On September 4th, Craft Recordings (Concord’s reissue subsidiary) announced a series of 25th anniversary reissues of R.E.M.’s 1994 album Monster. Digitally remastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, a host of physical and digital releases are set to come out November 1.
Despite yesterday's rough start (signage, confusion over whether it was set up or press day, etc.) there was plenty to see and record. The sound in the rooms of the sprawling Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center a few miles from Denver International Airport was uniformly decent, which was positively surprising given the usual learning curve required for even the most experienced exhibitors to learn the room acoustics and compensate for the usually poor "hotel sound".
The first day of RMAF pointed out to those attending both the promise and the pitfalls of the new Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center located a few miles from Denver International Airport. The hotel is a sprawling, enormous resort. To navigate your way around requires downloading an app. Seriously. It's that big. You have to plan your time carefully because to get from the tower hotel room exhibits to the Convention Center takes at least 10 minutes and once you are there, arriving at the rooms or the seminar space can take another 10.
The first RMAF ever held at the brand new Marriott Gaylord Rockies Resort begins tomorrow morning, Thursday, September 5th. By most accounts, the move to this large, costly luxury venue will be a "make it or break it" year for the RMAF franchise. We wish the organizers a great, well-attended show! Stay tuned.
Surely you've picked up a just cleaned record and need to put it down somewhere other than in the original jacket, or you've mistakenly pulled one to play while the one you've just finished playing still sits on the turntable or you've made some other brain-addled move that leaves one record in your hand with no place to put it. Well here's the TRANSIT PLATTER, the "why didn't I think of it" solution from the "stable geniuses" at stable 33.33.
This is the 45rpm version of IMPEX's 2017 33 1/3 all-analog reissue of Michel Legrand's somewhat overlooked musical and sonic treasure featuring many of the greatest jazz artists of the era. Nothing other than Legrand's passing has changed since the original reissue review, so I'm just repeating it, other than to add that it sounds even "Legrander" at 45rpm, though if you already own IMPEX's 33 1/3 version, it's not really necessary to buy it again, unless you must! An enticement might be the now glossy laminated jacket and gatefold booklet with a very useful and informed essay by KCRW's Tom Schnabel.
I’m driving around the outskirts of Salt Lake City, where any city’s used-record and bookstores and antique shops and Methadone clinics are usually found. Sure enough, around the corner and down the block from the biggest used-book store is Randy’s Record Shop, billed as having “Utah’s best and largest selection of vinyl—LPs/45s/78s.”
I've referenced this record in a few Stereophile equipment reviews but somehow neglected to give it the deserved full review. The adventurous pianist Jamie Saft steps back in time here to produce an album that on "Vessels", the opening original tune, should immediately remind you of the classic '60s Coltrane quartet, though I'm not suggesting the players are in any way trying to copy Coltrane, Tyner, Garrison and Jones.
My initial plan was to follow the original 3500-word review with a later update on the vinyl edition’s sound quality, but plans change. I got a bit of exclusive information from Jack White about “ARE WE STILL FRIENDS?”, which I reported on, but even more happened with this LP. As advance copies of IGOR’s CD edition circulated, word spread that Tyler quietly dropped a physical-only (vinyl, CD, and cassette) “bonus track” entitled “BOYFRIEND.”
This extraordinary blues festival staged on an athletic field at the University of Michigan, Friday through Sunday August 1-3 in-between the moon landing and Woodstock, was almost lost to time—except to the 10,000 or so mostly white high school and college kids lucky enough to have the good fortune (and taste) to attend.