December 27th, 2023
Tommy Court's Happy Dragon Band Finds New Audience Through ORG Music The Rare Private Press Album Was Remastered and Reissued For Record Store Day By: Evan TothDo you find the idea of an unknown, songwriting multi-instrumentalist who was at one time a compelling artist yet who never truly found their lane appealing? If you answered in the affirmative, then it won’t require much arm twisting to have you explore ORG Music’s recent reissue of Tommy Court’s self-titled - one and only album - The Happy Dragon Band. The rare 1978 private pressing (only 200 albums were originally issued) has been reissued on vinyl for Record Store... Read More
Comments: 0December 26th, 2023
Win This Rega Planar 3 50th Anniversary Edition! no purchases necessary, but one obligation By: Tracking AngleWin the Rega Planar 3 50th Anniversary Edition recently reviewed on this website! According to importer Sound Organization, this is the last one made available to them, though there may be one or two lurking at dealers. Tracking Angle is giving it away to a lucky reader, one string attached. Read on!Here are the contest rules:1) you must join our mailing list to enter the contest. It's free and easy to do—just click on the Mailing List Signup" rectangle at... Read More
Comments: 42December 25th, 2023
Visit "Boutique" Onyx Record Press In Arcadia, CA watch a press being "fired up" and pressing the morning's first record By: Michael FremerNote: This is a revised video necessitated because proprietary hardware and software was inadvertently presented. Both have now been either blurred or edited out.At the beginning of December while in Los Angeles to attend the 30th anniversary Los Angeles and Orange County Audiophile Society GALA, where every year I "roast" the Founder's Award winner (this year it was AudioQuest's Bill Low), I received an invitation from a publicist to visit Gil... Read More
Comments: 8December 22nd, 2023
Bill Evans' Sunday at the Village Vanguard Gets a New Vinyl Shine Another great-sounding (but not the best-sounding) Evans LP from Craft By: Fred KaplanThis past summer, I raved in this space about Craft Recordings’ vinyl reissue of the Bill Evans trio’s 1961 classic Waltz for Debby, hailing it as the best-sounding of all the album’s many pressings. Now Craft has released an LP of the companion recording, Sunday at the Village Vanguard, as, once again, part of the label's Original Jazz Classics series. It too is a great album, and the Craft reissue is very much worth getting; but this time around, comparisons... Read More
Comments: 6December 21st, 2023
Finally, the Full "Full House"—Wes M. With Miles D.'s Rhythm Section + J. Griffin—Released on 3 LPs Riverside original and OJC reissues left out much of the performance By: Michael FremerThe Miles Davis Sextet was in San Francisco and had off the night of June 25th, 1962. Wes Montgomery was in town and with the rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb, plus tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, played to a full house at Tsubo in Berkeley, California.The great recording engineer Wally Heider set up his gear in a storeroom behind the club, which, thanks to newspaper articles and word-of-mouth, overflowed with fans anxious to witness the... Read More
Comments: 34December 21st, 2023
The ARChive of Contemporary Music Seeks Donors and a New Home Director and Co-Founder B. George Discusses Efforts to Secure a Future For the Archives Three Million Records By: Evan TothIt’s all fine and good to engage in passionate discourse about the importance of vinyl records and how best to preserve that believed golden format of recorded audio. But, that noble and idyllic vision has a common sense snag: what do you do with all that stuff? Recall the times you’ve uncomfortably crouched before a cardboard box of records at a garage sale, think about the moldy Reader’s Digest box sets you’ve avoided at your favorite charity shop. For just a... Read More
Comments: 3December 19th, 2023
"Jacques Tati Swing!" Compilation Marks 70 Years Since Monsieur Hulot's Cinema Debut A much-needed double vinyl collection of music from Tati's iconic films By: Jonti Davies
The first time I saw a Jacques Tati film, an arthouse cinema showing of 1949's Jour de fête back in the early 2000s, I had the gut feeling that something was wrong. This was the 1995 restoration with its slightly washed-out colors, but that wasn’t it. No, it was how the film sounded...
