A New York Times online story published today written by Ben Sisario headlined "The Wizard of Vinyl Is In Kansas" presents to the general public the Chad kassem most Tracking Angle readers know if just through buying the records, CDs, SACDs and tapes he produces, presses and sells on the Acoustic Sounds website, though some have met Chad at hi-fi shows or at one of his Blues at the Crossroads concert extravaganzas.Pictured in the photo are (L-R): Chad... Read More

Lightnin’ Hopkins was many things — a hauntingly personal guitarist, a casually riveting storyteller, and as the country blues tradition goes, a figure of resounding influence. Every scrape of a string, every craggy vocalization, every ribald bon mot, seemed to spring from the Texas soil itself. To put it plainly, the bluesman was real — about as real as it gets.From the ‘40s until his 1982 death, Hopkins weathered his share of peaks and valleys, as tastes ebbed and... Read More

High Moon Records is a well-regarded boutique reissue record label with a catalog comprised of essential releases from music visionaries, some of whom perhaps you've probably never heard of. All feature deluxe packaging, extensive liner notes by authoritative writers, stunning artwork with never-before-seen archival photos, and sparkling re-mastered audio often with rare bonus tracks.

Musicologist, conductor and Paris National Conservatory alumnus Jean-Marc Harari's The French Recording Company (Les Discophiles Francais) issued a previously unreleased Marcelle Meyer Debussy recording back in 2019 that I reported on and reviewed on my previous website. The review caused a stir because the double LP all-analog set, limited to 200 copies was costly, though less expensive than originals of other Meyer records and buyers at the time expressed no... Read More

If you missed the Florida International AUDIO EXPO (Feb. 21st-23) this video takes you there. Sorry it's taken me a week to get this video edited and ready for YouTube viewing. Many new products were introduced and many familiar ones were on display as well. A new, larger venue—The Sheraton Tampa Brandon made for a much bigger and better show. Attendance was strong throughout and everyone involved seemed happy with the results. According to show organizers... Read More

It was just a few short weeks ago that our own Mark Ward reviewed the upcoming DG Original Source reissue of Karl Bohm’s 1971 outing of W.A. Mozart’s Requiem. If you would like a primer on the work, and also on separating your understanding of Mozart from the entertaining, but fictionalized tale presented in the film Amadeus, I would highly recommend reading Mark’s article here.The core repertoire of the classical cannon is rich with different recordings and... Read More

Commitment, they say, is just the b-side of having limited options. Otherwise, why would you find the stylish members of Japan toiling away under a hail of Punk spit or opening for Blue Oyster Cult? Then there was Kate Bush making her musical bones around southeast London with covers of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Come Together.” Then again it may be harder perhaps, to think of Talk Talk’s Mark Hollis shlepping guitars in and out of pubs while holding down his duties as... Read More

There wasn’t a better time than the early 2000s for a band to break through like The Donnas. After honing their craft on their first four albums on the independent punk label Lookout Records, the big leagues at Atlantic Records signed the female quartet. Between the release of the Spend The Night album, “Take It Off” becoming their signature track, and placements in film and video game soundtracks, they managed to break into the mainstream, brandishing a hard rock... Read More

The Electric Recording Company just announced it will deliver in April 450 copies of The Grateful Dead's triple LP Europe '72 as a limited to 450 copy release.Not everyone loves what ERC does with rock recordings, which is give buyers a "straight off the tape" document with no equalization or compression applied, but enough do so these sell out quickly. That's why we're putting this up post haste! Cost: £650From the ERC website blurb: ... Read More

(Press release) Blue Note Records has announced an April 11 release of On View At The Five Spot Café: The Complete Masters, a special Tone Poet Vinyl Edition of guitarist Kenny Burrell’s sublime 1959 hard bop summit with drummer Art Blakey. The expanded 3-LP, 2-CD, and digital sets, which can be pre-ordered now on the Blue Note Store, present the complete recorded performances for the first time in any format including six previously unissued tracks. Listen to “The... Read More

How about starting a cartridge review with comments from YouTubers who have listened to it? Well, sort of. Last December I posted a video of the $20,000 Black Diamond DLC mounted on the Ortofon AS-309R arm ($3469), which was mounted on the OMA K3 prototype direct drive turntable ($360,000) driving the $70,000 CH Precision P10 phono preamplifier.Yes, it’s an outrageously costly “front end” chain with a $20,000 first link. Usually, these kinds of stunt videos attract... Read More

Several years ago, I described Sullivan Fortner’s piano style as “Erroll Garner channeled through Chico Marx.” Since then, his range has widened, his virtuosity deepened, his wit sharpened.On the opening (and title) track of his new trio album, Southern Nights, he begins with breezy strums of the strings inside the piano, follows with some syncopated sparkles on the keyboard, then angles into the song (written by his fellow New Orleansian Allen Toussaint) with a... Read More

Reliable Corporation's UberLight® Flex became a big hit in the audiophile world a few years ago. It's among the best ways to illuminate a turntable or any piece of audio gear. They are ubiquitous at audio shows worldwide. Reliable just introduced the new Frame UberLight® that's a radical departure and a major esthetic and functional upgrade from the Flex. The sophisticated looking Frame offers more than 100 lighting combinations with six brightness... Read More

Clearaudio's Unity tonearm, originally developed for the Master Jubilee turntable that celebrated the company's 45th analog manufacturing anniversary is now available in either black or silver finish as a "stand-alone" product for use with Clearaudio and other turntable brands. Price is $20,000. Clearaudio Universal tonearm owners receive 100% trade up allowance when upgrading to the Unity.The Unity combines classic Clearaudio features such as... Read More

A musical and sonic spectacular, k.d. lang's free-flowing, daring explorations of unrequited love/lust and liberation sound today as daringly personal, sometimes painful and always fresh as they did in 1992 when Ingénue was originally released to enthusiastic reviews, commercial success and multiple Grammy nominations and the well-deserved award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Freed from her "country roots" on earlier records, Ingénue was a mix... Read More

The Flat.Duo's outstanding warped record flattening ability was the highlight of the previous Flat.Duo video. The noise added to two records I "relaxed" using the Flat.Duo's "Relax" mode's standard settings were the lowlights. Naturally, the manufacturer in Germany and the importer were disturbed by the results and who could blame them? Both said that customers (including some industry insiders I know) had no such experience and they... Read More

Batch #7 of the Original Source Series of AAA vinyl reissues concludes with one of the gems of the 70s DG catalogue in a stunning sonic refresh, courtesy of Emil Berliner Studios, mastered and cut directly from multiple 8-track master tapes.  Don’t miss this one - even if you do not normally buy classical.