April 2nd, 2025
Rhino Provides The Ultimate Sonic Experiences for Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper The newest High Fidelity series titles honor the hard-rocking year of 1971 By: Dylan PegginToday, the audiophile market is a goldmine for vinyl consumers. Whether it's Analogue Productions’ commemoration of Atlantic Records’ 75th anniversary or WMG’s Because Sound Matters venture, the pressings these and other companies are releasing have, for the most part, set a new sonic standard for timeless albums— in some cases outdoing originals. Reissue specialist Rhino Records, which it could be argued started the vinyl reissue ball rolling in the late... Read More
Comments: 0March 30th, 2025
Jerome Sabbagh's Analog Tone Factory Label Produces and Releases First "Non-Jerome" Record Saxophonist Chris Cheeks' "Keepers of the Eastern Door" gets full, ATF live to 2 track analog treatment By: Michael FremerLike Sabbagh's award winning Heart, Keepers of the Eastern Door was recorded live to 2-track 1/2 inch tape at 30 ips by James Farber at Power Station C, to the label's custom Ampex 351, and mastered and cut all analog by Bernie Grundman. Like Vintage and Heart, this one is being pressed at Gotta Groove on 180g vinyl. In an email, Sabbagh told me he's been experimenting with 140g vs 180g and 1-step versus "regular" 3-step pressings. He prefers... Read More
Comments: 14March 28th, 2025
Celestial Sounds - Neil Ardley's Seminal 1979 "Harmony of the Spheres" Is Given New Life Analogue October Records' Stunning Reissue Reviewed - Plus an Interview with Label Founder, Craig Crane By: Mark Ward
One of the most important - and least known - artifacts of 1970s jazz/rock fusion, Neil Ardley's Harmony of the Spheres, arrives in an exceptional AAA limited edition reissue from fledgling label Analogue October Records in the UK. I delve into the background and history of this groundbreaking record, assess the new reissue, and talk in detail with label founder Craig Crane about how this project came together, and his future plans for this label - one to watch.
Read More Comments: 7March 27th, 2025
ERC Does Coltrane's "Lush Life" true mono cut using mono cutter head, cut "master tape to lathe" By: Tracking AngleThe Electric Recording Company announced today the "true mono" reissue of John Coltrane's Lush Life cut "tape to lathe" fitted with a mono cutter head. It's how they roll.From the ERC press release:John Coltrane’s “Lush Life”, originally released in 1961 by Prestige Records, is a remarkable snapshot of a transitional moment in the saxophonist’s career. Released over a year after Coltrane had signed to Impulse! Records and compiled from... Read More
Comments: 6March 25th, 2025
Nagra Launches "Compact Phono" Phono Preamplifier now available in the U.S. for $4950 By: Tracking AngleNagra today announced the release of a new "Compact Phono" phono preamplifier now available in The United States for $4950. Here's the Word Doc that somehow didn't make it into our "in-box":Romanel, Switzerland – 25th March 2025 —Perpetuating a long legacy of excellence in phono stages since the Nagra PL-P, the new Nagra Compact Phono offers the greater part of its predecessors’ quality and performance in a compact and elegant housing.... Read More
Comments: 11March 24th, 2025
Catherine Vericolli Resurrects the Funk: Org Music, Westbound Records, and the Pursuit of Perfecting the Imperfect The Archivist Provides an Inside Look at the Restoration Process Behind Org Music’s Reissues By: Evan TothTeamwork - as they say - makes the dream work. Over the last several years, Org Music has been quietly amassing a catalog of well-produced reissues and original recordings in all genres. On the reissue front, however, the label has reached its goals by employing a select group of audio specialists all working toward the same goal: to find forgotten music deserving of a second chance to reach an audience, and to approach its restoration with straightforward respect and... Read More
Comments: 9March 23rd, 2025
Resonance's Archival Mingus, Hubbard, & Dorham: This Record Store Day, Go For… Well, The Records WHEN IT COMES TO THIS SLATE OF ARCHIVAL JAZZ RELEASES, THE VINYL BEATS THE CD EVERY TIME By: Morgan EnosHere are my reviews of three new Resonance Records offerings: Charles Mingus’s In Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts, Kenny Dorham’s Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live from the Blue Morocco, and Freddie Hubbard’s On Fire: Live from the Blue Morocco. All three are due out on Record Store Day, April 12; you can pre-order them now.It’s not Charles’ Mingus’s final set of performances, but it’s close. On June 2 and 3, 1977, the Angry Man of Jazz was nearing the end of the... Read More
Comments: 8March 20th, 2025
Deutsche Grammophon Announces a Treasure Trove of Releases in Batch #8 of the Original Source Vinyl Reissue Series Brilliance, Virtuosity and Eclecticism Rule the Day in This Outstanding Selection of Titles, all mastered and cut AAA directly from 4 and 8-track masters By: Mark Ward
This latest batch of Original Source releases shows that Deutsche Grammophon has been listening to collectors of this series who have been clamoring for more chamber and instrumental music. Here we have two such peaks of the 70s catalogue in superb performances, plus two blockbuster orchestral releases that will seriously put your system through its paces. All in all it’s a list of releases I am salivating over - and you should be too!
