September 28th, 2022
The 1994 Winter CES Show Have a Look Back Almost 30 years to the 1994 CES By: Michael FremerThis report was originally written in 1994 for The Absolute Sound and never published there. Please keep the date in mind as you read it!–Ed.Everything was out of joint this year (though not out of joints – judging by the odors emanating from some parked cars around the Sahara bi-level), from the unusually cold wet weather – it rained almost every day – to the thoroughly bizarre product mix at The Saharaʼs bi-level complex High End audio exhibits. Who would have dared... Read More
Comments: 0September 27th, 2022
Vince Guaraldi's "Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus" Is Next Craft Recordings "Small Batch" One-Step AAA Release Also announced is deluxe 2 CD, 3 LP set newly remastered, with Plangent Processed "bonus material" By: Michael FremerCraft Recordings Celebrates 60th anniversary of Vince Guaraldi's Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus featuring the GRAMMY Award-winning instrumental hit "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" with a Small Batch (limited to 3000 copies) all-analog edition of the original album cut by Bernie Grundman using the original master tapes, "One-Step" processed and pressed at RTI on 180 gram NeoTech VR900 compound. Set for release February 24th, 2023, the Small... Read More
Comments: 0September 24th, 2022
Victrola Introduces a Sonos-Ready Turntable Series not plastic, includes Ortofon 2M Red MM cartridge By: Michael FremerVictrola just announced a series of Sonos-ready turntables, topped by the Victrola Stream Carbon shown in the photo, now available for pre-order. Additional models will follow in 2023.According to the press release, "After a single, simple setup process via a Victrola Stream app, users can control their Victrola Stream turntable from the Sonos app or the illuminated control knob...listeners will be able to send (and control the volume of) the music from a record... Read More
Comments: 0September 24th, 2022
Classic Records Unearths Sonny Landreth's 'Outward Bound' From the Digital Glaze From the archives: when it comes to communicating the intent of music, records have it all over CDs By: Michael Fremer(This review originally appeared in Issue 5/6, Winter 1995/96.)What a shock to the audiophile system: an all-analog reissue of a CD-only release. When I first reviewed this engaging set back in 1992 I remarked that it sounded like a good recording was buried under the digital glaze, but who could be sure? Did I ever expect to see it issued on AAA vinyl? No. But here it is, courtesy of Classic Records.Sonny Landreth is a killer slide guitarist, electric guitarist,... Read More
Comments: 0September 23rd, 2022
Razor & Tie Presents A Joe Meek Compilation CD From the archives: No self-respecting audiophile geek should be without this 20-song disc By: Michael Fremer(This review originally appeared in Issue 5/6, Winter 1995/96.)Joe Meek was a lonely British eccentric producer/engineer who played with electronic gizmos in the studio to create kitsch filled teenage classics like “Telstar” by the Tornadoes, which those of you from the boomer generation remember as the song which introduced us to “the future” and to the sound of “outer space.”The stuff collected here is wonderful in its campy early 60s awfulness, but it also reveals... Read More
Comments: 0September 22nd, 2022
David Blue's "Stories" Tells Mournful Tales Not as Sad as the Singer/Songwriter's Own Gets an AAA Limited Edition Reissue By: Michael FremerThere was a time when you could buy a label's output and be confident you'd made a quality record purchase without hearing the music. Labels that managed this late '60s/early '70's feat included Elektra, Warner Brothers/Reprise, Island and David Geffen's Asylum Records. You could buy with confidence Love's debut, The Doors, Jackson Browne's Saturate Before Using, Traffic's Mr. Fantasy, Cat Stevens' Mona Bone Jakon, for... Read More
Comments: 0September 22nd, 2022
Another "Paved Paradise" Traveling Record Label Expo October 12-23 Nashville, Atlanta, Asheville, Durham, Richmond, D.C. Pittsburgh, Detroit and Cincinnati By: Michael FremerDead Oceans, Ghostly International, Jagjaguwar, Numero Group and Secretly Canadian—key indie labels— welcome Colemine Records and Sacred Bones to the lineup. "Equal parts pop-up shop, block party and Roadside fruit stand, each event will celebrate music and community through thousands of LPs , cassettes, and CDs plus hi-res listening stations from Qobuz and more", says the press release about the almost two week traveling merch show/block party. How about... Read More
