February 1st, 2024
Think Outside The Box! Intervention's Frampton Trio Available Individually limited edition "Frampton@50"box nearly sold outBy: Tracking Angle
With the box set nearly sold out, Intervention decided to offer the three Frampton albums individually at $40.00 each. The Frampton@50 Series 180G reissues are 100% Analog Mastered by Chris Bellman and sound sensational. The flat, heroically quiet 180g vinyl is pressed at boutique press Gotta Groove Records in Cleveland, Ohio.The album art was meticulously restored by IR's Tom Vadakan, and the jackets are "Old Style" tip-ons, beautiful produced on heavy... Read More
Comments: 2January 31st, 2024
Andrew Hill's Music Made Fresh and New Ron Horton's wondrous double-LP is much more than a "tribute album"By: Fred Kaplan
Andrew Hill was one of the most remarkable jazz pianist-composers, a rare true original. His music is ripe with strange intervals, dissonant harmonies, and off-centered rhythms, yet the resulting sounds are riveting, often gorgeous. Imagine the lush tonal colors of Gil Evans, combined with the fierce cadences of Mingus and the jagged precision of Monk, and you get some idea of his music’s odd pleasures. Hill led a dozen recording sessions for Blue Note in the... Read More
Comments: 12January 31st, 2024
Los Lobos, America's Band—The Tracking Angle Interview conducted in 1997 and originally published in the print editionBy: Michael Fremer
(This Interview originally appeared in Volume 3 #1, issue 11, Spring 1997 of The Tracking Angle magazine).The goodies were stacked on a big table in the corner of the stars' dressing room: an industrial size sack of M&M Peanuts, big bags of Herr's tortilla and potato chips, a jar of Pace brand Thick and Chunky Salsa, fresh fruit, a ten pack of Kellogg's cereals, a plate of muffins, a cheese, tomato and deli platter, jars of Hellman's mayonnaise... Read More
Comments: 2January 30th, 2024
Deutsche Grammophon announces Four New Titles in its Original Source Vinyl Series, plus a Major Bruckner Vinyl Release Classic Recordings from Karl Bohm, Claudio Abbado, Rafael Kubelik, Daniel Barenboim and Carlo Maria Giulini receive Deluxe Audiophile Vinyl ReleasesBy: Mark Ward
Deutsche Grammophon has jump-started the New Year with a vengeance, with the announcement of another set of drool-worthy vinyl reissues to tempt the classical listener (and, I hope, many of you seeking to dip your toe into the classical waters). Read on for more details....
Read More Comments: 30January 29th, 2024
Listen to the Unique Supatrac Sideways Unipivot Tonearm! full review will be published very soonBy: Michael Fremer
The Supatrac Blackbird is the world's only tonearm with a Sideways Unipivot bearing (hence Supa—sideways Unipivot Arm). This has numerous theoretical advantages over a vertically positioned unipivot bearing, the basics of which are explained in this video. A more complete written review will be posted here shortly. This video shows you the arm and demonstrates its musical power reproducing Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On", a track from Gary... Read More
Comments: 31January 29th, 2024
‘Marquee Moon’ and The Great Mastering Debate Can good mastering be musically incorrect?By: Malachi Lui
Everyone reading this site has by now probably heard about Rhino High Fidelity’s controversial reissue of Television’s landmark 1977 debut Marquee Moon. This latest edition sounds good but nothing like the original, which raises the question: what's the difference between good and bad mastering? And who's responsible?
