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Album Reviews
Jenny Takes a Ride!
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 01, 2005  |  0 comments

“Any chimp can play human for a day/and use his opposable thumbs to iron his uniform/and run for office on election day/and fancy himself a real decision maker/then deploy more troops than salt in a shaker,” Jenny Lewis sings with a droll lilt on “It's a Hit,” this album's catchy opener. Hmm. I wonder who she's singing about?

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Album Reviews
"In Between" Time For Miles Put in Focus
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 01, 2005  |  0 comments

This mostly fabulous sounding 10 LP set cut almost exclusively from original analog master tapes puts into focus a so-called “in between” period for Miles: between the end of the Kind of Blue era and the beginning of the Miles/Shorter/Hancock/Carter/Williams quintet era chronicled on Mosaic's The Complete Studio Recordings of The Miles Davis Quintet 1965-1968 (Mosaic MQ 10-177).

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Album Reviews
Direct to Disc at Chad Kassem's Blue Heaven Studios
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 01, 2005  |  0 comments

The nearly extinct art of the direct to disc recording got a small boost recently with two produced by Acoustic Sounds' (www.acousticsounds.com) Chad Kassem at his Salina, Kansas Blue Heaven Studios.

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Album Reviews
Even Agnostics Will Be Moved!
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 01, 2005  |  3 comments

Despite being an agnostic with an outright hostility towards religion, this double Grammy winning gospel/rock set by Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama masterfully recorded at Capitol's historic Studio B Hollywood Studio has spent more time on my turntable and iPod than most of what's been released lately.

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Album Reviews
The Byrds' Jazzy Side Shines on This Limited Edition Double 10 incher
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 01, 2005  |  0 comments

If any Byrds music deserves to be heard stripped of its vocals, it's the exploratory jazz and raga influenced instrumental tracks produced for the Fifth Dimension sessions. Having fallen under the influence of Ravi Shankar and John Coltrane, the band spent long nights in the studio jamming, finally producing its epic “Eight Miles High” along with the rest of the album, some of which was not quite as accomplished.

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Album Reviews
Irish Singer's Moody 1987 Classic Reissued by Vivante
Michael Fremer  |  May 27, 2005  |  0 comments

The veteran Irish singer Mary Black is probably better known among American audiophiles than among the general music-loving populace because her recordings are exquisite sounding, audiophiles tend to dig chick singers, and for some reason Black has never received major radio airplay.

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Phono Preamp Reviews
Sutherland PhD MC phono preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  May 15, 2005  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  0 comments
The $3000 moving-coil (MC) PhD, available from Chad Kassem's Acoustic Sounds operation, is a monumental achievement that, for me, sets new standards for the cleanness and transparency possible in a phono preamp—and I've had a lot of experience with phono preamps.
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Features
Gary Wilson The Film and The Present
Robert J. Reina  |  May 01, 2005  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  0 comments
Shortly after Motel's Adrian Milan rediscovered Wilson and was busy reissuing the landmark recording, Milan played the record for documentary film director Michael Volk, who shared Motel's penchant for oddball 70's film soundtracks.
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Interviews
Gary Wilson
Robert J. Reina  |  May 01, 2005  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  0 comments

An exclusive and extraordinary interview with Gary Wilson conducted by Frank Doris

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Features
Gary Wilson
Robert J. Reina  |  May 01, 2005  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  0 comments
Back in 1977 while shopping for Sun Ra records in my favorite Philly store, I discovered this bizarre-looking album.  The cover featured the artist, Gary Wilson, posing in an early-'60s mod suit and funny sunglasses, in what turned out to be his parents' basement.  The back jacket was another basement shot of Wilson, this time in his underwear, lying amidst a tangle of recording tape, wires and covered with baking flour.  There were also song titles and the artist's address in upstate New York, but nothing else.

I had to buy it.

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