - in the Stones comments. It's a diversion, and a waste of time. We can all remember buying faulty vinyl, and either accepting it or taking it back to the store. We used our ears for that. When CDs first started, some didn't sound so great. Again, we didn't look at wave forms on a spectrograph. I still use my ears for listening, and if it sounds good enough it is good enough, and if it sounds great it is great. I only have mp3 files these days, played through my Mac on a speaker system designed for TV (big bass box, small treble pods left and right). I have a sound enhancer (Boom 3D), which is basically an amplifier and a very impressive graphic equaliser which allows infinite tweaking, and which I adjust every time I open an album file. The result is great sound - and although I won't claim it's as good as the high-end separates set-up I had back in Paris a while back, it's better than anything I had prior to that, especially during the period when music meant more to me than anything else. It wasn't bitrate or audio fidelity that changed my life, it was the music and the times, and that magic is still there. I'll add your link in the next comment, Nate - and thanks again!

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    2. Paris? The one in France Europe? Now what am I supposed to think? Are you even a'Murkin?

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    3. Have you not read my bio in the sidebar?

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    4. Farq you are correct (of course), use your ears to listen, if it sounds harsh or wrong then dump the file, weather it is 192, 256, or 320. Many of the files on the IoF are at the lower 192 rate and sound splendid to me. Teenagers may be able to notice the difference, but I can't. Pardon.

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    5. Teenagers? The Last Teenager died in 1980, mowed down by a carnival float while exiting a John Hughes movie. There's only babies, the middle-aged, and the senile left.

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    6. "The senile left" -- is that a swipe at Uncle Joe? Dementia is a non-partisan affliction, and is highly contagious among politicians of all makes and models. Legislative sessions are superspreader events.

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  11. Thanks! I haven't heard this in quite some time.

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    1. You're welcome. Odd how her work has eluded reissue. And a repeat request - if any of th' 4/5 Guys© has more, it would be appreciated at any bitrate!

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    2. Eluded you, but not reissue:

      https://www.discogs.com/Chi-Coltrane-Chi-Coltrane/release/2112324

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    3. *sigh* - how about "remains out of print"?

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    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    5. Not to be the registered, card-carrying Contrarian Party member, but...

      It's all relative.

      It has, after all, been said here before that about ANY music one wants (updiddling from lowly bitrates types were the target, I seem to recall..) is "OUT THERE" for "THE TAKING."

      I dunno. I don't know a torrent from a newsgroup from a P2P from a hole in the ground.

      What's one person's "Extremely rare out of print collectible!" being hawked at dread Scalpers' Prices on the Interwebs is another person's cutout bin or church charity shop fodder.

      All it takes is a bit of looking around. Eventually what one seeks is there, waiting patiently for them.

      So that ends today's discourse on The Big(grr) Picture of the ever-swirling vortex of Stuff.

      (It's NOT "Junk" or "Crap"... Just a buncha shtuff that periodically moves from one garage to the next, much like a ginormous gyre of marine debris, but a bit more useful and easier to track due to Estate Sale adverts...)

      What, too Zen?

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  12. Old enough to be half deaf so I can guarantee you that bitrate doesn't matter, but I have TWO greatest hits collections by Chi Coltrane (one hit wonder?), a set with her first 3 albums (Chi Coltrane / Let It Ride / Silk & Steel), and her "comeback concert" from 2012. Don't have the slightest idea how to frisbee them to you, but I'm sure Cody can help.

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    1. It's a drag, but this is what you do if you feel strongly enough about it (I'd love that 3 album set):

      - Drag all the mp3 files to the album to a folder
      - Name the folder ("Irving" or "Hortense" work)
      - Compress the folder to a zip or rar file
      - "go to" (eg) workupload dot com
      - drag your compressed file to the right place (or upload by searching for it)
      - wait
      - post upload link here

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    2. Let's hope this doesn't show my inability to follow directions: https://workupload.com/file/8BhyJvq8Af4

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    3. Books just popped his upload cherry.Next week - we teach him how to toss a Mom n' Pop store!

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  13. Thanks Farq. I've heard the single but nothing else.

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    1. She's pretty good, which is good enough for me. Good enough to be remembered, not forgotten.

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  14. Not wishing to queer Books' pitch - and I too would love the opportunity to hear Chi's 3rd and the concert recording - here's access to 1974's Let It Ride in ultra-fashionable 320Kbps if that's your thing. What I forever puzzle over is audiophiles never discuss the physical environment in which they listen to the music - surely soft-furnishings, furniture, alcoves, pillars etc are going to either dampen, surpress or deflect, reflect and disrupt the actual sound waves anyway. Unless of course, it's a wholly barren environment in which they get down and groove. Like their hearts I suppose.

    Anyways here Chi who must be obeyed....
    https://workupload.com/file/WKW3FkRcSnw

    Kind regards to all you Isle O' Foam (TM) folk.
    Ludo

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  15. live in german TV 1973 (Musikladen)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WClY9TrEgtw

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  16. ripped this Lp
    https://www.discogs.com/Chi-Coltrane-The-Best-Of-Chi-Coltrane/master/198476
    https://mega.nz/file/HBlhAaKC#Mu903dGDYYWNMQpgzL7-pbJbUh2G6fy6e6nQyXHk8aM
    What's 320 if it's noisy?

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  17. Very interesting...never heard of this lady before...some is a little too "showtune-ish" for me but i'm sure I can extract a nicle little compilation from this.

    What really caught my eye was the cover art that came with the "comeback concert": "her comeback...in front of 100.000 fans".

    Huh?! Is that a typo? A hundred thousand fans? She was filling stadiums (or, probably, a festival field)?

    What is she, the female David Hasselhoff???

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  18. ...a little too "showtune-ish" for me...

    I am probably the only one here who has comic Kevin Meany doing his Ethel Merman-esque "singing" of "I don't care, I don't care, I d-o-o-o-o-oon't care!!!" running through his head about now.

    Not that's there's anything wrong with fat. . . erm, I mean, "chubby" comedians...

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