Per the distillery’s website: “The true, bold spirit of Wild Turkey has been captured in this authentic barrel proof whiskey, creating one of the finest bourbons in the world. Uncut with water, Rare Breed is an uncompromised Kentucky bourbon with tones of sweet tobacco and hints of orange and mint, making it a remarkably smooth whiskey legend.”
I am a Bourbon fan and there is not really a Bourbon I don’t like – but I certainly like some more than others. I like the various Buffalo Trace brands, the various forms of Maker’s Mark, Four Roses, and Jefferson’s. Despite it being a classic brand, I have never had Wild Turkey. I don’t like spending big bucks. I like to keep it in the $40 range (and I am more than happy to spend less – especially for a cocktail spirit) but I will spend $75 for something special (that is about my upper limit). I mostly drink whiskey straight, but I do like an Old Fashioned. I bought this at Costco for around $40.
My first taste was neat and it was too hot – it is 116.8 proof (58.4% ABV) after all. But served over ice: perfection. I typically don’t like straight whiskey on ice as the flavor gets diluted. However, with high-ABV whiskies, the dilution is a good thing. So on a hot summer night, it is a delight to sip on a cold whiskey and appreciate the dilution.
Once your palate adjusts from a cold one, a neat pour tastes amazing.
As for the taste:
- Heat – the first thing that hits you as I said before is the heat
- A hint of licorice
- Some orange
- Unquestionably Bourbon – you won’t confuse as any other kind of whiskey
- Despite the heat, it is clean – not a lot of aftertaste
- Sweet, but not too sweet
Now that I have gotten used to it, I don’t feel the need to have it over ice. But ice is a nice option when the time is right.
My biggest endorsement of a spirit is would I buy it again? Absolutely! The next question is, does it need to be in regular rotation in our bar? Not necessarily, this is a special spirit that I will buy on sale (or at Costco). This is a high-quality spirit at a reasonable price ($40-$45).
When I was a kid (born in 1959) my parents had a two-cabinet Magnavox stereo console. I was able to find a picture of the model on eBay. In one cabinet was a record player/changer and an AM/FM radio. In the other cabinet was record storage. You would turn it on and then have to wait a bit for the tubes to warm up. I recall it sounded good – it was both a nice stereo and a nice piece of furniture. It was in perfect shape except for a small cigarette burn on the top of one of the cabinets. This kind of electronics/furniture was all the rage in the 60s – the console was the typical configuration for stereos and TVs. I wish I still had this console.
My parent’s record collection was: Irish folk music (they were from Ireland and the Clancy Brothers were actually a big deal in the early ’60s), elevator music (Mantovani, 101 Strings, Percy Faith, etc,) some kids’ music (e.g. Disney greatest hits), big band music, etc. My favorite of the bunch was Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass. I didn’t use the Magnavox much as I didn’t have any of my own records (beyond those few kids’ records) and my parents’ collection was of no interest to me.
As mentioned in another blog post, my primary tool for listening to music when I was a kid was a portable cassette player and a 9-volt transistor radio. I was able to upgrade those options to a more “hi-fi solution” by taking some hearing protection ear muffs (my dad gave me an old pair from work) and installing speakers recovered from 9-volt transistor radios and the cord from an earphone. I was pretty pleased with myself.
My first real stereo was a Soundesign integrated unit (AM/FM radio, turntable/changer, and speakers) that I purchased from LaBelle’s (a catalog showroom store in downtown Minneapolis in the 70s and 80s) and paid for from paper route money. That stereo got me started on the audiophile and music bug. In hindsight, it wasn’t much better than a current-day Crosley suitcase record player, but I didn’t know any better. Having my own stereo in my bedroom was a game changer. I could now listen to whatever I wanted. I remember my parents being out of town and bravely smoking some weed in my bedroom and listening to a borrowed copy of Pink Floyd’s Darkside of the Moon in high school – that was an out-of-character risk for me at the time.
