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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #27
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 21, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  16 comments
Our intrepid reporter had no idea why 650,000 records were in a warehouse in York, or who owned them, but he took the bait nevertheless. Photos by Michael Fremer.

I heard this story from a manufacturer whose car broke down somewhere in a rundown Queens neighborhood one afternoon: He went into a bodega to make a phone call and struck up a conversation with the owner. Their talk led to audio, then to a trip to the basement of the former record store, where thousands of Living Stereos and other audiophile treasures had been sitting for decades, gathering dust and value. The manufacturer would visit each week and walk out with a few hundred unplayed gems, for which he'd pay a few bucks each.

True story? Audiophile wet dream? Who knows? Who cares? We love this stuff. So when I got a call from Rick Flynn (proprietor of Quality Vinyl, a mail-order, audiophile-oriented record dealer) about 650,000 records—every one of them stone-cold mint—locked in a warehouse in York, Pennsylvania since 1973, and would I like to have a look...I bit.

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News
The Electric Recording Company Produces Classical Music Reissues The Right Way
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 20, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  7 comments
Here's a company that fell well below my radar screen for years until a reader alerted me to its website. The Electric Recording Company and its founder Pete Hutchison is dedicated to reissuing on vinyl much sought after classical music fare from the early LP era, including those of legendary violinist Johanna Martzy as well as recordings by violinists, Leonid Kogan and Gioconda De Vito, ‘French School’ pianists Yvonne Lefébure and Germaine Thyssens-Valentin and cellist János Starker.. Or as the website describes the musical choices "...iconic 'Holy Grail' recordings by the most revered classical performers."
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Album Reviews
Counting Crows Debut "August And Everything After" Among the Last of the Great Analog Rock Recordings
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 19, 2013  |  11 comments
With his influences clearly imprinted on his creative sleeve, Adam Duritz and friends created in 1993 one of the last great analog rock recordings. Duritz understood that sound mattered as did producer T-Bone Burnett who continues to treasure the basic sense even when working with diminished budgets.
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Album Reviews
"The Allman Brothers Band" Debut Half-Speed Mastered By Mobile Fidelity
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 19, 2013  |  4 comments
A record label forensic specialist might be required to trace how The Allman Brothers Band ended up an Island/Def Jam property issued on Mercury Records, all now owned by Universal Music Group. The original was issued in 1969 on the ATCO division of Atlantic Records. Perhaps it had to do with the sale of the late Phil Walden's Capricorn imprint, through which the ATCO deal had been made.
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Record Cleaning Tips
An Orbitrac™ Replacement?
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 19, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  3 comments
"Record Cleaning Made Difficult", Michael Wayne's definitive and fanatical record cleaning article originally published in The Tracking Angle back in the mid '90s includes use of Allsop's no long in production Orbitrac™, which was a pad based cleaning system that fit over the turntable spindle, allowing you to easily rotate it around the record.
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News
Watch the Trailer For Dave Grohl's Upcoming "Sound City" Rockumentary
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 15, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  4 comments
Everything from Nevermind to Damn the Torpedoes was recorded at Sound City. Everyone from Fleetwood Mac to Neil Young recorded there. Now analog tape based Sound City is gone. What a shame.
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News
Universal Music's New "Pink Moon" LP Will Use Optimal Pressing
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 15, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  5 comments
If you didn't buy the deluxe Pink Moon box set reviewed here by Randy Wells, you are in luck: the upcoming domestic UMG standard reissue, selling for far less, will still be pressed at Optimal in Germany, mastered AAA at Abbey Road, just like the deluxe box set's LP.
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Album Reviews
Ella's in the Room on This Double 45rpm "Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie!" Reissue From Analogue Productions
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 15, 2013  |  4 comments
Ella's lushly orchestrated songbook albums were popular when first issued in the '50s and '60s and again more recently as reissues. They were not just popular. They were transformational, whether she was re-interpreting Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Ellington, Irving Berlin or Jerome Kern.
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Analog Gear News
Jim Hagerman's Bugle2 DIY MM/MC Phono Preamp Kickstarter Project
 |  Feb 14, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  5 comments
Analog expert Jim Hagerman's (Hagtech.com) new second generation Bugle2 MM/MC phono preamplifier is a Kickstarter project. That means you put up the money now to support the project and if enough people contribute to fund it, you get yours. If it fails to attract the requisite number—in this case $16,000 total—you get your money back. The Kickstarter URL
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News
"When Albums Ruled The World" BBC Documentary
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 13, 2013  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  10 comments
I was alerted to a terrific BBC documentary currently on YouTube about the "golden age" of vinyl.
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