Read More Comments: 56March 19th, 2025
The Lost Recordings Unveils Alicia de Larrocha’s Studio Recordings, Berlin 1968 & 1970 Released For First Time! (Based on her Vox/Turnabout and London releases, i put down the $) By: Michael FremerRecorded in stereo at the Saal Studio 3, RBB, Berlin, The Lost Recordings claims "These recordings were captured in the iconic Studio 3 of the RBB in Berlin, the first recording hall in music history to feature adjustable acoustics. These state-of-the-art settings enabled extraordinary recordings, preserving every nuance of her sound and intonations with remarkable fidelity."Yes, these tapes were digitized, "restored" and cut by Kevin Gray.... Read More
Comments: 5March 18th, 2025
Ward & Johnson Talk Ravel—Prelude to Upcoming Ozawa Ravel Box Set prepping for DGG OSS Ozawa Ravel Box set By: Tracking AngleTracking Angle contributors Michael Johnson and Mark Ward sit down to discuss the music of French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) in anticipation of the upcoming DG Original Source box set release of the composer’s Complete Orchestral Works performed by Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Read More
Comments: 22March 17th, 2025
Blue Note Review Volume 3....Truly, Madly, DeepLee Morgan Limited edition box set By: Joseph W. WashekThe third volume of the Blue Note Review, limited to 2,000 copies and entitled Truly Madly DeepLee Morgan is devoted to the music of the trumpeter Lee Morgan. Included in the box set is a Tone Poet style reissue of his 1967 recording, Sonic Boom, a reissue of a 45 RPM single of two tunes from his Charisma album, here 3 LP sides, also on a CD, of contemporary, artists playing Morgan compositions or music associated with him and a "never before released... Read More
Comments: 10March 16th, 2025
A Video Filled with Binaural Room Recordings From FLAX 2025 has anyone ever before tried this? By: Michael FremerI don't believe anyone has ever before done this! Using the Sonic Presence binaural microphone system—it creates a "dummy head" with a microphone adjacent to each ear—I recorded the room sounds at the Florida International Audio Expo. You will experience a remarkably close facsimile of what I and other attendees heard at the show in each of the rooms.You must wear headphones to appreciate the binaural effect and to fully hear the tonal balance. The... Read More
Comments: 8March 15th, 2025
Florida International Audio Expo Days 2 and 3 Video Coverage at 44 minutes put on headphones and "listen" to the room By: Michael FremerGet your headphones ready because at around 44 minutes into the video embedded below, there's a binaural recording using Sonic Presence "on the ear" microphones, in the Vienna Acoustics, Java Hifi, Esoteric Playback Distribution room in which I had them play a 96/24 file I brought of the Classic Records special 78rpm pressing of part of Reiner/CSO "Pictures at an Exhibition". You'll really get to hear the room sound and why I thought it... Read More
Comments: 5March 14th, 2025
Two Unusual Ebay Auctions one's a selection of Beatles 78rpm singles By: Tracking AngleWhen was the last time you saw an offer for a collection of early-1960s Beatles Parlophone 78rpm singles? Every so often one or two appears (including cracked unplayable ones that still fetch decent dollars) but this auction is for thirteen of them!The advents of the long-playing 33rpm phonograph record (1948), the 45rpm single (1949), and the stereo LP (1957) did not immediately end 78rpm production. Even by 1952 78s still accounted for slightly more than half the... Read More