I brought the Soundesign unit to college in the fall of 1977 and quickly learned it was not a real stereo and I needed to pick up my audiophile game (don’t recall audiophile as even being a term back then) and get a real stereo – AKA separate components (receiver, turntable, and speakers). After hearing the component systems of my new college buddies, I quickly realized the Soundesign was crap. The music of the day (what has become labeled “classic rock”) demanded to be heard on a proper stereo.
A few months into my college career I bought a used receiver and turntable (components) from a college buddy (Uncle Paul) when he upgraded. I bought some huge no-brand speakers from one of the local audio stores. That new system was a major upgrade to the Soundesign – now I was a true fledgling audiophile. I played my stereo frequently and loudly given the dorm situation. I remember seeing those speakers literally jump off the shelves of my college dorm room as a result of cranking the system. The speakers survived for a couple more decades – they were bruised, but not ruined.
Soon I was on the upgrade path myself. On a trip to Chicago in the fall of 1978 (sophomore) with a college classmate, I bought a nice solid-state amp from Scott.
The trip to Chicago was a wonderful adventure – my first unsupervised road trip. We did the Chicago tourist stuff, but the highlight (besides acquiring the receiver) was a night at the Jazz Showcase where we saw jazz vibes legend Milt Jackson of the Modern Jazz Quartet.
I obtained true audiophile status when I purchased a very nice Sony turntable from the Sony Sound Center in downtown Minneapolis:
I upgraded the cartridge on the turntable to what was state of the art at the time: a Shure V15. Between the turntable and the cartridge, I spent $600, which was a small fortune in 1978 on my meager student budget (the equivalent of $2800 today).
The combination of the Scott receiver, the Sony turntable, and the giant no-name speakers served me well for many years. Every few years I would upgrade some part of the rig. This is how the obsession with audiophile sound began and that continues through to today.
When the first The Smile album, A Light For Attracting Attention, came out in 2022 I missed it. Later that year a live set came out and that did catch my ears. I am a Radiohead fan and of the band members’ side projects. The Smile is one of those side projects and includes Radiohead members Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood with the drummer Tom Skinner (member of the jazz band Sons of Kemet). Yorke provided vocals, and he and Greenwood played guitar, bass, and keyboards. The debut album was produced by Radiohead’s longtime producer Nigel Godrich. The new album, Wall Of Eyes, is produced and mixed by Sam Petts-Davies. It features string arrangements by the London Contemporary Orchestra.
The Smile sounds like Radiohead and most importantly there are plenty of guitars and live drums (I am not as big a fan of Radiohead’s electronic sound vs. guitar-based rock sound). The Smile is more mature than vintage Radiohead, which at 65 years old, I dig – not so much Radiohead teenage angst (the guys are now in the 50s), but plenty of classic Radiohead alienation. The strings are a wonderful addition – a nice touch – that is understated: the strings rock! I like the ambitions of the arrangements.
The new album is similar to the debut, although a touch mellow (which I am cool with). Tom Skinner’s drums are still a significant part of the soundscape, just subtler than the debut.
Here are some track-by-track observations:
“Wall Of Eyes” has a Brazilian (samba/bossa nova) vibe, but is distinctively Radioheadish too. It introduces to the listener that this album is going to be rhythmic, yet melodic. We hear the strings that will be a dominant color on the album. There is some cool guitar work too. The vocals are typical of Thom Yorke.
“Teleharmonic” is an atmospheric piece and Yorke’s vocals are more experimental: breathy, soulful, and at times falsetto. There is some tasteful flute too.
“Read The Room” is the most Beatlesque thing Thom and Jonny have ever done. It is on the noise-rock and psychedelic side of The Beatles’ catalog. This is my favorite track on the album. Jonny’s guitar dominants and Thom’s vocals have never sounded prettier.
“Under Our Pillows” is the most Radioheadish track on the album. It could easily be on OK Computer. Jonny’s intricate guitar melodies are the primary sonic palate until the last third of the song which is atmospheric.
“Friend Of A Friend” opens with a classic Thom falsetto. A piano segues into strings to create a Radiohead vibe – there is a psychedelic Beatles feel too.
