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Last week, a post on the Facebook group Streaming Music Matters generated quite a bit of interest and a long thread of responses. The post header read thusly: "Is this what Dan Fans have been waiting for?" The subject was the newly Bernie Grundman-remastered, 24-bit/192 kHz high-resolution files for Steely Dan's Aja that are now... Read More »

  Iconic Artists Group is a relatively new venture spearheaded by music industry heavy-hitter Irving Azoff; in what has become the new normal for many recording artists, Linda Ronstadt sold her music catalog to Iconic in 2021. Irv Azoff early on was instrumental in the career of Ronstadt, and was very close to not only... Read More »

Power to Drive Virtually Any Loudspeaker with Incredible Performance at a Ridiculously Low Price   I have a fairly constant presence on social media, particularly Facebook, and I belong to a number of audio-related groups there. So when I saw a post in one of them announcing the new Vera-Fi Audio Vera-Link Bluetooth Wireless Stereo... Read More »

Craft Recordings has just released Nanci Griffith: Working In Corners, a new box set which anthologizes the country-folk icon's first four, long-out-of-print catalog albums. As a companion to the box set, Rounder Records (a Craft imprint) has announced More Than A Whisper: Celebrating The Music Of Nanci Griffith, a tribute album that features performances from... Read More »

Rhino Entertainment has announced an enhanced and expanded edition of alternative darlings The Replacements' fourth studio album and major label debut, 1985's Tim, which was produced by Tommy Erdelyi, aka Tommy Ramone. Which is now being made available as a 4-CD, 1-LP box set, Tim: Let It Bleed Edition. The new box highlights new remixes... Read More »

Thelonious Monk's 1957 classic Brilliant Corners marks the fifth release in Craft Recordings' Small Batch LP series. The Small Batch series utilizes a one-step lacquer process (versus the standard three-step process) that allows for a significantly improved level of musical detail, clarity, and dynamics, while greatly reducing surface and groove noise that might otherwise be... Read More »

July 3, 1973 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London was an important date in David Bowie's musical arc; it was the site of the final show of his Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars world tour. Fans were delighted towards the end of the show, when Bowie announced that Jeff Beck would join the... Read More »

Shore Fire Media has announced the next two titles in the Rhino High Fidelity Premium Vinyl Series, and as with the first offering, I'm fairly surprised by the selections. Which are Van Morrison's fourth studio album, His Band and the Street Choir (1970, Warner Brothers), and Jaco Pastorius' sophomore solo effort, Word of Mouth (1981,... Read More »

I found out I'd be receiving the Gustard X26 Pro DAC and C18 Oven Controlled Constant Temperature Clock (OXCO) units for evaluation in late Spring 2022. But just after receiving the notification email, I realized that I'd need a BNC-type digital cable to connect the C18 Clock to the X26 Pro DAC—and I definitely didn't... Read More »

Rhino Entertainment is releasing Black Sabbath Hand of Doom 1970 - 1978, which is an eight LP, picture disc boxed set that includes all eight Black Sabbath studio albums that feature the band's original and classic lineup. Black Sabbath's original incarnation included Ozzy Osbourne on vocals, Tony Iommi on guitars, Geezer Butler on bass, and... Read More »

Jazz Dispensary is Craft Recordings' specialty label that unearths rarities from the multitude of riches found in Concord Music's jazz, funk, soul, and fusion recordings from the Prestige, Fantasy, Contemporary, and Milestone imprints from their mid-60s through the mid-70s catalogs. While many of those releases arrive in the form of compilations of classic grooves from... Read More »

  Craft Recordings continues their exciting Original Jazz Classics reissue series with the next title in the second batch of releases, pianist Mal Waldron's 1957 sextet date, Mal/2. I have to admit that as jazzed (literally!) as I have been over the announced titles so far in the OJC reboot, I was somewhat surprised by... Read More »

I came of age in the mid-seventies, when owning a quadraphonic sound system was being marketed as the ne plus ultra of the HiFi audio experience. I'll never forget the first time I walked into a HiFi dealer who happened to have a quad system set up and running that actually worked; hearing the immersive... Read More »

I grew up about thirty minutes outside of Athens, Georgia, where I was a college student in the late 70s. And was very much in touch with Athens' burgeoning music scene, which included bands like the B-52's, Pylon, and Love Tractor. At the time of R.E.M.'s appearance on the scene, when "Radio Free Europe" was... Read More »

Craft Recordings is continuing their much anticipated Original Jazz Classics imprint reboot with the second batch of releases in the series, starting with the Bill Evans Trio's classic Waltz For Debby. This album unfortunately closed the books on Evans' first great trio; the legendary Village Vanguard live sessions that took place on June 25, 1961... Read More »

My original review for Barbra Streisand Live at the Bon Soir chronicled Impex Records' excellent SACD release and can be read HERE. As extraordinarily good as the SACD was (and is!), the long-awaited 2-LP, HQ-180 set has finally arrived, and it's definitely been worth the wait. The LP release was delayed by a meticulous approval... Read More »

At the point in 1978 when I bought my first real stereo setup, I was browsing about Stereo Village in Buckhead (a northern Atlanta suburb), when I noticed a display for a handful of classical LPs from a label I'd never heard of, Telarc. Telarc was based in Cleveland, Ohio, and the display featured their... Read More »

Mobile Fidelity set off quite a fire storm a year ago when it suddenly became public knowledge that they'd been using a DSD step in many of their LP reissues—which were touted by the label as being all-analog throughout the remastering chain. MFSL LPs were prized by audiophiles, collectors, and music lovers alike, and were... Read More »

Shore Fire Media has just announced the first two titles from a new LP reissue program, the Rhino High Fidelity Premium Vinyl Series. Rhino High Fidelity's planned release schedule will be quarterly throughout the year; the inaugural release features two outstanding titles, the eponymous debut album from The Cars, The Cars (1978, Elektra Records), and... Read More »