‘Progressive rock’ was a taboo phrase amongst many music consumers in the 1970s. Instead of artists being lauded for top-tier musicianship, the genre became stigmatized for songs enduring intimidating lengths beyond the 6-minute mark and neo-classical approaches that seemed indulgent to those who preferred the simplicity of ‘three chords and an attitude.’ Regardless of varying perception, there’s no denying that the limitless boundaries of sonic exploration gave way... Read More

Before you read Caelan's personal press release, check out this Jazz Times story (Caelan's personal press release): A quick story about the conception of this album - I was playing a trio show at Mezzrow jazz club in New York City one night in February of 2024, and was approached afterwards by Geoff Hoefer (producer on the album and owner of JazzBird Records). He expressed to me how moved he felt by my performance, and then said he wanted to be the one to... Read More

(August 29, 2025 - Los Angeles, CA) Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols, an album that rewired 20 years of rock in under 40 minutes, is available today from Rhino High Fidelity (Rhino Hi-Fi), the premium vinyl reissue series.

dCS's Managing Director David Steven was among the industry leaders I interviewed this past spring at Imacustica in Lisbon, Portugal. The store is one of the best I've ever visited and the event was a multi-day celebration of great music and audio. In addition to David, D'Agostino Master Audio's Dan D'Agostino was there to introduce the $150,000 stunning sounding Relentless preamp (I reviewed it for The Absolute Sound) and Bill Peugh was there... Read More

Wishbone Ash’s Argus was made in rock-and-roll’s golden age; when labels pelted fistfuls of money at any band with guitars, bass, drums, someone who could shake a tambourine, and someone who could sing harmony. This is evidenced by a minor-gods-canon band like Wishbone Ash getting the esteemed honor of a Hipgnosis cover. Assistant Bruce Atkins was dressed up in a costume borrowed from The Devils and posed over the Verdon Gorge in France. When folding out the jacket,... Read More

(Press release): Los Angeles, CA (August 27, 2025)—Craft Recordings is rounding out 2025 with seven reissues in the Original Jazz Classics series, which revisits celebrated, seminal, and rare jazz albums. The latest reissues include Hank Mobley’s Jazz Message #2, Wes Montgomery’s Boss Guitar, Art Pepper’s Surf Ride, Sonny Rollins’ Plus 4, Yusef Lateef’s Jazz Mood, and Red Garland Quartet’s Soul Junction and After Hours featuring Thad Jones, Frank Wess, Kenny Burrell... Read More

Deutsche Grammophon rounds off its new cycle of major works by the Russian composer from Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony with another essential purchase for lovers of this composer’s music and dedicated audiophiles.  Digital done right.  

Our reissue story starts May 27th 2015 at Bernie Grundman mastering, Gower Avenue, Hollywood, CA. Chad Kassem is there, Contemporary Records founder Lester Koenig's son John is there, I am there. Most importantly the master tape of Sonny Rollins' Way Out West is there.

Where, in 1980, was there room for The Soft Boys? The U.S. charts were distended with the dregs of Disco while England was being detained by the onset of synthpop. No one particularly wanted to know about a band of Cambridge smarties who wrote songs that sounded as if they’d be drawn from a tincture of Yves Tanguy.Still, they had their admirers. And when Robyn Hitchcock leant starboard towards a solo career, most of them disembarked with him. That left two albums and... Read More

The Buckingham-Nicks, Fleetwood Mac hook-up post the Bob Welch exit created a monster rock group but it took more than a year following the July, 1975 release for Fleetwood Mac to reach No. 1. Fans of the original blues group Fleetwood Mac were mostly disenchanted if not disgusted (my wife), but this group's success cannot be denied. It gave 1975 rockers what they wanted and at this point why it did is a waste of time to reiterate.If you think this release is a... Read More

First thought upon seeing Grace Bergere's cover portrait was "punk Ida Lupino" but that's not a good way to start a review since how many readers today know Ida Lupino? So let's just say a young woman with an attitude. A dark attitude. And a genuine one. She doesn't look like a poseur. It goes deep. That's before opening and playing the record and reading the lyrics.It's difficult enough in 2025 to pull off a rock record that... Read More

Los Angeles – August 22, 2025 – Verve Label Group and UMe, the global catalog division of Universal Music Group, are proud to announce Verve Vault, a new audiophile vinyl reissue series highlighting iconic jazz albums as well as overlooked gems from Verve’s vast catalog. The series will offer definitive, all-analog 180-gram vinyl pressings newly-mastered from the original analog master tapes by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound and pressed at Optimal in Germany. Each release will combine exceptional audio fidelity with meticulous attention to detail — from mastering to jacket reproduction. The LPs will be packaged in high-quality tip-on gatefold jackets, replicating the original packaging.

The Beatles Anthology 2025", a sprawling effort that includes newly expanded music, book and streaming editions was announced today worldwide.

London – August 21, 2025 – First released three decades ago, The Beatles’ eight-part “Anthology” series reinvented the music documentary. Instead of a standard treatment centered on an outside narrator and talking heads, “The Anthology” featured John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr candidly telling their own story, with all its complexities and contradictions. It introduced The Beatles to new generations of viewers and listeners and marked the start of a creative and commercial afterlife that continues to this day.

Now, The Beatles Anthology returns in its ultimate form for a comprehensive global release campaign—on screen, on record, and in print.

A reader sent a distressed, somewhat angry email rant about how bad was Project's low priced T1 turntable ($599 with built-in defeatable phono preamp, Ortofon OM10 cartridge & electronic speed control) and how not being able to adjust anti-skating had ruined the Ortofon OM10 stylus and how Pro-Ject wouldn't honor the warranty, and on it went! He said the anti-skating didn't work and wasn't adjustable. And that's true it isn't!... Read More

Four new and recent Blue Note titles worthy of your attention. Two are new releases: one from Charles Lloyd the other from Joshua Redman. The Ike Quebec is a "completist' package ala Mosaic records, but is a Tone Poet release title. The Silver title is a never before released title featuring Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson, Teddy Smith and Roger Humphries. Blue Note Records has announced the October 24 release of Silver In Seattle: Live At The Penthouse, a... Read More

You’ll have to read Phil Schaap’s Wikipedia entry to get the full measure of the man. But it must be noted that he taught jazz at the graduate level at Columbia University and Rutgers University, taught American Studies at Princeton University, and convened graduate-level classes for the Juilliard School’s “Jazz at Lincoln Center” program. During his life’s journey, Phil Schaap acquired seven “Little Gold Gramophones.” (My personal count: Zero.) Three for “Best Album Notes;” three for “Best Historical Recording;” and one for “Best Audio Engineering.” That last one being the 1996 award for Miles Davis & Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings. Obviously, this guy knew his stuff.

Mr. Guarducci asked to interview me recently and here's thevideo he posted to his ANA[DIA]LOG YouTube channel that he's kindly sent me so I can post it here as well. You never know how people are going to react nor did I know how many of his large subscriber base (he's based in (Italy) was going to react but so far the comments have mostly been positive over the few days the video's been up on his channel. It's a long interview (he kept it... Read More

Leif Ove Andsnes is one of those pianists who can always be relied upon to deliver something special, whether it be of standard repertoire, or more off-the-beaten-path goodies.  But he has outdone himself with this remarkable recording of a true rarity, and in the process has delivered an hour’s worth of listening guaranteed to take you far away from your everyday cares.  There is nothing quite like this in the entire canon of Western classical music.