“I Quit” has an amazing guitar intro followed by spooky vocals from Thom. The production is brilliant. This will be a great headphone reference recording.
“Bending Hectic” is a gorgeous Jonny guitar exhibit and Thom has innovative vocals – it is a texture I have not heard from him before – a singer-songwriter vibe. After a mellow first half the album ends with a fantastic crash landing. This song is challenging “Read The Room” for my favorite track on the album.
“You Know Me!” – George Harrison could have written this. This would be a cool song a cappella, yet the arrangement totally elevates the song. The Smile sticks the landing with this final track.
Overall the album has a more mature feel than a Radiohead album. Typically pop acts ruin their songs with strings, but The Smile genuinely improves the arrangements with the strings. My assumption is that Radiohead is on indefinite hiatus and so The Smile is likely the closest we will get to fresh Radiohead. The Smile is a satisfying substitute. As for the lyrical content, I have rarely paid attention to Radiohead lyrical content and I am not about to start now with The Smile – enjoying the soundscape roll over me is all I need.
Vaxis – Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind (2022)
This is yet another special request review. My son-in-law got wind I was taking requests and requested that I review Coheed and Cambria’s latest: Vaxis – Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind (2022). I know he is a big fan of the band so this was a good chance to check it out. I am aware of Coheed and Cambria and assumed they were a metal band as I know that is the kind of thing my son-in-law would like. I gave the album an initial listen and I was surprised to learn that they are pop-prog – the best comparison I can think of is the poppier side of Rush, e.g. Moving Pictures. Like Rush, they are expert musicians – the musicianship comes across in complex arrangements and great instrument play and vocals. They are melodic AF.
This is their tenth studio album and is a concept album that continues the Amory Wars storyline. Per Wikipedia:
“The Amory Wars is an ongoing series of science fiction comic books and novels created by Coheed and Cambria frontman Claudio Sanchez and Chondra Echert, published by Evil Ink Comics. The name also refers to the fictional conflict at the center of the story, which is told across the published works and is also the primary focus of most of the band’s music.“
I am not typically into the “concept”’ of concept albums – I am just here for the music. There are a lot of concept albums I like, but I couldn’t tell you the storyline if my life depended on it. So I have no interest in the libretto of this album. That being said, I do like the album. The catchy melodies, the dramatic dynamics, the elaborate arrangements, and the solid rock vocals are both original and familiar.
If I had to describe the band quickly it would be a pop-punk-prog (with a dash of Queen and Journey). At times it gets really poppy, for example, the song “A Disappearing Act” could be ABBA. Coheed and Cambria is not music I would typically listen to and I am not going to listen past this assignment. That being said, I fully appreciate what is going on here. It is well-executed, sonically excellent, artsy, catchy, etc. A rock band needs a great lead vocalist with a unique sound and this band has that guy in Claudio Sanchez. The guy has amazing pipes. Overall, I get the quality of the music it is just not my thing, but I am glad to have given it a serious listen.
Recently my daughter’s coworkers requested that I review Rihanna’s Anti. I assumed they found it amusing to have a senior citizen study a contemporary pop star. I appreciated the challenge as it got me out of my dad-rock bubble. The Rihanna review went well enough that I encouraged more challenges like this. A few weeks later another one of my daughter’s coworkers suggested PJ Morton’s 2017 Gumbo.
Unlike Rihanna’s Anti, Gumbo immediately resonated with me. I approached Gumbo suspiciously because when I googled PJ I learned he was a member of Maroon 5. Maroon 5 is not my jam.
My first impression of the album was how much it evoked classic R&B. PJ sounds like a combination of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Prince, and D’Angelo. Gumbo is funky, jazzy, and on the quiet storm spectrum of R&B. Lyrically, there are themes of romance, politics, and autobiography. This is a genre that seriously resonates with me. It has a Soulquarians vibe.
