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FeaturesShow Reports
Capital Audiofest 2024: A Brief Preview
Mike Mettler  |  Nov 11, 2024  |  0 comments

As we take a brief pause to honor all who have served here on Veterans Day, I did want to take a moment to note that we will soon enough be posting extensive coverage of this past weekend’s Capital Audiofest, which was held in Rockville, Maryland, this past weekend (November 8-10, 2024).

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Talking Heads: 77 Gets Well-Deserved, and Totally Killer, 4LP + 4 7-Inch Singles Super Deluxe Edition Box Set Treatment, With Original LP –> AAA All the Way
Mike Mettler  |  Nov 08, 2024  |  4 comments

The phrase “auspicious debut” is often overused when discussing many an upstart band’s first album — but when it comes to Talking Heads, it’s a phrase that certainly fits the bill whenever you’re both discussing and listening to the fledgling punk/new wave NYC quartet’s first LP, September 1977’s Talking Heads: 77. And now, this important debut album gets its full box set due today, November 8, 2024, with Rhino’s 4LP + 4 7-inch singles-comprised Talking Heads: 77 – Super Deluxe Edition box set, with the original album therein remastered AAA all the way. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s review to see why 77 is another vital vinyl box set to add to your collection — plus see his suggestion for the official, more affordable alternate option of half the box’s contents if your bankbook is currently lacking. . .

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Features
Traversing The Phil Zone: The Late, Great Grateful Dead Co-Founder Phil Lesh’s Brilliant Music Legacy Lives On, and We Have Four Dead Experts Here to Pick Their Favorite Phil Moments on Vinyl
Mark Smotroff  |  Nov 07, 2024  |  1 comments

Phil Lesh, co-founding bassist of the Grateful Dead, sadly passed away at age 84 on October 25, 2024, and he will be remembered by millions of fans for the brilliant, inspiring music he made over the course of his incredible career. AP editor Mike Mettler asked our resident Deadhead Mark Smotroff to put together a proper tribute, and he enlisted three other fellow Dead experts to help bid Phil a proper fare thee well. Read on to see what their respective choices are for Lesh’s finest moments on vinyl. . .

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FeaturesShow Reports
Toronto Audiofest Show Report, Part 3, a.k.a. The Dénouement: Turntables Galore From Thorens, TW-Acustic, Pure Fidelity, Well Tempered Lab, and More!
Shanon McKellar  |  Nov 05, 2024  |  2 comments

We’ve officially entered into the homestretch of our in-depth three-part Toronto Audiofest 2024 show report. Read Shanon McKellar’s final TAF 2024 installment to see what she heard with turntables from the likes of Thorens, TW-Acustic, Pure Fidelity, Well Tempered Lab, and more. . .

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Analog Gear News
Meet VPI’s Model One Turntable, the First Entry in Their New Forever Series
Mike Mettler  |  Nov 04, 2024  |  5 comments

In our humble opinion here at AP, turntables are forever. VPI Industries clearly agree with that statement, as they’ve just announced the Model One turntable, the first entry in their new Forever series. Read on to see all the features and specs of the Model One, along with its cool new 10in S-shaped tonearm. . .

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FeaturesShow Reports
Toronto Audiofest Show Report, Part 2: Oracle Audio and Stable 33.33
Shanon McKellar  |  Nov 01, 2024  |  2 comments

We’re back onsite at Toronto Audiofest, which was held during the weekend of October 18-20, 2024. Read Part 2 of Shanon McKellar’s TAF show report to see her firsthand experience with the turntable setups from two stellar companies, Oracle Audio Technologies and Stable 33.33. . .

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Album Reviews
Halloween Spooktacular Round Robin Review of Frank Zappa’s Apostrophe (’) at 50: Our Collective Reflections, Recollections, and Reconsiderations Revolving Around Its Newly Expanded 180g 2LP Yellow Snow Splatter Vinyl Reissue
Mike Mettler, ,  |  Oct 31, 2024  |  6 comments

If it’s Halloween, then it must mean it’s Frank Zappa time. Rather than don our respective Zappaween masks, we are instead here to scare up another tag-team review of an important reissue of one of FZ’s most cherished LPs — namely, the recently released Apostrophe (’) 50th Anniversary Edition 180g 2LP set. Read on to see how AP editor Mike Mettler, Mark Smotroff, and Ken Micallef collectively feel about this new pressing of FZ’s March 1974 solo cosmic classic, plus its included bonus material. . .

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FeaturesShow Reports
Toronto Audiofest Show Report, Part 1
Shanon McKellar  |  Oct 29, 2024  |  1 comments

This year’s Toronto Audiofest couldn’t have had a better backdrop for the October 18-20, 2024, weekend — and AP was on hand and onsite to take it all in. Read Part 1 of Shanon McKellar’s TAF show report to see which rooms and companies displayed some of the best turntable setups of the entire show. . .

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Turntable Reviews
VPI Scout 21 Turntable
Ken Micallef  |  Oct 28, 2024  |  7 comments

As we await the wide-sharing of VPI’s latest new-product news, we just couldn’t pass up testing out their Scout 21 turntable — the successor to their well-loved Prime Scout model — in the interim. Red Ken Micallef’s review to see if the Scout 21 measures up to VPI’s longstanding top-shelf turntable standards. . .

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Album Reviews
The dB’s Jangle-Rich Sophomore Indie-Rock LP, Repercussion, Gets Long-Overdue First American Vinyl Pressing From Propeller Sound Recordings
Mark Smotroff  |  Oct 25, 2024  |  7 comments

There are probably many behind-the-scenes reasons why indie-rock/power-pop legends The dB’s just could not get their first two albums released by an American record company back in the early 1980s. Whatever the cause or the case, that outright crime for fans of all things jangly power pop and indie rock has long been overdue for amending. Thankfully, a new reissue series by independent record label Propeller Sound Recordings has gone a long way to make up for that unfortunate ’80s misstep. The second entry in The dB’s vinyl reclamation series is their 1981 sophomore LP, Repercussion. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see why Propeller’s truly wonderful Repercussion LP reissue belongs on your turntable today. . .

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