Django's Castle - New Hank album

[George Geddes]

I got fed up waiting... Had credit with iTunes so downloaded it and burned a CD. Off to print the sleeve now.

Will probably still buy the CD if and when it comes out.

George

[howarddobson]

I downloaded Django's Castle this week from iTunes.

Often I prefer CDs - but at least with downloading you have the album instantly.

I played it whilst running at the gym - something to keep my mind occupied.

For me it was a great album - excellent performances and arrangements. Obviously it's quite a stripped down set-up - with the same approach to every number - so you've got to really like gypsy jazz to appreciate a full album of it.

In terms of quality and value for money - I think it's well worth it.

I can understand record companies not wanting to TV advertise in the normal way etc - but that said there are hundreds of classical / jazz / blues albums released every year by major labels that don't even hit the lower levels of the charts. If they can promote those, why not a Hank album?

Can't imagine they'd be enough scope for a sequal album though. A return to the red Strat would be the obvious next move a la Guitar Man.

Wonder if Hank will tour UK with gypsy jazz...

[Moderne]

It's four months since Tony Hoffman announced this new album - some of which was recorded five years ago. Is it ever going to be available on CD in the UK??! It seems strange that none have surfaced - even on eBay. I would describe myself as one of Hank's biggest fans and I love gypsy jazz, but don't want to do the downloading thing!

Cheers,

Clive

[Paul Childs]

It's four months since Tony Hoffman announced this new album - some of which was recorded five years ago. Is it ever going to be available on CD in the UK??! It seems strange that none have surfaced - even on eBay. I would describe myself as one of Hank's biggest fans and I love gypsy jazz, but don't want to do the downloading thing!

Cheers,

Clive

Blame computers for this! 20 years ago it would have already been out on CD or cassette!

[iefje]

In which fileformat or formats are the tracks available? Is it just MP3 or also WAVE or FLAC? If it's just MP3, then I won't like it. MP3 is good enough for in the car, but far from good for in the living room!

[MartcasterJunior]

Blame computers for this! 20 years ago it would have already been out on CD or cassette!

Well, no, it's the other way around. Without computers and the reduction in the cost of recording that they've brought about, this album simply wouldn't have been made. I don't understand the reticence to embrace downloading music. Clearly nobody is prepared to put the money up to fund a European release of this album so downloading is your only option. As long as people wait for a hard copy, there's absolutely no indication that there's any market for a release. Offering downloads allows people (whether it be Hank indulging his gypsy jazz interest or me sitting in my bedroom making my own music) to release tracks and albums in a cost-effective way that's almost entirely independent of market forces. If you don't support it, it won't necessarily stop them making the music, but if you sit and wait for a CD to make its way into the shops, you might well be waiting a long time.

Matt

[Fenderman]

I like to have physical CD's as virtual libraries can get lost if your PC throws a wobbler (happened to me twice) so i prefer physical formats (which also probably last longer).
I do download the occasional song, but i'm not buying the new Hank Marvin album unless it comes out on CD, it's also only available in Oz anyway (not on Amazon or Play.com)

[JimN]

I don't understand the reticence to embrace downloading music. Clearly nobody is prepared to put the money up to fund a European release of this album so downloading is your only option. As long as people wait for a hard copy, there's absolutely no indication that there's any market for a release.
Matt

On a CD, the recording standard would be 44.1 kHz sampling, 16-bit (and CD-DA is the disc equivalent of wav format).

On a download, none of that is true.

If the download process made CD-standard wav format available, I might consider it.

It doesn't; I shan't.

[MartcasterJunior]

On a CD, the recording standard would be 44.1 kHz sampling, 16-bit (and CD-DA is the disc equivalent of wav format).

On a download, none of that is true.

If the download process made CD-standard wav format available, I might consider it.

It doesn't; I shan't.

The Django's Castle album download is provided in MP3, MP3 (320kbps) and lossless FLAC formats. That's pretty much near enough to CD-quality to not make a difference for most listeners (it's about the actual music, yes?), especially when you take into account that the CD version is currently (and looks to remain) complete silence.

[Didier]

On a CD, the recording standard would be 44.1 kHz sampling, 16-bit (and CD-DA is the disc equivalent of wav format).

On a download, none of that is true.

If the download process made CD-standard wav format available, I might consider it.

It doesn't; I shan't.

The Django's Castle album download is provided in MP3, MP3 (320kbps) and lossless FLAC formats. That's pretty much near enough to CD-quality to not make a difference for most listeners (it's about the actual music, yes?), especially when you take into account that the CD version is currently (and looks to remain) complete silence.

FLAC is a lossless codec, which means that there should be no difference with wav. Like with all lossless codecs, compression doesn't exeeds 50%. With MP3 at high sampling rate, you need to have very high end Hi-Fi gear to notice any difference with wav.

Didier