Comments: 0September 22nd, 2022
Numero Group Five Day London Takeover October 5-9 2022 1000s of LPs and "decades of lost sounds" at Shoreditch Pop-up By: Michael FremerAttn U.K TrackingAngle readers:Deluxe reissue label Numero Group recently announced its return to London for a five-day takeover. From October 5th-9th, for the first time in three years, the Chicago-based record label and rights management organization will bring thousands of LPs, 45s, cassettes and CDs, exclusive t-shirts and hats, test pressings, lavishly packaged box sets and decades' worth of precious lost sounds to a pop-up shop in the Shoreditch... Read More
Comments: 0September 21st, 2022
Pro-Ject's Evolution X8 Turntable Throws A Monkeywrench Into the Marketplace So much turntable for such an agreeable price (video review on TA YouTube channel) By: Michael FremerA rough definition of “economies of scale” is the cost advantages produced by increased production. The more you produce, the lower the cost per unit, measured by the amount of output per unit of time. Usually this results in either the same product costing less, or a better product for the same cost as a not as good previous one.It's not clear how long it takes to assemble, box and package Pro-Ject’s new X8 Evolution turntable, or how economies of scale work at... Read More
Comments: 4September 21st, 2022
The Influences Of The Grateful Dead From the archives: Even if this fascinating, eclectic set had nothing whatsoever to do with The Grateful Dead, it's worth picking up By: Michael Fremer(This review originally appeared in Issue 7, Spring 1996.)Even if this fascinating, eclectic set had nothing whatsoever to do with The Grateful Dead, in fact even if you’re not a “Deadhead” it’s worth picking up both for the mix of music and the outstanding sound from Paul Stubblebine, not to mention R. Crumb’s cover art. If you are a Grateful Dead fan, you don’t want to be without this compilation.Long time Dead writer Blair Jackson twists these seemingly disparate... Read More
Comments: 0September 20th, 2022
Can Mobile Fidelity Still Cut It? Mo-Fi's Anadisc 200 Return—What We Were Thinking in 1994 By: Michael FremerAfter making an impressive musical and sonic splash at last winterʼs C.E.S. (1994) with the superlative 200 gram vinyl edition of Muddy Waters Folk Singer (MFSL 1-201) and three less inspired choices: (ELPʼs Tarkus [feh!], Manhattan Transferʼs Extensions [yawn!] and Pink Floydʼs Atom Heart Mother [snooze]), Mobile Fidelityʼs vinyl reissue program sort of dribbled to a stop. In fact, the Pink Floyd didnʼt appear at the show due to a problem MoFi wouldnʼt identify. The... Read More
Comments: 0September 17th, 2022
Supergrass' Ambitious And Likeable 'I Should Coco' From the archives: Michael Fremer's original review of Supergrass' 'I Should Coco' By: Michael Fremer(This review originally appeared in Issue 7, Spring 1996.)It was only a matter of time before an alternative to “alternative” music’s dreary sound would emerge, and over the past few months it has—in the form of Britpop, with bands like Oasis, Pulp and Supergrass gaining not just “underground” popularity, but major chart action—something the last British wave, the “Manchester sound,” never achieved.Of all the bands leading the new British pop invasion, the one I find... Read More
Comments: 0September 17th, 2022
The Most Powerful Rock Album of 1995 From the archives: Carl E. Baugher reviews Alice In Chains' self-titled album By: Tracking Angle(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
Comments: 0September 17th, 2022
Cassandra Wilson Destroys Artificial Musical Boundaries And Celebrates Good Tunes From the archives: Michael Fremer reviews Cassandra Wilson's superb 'New Moon Daughter' By: Michael Fremer(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
Comments: 0September 16th, 2022
Analogue Productions Announces Steely Dan Catalog UHQR/SACD Series Seven 45rpm UHQR, two non-UHQR 45rpm titles, all titles on SACD By: Tracking AngleFull 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
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