LATEST ADDITIONS

Mark Dawes  |  Feb 19, 2021  |  4 comments
Spoken word or sung poetry? There’s plenty of both in the British Isles: the rolling, sprawling narratives of Kai Tempest; the angular Sinead O’Brien, smiling in Irish; the arch delivery of Dry Cleaning; the startling machine-gun rapping of Little Simz; a new collection on Decca by Cerys Mathews, the first in a series of “poem song” albums, pairing poets with musicians from Hidden Orchestra. From the defiant 70’s reggae of Linton Kwesi Johnson, to the many decades of the late Mark E. Smith, to the current dystopian punk barrage of Sleaford Mods, the British Isles has an abundance of musical poetry on record, joined now by Londoner Arlo Parks.

Joseph W. Washek  |  Feb 19, 2021  |  4 comments
Tracy Nelson is such a great singer that you have to wonder why she never became a major, “you still hear her on the radio” star. Her deep, powerful, soulful voice is instantly recognizable whether she is singing, rock, country, r&b or blues. The usual vocal comparison is to Janis Joplin, which I’m sure Ms. Nelson got tired of hearing by the late 60s or sooner, but I’d say Nelson, while lacking the Joplin charisma, is a more subtle and technically, a better singer.

Joseph W. Washek  |  Feb 19, 2021  |  10 comments
When Chet Baker died in 1988, he wasn’t an icon of “cool,” he was a has-been. The biopic with the Hollywood star and the consistent ranking among the top-selling jazz CDs on Amazon was far in the future and long after he was gone. The New York Times obit was perfunctory, misstated his age, and devoted two sentences to his career post-1950s. Baker, in the 1980s, had been the same unrepentant, narco-ssistic junkie mess that he had been since the mid 1950s, but he was working in Europe, playing mostly small clubs, driving from gig to gig, and sleeping on couches instead of the way it had been in the ’50s in the U.S.—playing concert tours, fielding movie offers, topping the jazz polls and charts, his popularity making even Miles Davis jealous.

Michael Fremer  |  Feb 18, 2021  |  45 comments
SOTA turntable co-founder David Fletcher recently passed away at age 81. The experimental physicist left the U.C. Berkeley Particle Lab to be his own boss. In 1972 he co-founded Sumiko. Both companies remain in business though Fletcher long ago sold his shares.

Michael Fremer  |  Feb 18, 2021  |  6 comments
“Steven Wilson has a new solo album, "The Future Bites." We discuss this as well as his work with Porcupine Tree but even if you're not a fan of his music, even if you've never heard of him, you need to listen to hear Wilson's stories of remixing King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Chic….”

Michael Fremer  |  Feb 17, 2021  |  8 comments
The press release announcing this record out March 26th on Luaka Bop is more coy and less informative, though that will probably change closer to the release date. However, I have a test pressing sent by a friend. Chris Bellman cut lacquers, RTI pressed, I don't care the source
Nathan Zeller  |  Feb 16, 2021  |  3 comments
To quarantine means to isolate for the safety of others. What it does not entail, is the ineptitude to collaborate, as shown by Tank and The Bangas with their newest EP, Friend Goals.

Nathan Zeller  |  Feb 16, 2021  |  13 comments
(Ed note: This is the first voice memo review on AnalogPlanet) Jacob Collier rightfully displays a childlike fascination with music. It would be a mistake, though, to confuse his youthful exuberance with mediocrity. The 26 year old, who released his first album five years ago, gets praise from music business legends. Herbie Hancock is in awe of Collier’s performance and production abilities. Quincy Jones, recognizing the multi-instrumentalist’s potential, signed Collier to his personal management division.

Michael Fremer  |  Feb 16, 2021  |  11 comments
Impulse! Records, founded in 1960 by Creed Taylor and home to some of the greatest jazz artists of all time including John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Archie Shepp, Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Quincy Jones, among many others, this year celebrates its 60th anniversary.

Harvey Kubernik  |  Feb 11, 2021  |  7 comments
(Copyright 2021, Harvey Kubernik) (Eliot Mazer photo courtesy Burson Audio.)

Elliot Mazer, the recording engineer and record producer who worked with Kenny Burrell, Chubby Checker, Maynard Ferguson, Richie Havens, Janis Joplin, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Dylan, Jack Nitzsche, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and The Band died this past weekend at his San Francisco home at age 79. Cause of death was a heart attack. Mazer had battled dementia for a number of years.

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