LATEST ADDITIONS

Candid Records was a short-lived (1961-63) but respected label out of New York City owned by producer, arranger, and musician Archie Bleyer, and it was helmed by legendary jazz critic Nat Hentoff. A recent spate of Candid reissue LPs have come to our attention, so check out Mark Smotroff’s combo Short Cuts review of three of them — newly cut LPs of vintage albums from underappreciated jazz vocalist Nancy Harrow, noted jazz pianist Jaki Byard, and legendary bluesman Memphis Slim — to see if you need to add any or all of them to your “must get” list. . .

It’s a hunka hunka heap of great burning Elvis tracks a-coming on wax! Or, to be more specific, RCA/Legacy is set to release Elvis Presley’s Sunset Boulevard as a 2LP set on August 1, 2025, a collection that will feature a number of rarities that’s also intended to put a spotlight on Elvis’ oft-overlooked 1970s recorded output. Read on to see all that comprises Sunset Boulevard on vinyl. . .

In Part 6 of her High End Munich 2025 show report, Julie Mullins gives us the lowdown on the new Chord Electronics Ultima Phonostage phono preamp, which was seen amplifying the signal from a Bauer Audio dps 3 turntable fitted with an Ortofon MC Cadenza cartridge. . .

In Part 5 of her Munich 2025 show report, Julie Mullins gets a firsthand explanation for why Polish manufacturer Unitra wholly embrace direct-drive turntables, and sees/hears one of their latest tables in action to illustrate the point. . .