LATEST ADDITIONS

The ongoing Verve Records and Acoustic Sounds reissue series has once again delivered a new vinyl edition of an iconic album that is arguably better than the original in most every way. This new reissue of the October 1956 mono vocal jazz classic Ella And Louis features singing legend Ella Fitzgerald at a superstar-ascending crossroads, teamed with one of the architects of modern jazz, Louis Armstrong — a.k.a. “Pops,” a.k.a. “Satchmo,” a.k.a. “Satch.” Read onward to find out why this new 180g edition honors the now-rare originals while improving upon them in many ways. . .

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. . .

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. . .

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. . .