LATEST ADDITIONS

AAA Vinyl
Johnny Hartman's "Once In Every Life" Gets Well-Deserved 200g Treatment
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 14, 2016  |  8 comments
Three years before he passed away in 1983 at age 60 from lung cancer, a somewhat diminished Johnny Hartman entered Ben Rizzi's Master Sound Productions in the small Long Island 'burb of Franklin Square and recorded this album for the small Bee Hive label. It would be his next to final appearance on record, and one that earned him a "Best Male Jazz Vocalist" Grammy Nomination.

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AnalogPlanet Radio
AnalogPlanet Radio's WFDU HD2 45RPM Oldies Singles Radio Show Streams Now!
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 14, 2016  |  5 comments
The idea was to produce a show exclusively from old, gnarly-sounding 45 played back on a modest turntable to truly reproduce how "Boomers" heard their music at home. "Cleaned up" and sterilized on CD is just not the same. Then came the grim news that both Leonard Cohen and Leon Russell had passed away.

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AAA Vinyl
Mobile Fidelity's One Step "Abraxas": Is Any Record Worth $100?
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 10, 2016  |  85 comments
Before you pay $100 for any record you have to ask yourself if you really like the music, right? Then the question becomes is this version that much better than the one you already have, assuming you already have one.

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News
Leonard Cohen Passes Away Age 82, Al Caiola At 96
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 10, 2016  |  9 comments
Just got the news that Leonard Cohen has passed away at the relatively young age of 82 and guitar great Al Caiola at 96.

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Can I Have My Money Back?News
"CDs Versus LPs, Which is Better?" 1994 CBS Radio Network Show Unearthed!
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 10, 2016  |  19 comments
Way back in 1994 (that's 22 years ago for those of you who forget how quickly time flies by) I was a guest on Gil Gross's radio talk show on the now defunct CBS Radio Network. Gil's show was mostly about politics but he made some room for other topics and on July, 29th, 1994 he had me in the studio for an hour-long show called "CDs vs. LPs: which is better?" Can you guess where I came down here?.

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AnalogPlanet Radio
AnalogPlanet Radio's WFDU HD2 Election Eve Show
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 07, 2016  |  15 comments
Today's AnalogPlanet Radio Show makes a great soundtrack for tonight and tomorrow. All of the songs are either obliquely or directly political. Many are Rorschach test type tunes that can be taken "either way" while others are clearly targeted.
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NY Audio Show 2016
New York Audio Show 2016 A Small Affair
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 05, 2016  |  11 comments
More than 12,000 hi-fi fans will crowd three hotels in Warsaw, Poland this weekend. Here in New York, the show is small, limited to three floors of the "petite" Park Lane Hotel plus a few second floor exhibits. It's sad really, though there was an interesting mix of equipment and it was an opportunity to get acquainted with some area dealers.

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Turntable Reviews
Rega Gives the Popular 3 Series A New Spin With the Planar 3 (Decimal Point Added)
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 03, 2016  |  47 comments
(Due to a missing decimal point what was a .2%+ speed error read '2%". However, the published measurements chart is 100% accurate and had anyone done the math it would have revealed the typo. My apologies for the error to Rega, Sound Organization and to you, AnalogPlanet readers).

Can any turntable manufacturer be enjoying the vinyl revival more than Rega? I doubt it. It saw compact discs coming and yet spent a considerable amount of money creating a tool to produce cast pick up arms. I keep mentioning this in Rega reviews but in the face of the digital onslaught it demonstrates their determined commitment to vinyl playback.

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Album Reviews
Ravi Shankar's At Home Performance Led to The Concert For Bangladesh
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 01, 2016  |  6 comments
This fascinating Record Store Day release last spring probably got lost in a crowd of LPs so you may have missed it. I did. it was recently sent to me for review by Northern Spy Records (NSPY).
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Album ReviewsFeatures
The Rolling Stones in Mono Box Set Reviewed
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 28, 2016  |  73 comments
You don’t have to be Phil Spector or Brian Wilson to appreciate mono sound, as anyone who’s purchased the recent mono Beatles box can attest. When these records were originally produced, they were meant to be heard in mono both because they were played on the AM radio, which was mono and because the young people buying the music mostly had monophonic record players. Plus that is how The Rolling Stones wanted to be heard, which is the most important reason of all.

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