LATEST ADDITIONS

Malachi Lui  |  Jun 22, 2020  |  11 comments
A lawsuit. A specific club night. Films that you’ll never see. A stray cat. Extremely rare posters and promo items that probably ended up in landfill. An unrealized menstrual abacus egg timer. Several buildings.

Mentioned above are Factory Communications catalog items that frustrate completists; they’re unobtainable. Sure, you can get pieces of the buildings, or a picture of the cat, or track down people with (drug-influenced) memories of the party. But if you weren’t there, you really weren’t there and can’t go back. Only remnants of the Manchester label’s catalog oddities remain.

Michael Fremer  |  Jun 22, 2020  |  4 comments
Qobuz, the Hi-Res streaming and download service, just launched a "family plan" that allows up to six members per account for $24.99 per month—or $10 more a month than the current "solo" plan.

Joseph W. Washek  |  Jun 19, 2020  |  16 comments
In January 1961, Riverside Records sent the great, but sadly uncelebrated recording engineer, David Jones (also known as Dave Jones and David B. Jones) to New Orleans to record Black traditional jazz musicians for a projected series of albums to be called “New Orleans—The Living Legends”. Jones is little remembered today and remains a shadowy figure, despite recording five months later, also for Riverside, the all-time audiophile classic Bill Evans LPs, Sunday At The Vanguard and Waltz For Debby. Jones did not follow the career path that made other recording engineers who were his contemporaries, latter day icons. He never recorded rock or pop music, limiting himself to on-location recordings for small independent labels of ethnic and classical music, and occasionally jazz. The personal recording style that he created and mastered strove to capture the natural sound of instruments in a room from a slightly distant, contemplative perspective and eschewed whizzbangery and artificial flash. It’s a subtle style that does not immediately impress and one that has undoubtedly limited his reputation.

Michael Fremer  |  Jun 18, 2020  |  14 comments
The Electric Recording Company announced yesterday it was preparing its reissue of Shostakovich's Symphony No.13:Babi Yar with André Previn conducting the LSO/Dimiter Petkov bass, with the London Symphony Chorus.Words by Yevtushenko

Michael Fremer  |  Jun 16, 2020  |  4 comments
Newvelle Records just announced The New Orleans Collection, a new 4 LP set featuring brand new recordings produced this spring featuring Irma Thomas, Little Freddie King, Jon Cleary and the final recording by the late Ellis Marsalis who soon after making this record, passed away from Covid-19.

Michael Fremer  |  Jun 12, 2020  |  41 comments
The Electric Recording Company (ERC) just announced it is now accepting pre-orders for its limited to 300 copies edition "True Mono" reissue of Love's iconic album Forever Changes. HOWEVER DUE TO A MISCOMMUNICATION, I WAS UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT IT IS A DISCRETE MONO MIX. IT IS NOT!.

Michael Fremer  |  Jun 11, 2020  |  97 comments
June 11, 2020—Verve Label Group and UMe announced today the July 31st launch of a new “audiophile grade”, all-analog reissue series supervised by Acoustic Sounds CEO Chad Kassem, featuring iconic titles from the Verve, Impulse!, Philips, EmArcy and Decca catalogs.

Michael Fremer  |  Jun 08, 2020  |  24 comments
In the blink of a vinyl resurgence Technics went from retiring in 2010 the venerable SL-1200 turntable to resurrecting it six years later with two all new “Grand Class” 1200s aimed not at the DJ market as was the original 1200, but at audiophiles.

The limited to 1200 units SL-1200GAE quickly sold out. In 2017 we reviewed the SL-1200G, which other than having a different magnesium tone arm finish and minus a plaque was identical to the limited edition SL-1200GAE.

Michael Fremer  |  Jun 05, 2020  |  0 comments
The lineup is like "Austin City Limits" on steroids for this two hour live video and audio stream organized by Paul Simon, Edie Brickell, Willie and Annie Nelson and their organizations in conjunction with Luck Reunion to support and celebrate hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic Austin, Texas.

Evan Toth  |  Jun 03, 2020  |  11 comments
Jason Isbell might just be a genuine modern country legend in the making. After his early years (2001-2007) with the alternative country-rock band, Drive-By Truckers Isbell went solo, releasing several critically acclaimed albums: some under his own name and others with the support of his backing band, the 400 Unit. Isbell quit drugs and alcohol in 2012 and subsequently married his second wife: songwriter, backup singer and fiddle player, Amanda Shires. They had their first child in 2015. Most recently, Isbell worked with John Prine on his final album, The Tree of Forgiveness and following Prine's death in April of 2020 penned in The New York Times a moving and intimate opinion piece

Pages

X