Music Reviews: Vinyl

Boston, a city rooted in rock and roll lore, has served as home base for giants like Aerosmith, The Cars, The J. Geils Band, and of course the aptly named Boston. The Freight is one of the more noteworthy groups on the city’s growing up-and-coming artists roster. The foursome formed in 2020 has an ever increasing New England following and for two consecutive years was nominated for "Rock Act of the Year" by the New England Music Awards. The group has... Read More

The joke lede was going to be "This is one double 45 UHQR no one is going to complain about having to get up and turn over 3 extra times because once it starts, listeners are not going to be able, or want to sit down!" But that opener's dead because within a few seconds of where I started (side 3's "Jammin'") sitting down and listening became mandatory! More than a few still born Bob Marley & The Wailers reissues have been... Read More

Take a deep dive into what it takes to achieve superb piano sound on record, from the way an instrument is voiced to how it is recorded.  The great Italian virtuoso Maurizio Pollini set down this iconic set of Chopin’s Polonaises in 1976, and with this stellar reissue Emil Berliner Studios have once more set the bar at its highest level for bringing lifelike sound into your listening room.

It’s funny. When you have a large record collection, people always want to hear the obscure, professorial selections when dropping by for an impromptu listening party. And I’m into that for sure. But there has always been a part of my brain that thinks, “Let’s just crack a beer (or several) and listen to Fair Warning!” The problem, as many of you already know, is that Van Halen always sounded way better played over a crappy car stereo or blasting out of Radio Shack... Read More

Rhino Records' new Reserve series, sold direct from the Rhino online store are cut from original master tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in Oxnard, CA. Most are not in the sonic realm of the "High Fidelity" series but most musically surely are, including this one, which can be ordered now but drops this June 27th.They cost $31.98, which, when taking inflation into account, means these sell for... Read More

This is no ordinary record.  The Quartet for the End of Time is unlike anything else out there, in any genre, given a compelling performance by an ensemble led by one of the giants of classical music, Daniel Barenboim.  In its Original Source reissue, this becomes not only a riveting, and very moving, musical experience, but a sonic roller coaster that will reveal every virtue and flaw of your sound system.  It may not be an orchestral blockbuster, but this is the record to take to hi-fi shows and see whether what they’re selling cuts the mustard.  I also explain why this might be the record for those of you who are more reticent about exploring classical music.

When discussing music some Boomers are quick to pull the “music was better in the 1960s” card. It’s a clichéd and cringy statement, but the decade’s musical impact is undeniable. It’s astounding to imagine an audience that welcomed boundary-pushing innovations by artists that dominated the decade, though what they really did was draw from influences that date back centuries. The fact that those bodies of work transcend decades and generations to touch both new artists... Read More

Recording a big band album live to analog tape in the studio Frank Sinatra had Bill Putnam build for him when he started Reprise Records, then Western Recorders, now East/West, engineered by Steve Genewick--long time Al Schmitt associate (etc.)--and mixed to 1/2" tape at 30 IPS on an Ampex ATR-100 at The Village Studios and then lacquer cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from that tape two months later is no guarantee of great sound. Well, come on, unless... Read More

Deutsche Grammophon mines its archives for an extraordinary sequence of live performances from 1965 by one of its most revered artists, carefully restored and beautifully packaged.  This is Beethoven for the Ages…

Sustaining an ongoing 15-year professional career is a challenge for most modern bands. In recent years Ghost has succeeded to the highest degree. Their last album, Impera, met with critical acclaim and raised the group to arena-filling status. Due in part to the song trending on TikTok, “Mary on a Cross” became the Swedish group's first Platinum-certified American single.Their theatrical live shows became immortalized on film with the release of the Rite Here... Read More

Music review of the 2025 Craft Recordings reissue of the introspective Bill Evans Trio album Moon Beams with Paul Motian and Chuck Israels. Motian and the late Scott LaFaro were in the famous trio that recorded with Riverside just before Moon Beams was recorded.

As part of their OJC Series, this brand new Craft Recordings reissue of Moon Beams is pressed at RTI on 180-gram vinyl with all-analog mastering from the original tapes by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio.  

Late '60s British rock bands had to fit themselves into a specific mold, whether it was a psychedelic uniform of flared pants and satin shirts, or the presence of a guitar god and wailing vocalist. In the case of Jethro Tull, when audiences saw a scruffy Ian Anderson wearing an overcoat, standing on one leg, face twisted into possessed expressions, blowing excitedly into a flute, eccentricity worked in the band's favor . Jethro Tull's fit into the scene... Read More

Before they were “first band in space,” Pink Floyd performed to the ghosts of thousands. From the accidental destruction of footage to a glimpse at the creation of one of the most iconic albums in rock-and-roll history, all the way down to one very controversial aspect ratio crop, it’s been a long road to 2025’s Pink Floyd at Pompeii. Of course a show played at ancient Roman ruins would have this mythos surrounding it!The ashes have been brushed off this storied... Read More

Ever arrive at a party in progress where everyone knows everyone and you know no one? Leslie Mandoki's A Memory of Our Future an 80 minute double album arrived in a big box just before Munich High End 2024 along with multiple copies of a sumptuously produced promo booklet and an even bigger bound book touting the Mandoki Soulmates, drummer/producer Leslie Mandoki's all-star band that's been playing together in one form or another for thirty years. Ever... Read More

Habana, the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove's previous release with his hard bop- Afro-Cuban group Crisol (crucible/melting pot) won a 1998 GRAMMY for Best Latin Jazz Performance. Somehow this follow-up recorded April, 1998 was never released, but it's not because there's something wrong with it or it's disappointing in any way, or it doesn't sound good or whatever. The album was finally released October 18th, 2024 a few days after what would have... Read More