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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
On Almost Blue   Elvis Costello Explores His Inner Country Self
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 02, 2015  |  5 comments
No doubt Elvis Costello knew he was no George Jones or Merle Haggard when, in the spring of 1981 he stepped before the microphone in CBS's Studio A in Nashville under the direction of veteran producer Billy Sherill (who passed away this past August), but he wanted to record an album of country covers in Nashville and following the cleansing craziness of the Trust sessions, this probably seemed like the right time.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Trust  Gets a Detail Wringing By Mobile Fidelity
 |  Dec 02, 2015  |  8 comments
At the top of the Costello album heap (not there alone, though), Trust issued in 1981 is Elvis Costello peaking in anger and disillusionment and coupling his discontent to wiry melodic constructions riding atop tautly tensioned rhythms. The album title is obviously ironic.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Samantha Crain's Hardscrapple Tales Mesmerize
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 12, 2015  |  13 comments
The golden gatefold cover art of Samantha Crain's Under Branch & Thorn & Tree makes clear that this is not a collection of "good times" tunes, but one is still left unprepared for the relentlessly bleak stories of betrayal, despair and desolation Crain delivers in an often pain-wracked voice that's somehow wrapped in a soothing, mesmerizing balm.

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Ringo Starr's No. 0000001 Copy of "The Beatles" On the Auction Block
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 10, 2015  |  16 comments
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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Stealers Wheel's Eponymous Debut Still Provides Dark Pleasures
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 03, 2015  |  7 comments
Gerry Rafferty has long been under-appreciated. Oh, sure, "Stuck in the Middle" was an unlikely hit when first released by A&M in 1972 and later found its way into Quentin Tarrantino's "Reservoir Dogs" where the bouncy, anthemic, Dylanesque record company exec knock reached a new audience.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
"Afternoon in Paris" A Musical and Sonic Delight
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 03, 2015  |  6 comments
If you're looking for a good place to delve into the Sam Records reissue catalog beyond the obvious Chet Baker entry point, try this record featuring pianist John Lewis originally issued by Disques Versailles (MEDX 12005) in 1956.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Mo-Fi's "Kind Of Blue": Kind of Blah? (Updated 10/28/15)
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 20, 2015  |  77 comments
Donald Rumsfeld once famously said "You go to war with the army you have not the army you want". While reissuing Miles Davis' iconic Kind of Blue is hardly as consequential as invading a country, in context of our little musical and sonic world it probably is.

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Vanessa Fernandez Groove Note Sophomore Effort Coming Spring 2016
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 12, 2015  |  13 comments
Vanessa Fernandez’s first Groove Note release was a terrific record musically and sonically.

It must have done well commercially because Groove Note’s (and ORG’s) Ying Tan has planned a follow up extravaganza.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Mobile Fidelity Sonically Resurrects Mid-Period Miles
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 23, 2015  |  28 comments
If the iconic Miles Davis album Kind of Blue captured an event—an abrupt musical switch from melody to modal, these three mid-period quintet albums, Sorcerer (1967), Nefertitti (1968) and Filles De Kilimanjaro (1969) represent a period of transition as the quintet moves slowly towards Miles’s amplified instrument embrace.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
A D2D "Four Seasons" That Hits All of the Right Notes
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 10, 2015  |  8 comments
If you've already got a version of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" that you like, I'm not suggesting you need a "second opinion" though in my world any well-produced, good-sounding musically worthwhile and well-performed D2D record is a treasure worth owning

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Amused To Death  is A Singular Sonic Spectacular
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 05, 2015  |  76 comments
Grand scale examinations of the human condition tend to be preachy, didactic and obvious. The more interesting observations tend to be small scale and personal—in other words, how individuals deal with human foibles and circumstances beyond individual control generally are more compelling and interesting.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Your Stereo Was Made For Ciaramella’s   Dances on Movable Ground
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 28, 2015  |  9 comments
I’ll tell you how I got into medieval era dance music similar to what’s on this record and on la Spagna: back in 1969 when I worked in the downstairs record store division of Minuteman in Harvard Square, a salesman named Duane who worked upstairs selling audio gear I could not at the time afford, insisted I buy a record on Deutsche Grammophone’s Archive Production label.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
la Spagna  One of Stan Ricker's Final Cuts is a Gift to Audiophiles
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 24, 2015  |  2 comments
Originally released in 1980 on the Swedish BIS label, the double LP la spagna became an instant, certified “audiophile classic”. It was on the late Harry Pearson’s “Super Disc” list since forever, with used copies regularly fetching upwards of $200.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Gov't Mule Spin Off Will Keep You Rocking In The Floyd World
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 12, 2015  |  7 comments
A reader recently asked if analogplanet would review some “heavier” musical material. I pointed out that we reviewed Volto! and The Mars Volta, among other purveyors of heavy guitar-based grooves, but that we’re not locked into bands with volt references. I referenced the Polish prog-metal band Indukti

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Ferguslie Park  Reissued by Intervention Records
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 03, 2015  |  24 comments
Long time Gerry Rafferty fans were thrilled for the long-suffering artist when he finally had a hit single under his own name with “Baker Street”, taken from his late ‘70s release City to City.

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