LATEST ADDITIONS

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 01, 2012  |  3 comments

A terrible wrong has been corrected! Lovingly produced by Phil Ramone and engineered by the great Al Schmitt all-analogue at Shelby Lynne's insistence, the original vinyl release of this album was mastered from an 88.2K digital file and pressed at United in Nashville, America's and one of the world's worst pressing plants. 

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 01, 2012  |  3 comments

Long considered one of the great recordings of the early stereo era, España was originally issued in the UK on the British Decca label (SXL 2020) and on American subsidiary London (CS6006).

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 01, 2012  |  1 comments

While still with The Jeff Beck Group, Rod Stewart signed as a solo artist with Lou Reizner, an American Mercury Records producer living in the UK at the time, who had his ear to the musical firmament.

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 01, 2012  |  1 comments

Named for a now defunct Northern New Jersey, Route 23 lawn furniture emporium (bought my chaise lounges there!), Fountains of Wayne has been making consistently tuneful and erudite observations about just plain folks since 1996 when they released their eponymous first album on Atlantic Records. The core was then and is now, the delightfully bratty-voiced Chris Collingwood and his multi-instrumental partner Adam Schlesinger.

Randy Wells  |  Apr 01, 2012  |  2 comments

In 1989 digital was all the rage. New vinyl records were on the verge of extinction. And Kate Bush remained silent - four years after her chart-topping album Hounds Of Love. Her famously loyal fans were literally chomping at the bit for the next release from the mystical chanteuse. The Sensual World was just around the corner. Would it be brilliant or bizarre?

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 01, 2012  |  4 comments

A fully realized production conceptually, musically, spiritually and sonically, Dusty in Memphis has rightfully attained legendary status since it was first issued by Atlantic Records as SD 8214 back in 1969. By bringing the British pop star to Memphis, Jerry Wexler figured he could do for Springfield what he managed when he redefined Aretha. Plus the former folky had had her musical life turned around when during a stopover in New York in the early ‘60s on her way to Nashville to record with her group The Springfields she heard The Exciters’ supercharged Lieber/Stoller penned hit “Tell Him.” After that, the powerfully voiced Dusty began covering American pop songs and making her covers the definitive version, though her first hit single was an original written for her: the memorable “I Only Want to Be With You.”

Michael Fremer  |  Apr 01, 2012  |  1 comments

This eclectic instrumental group combines synth, drums, guitars, bass and cello to produce a hard driving, propulsive percussive sound that's  rich with scraping, edgy textures one minute and warm, inviting and lagoon-like the next—though almost always with strong forward motion.

Michael Fremer  |  Mar 31, 2012  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  2 comments
This updated feature originally ran in Listener magazine and was re-published here in 2004. We brought it back to accompany Sundazed's reissue of Gene Clark—ed.

Gene Clark simply didn’t fit in. While a member of The New Christy Minstrels during the early ‘60s, the young mid-westerner heard “She Loves You” on a jukebox and realized his place wasn’t in a folksploitation group. He quit and headed West where he joined up with McGuinn and later Crosby at Doug Weston’s famed Santa Monica Blvd. folk club, The Troubador.

Michael Fremer  |  Mar 29, 2012  |  1 comments

  Randy Wells' recent review of this Sundazed reissue may have seemed thorough and matter-of-fact to most of you and judging by the emails, well appreciated, but the folks at Sundazed were anything but pleased, which kind of surprised me, though Wells did prefer the Audio Fidelity release so perhaps I should not have been surprised.

Michael Fremer  |  Mar 04, 2012  |  0 comments

I picked up The Best of Laurie Volume 1 (LES-4003) at a garage sale the other week and it includes “He’s So Fine” by The Chiffons, “A Little Bit O’ Soul” by The Music Explosion, “A Little Bit of Soap” by the Jarmels and “Hushabye” by The Mystics, among other tunes.

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