(This review, written by Carl E. Baugher, originally appeared in Issue 5/6, Winter 1995/96.)Here’s the most powerful rock album of the year. Not necessarily the best, mind you, but definitely the most powerful. Alice In Chains has long been the heaviest of the hard n’ heavy bands out of Seattle. This eponymously titled release is their most ambitious and, arguably best in a string of excellent albums. It combines the range and creativity of "Jar Of Flies"... Read More

(This review originally appeared in Issue 7, Spring 1996.)Joni Mitchell may have written “The Circle Game,” but it took Cassandra Wilson to grab pop by the throat and drag it around in one of the widest, deepest grooves of an unlikely circle you’ll ever hear, reconfiguring it as simmering, steamy jazz/blues. If you start this disc on the third track, “Solomon Sang”—a Wilson original—you might even be fooled into thinking it was Joni in her most recent smoky... Read More

Full disclosure is but one welcomed feature of this ambitious and exciting Steely Dan catalog reissue roll-out from Analogue Productions. All titles remastered from the original analog tapes with the exceptions of Aja and Gaucho. Aja will be mastered from an analog, non-EQ'd tape copy and Gaucho from a 1980 analog tape copy originally EQ'd by Bob Ludwig (who cut the original Gaucho lacquers). According to the press release, it's likely that original... Read More

Unlike Sgt. Pepper's… producer Giles Martin explained to an invited group at New York's Republic Studios, the Revolver recorded assets, despite all of the record's innovative studio trickery (mostly done on tech "shoe-string"), did not include pre-mix "stems" that he could use to create a better stereo spread. The album had been recorded to 4 tracks and elements were permanently "married”. Director Peter Jackson's Beatles... Read More

(This feature originally appeared in Issue 5/6, Winter 1995/96.)“Eddie Kramer/Olympic Studios.” A magical combination. Kramer engineered Traffic’s debut album and had his hands all over the group’s second effort. Both are among the finest sounding rock records of the decade. He also is credited on The Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet second to Glyn Johns. Kramer also worked with The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Buddy Guy, and Kiss, among others, but his best known... Read More

(This feature originally appeared in Issue 5/6, Winter 1995/96.)Ever hear an LP copy of Maurice Jarré’s soundtrack to Dr. Zhivago? It was released by MGM during the label’s “Sounds Great In Stereo” era. They’d put that statement on the record jacket whether or not what was inside was really recorded in stereo. “It would sound great if it had been recorded in stereo, but unfortunately, it wasn't” is what MGM meant to put on the cover, I’m sure, but they probably... Read More

(This review originally appeared in Issue 7, Spring 1996.)Rachel’s’ 1995 release Handwriting LP (Quarterstick 30 LP) is on my top 10 of ‘95 list and this enchanting record may end up on the ‘96 list. The music here was composed by pianist Rachel Grimes for a dance and theater piece based on the life of turn of the century Viennese painter Egon Schiele.The stage work was written and directed by Stephan Mazurek for Chicago’s Itinerant Theater Guild, which he heads. The... Read More