Comments: 4March 14th, 2025
"Art Pepper An Afternoon In Norway The Kongsberg Concert", Previously Unissued 1980 Set ARRIVES AS LIMITED TWO-LP SET FROM ELEMENTAL MUSIC ON MAY 9 By: Tracking Angle(Press Release): Art Pepper An Afternoon in Norway: The Kongsberg Concert, a blazing, previously unreleased live recording by the great alto saxophonist captured at the titular 1980 festival in Norway, will be issued LP on May 9 by Elemental Music.Co-produced by Zev Feldman, the award-winning “Jazz Detective,” and Elemental partner Jordi Soley, the hard-hitting 1980 quartet date features Pepper, then in the middle of a late-career renaissance, backed sympathetically... Read More
Comments: 7March 14th, 2025
David Murray Impulse! Records Debut Announced For April 25th Release PRESENTED BY THE BIRDSONG PROJECT, 'BIRDLY SERENADE" INCLUDES A COLLECTION OF EIGHT ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS By: Tracking AngleMARCH 14, 2025 — Today, the fantastically prolific and endlessly ambitious Berkeley-born jazz star David Murray announces his new album. Nearly five decades into his storied career in jazz and improvised music, the saxophonist, bass clarinetist, composer and bandleader is making his Impulse! Records debut with Birdly Serenade, a collection of new compositions inspired by the original improvisors: birds. If the outdoorsy inspiration is new for the veteran player, the... Read More
Comments: 0March 14th, 2025
Black Sabbath "Paranoid" and Alice Cooper's "Love it To Death" Next Two Rhino High Fidelity Reissues clearly the harder rock stuff works well for Rhino High Fidelity By: Tracking Angle(Press Release): March 14, 2025 - Los Angeles, CA) Rhino High Fidelity (Rhino Hi-Fi) ignites its series of acclaimed limited-edition, high-end vinyl reissues by recharging two essential hard rock epics. New Rhino Hi-Fi versions of Black Sabbath’s massively influential sophomore LP, Paranoid, and Alice Cooper’s seminal third full-length offering, Love It To Death, arrive today, exclusively at Rhino.com and internationally at select WMG stores. Both are available as 1LP... Read More
Comments: 8March 12th, 2025
Grateful Dead "Enjoying the Ride" Limited Edition 60 CD Boxed Set Announced Today Available Exclusively From Dead.net On May 30 ( "The Music Never Stopped" 3 CD, 6 LP set also announced) By: Tracking Angle(Press release): Enjoying The Ride Limited Edition 60-CD Boxed Set Celebrates The Grateful Dead’s 60th Anniversary With Unreleased Performances From 20 Legendary Venues Available Exclusively From Dead.net On May 30. The Music Never Stopped Available From Rhino On 3-CDs And 6-LPs Pre-order Here“Scarlet Begonias,” “Touch Of Grey,” and “Fire On The Mountain” Live At The Greek Theatre Available Today DigitallyListen Now(March 12, 2025 - Los Angeles, CA) The Grateful Dead... Read More
Comments: 1March 8th, 2025
How Jean-Marc Harari Found the Stereo Tape Containing All Three Legendary Performances recounted in this video and then at the end you get to hear a bit of it By: Michael FremerA highly prized and rare 1957 recording featuring violinist Michèle Auclair and pianist Jacqueline Robin-Bonneau performing Debussy and Ravel Sonatas for violin and piano released in mono only on a 10" disc is joined on this new The French Record Company release by a previously unreleased performance of a Roussel sonata for violin and orchestra recorded during the same 1957 recording session. What's more, during his research for the release, the label's... Read More
Comments: 9