LOS ANGELES – Curtis Mayfield’s Super Fly soundtrack pioneered socially aware soul in the early ’70s with its groundbreaking, orchestral-funk arrangements and unflinching lyrical commentary. Today, new audiophile editions are available from Rhino High Fidelity on reel-to-reel and vinyl.Super Fly (Rhino High Fidelity R2R) was duplicated in real time from a 1:1 copy of the original analog master tape. The result is a master-quality listening experience that captures... Read More

Los Angeles, CA – June 17, 2026 – Interscope-Capitol Records’ Definitive Sound Series (DSS) announces Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On as the next release in its acclaimed premium audiophile vinyl collection. Arriving July 17, the limited-edition AAA 180g high-definition vinyl One Step pressing is available for pre-order. "Mr. Gaye created music that was deeply personal, yet universally understood,” says The Estate of Marvin Gaye. “Let’s Get It On remains one of his... Read More

Los Angeles – June 18, 2026 – Though separated by nearly three decades and rooted in different musical traditions, The Band’s Music From Big Pinkand D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar share a common distinction: both debut albums fundamentally reshaped the course of American music. The latest additions to UMe’s Vinylphyle series exemplify its mission to present essential albums across genres with uncompromising sound quality and packaging.Available to order today exclusively via... Read More

Bassist Ben Allison, guitarist Steve Cardenas, and multi-reedman Ted Nash make up an odd sort of trio (no piano, drums, or second horn), which in other hands might produce the stuff of “chamber jazz,” but in theirs spans the gamut from hot to cool, sometimes both at once, sprightly but dense with clipped rhythms, twisty intervals, and a quiet virtuosity. Over the past decade, they have recorded albums covering the music of Jim Hall (Quiet Revolution), Carla Bley... Read More

No.4 will not be the final video from High End Vienna 2026. There's more to come. In this video you'll see the new compact Boulder 808 phono preamplifier, the new 12" The Wand tonearm, the Mavis phono preamp from Vietnam, and one from WestminsterLab making its European debut.Pear Audio's Odar turntable has a new configuration that puts the arm on an outboard platform, JMF will inboard transformers on its PH 7.2 phono preamp, Korf Audio introduced a... Read More

Wow. This is the 3rd 1/2 hour video from High End Vienna and there's so much more to be edited and posted. In this one you'll see the debut of a new $54K Constellation Performance phono pre, the new circa $7500 Wattson Madison phono pre available for MM, MC or DS Audio optical cartridges, the Thales Reference TT featuring a mechanical speed regulator, and Magnifier preamp/phono preamp, the new Dr. Feickert Virgo S and Virgo SE turntables, two new Dynavector... Read More

There are times when a record is just on time. Flea’s Honora is most certainly one of those efforts. And it’s not the Flea we know. This album is actually the work of a Flea we’ve only heard of. If, like me, you were an early Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, you no doubt remember early interviews with Flea where he discussed his childhood trumpet playing. I also recall his awesome mother saying her son could really play like a "m.....fker", or something of that... Read More

In these excellent Original Source remasterings on vinyl - courtesy of Emil Berliner Studios - two more titles from this landmark series arrive for a new generation maybe more receptive to their musical and sonic experimentation.

You can read Part 1 of this series here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, and Part 4 here.

Face obscured by wavy brown locks and donning a flannel over his Waylon Jennings shirt, Kurt Vile is a name that’s hard to bypass or ignore within the indie music circles. The man is a legend in his own right, having sustained a 20+ year career and making the glow-up from being a part of the Matador roster to the major-label big leagues of Verve. Vile’s brand of psychedelic indie rock–with roots circling back to folk and Americana–makes him a uniquity within an... Read More

Of the 73 million people that watched The Fab Four move the needle on the Ed Sullivan show, young Joe McEwen was part of that tiny percentage of Americans that weren’t moved by what they’d seen.“It didn’t make any connection with me at all. But there was something nagging inside. To paraphrase Bob Dylan, something was happening here, but I didn’t know what the hell it was.”Clarity eventually came to him by way of a small transistor radio. As McEwen writes in the... Read More

Though Pro-Ject turntables are manufactured in the Czech Republic, Vienna is home to Pro-Ject's founder Heinz Lichtenegger, who pulled out all the stops to create a major impression at this first Vienna High End show. Covering everything new from Pro-Ject and Heinz's other acquisitions takes up a great deal of this video, but of course there's far more and it will require additional videos to cover all that's new in analog this year. There was even... Read More

Vienna High End 2026 was an incredible success. Record-setting consumer attendance and speaking of records and vinyl playback, so many new analog-related products debuted at the show it will take many videos to cover them all. This first video begins with a look at the new Audio-Technica AT-MCD1 cartridge featuring a one-piece diamond cantilever/Shibata stylus assembly. Unlike the previous AT MC2022, this new one will have unlimited production. Cost is steep—$11,000... Read More

Includes a review of the first of these finely executed Original Source Remasterings of DG Avant-garde titles on vinyl, comprising three albums in total from this landmark series of the 1960s and 70s - arriving for a new generation maybe more receptive to their musical and sonic experimentation.

You can read Part 1 of this series here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, and Part 5 here.

In the early days of LPs, it wasn’t easy to buy records of contemporary and avant-garde music.  But slowly the labels realized there was a market for this music, and the 1960s and 70s saw a proliferation of specialist labels and imprints that managed to cover a lot of this repertoire - even if it wasn’t always easy to track down these records in your local record emporium.  

The DG Avant-garde series, released between 1968 and 1971, represents perhaps the most dedicated commitment to new music from any major label - but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a ton of other interesting stuff coming out on other labels too.  And much of that continues to show up in the used record bins, often in excellent playing condition.

So we take a little trip down memory lane to explore how modernism and the avant-garde were represented on various record labels.

You can read Part 1 in this series of articles here, Part 2 here, Part 4 here and Part 5 here.

At High end Vienna, Ortofon, Audio-Technica and TechDAS introduced new products sure to be of great interest to all Tracking Angle readers, even if they are unaffordable. There are brand new "flagship" cartridges from A-T and Ortofon. At a well attended press conference Ortofon introduced the new Vertex MC cartridge featuring a diamond cantilever and a new diamond stylus that replaces the Replicant and is not bonded to the cantilever as in previous MCs.... Read More

I’ll just start this text as if I’d discovered the album by chance in a store and bought it because I liked the cover or because I enjoy listening to Japanese recordings from the 1970s and ’80s (e.g., Sakamoto). Plus, the LP was a bargain at 32.99 euros. A real bargain these days, considering it’s a small limited edition with an obi strip and a 12-page booklet. Plus, it features half-speed mastering and 180g virgin vinyl.The album was first released in 1986 on the... Read More

Bands like Cream and Jimi Hendrix Experience were the poster boys for the then-new musical phenomenon known as the ‘power trio,’ solidifying a guitar-bass-drums foundation rooted in blues before Grand Funk Railroad and Blue Cheer shifted into a harder trajectory. Toronto’s Rush were the next significant group to come from the boom and fuse the two sonic planes, with guitarist Alex Lifeson’s shapeshifting textures, drummer John Rutsey’s Bonham-meets-Kirke rhythm style,... Read More

After careful comparisons, there was a notable improvement in emotional connection and authority with this new reissue. The result is that Kevin Gray, Paul Blakemore and Craft, with their implementation of Plangent Processes in transferring the master tape, have provided the modern-day record collector, and seasoned enthusiasts alike, with a reasonably priced option for gathering this important era in jazz history together on brand-new high-quality audio media.