September 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
Comments: 0September 16th, 2022
Giles Martin Introduces "Revolver" Newly Mixed and Expanded Special Edition Plays examples of track separation technology and entire album in Dolby Atmos—original mono mix LP cut AAA from tape By: Michael FremerUnlike 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
Comments: 0September 16th, 2022
Producer/Engineer Eddie Kramer Talks 'In From The Storm' (And Other Things) From the archives: Michael Fremer interviews Eddie Kramer about Jimi Hendrix, digital audio, and more By: Michael Fremer(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
Comments: 0September 16th, 2022
Score One For Analog: An Interview With Soundtrack Recording Engineer Shawn Murphy From the archives: Michael Fremer interviews Shawn Murphy By: Michael Fremer(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
Comments: 0September 16th, 2022
'The Ghost Of Tom Joad': Bruce Springsteen's Masterpiece From the archives: The album Springsteen's been working towards his entire career By: Tracking Angle(This review, written by Carl E. Baugher, originally appeared in Issue 5/6, Winter 1995/96.)It’s taken him some 20 years or so but Bruce Springsteen has finally delivered his masterpiece. Make no mistake: he’s done a ton of good work over the years. But, this is the album he’s been working towards his whole career. And there’s not a single rock song on it! Here’s evidence beyond a shadow of a doubt that the lineage which runs through Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan... Read More
Comments: 0September 16th, 2022
Rachel's' 'Music For Egon Schiele' Floats Above Cliche From the archives: You’ll feel this the first play and you’ll play it repeatedly By: Michael Fremer(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
Comments: 0September 16th, 2022
AudioQuest Music Releases Terry Evans' 'Puttin' It Down' From the archives: a highly recommended, all-analog blues LP from AudioQuest Music By: Michael Fremer(This review originally appeared in Issue 5/6, Winter 1995/96.)I thought Pop Staples’ version of J.B. Lenoir’s “Down In Mississippi” (Pointblank/Charisma 92147-2) was powerful—and it was, but the version Terry Evans puts down here shakes the firmament. As I write this, two neo-Nazi idiots—soldiers from Fort Bragg, NC—have just been arrested for cold-blooded murdering a Black couple walking down the street in their own neighborhood (not that it would have mattered... Read More
Comments: 0September 13th, 2022
We Caught A Rising Star—Chris Isaak Interview Originally Appeared 1987 In The Absolute Sound By: Michael FremerBack in 1987, I interviewed the young up and coming and not particularly well-known Warner Brothers recording artist Chris Isaak. Thanks to a reasonably successful recording career, an effective and consistent live show, and an unusual “reality”-type comedy series on Showtime, Isaak divides his celebrity between being a respected recording artist, and a campy “celebrity,” known in some quarters simply for being known. With his swept-back ‘50’s hair and Eddie... Read More
Comments: 0September 13th, 2022
We Caught A Rising Young Star—Chris Isaak Part 2 This interview originally appeared 1987 in The Absolute Sound By: Michael FremerMF: And you’re going into the studio in a few weeks?CI: Yup! I hope to record three songs at a time.MF: It seems like there are few young performers willing to accept the responsibility and stick their neck out and be the front man and go for stardom.CI: Yes, I know. Because I kind of see it in the old position of…it used to be a bunch of musicians would go out and play, and there was one guy who was the team ham and he’s elected to go out—if somebody breaks a string,... Read More
Comments: 0September 13th, 2022
A Beginner’s Guide To Black Saint & Soul Note From the archives: Fred Kaplan explores the Italian labels Black Saint and Soul Note, which released America's most forward-thinking jazz of the 80s By: Fred Kaplan(This feature was originally published as “Black Saint & Soul Note Still On Vinyl!” in Fred Kaplan’s JazzTracks column, Issue 5/6, Winter 1995/96.)It says something about the state of jazz in its own homeland that, for the entire vital decade of the 1980s, America’s most creative jazz musicians were recording for two Italian labels, Black Saint and Soul Note. Both labels were owned by the same man, Giovanni Bonandrini, who set up the business entirely out of love... Read More
Comments: 0September 13th, 2022
A Hip Trip Of A Mose Allison Anthology From the archives: Steve Guttenberg reviews Rhino's 2CD 'Allison Wonderland: The Mose Allison Anthology' By: Tracking Angle(This review, written by Steve Guttenberg, originally appeared in Issue 5/6, Winter 1995/96.)Is Mose Allison the coolest man alive? Do “cool” people still use that word? Whatever the jargon, Mose Allison defined the whole concept. This groovy 2CD set covers a great deal of ground: the years 1957-1990; 47 tracks from six different labels. This music doesn’t fit easily into any one category—a lot of jazz, plenty of blues, definitely rock, a bit of country—so its appeal... Read More
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