My first listens were very positive. But with repeated listens I got more blasé about the album. The album is well executed and checks a lot of my musical boxes, however, it sounds too much like its influences – PJ doesn’t make it his own. D’Angelo’s Voodoo is my gold standard for reinventing classic R&B, Gumbo is good but is well short of a masterpiece like Voodoo. I am glad my daughter’s friend turned me on to Gumbo, but I doubt it will stick with me. One exception is PJ’s cool cover of the Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love” – that will be on my playlists for years to come.
In the fall of 2011, I was recovering* from open heart surgery. I had time on my hands due to recovery so I decided to start a music blog. My son recommended WordPress as a blogging tool and I found it easy to use and free (except for a small annual charge for my catchgroove.com URL) – I have used it since day one. My first blog post was on 9/21/11 and was a review of my newish (at the time) turntable: a Pro-Ject Audio RPM 1.3. I must have had a lot of enthusiasm for the blog as I posted twelve reviews in nine days. As I write this post today I have over seven hundred blog posts published. Most are record reviews, but I do venture out into other topics too (concert reviews, think pieces, trip journals, food and beverage reviews, etc.).
My motivation from day one was not to write for anyone but myself. If others read my blog, great, but that was not the point. The point was to create a kind of personal music journal. People, knowing I was a musichead, would always ask me what I was listening to and I could never remember. Once I started the blog I could go to my phone, call up my blog’s website, and remind myself what I was listening to.
Soon after I started the blog I discovered another important benefit – writing a record review forced me to listen with intention. It forced me to engage in the music in a new way. Why do I like this album? Who is this artist? What is the context of this record? How could I convince others to check it out? I rarely write a negative review as I don’t have the energy to listen to something I don’t like, let alone write about why I dislike it.
Why Catchgroove? ”Catchgroove” is my term for the run-out groove on a vinyl record. The run-out groove is also known as the matrix area, dead wax, or end-groove area. It is the area on a vinyl record located between the end of the final music band on a record and the label. This groove repeats in an endless cycle until the tone arm is lifted so that the stylus does not run into the label. Catchgroove is not a word I made up, but I also don’t know its origin. Run-out groove or dead wax are much more common terms. No idea where I heard it, but I liked that it also had a double meaning: my blog is meant to help people “catch a groove” that is, to discover a piece of music like a surfer catches a wave.
At first, I just posted the blog on WordPress. Over time I did want people to read my blog so I would post blog post links on Instagram (@catchgroove), Twitter (@catchgroove), and FaceBook (Jim Welby or catchgroove). Over the last few years, I have used Instagram (which copies the posts to FaceBook) as a mini-blog. I encourage people I meet to follow me on Instagram or Facebook as they will get both the mini-blog and links to the full blog. Given my cohort (I am 65), I get the most engagement from my FaceBook friends and from the various FaceBook groups I am part of. Facebook groups are particularly useful as you get your thoughts in front of the eyes of an audience that is already predisposed to your topic, for example, a music review of an artist’s latest project posted on the artist’s fan group.
Now that I am retired, my goal is to be more ambitious with the blog: post more, get into topics beyond music, get into topics in more detail, and create a music memoir. One challenge I have is that album reviews, once the lifeblood of my music consumption, are not very important to me anymore due to the convenience of music streaming. It is making me rethink what I should be posting.
After many years and many posts, I still don’t feel like I have found my “writing voice.” My wife, who edits my blog, always encourages me to write like I talk – especially when I am in an enthusiastic music conversation with another musichead. I have not figured out how to do that. Finding my “voice” is my ultimate goal.
*Just a note on recovering from heart surgery. The initial couple of weeks sucked – my chest felt like I had been kicked by a mule. But by week three I felt better and the next four weeks were the best. At the time I was under a lot of stress at work. Knowing I would be away from work for six weeks was intimidating. However, my cardiologist encouraged me to rest and turn off work. His pitch was: “Focus on recovery and you will be close to 100% in six weeks. Cheat and sneak in work and your recovery will be months.” I took his advice and rested. When I say the last month of recovery was “the best,” what I mean is that I felt guiltless being lazy. I had open heart surgery – no one expected me to do anything but recover – I had the ultimate excuse. It was a wonderful selfish time and I successfully unplugged from work and rested. This put me in the right state of mind to start my blog – rest/recovery and writing were my only obligations. I brought the same focus to those things as I had my work. I have been retired now for a year and I am still trying to get into the zone I was in when I was recovering from surgery back in 2011 – I am getting there, but I am not there yet. But I know where I am trying to get.
