Album Reviews

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
The Flying Burrito Bros' "The Gilded Palace of Sin" Finally Reissued Correctly
Michael Fremer  |  May 03, 2017  |  12 comments
Characterizing The Gilded Palace of Sin as a “country-rock” album or “the first country-rock album” or as it’s incorrectly called by some Sweetheart of The Rodeo Part 2 sells short an album that transcends genre or for that matter “dash-genres”.

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Album Reviews
Sam Records Releases Thelonious Monk's "Les liaisons dangereuses 1960" For RSD 2017
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 18, 2017  |  17 comments
Music composed for films is by definition precisely timed and intended to mirror or at least complement the on screen action. Of course that’s not always how its accomplished, especially when the hired musicians are not trained film composers.

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Album Reviews
"Larry Young In Paris" From Resonance Records A Must Have
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 06, 2017  |  6 comments
Over the past decade or so vinyl-loving jazz enthusiasts have been treated to a series of previously unreleased but significant recordings discovered under beds, in closets and in the vaults of European radio stations. Some were never before heard. Others were bootlegged from radio broadcasts

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Nick Culp's "The Culprit's Blues" Goes Back to The Future
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 14, 2017  |  6 comments
You’ve probably seen or at least heard about Damien Chazelle’s musical “La La Land”, about a musician (Ryan Gosling) whose less than fully expressed mission was to “save jazz”. He brings his turntable and retro-record collection to Los Angeles where he lives in a crummy apartment and makes ends meet by playing in a piano bar.

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Album Reviews
Judith Owen's "Somebody's Child" Will Move You
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 09, 2017  |  4 comments
It doesn't slight to this well-produced, thoroughly engaging record to write that singer/songwriter/pianist/raconteur Judith Owen is best experienced live in concert.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
"The Royal Ballet" Re-pressed And Immediately Sells Out!
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 25, 2017  |  18 comments
Originally licensed in 1959 from British Decca and issued by RCA Victor in America on its lavish Soria series as LDS-6065, the "Gala Performances" performed by The Royal Opera House Orchestra, Covent Gardens conducted by Ernest Ansermet continues to draw new enthusiasts to what many consider one of legendary engineer Kenneth Wilkinson’s most spectacular recordings.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Three Percussion Records You Should Own
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 26, 2017  |  43 comments
Pictured are three percussion records you should own—especially if you feel like banging your head against the wall. One is an "oldie" Living Stereo novelty that's back in print, one was originally released in 1984 thanks to a grant from The National Endowment For the Arts (today an endangered species) reissued in the 1990s and one is a current release.

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Album Reviews
Erroll Garner's "Ready Take One" Turns Heads and Taps Toes
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 24, 2017  |  9 comments
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Album Reviews
Taj Mahal's "Labor of Love" Is A Field Recording Your Ears Will Like and Your Heart Will Love
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 24, 2017  |  4 comments
We think of "field recordings" as vital ancient musical history, primitively captured. These "field recordings" dating from the 1990s were recorded using a pair of Bruel & Kjaer 4165 microphones and B&K power supply, Cello preamp, Apogee 1000 ADC and a Nagra D digital recorder given by Mark Levinson (the man) to producer Timothy Duffy .

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Two Laura Nyro Classics Reissued AAA By Analog Spark
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 03, 2017  |  10 comments
There was a period in '60s record history when you could buy "by the label" and pretty much be assured of a great listen. It was true of Elektra and later, after it got off its "high horse," Columbia, which for a while wouldn't touch rock.

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Album Reviews
"The Ultimate Roy Orbison" All Your Roy On Two LPs?
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 29, 2016  |  14 comments
This is the first Roy Orbison collection that includes material from all of Roy's excellent recorded adventures. There are twenty six tunes in all, culled from Sun, Monument, MGM, Virgin and The Traveling Wilburys.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
The Berlin Philharmonic's Direct-To-Disc Brahms Symphonic Cycle Conducted By Sir Simon Rattle
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 23, 2016  |  21 comments
The just released (November 18, 2016) six LP box set of the four Brahms symphonies recorded direct-to-disc performed by Sir Simon Rattle and The Berlin Philharmonic before a live Philharmonie audience is as meticulously produced and presented as its existence is unlikely.

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Album Reviews
Digging Into the Liturgy of the Phonograph's First Eleven Years
Tristram Lozaw  |  Dec 21, 2016  |  1 comments
We make a seasonal exception to our vinyl-only review policy and publish Tristram Lozaw's review of the double Grammy Nominated (Best Historical Album and Best Album Notes) three CD plus harcover book set Waxing the Gospel: Mass Evangelism and the Phonograph, 1890-1900.

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Album Reviews
"A Capitol Christmas" Double LP From the Vaults Worth Owning
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 11, 2016  |  3 comments
Producer/annotator Jay Landers has pulled from Capitol's rich vaults some of the label's best Christmas music that the label has issued as a double LP set complete with excellent liner notes (they are back.

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Album Reviews
2007 Never Before Released Jazz Album Made For These Times
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 11, 2016  |  3 comments
According to the liner notes for this record that's guaranteed to knock you out in a good way, both musically and sonically, the aggregate known as "The CO-OP" began as an "ad-hoc" backing band for the Swedish singer-songwriter Malin Johansson, A/KA Blue Utopia. The more you search online for information about Ms. Johansson or Blue Utopia, the less you'll find, not that it really matters.

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