Read More Comments: 39January 25th, 2024
Hagerman Audio Labs Introduces a $249 Transimpedance "Head Amp" the Piccolo Zero MC headamp joins the voltage-based Piccolo in the Hagerman lineupBy: Tracking Angle
Piccolo Zero is a transimpedance headamp designed to operate low internal impedance MC cartridges in current mode (zero input impedance). This mode is desirable for its improved tracking ability resulting in lower distortion and well controlled sonic presentation. The Piccolo Zero offers four internal switch selected gain levels and plugs into any MM phono stage. It joins the voltage based Piccolo in the Hagerman line. Read More
Comments: 9January 25th, 2024
Los Lobos's "Kiko" Gets Its Best Vinyl Reissue RSD "Black Friday" release mastered by our Dave McNairBy: Michael Fremer
Is it a "conflict of interest" to review a record mastered by a Tracking Angle writer? I could care less. This is mastering engineer Dave McNair's second pass on Kiko, Los Lobos' best selling (other than the La Bamba soundtrack) and arguable best album. Though recorded analog and mixed to 2 inch 30IPS tape, It was originally released domestically on CD only in 1992 during vinyl's sunset fade. It got a digitally sourced European release that... Read More
Comments: 10January 22nd, 2024
The REL Acoustics S/812 Sub Bass Line Array The Next Dimension in BassBy: Ken Redmond
My relationship with subwoofers began in the late 70s while making my rounds at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, back then one of two summer Consumer Electronics Show high performance audio hotel sites. The other was the nearby Blackstone. The main show was at the giant McCormick Place Convention Center.I walked into the Janis Audio display room, where owner/designer John Marovskis had set up a demo of his new Janis W1 subwoofer and Interphase crossover/amp. I... Read More
Comments: 23January 19th, 2024
Moondog Comes Alive Ghost Train Orchestra and Kronos Quartet revive the startling music of the Viking of 6th AvenueBy: Fred Kaplan
Louis Hardin, who renamed himself Moondog, was one of the most unusual composers of the 20th century. Tall, bearded, and blind from a childhood accident involving fireworks, he spent much of the 1960s living on the streets of New York City, often standing ramrod straight at the corner of West 54th Street and 6th Avenue, dressed in square-patch clothing of his own making, his head cased in a Norse helmet (some dubbed him “the Viking of 6th Avenue”), playing his music,... Read More
Comments: 6January 19th, 2024
Green Day’s “Saviors” - A Textbook for the 2020s A return to form and their most mature recordBy: Dylan Peggin
Sub-genres aside, Green Day can be considered one of the elder statesmen of punk. The Bay Area punk rockers have been in the game for 35 years and are marginally responsible for bringing the DIY aesthetics of punk into the mainstream forefront. Albums like Dookie, Insomniac, and Nimrod established Green Day’s unique sound of power chords, melodic vocals, and fast tempos. Instead of the group growing with only its core audience, they crossed a musical threshold with... Read More
Comments: 28January 18th, 2024
Joni Mitchell's "Court and Spark Demos" Is A Catalog Essential Not a "Curiosity" is it more compelling than the actual release?By: Michael Fremer
Court and Spark, Joni Mitchell's best selling album, originally released 50 years ago yesterday (January 17th 1974) was preceded by a series of well-recorded by Henry Lewy demos that Rhino and the Joni Mitchell Archives say were "newly unearthed". The record was released on RSD Black Friday November 24th, 2023. Copies are easy to find on Discogs.A friend told me it's a "must have" so I ordered one. He was correct. Hearing these songs in... Read More
Comments: 9January 17th, 2024
I Admit It: I Didn't Know Who Keb' Mo' Was Until Now! he released his first album in 1994 and I thought I knew everythingBy: John French
Keb Mo was released in 1994. Good to Be in 2022. One of the frustrating parts of being me is that people who know me (guitarist and Twisted Sister founder) and my history in the music business (and my age—71) think that I must have heard and have an opinion on just about everything (music wise) that was ever released since the 1950’’s! It is even more frustrating when an artist, who seems to have had a long career, especially in a genre that I thought I really knew,... Read More
Comments: 20January 17th, 2024
"Change of the Century" is a Fun Listen! Why are People Afraid of Ornette? Bones Howe engineered sonicsBy: Michael Fremer
While Rhino's "High Fidelity" series lacks a clearly identifiable direction or purpose—it seems to meander around the catalog without regard to time, place or purpose—there's one consistent strategy: each two record release has a rock title and a jazz title. Credit Rhino with chance-taking guts this round. Marquee Moon isn't exactly mainstream rock (though the reissue gives it that sound), and Ornette Coleman's music scares a lot of... Read More
Comments: 23