Show of hands: How many of you had, or still have, a Technics turntable in your gear arsenal? Technics has just announced the U.S. market debut of its Premium Class SL-100C direct drive turntable, which was initially released in the EU/UK last year and is considered to be the burgeoning sibling of its vaunted class brethren, the Technics SL-1500C. Read on to see if it’s right for you, and/or someone you know. . .
An excellent new, 180g half-speed-mastered vinyl reissue of The Who’s December 1967 classic third studio album The Who Sell Out has recently been released by Polydor/UMC, and the results are quite impressive. If you are a serious fan of this record, there is enough significant new detail resonating in this new Abbey Road Studios-cut 1LP edition to make it worth your while to pick up. Read on to find out all the details. . .
Mike Campbell, the consummate sideman, is now fully embracing his role as the frontman and bandleader of The Dirty Knobs, the long-running sideproject of his that has become his primary creative focus since the unfortunate passing of his lifelong friend and Heartbreakers/Mudcrutch bandmate Tom Petty in 2017. Here, Campbell tells Analog Planet exclusively why he prefers vinyl for his Dirty Knobs releases, how a somewhat inadvertent recurring mono listening situation in his youth ultimately informed his ongoing stereo proclivities, and which Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers song he feels will stand the test of time. Read on, into the great wide open. . .
Celluloid heroes never really die, and neither do The Kinks. To wit: The Kinks will be releasing Muswell Hillbillies / Everybody’s In Show-Biz - Everybody’s A Star in a deluxe box set configuration that combines deluxe LP reissues of these two classic early-1970s Kinks albums in addition to an all-new Ray Davies remix LP on September 9, 2022, via BMG. Full details, including who cut what and where for the LPs, follow. . .
In this case, going down the road wherever leads directly to your turntable. To wit: Mark Knopfler’s The Studio Albums 2009-2018, a 180g 9LP box set, will be released on October 7, 2022 by UMe/EMI. Read on for more details about who mastered it, who cut it, and what’s on it. . .
The Oscar Peterson Trio’s seminal 1964 release We Get Requests features his classic trio at a creative peak. This fine recording is an especially fantastic listen in a pristine new Verve Records/Acoustic Sounds Series 180g 1LP presentation that’s coming out August 19 via UMe. This reissue delivers on so many levels, and is in every way better than my original 1960s-era vinyl pressing. Read on to learn why this new edition is worth pre-ordering right now. . .
ZZ Top’s RAW – That Little Ol’ Band From Texas’ Original Soundtrack is a 180g 1LP release born and bred from an intimate performance that took place for the band’s June 2019 documentary. ZZ Top guitarist/vocalist Billy F Gibbons exclusively tells Analog Planet how RAW came to pass, why physical proximity can lead to better performances, and what records are never too far from his vintage Thorens turntable. Read on for the full ZZ story. . .
Gregg Allman left his mark on the music world at large as a natural-born blues-hewn vocalist, insightful and revelatory songwriter, and a consummately influential keyboardist. To properly fete him in style, a multi-generational all-star lineup of musicians from the worlds of rock, blues, and country joined together at Atlanta’s historic Fox Theatre on January 10, 2014 for All My Friends, a once-in-a-lifetime concert event tribute. Eight years later, All My Friends: Celebrating the Songs & Voice of Gregg Allman will finally be made available on vinyl via a 4LP box set that will be released on September 30, 2022 by Rounder Records. Read on to learn more about this historic release, and all its color-vinyl variants. . .
John Coltrane’s all-time hard-bop classic, January 1958’s Blue Train, is coming back around the vinyl bend. To mark the 65th anniversary of the album’s recording, Blue Train will be released in two special editions on September 16, 2022, as part of Blue Note’s Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series. Read on for further Trane/Train info and pressing details. . .
Fleet Foxes’ new live and mostly acoustic A Very Lonely Solstice LP leans more toward the full-album concert experience I was hoping for on record. There is a nice sense of the church ambiance — this performance was recorded live at St. Ann & The Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn, New York in December 2020 — that wonderfully captures the woody essence of Fleet Foxes bandleader Robin Pecknold’s strummy nylon-string guitar. Read on to learn more. . .