This compilation includes outtakes, rehearsals, and alternative takes from Dylan’s Shot Of Love, Infidels, and Empire Burlesque period. This box came out in 2021 and I brought it to the Desert Sessions in 2022 as one of the starters to birth that collection. I listened to it a couple times in the winters of 2022 and 2023. I am spinning it again this winter and it sounds cooler than I remember, especially the Third Man box portion (there is a 2-LP set that is similar to the sampler on streaming services and a 4-LP set that Third Man put out – together you get most of the CD box). Here is the link to my original blog post from September 2021.
What are my impressions this time around?
- Bob was searching for where to take his music in the 80s, a rough decade for his generation of musicians, and so there are experiments here. It is fun to witness the process. Despite the experimental nature of this collection, there are some absolute gems.
- Dylan was phasing out of his Christian period and returning to secular music. Despite the Christian period being maligned at the time, it has stood the test of time – the Christian era invigorated Dylan. He returns to secular music with renewed energy as a songwriter, vocalist, and entertainer. The re-entry is fun to witness.
- He may be confused, but he has not lost his songwriting mojo – the songs from the three studio album period are solid. As usual, Dylan had some quality “rejects.”
- Dylan was doing a bunch of covers in the studio (rehearsals) – some are inspired and some are goofy – all are delightful.
- This compilation resonates with me now. I wasn’t ready until now – my mind is now right to receive it. Not sure why it has taken so long for this compilation to sink in as the three studio albums from this period were important to me when they came out.
The various Dylan Bootleg albums are absolute revelations. Dylan, Inc. is managing the legacy and archive masterfully. This early 80s period of Dylan means a lot to me as this is when I was witnessing Dylan in real-time. I know the studio albums really well. To have a peek at what else was going on behind the scenes is amazing.
I happen to have Shot Of Love as part of the Desert Sessions. It is a pretty great record. I have a very vivid memory of waiting outside the Wax Museum in Minneapolis on release day (August 12, 1981) for the store to open so I could snag a copy. I had gotten into Dylan in the spring of 1978 via Uncle Paul while a freshman in college. 3 years later I was all in on Born Again Bob. The Christian phase did not bother me. I was pretty serious about figuring out Christianity for myself at the time, so no problem that Bob was Born Again. But the real bonus was the Christian phase reinvigorated Bob: his songwriting was inspired, his live performances were spirited, and his vocals were fantastic – he was in full rock star mode with a Christian twist. It was all pretty brilliant and I was all in on Slow Train Coming and Saved so I couldn’t wait for Shot of Love.
The first listens of Shot of Love were unimpressive, Bob was crashing from his Born Again high. He was moving back to rock stylings from the gospel styling of the prior two albums. I was not alone in my disappointment, critics shit on Shot of Love when it came out.
As time passed I came to appreciate Shot of Love. Why? My ears have seriously matured and learned. I was very ignorant in 1981. There has been a lot of Bob material that took years to sink in. Add Shot of Love to that list. Today, Shot of Love sounds rock, almost punk (in The Clash sense) – something I can fully appreciate now. The point of all of this Shot of Love talk is that I am in a receptive place to enjoy this box set. At some other time, I will revisit Infidels and Empire Burlesque.
The 25-song sampler of Springtime In New York that is available on steaming services does a nice job of capturing the box:
In the fall of 1977, I entered the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul Minnesota (now the University of St. Thomas) as a Roman Catholic seminarian (that is worthy of another post). Fast forward two years and I was totally disillusioned with the seminary and decided to move on. I also figured it was a good time to drop out of college because, without the Archdiose’s financial aid, I didn’t want to waste money on college as I was clueless about my future and what I wanted to get out of college – it was time to find myself.
