LATEST ADDITIONS

Bryan Adams is a consummate and restless performer, so when the lockdown happened, he got right down to work in his home studio to keep himself busy. Not only did he come up with an album of all-new material — March 2022’s So Happy It Hurts, a 180g 1LP offering via BMG — but he also took a long, hard look at the four-plus decades of his recording career and decided to recut over a dozen of his favorite tracks under the umbrella of Classic. Initially, these classic Adams songs, with all the vocals sung anew and essentially all the instrumentation played by the man himself, were released digitally in two increments as Classic and Classic Pt. II, and they will soon enough be combined into a 180g 2LP set in January 2023. Adams got on Zoom with AP editor Mike Mettler to discuss why he not-so-secretly always wanted to be a drummer, why vinyl remains such an important touchstone to him to this day, and what songs of his might make the cut for the next installment of Classic — and, of course, much, much more. . .

The notion of Bruce Springsteen releasing a vintage soul and pop covers album this late in his stellar career is not all that surprising, really, if you’ve been following The Boss since the beginning like we have. But does the notion of Only The Strong Survive being a truly good and vital Springsteen album that stands proudly next to the rest of his storied catalog hold sway? Read Mark Smotroff’s review of the 180 2LP edition of Survive to find out if Survive has what it takes on wax. . .

Last week, we sung the praises of the new 180g 1LP Geffen/UMe edition of Steely Dan’s November 1972 debut album, Can’t Buy A Thrill. This week, we cue up Analogue Productions’ 200g 2LP UHQR edition of Thrill, and — spoiler alert! — it’s one of the best listening experiences you’ll have this year (or any other). Read on to find out all the pressing details why this 200g Thrill is one for the ages. . .

Who’d want to stream vinyl playback to other rooms? Well, if you’re in a living situation where multiple listeners are constantly involved in the decisions behind what’s being played and where, it’s something you have to consider, regardless of your own individual sweet-spot-only listening proclivities. Juke Audio understands the inclusionary inclinations for modern multiple-member household scenarios, which is why the burgeoning company is now offering the Juke-6, a multiroom streaming amplifier as a possible gateway device to get other listeners involved, and interested, in what we analog lovers listen to. We peek under the hood of Juke Audio’s philosophy to find out if the Juke-6 is something you can apply to your own home listening setup in order to get and/or entice other household listeners into enjoying the benefits of our preferred aural playback choices. . .