Read More Comments: 6December 19th, 2023
Fagen, Grundman, Schnee, Kassem and Kaplan Discuss Steely Dan's "Aja" UHQR a "behind the scenes" look at the classic album's creation and latest (and best) reissue By: Tracking AngleEnjoy a behind-the-scenes "look" at the creation of Steely Dan's classic Aja album with Donald Fagen and award winning recording engineer Bill Schnee and mastering engineer great Bernie Grundman in conversation with Tracking Angle's Fred Kaplan and Analogue Productions' own Chad Kassem. Read More
Comments: 13December 18th, 2023
Reviewing the Clearaudio Performance DC AiR Turntable with Tracer Tonearm Including the Professional Power 12V Linear Power Supply Upgrade By: Dean CacioppoDecember 18th, 2023
Still Time to Order and Enjoy Nick Lowe's Timeless Christmas Record "A seasonal selection for all the family" By: Michael FremerFirst released in 2013 on CD and limited edition 45rpm "bundle" (with multiple festive goodies), Quality Street has been reissued in 2023 on festive red vinyl and includes a bonus 45rpm single ("Let It Snow"/"Winter Wonderland") with Lowe backed by Los Straightjackets. This one's limited too, to 1000 copies, 300 copies of which include a Nick Lowe 526 piece jigsaw puzzle box set. Oops! the limited edition red vinyl with goodies is... Read More
Comments: 10December 18th, 2023
Angela/Gilbert Yeung C312 Line Preamplifier A sonically rewarding preamp with a few creative new twists. By: Dave McNair
Dave McNair reviews a uniquely enjoyable preamplifier that pushes the envelope on the usage of italized and bold in a HiFi review.
Read More Comments: 17December 16th, 2023
"A Dave Brubeck Christmas" Reissued at 45 RPM Brubeck's Christmas Album Combats Crass Holiday Commercialization By: Evan TothIt’s that time of the year again. The holidays take so long to arrive and then disappear far too quickly. Most music lovers have a complicated relationship with the sounds of the season. While some folks can’t wait for their local radio stations to switch over to an all holiday music format, others - myself included - find ourselves thoroughly exhausted by those relentless playlists come December 26th. It’s not that there’s a problem with holiday music because there... Read More
Comments: 19December 16th, 2023
Christmas Is Real Train Time Too! a rare 1996 steam ride on New Jersey Transit Commuter lines By: Michael FremerModel trains are a Christmas tradition. But a real steam train traveling on the New Jersey Transit commuter line at almost 80 MPH is a rare and amazing thing not likely to be repeated but it did happen back in the fall of 1996 and I was lucky enough to take the trip from Hoboken to Port Jervis with my late father in law who worked on the railroads as a kid during the Depression. Half way through the ride to Port Jervis soot clogged the camcorder microphone so for this... Read More
Comments: 1December 16th, 2023
“The Solo Works of Syd Barrett” Brings Together the Crazy Diamond’s Back Catalog Pink Floyd’s ex-frontman is the focus of Third Man’s latest vault package By: Dylan PegginWithin the world of true artists, Syd Barrett was a national treasure. His inventive guitar work and whimsical wordplay elevated Pink Floyd’s direction away from their embryonic Stones-esque R&B roots. The sole Floyd album under Barrett’s leadership, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, resides in good company with Sgt. Pepper and others for being one of the defining albums of the Summer of Love. Non-album singles like “Arnold Layne” and “See Emily Play” demonstrated... Read More
Comments: 2December 14th, 2023
Rega’s 50th Brings Forth a 50th Anniversary Planar 3 Limited by time not sales By: Michael FremerThe latest wrinkle in the 50 year Rega “vibration measuring machine” saga is a special edition of the “bread and butter” Planar 3. It’s no surprise that the cover photo of Rega’s 2016 hardcover book “A Vibration Measuring Machine” features a P3. It's the model that gets you all Rega’s core design concepts well-executed at an affordable $1595 price including a top of the moving magnet line Exact cartridge.For its 50th, Rega offers the Planar 3 50th Anniversary... Read More
Comments: 4