Finding myself meant getting a day job, moving into a duplex with an old friend (Jon), and partying like a rock star. Jon had cool music taste and at the time was obsessed with Elvis Costello (EC) – he dressed like EC, had glasses like EC, sang like EC, and constantly played EC on the stereo. I didn’t get EC at first: he had a funny voice, a sort of punkish style, and too many words (even for a Dylan fan like me). When EC’s 4th album, Get Happy, came out in February of 1980 it was in constant rotation by my roommate Jon. I was either going to become an EC fan or a hater. At first, I was a hater, but later that year, when the compilation of mostly B-sides came out, Taking Liberties, I was converted. Something about that collection of songs softened me to EC.
At this point I went back and re-listened and learned to appreciate the first three albums: My Aim Is True, This Year’s Model, and Armed Forces – one of the greatest three-album pop career starts. This Year’s Model has one of my favorite songs of all time: the “Subterranean Homesick Blues” inspired stomp “Pump It Up.”
The next couple of albums, Trust (1981) and the pseudo-country album Almost Blue (1981) deepened my interest in EC. Almost Blue was my introduction to Gram Parsons and George Jone. But it was Imperial Bedroom, released in the summer of 1982, that put me over the top and turned me from a respectful admirer to a hardcore fan.
I loved the baroque rock of Imperial Bedroom. I have never tired of the album and listen to it at least once a year to this day – that is a pretty good four-decade run. Imperial Bedroom is EC’s Sgt. Pepper’s: the arrangements are sophisticated and sonically adventurous. EC and his label boldly promoted the album as a “masterpiece” (I have the promotional poster – see below).
The next couple of albums, Punch the Clock (1983) and Goodbye Cruel World (1984) did not resonate with me. Although Punch the Clock’s “Everyday I Write the Book” and Goodbye Cruel World’s “The Only Flame in Town” are classic EC singles.
1986’s King of America brought back my enthusiasm for EC. It is a brilliant collaboration with T Bone Burnett that resulted in a great Americana album when that genre didn’t yet exist. Costello performs in several styles over the 15 songs – but is always Elvis Costello. Instead of Costello’s usual band (The Attractions), T Bone used a group of American session musicians dubbed “the Confederates” including Ray Brown, Earl Palmer, and former members of Elvis Presley’s TCB Band. The songs are brilliant, the vocal performances are inspired, and the arrangements are exquisite. At this point in his career (10th studio album), Costello was at the height of his powers. I can’t emphasize how great his vocals are. As always the songwriting is top-notch. King of America, like Imperial Bedroom, is an album that has stayed in regular rotation over the years.
EC has remained prolific, artistically ambitious, and adventurous. I have remained interested in every new album. None have sucked, but some have resonated with me more than others. But the first decade of EC albums are the ones I consistently go back to. Thanks, Jon for force-feeding me Elvis Costello in 1979.
Postscript: I was chatting with Jon on Facebook and he reminded me:
“When I moved in with Catchgroove we were musical opposites. He was all about Dylan. Dylan this, Dylan that. Not a Brit in the mix. I, on the other hand, might as well have an expat from across the pond. When we came together it was like the Revolution. We stood face to face volleying back and forth. The cut wars that transpired in that house were epic. In the years that followed, I discovered American music. I even developed a grudging appreciation for Dylan. He had a weird voice, bizarre phrasing, obscure references, and was the counterpart to my Elvis idiocy. My thanks go out to Catchgroove for his (not so gentle) shepherding of me into a broader musical spectrum of appreciation.”
Postscript #2 (crate digger’s gold): I visited Dead Wax for the first time recently – Dead Wax is a new(ish) record store in Goodyear AZ. I was in an EC state of mind and they had near-mint used copies of Imperial Bedroom and King Of America at reasonable prices and so I snatched them up for the Desert Sessions.
