LATEST ADDITIONS

An elderly gentleman wearing a pair of high tech digital hearing aids accompanied his wife to a kennel club meeting at my home a few years ago. He had little interest in the dog doings upstairs so I invited him downstairs into my listening room. It allowed me to conduct an experiment of sorts. Did he like music? Yes. Had he ever heard or seen a big high performance audio rig? No, he hadn’t. Would he like to hear some music on it? Yes he would: jazz or classical. I obliged, curious to find out what exactly he heard listening through digital hearing aids to a high-resolution audio system. The look on his face told me he was hearing plenty.

Last Sunday while back on the east coast AnalogPlanet’s Malachi Lui paid a visit. We hadn’t seen each other since late July so it was great catching up in person. We spent much of the time together comparing multiple copies of Axis: Bold As Love including a preliminary pressing of the upcoming Analogue Productions UHQR 200 gram vinyl edition in both mono and stereo mixes housed in a not quite finalized version of the exquisite packaging. I shot an impromptu video of the opinionated Mr. Lui fully expressing his opinion to AP’s Chad Kassem. When I suggested that we post the video on AnalogPlanet both Kassem and Lui said “OK” so please watch it below. Lui insisted on writing an intro to the Experience experience, which you’ll find directly below this.—Ed.

Joan Baez recorded this Vanguard debut in 1960 at age 19. With her impossibly high and pure quavering voice and matching pristine finger picking guitar, she and this album created a sensation that helped shift the "folk-revival" back to authenticity from the commerciality into which it had drifted. Though while she sounded like a barefoot waif recently arrived from the Appalachian mountains, she was born on Staten Island. Her Mexico-born father who grew up in Brooklyn, the son of a minister, was a Stanford PhD credited with co-inventing the X-ray microscope. Her Scottish mother's father was an Anglican priest.

"What's this? The new Thorens turntable? It doesn't look like a Thorens turntable."

That's what I thought as I unboxed the new Thorens 850—part of the new 800 line from the rejuvenated company. Sure, I'd seen mockups at trade shows, but until I get the finished product in my hands, I really don't pay careful attention.