Dortmund ’79

If it’s Friday this must be the Friday Boot! We’re off to Germany again: Dortmund, 25 March 1979.
The FZ Tape Reviewing Society says:

(…) it’s in FZ’s City Of Tiny Lites solo where the show comes to life. This is the first Outside Now jam in circulation, with FZ mulling over a phrase he also played a lot in 1980 which ended up in The Radio Is Broken. This is also the debut of the “vampless” Easy Meat, and possibly the best of this last week of ’79, despite the lack of Catholic Girls.

The Mp3 Encoding Debate: Results Are In

A follow-up to this post: Cognitive Daily yesterday published its rather (un?)surprising results:

For both recordings, there was a significant difference between ratings of the 64 kbps sampling rate and the 128 kbps sampling rate, but no difference between ratings of the 128 and 256 kbps sampling rate. It’s looking like the 256 kbps MP3s offer no advantage over the much smaller 128 kbps MP3s.

Out of nearly 700 participants, 33 were able to detect a difference in audio quality between both sampling rates. I bet those 33 will be identified as being avid KUR readers! :)

An mp3 Is An mp3 Is An mp3?

Cognitive Daily is carrying out an online poll to determine just how audible the fluctuation in quality is between mp3’s that have different encodings:

I created three different versions of two song clips — 64, 128, and 256 kbps MP3 format. Then I re-encoded all of them at 256 kbps so the files are all the same size. Can you identify which recording sounds better? Is there a difference between the listening skills of “audiophiles” and ordinary listeners? Now we’ll find out.

There have been numerous mp3-vs-lossless debates here and elsewhere, so I’m quite curious to see the results of this test. To participate, keep your ears and headset at the ready and click here. The results should be posted at Cognitive Daily next Friday, November 30.

Via Duncan.

Hamburg ’76

This week’s Friday Boot, courtesy of Gilles, takes us back to Hamburg (again!), February 20, 1976 — exactly one month after a couple of Australian gigs which were later released by the ZFT as FZ:OZ (wiki).

Check it out. Oh, and as an extra, I’m leaving Magic Fingers’ Hamburg ’88 offering online for another week.

Hamburg ’88

Someone mentioned that they were expecting a 1988 show last week, so who am I to disappoint? Pat Buzby reminds us that this show features nothing composed after 1976, and calls it “a blessing, though it feels bad in a sense to say it”.

Well I don’t know about that, but any show that features Florentine Pogen, Andy, Inca Roads, Eat That Question and then Black Napkins, one after the other, is ok by me. Add the Black Page as an opener (you gotta love the ’88 arrangement), Dupree’s, Cleveland and Big Swifty among others, and you have the makings of one fine show.

Whether it is or not… well, that’s for you to decide. As always, I await your comments with interest.

The Venue: Congress Centrum, Hamburg, Germany
The Date: 6 May 1988

Frankfurt ’82

The Venue: Alte Oper, Frankfurt, Germany
The Date: 11th June 1982

There is one main reason to love this show (plenty of other reasons, of course, but one main one); The Black Page. I was listening to it just last week and experienced one of those “Jeez, this is good” moments (I then realized that Frank must have been pleased with it too, as you will find if you grab your copy of ‘Guitar‘ and give ‘Move It Or Park It‘ a listen).

Anyway, thinks I, the KUR aficionados have to hear this! So this week’s offering takes us back to June 11 1982, and the early evening show at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt…

Continue reading “Frankfurt ’82”

Download: Dweezil Zappa On Rockline 26/10/07

Ah the joys of Audio Hijack! Dweezil on Rockline is now available for download right over here. The file is about 101Mb, so please download directly to your hard disc (right-click, save as) instead of listening online. Bandwidth is a costly commodity…

Update: Our pal Balint has split the above monolithic track into consumable segments. Download here.

The Voice Of Cheese: SOFA (II)

VOC #35 has our buddy SOFA chiming in once more. He says:

The band is called “Reckless” and it is the brainchild of my buddy Scott, and the drummer Jim. The idea is for this band to play American Country-Pop covers – because that’s what’s “hot’ around these parts (besides Karaoke, and synthesized-midi-driven dreck) and that’s what will get you hired – not that I’m Only in It for the Money, or anything…
When we were putting together a list of tunes, I suggested “Stealin” (sorry, I’m really just a dumb classic rocker at heart and I love Uriah Heep) because it was an old hit, it had ‘country’ lyrics, and it wasn’t Rascal Flats – who are great, don’t get me wrong, but enough is fucking enough…
This band’s “history” (we were ‘together’ for a little over a year) is too much like Spinal Tap to get into – our drummer never spontaneously combusted is the only difference.

I loves me some classic rock! Have a listen:

[audio:035_Reckless_Stealin.mp3]

Like it? Download it!