I was impressed by Dead Wax. It is small with a pretty thin inventory (my guess is the store’s size could easily accommodate double the inventory). But what they had was very good. About half used and half new, I could have easily bought 25 records there. I restrained myself to three used albums (including the two EC albums). A bonus is it is an aesthetically nice store. Prices are high but fair. Used wax is high quality and they include audiophile-quality sleeves and are wrapped in reusable cellophane – a nice touch. They had $1 crates on the floor, but I was too lazy to dig in them. I will be back to check out the buck crates (and regular crates). Dead Wax has crate digger’s gold!
The cheapest way to become an audiophile is to get some good headphones (AKA “cans”). Fortunately, audiophile headphones can be purchased for under $100. The easiest and cheapest audiophile solution is good headphones, a portable DAC, a smartphone, and a high-resolution streaming service.
The DROP.com + HiFiMan HE5XX Planar Magnetic Headphones are the best sounding and most comfortable cans I have ever owned. And they are reasonably priced too!
Recently I decided to upgrade my Grado SR80 that are part of the Desert Sessions:
The Grados are a great example of an inexpensive audiophile headphone – they are $125 and they sound great. However, they are a bit uncomfortable – not terrible – they are fine for about an hour. I have had them for several years and I am curious to try some other cans so I decided to get some new headphones and double the budget to $250.
I have had good luck in the past with Drop.com. I bought the Drop + Sennheiser HD 6XX headphones a few years back and loved the quality and reasonable price combination. I considered repurchasing the Sennheisers, but I wanted to taste a different flavor. For similar reasons, I dismissed upgrading with the Grado product line. I have been intrigued by the HiFiMan brand, specifically the He5XX model. Per the Drop website:
“…the open-back HE5XX pairs powerful, speaker-like audio with new ultra-light components to maximize both fidelity and comfort. We worked closely with Dr. Fang—founder and head engineer at HIFIMAN—to drastically reduce weight on the classic dual-sided planar magnetic design through thinner double magnets and Nano Diaphragm membranes. The result? A brighter, more neutral take on the trademark HE500 Series sound, with upgraded efficiency and a better fit than ever before.
I was also intrigued that the HiFiMan were magnetic planar vs dynamic speakers. I will not try to explain the difference between magnetic planar and traditional dynamic speakers. I realize the quote above is subjective marketing BS, but speakers and headphones are subjective. Planar cans are intriguing, per the website HomeAudioBasics.com:
…planar magnetic headphones offer several advantages over dynamic headphones, including more natural sound reproduction, enhanced realism, a wider soundstage, better resolution, improved bass response, and superior instrument timbre.
I purchased the HiFiMan HE5XX and auditioned them with two sources: high-resolution streaming and vinyl for the Desert Sessions rig described above. I listened to a variety of genres. Here are my impressions:
- First, they are the most comfortable headphones I have ever used.
- They are an open-back style which means they are not very sound proof and they are audible to anyone sitting nearby. My experience is that despite these “features,” open-back headphones sound more natural than closed-back-back cans and so it is worth it.
- As suggested in the above quote: they do have a “natural sound reproduction, enhanced realism, a wider soundstage, better resolution, improved bass response, and superior instrument timbre.”
- These are the closest headphones to the loudspeaker experience – it feels like you’re listening in a room rather than the normal headphone bubble.
- They don’t need a lot of power. I only need my Schitt Vali 2 headphone amplifier set at low gain and only a quarter of a turn on the volume control.
- I hate too much bass and the HiFiMan is just right. With bass-heavy music, like hip hop, they still have plenty of punch, but not the artificial boom of popular headphones like Beats.
- I tried the cans with a portable DAC hooked to my iPhone. There was a noticeable fidelity drop. I see this as a positive feature of the HiFiMan as they are brutally honest – the portable rig is an inferior configuration to the Desert Sessions rig and so the headphones should pick up the difference. This is not as noticeable on the Grados and Sennheisers.
- Finally, the cans are low fatigue. Often between lack of physical comfort and having speakers blasting directly into your ears, I get hearing fatigue. I have listened with the HiFiMan cans for several hours without fatigue.
For a $250* purchase (including shipping and tax) these are great cans. They sound better and are way more comfortable than my Grados (not fair as they are twice the money). They sound better and are more comfortable than my similarly priced Sennheisers (a conventional dynamic headphone).
*Postscript: A few days after the headphones arrived in the mail, I noticed on the Drop.com site that the headphones were now on sale. I contacted Drop.com customer service and they quickly got back to me and let me know they would credit me for the difference. Wow – that is some great customer service.
As noted in a previous musical memoir post, I was not into pop music. However, given the monoculture of the late 60s and the 70s, I was not unaware of pop music. One place where I was exposed to pop music was summer camp. I loved going away to camp as a kid. First, because it was a chance to get away from my parents. Second, I lived in the city, and getting out into nature was a big attraction. Third, the lawlessness of the Lord of the Flies summer camp environment was a huge attraction. Finally, I was exposed to new music.
My first camp musical memory was at Watson’s Gymnastic Camp (William Watson and all his crazy shenanigans are a topic for another post someday). One of the camp counselors had a pickup truck with an 8-track player. I distinctly remember he had Deep Purple’s Machine Head (1972) and Alice Cooper’s School’s Out (1972). Those albums were amazing. Deep Purple had huge riffs that were so seductive. “Smoke On The Water” not only had the riffs, but it was also a cool story of a fire during the recording sessions. The opening of “Smoke On The Water” was truly an epic guitar riff and guitarist Richie Blackmore claimed it was popular due to it being simple and based around four notes, comparing it to the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. The cover art on the tape made the band look spooky. The music sounded dangerous and something adults would disapprove of. Deep Purple played hard rock, which was a foundation of what later became heavy metal (eventually just metal). It certainly sounded “hard” Machine Head actually deserves to be called a classic. It is an album that never gets old – even after 50 years!
I have never taken Alice Cooper seriously. He has always seemed like a novelty act. The makeup and the horror movie visuals made him seem like a cartoon. That being said, he made some amazing singles, and the song “School’s Out” is really good. It captures the ecstasy of childhood at the end of the school year. I didn’t hate school, but I preferred summer without school all the same. I don’t recall another song on the album, but that one song was worth it all. Later when I got into vinyl, I appreciated the great album art/packaging which was a defaced school desk. Cooper was also considered hard rock. And like Deep Purple, this music sounded dangerous. Whenever I hear “School’s Out” it makes me smile and I want to scream along to the chorus.
I missed several Boy Scout summer camps due to gymnastic camp, but once I quit gymnastics I started to go to Boy Scout camp with my local troop. The first time I went was at a camp in Isabella MN. The camp had a dormitory-style setup. Somebody had a greatest hits tape of Tommy James and the Shondells. The songs were all great, but the one that caught my attention was “Crimson and Clover.” The tremolo effect on the vocals rocked my young teenage mind. I remember pinching the skin over my Adam’s apple and wobbling my throat to create a similar effect. Despite the big impact that Tommy James and the Shondells had on me that summer, I didn’t really catch the pop music bug and when I returned home I was back to my usual musical interests.
But campfire songs were the most significant musical experience at Boy Scout camp. My Scout troop had about 25 songs in our collective repertoire. None of them were written down – it was a true oral tradition. I can’t remember many of the songs, but the ones I remember are:
“Titanic”– this was my favorite campfire song. It told the story of the sinking of the Titanic. The best part was the chorus:
It was sad, so sad.
It was sad, so sad.
It was sad when the great ship went down (to the bottom of the….)
Uncles and aunts, little children lost their pants.
It was sad when the great ship went down.
We would sing those last two lines in multi-part harmony (actual multi-part dissonance) with immature hilarity.
There were more like: “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes,” “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,” “Dem Bones (Gonna Rise Again),” etc. I still remember how fun it was to shout out those songs, we rarely truly sang, around a blazing campfire. We would do skits and recount the adventures of the day. Then we would end with the singing of “Taps:”
Day is done, gone the sun,
From the hills, from the lake, from the skies.
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.
Attending summer camp was one of the great memories of my childhood. I loved it enough that, when I became a teenager and young adult, I worked at Boy Scout summer camps.
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