Jeff Beck, an innovative guitarist of the highest order, passed away in his native England on January 10 at age 78, following a brief illness. Beck — who bent notes and wrangled chords like no other guitar player could — made his initial mark as a member of The Yardbirds in the mid-1960s before branching out on his own with the Jeff Beck Group and other ensuing solo ventures. Blow by Blow and Wired, Beck’s million-selling instrumental-driven albums of the mid-1970s, merged the finest tenets of fusion, funk, and rock into a genre unto itself that I’m calling Beckism — in turn shaping the template for vocal-less releases by artists of all walks of musical life for years to come. Naturally, the balance of Beck’s vaunted recording career can be appreciated on vinyl via LPs and 45s both vintage and new. Read on to get our take on a number of Beckism highlights on vinyl that define the legacy of this truly unique guitarist for the ages. . .

The vinyl gods have indeed given us strength with the announcement that The Songs of Bacharach & Costello, a comprehensive collection of the creatively fruitful, decades-long aural collaborations between Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach, is set for release as a wide-ranging 4CD/2LP super deluxe box set from UMe on March 3. Additionally, a separate 140g 2LP edition comprised of the 2023 original-tape remasters of September 1998’s Painted From Memory and six bonus selections from their unreleased Taken From Life musical will be released concurrently. Read on to find out what each version entails, and whether you should plan to get either or both of them for your listening pleasures. . .

If it’s January, it must be time for CES. This also means we’re still sifting through all the new gear announcements that have emerged from the big show in Las Vegas this past week to see what’s coming our way in 2023 that would be of the most interest to the AnalogPlanet faithful. First up: the Harman Luxury Audio Group has just announced a pair of new turntables, the JBL TT350 Classic and the Bluetooth-enabled JBL Spinner BT. Read on to learn more about these two new ‘tables and when they’re slated to be released. . .

Never one to sit idle, even after a debilitating physical injury he sustained in late 1971, Frank Zappa pushed onward to make some of the most creative music of his entire career. The resultant two albums — July 1972’s Waka/Jawaka (official Zappa album No. 15) and November 1972’s The Grand Wazoo (official Zappa album No. 16) — are two sides of a coin now duly feted in a pair of new, 50th anniversary 180g 1LP editions sporting all-analog mastering by Bernie Grundman. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to find out why you need to get your hands, and ears, on both LPs. . .

David Crosby has the voice of an angel. Not only can you hear his distinctive vocal tone coming across pure and true all throughout his most recent studio album, For Free — one of AnalogPlanet’s Top New LP Releases of 2022, in fact — but you can hear his long-entrenched instinct for beautifully layered harmonies on David Crosby & The Lighthouse Band’s Live at the Capitol Theatre, currently available in a 1CD/1DVD package via BMG, but (hopefully) coming soon on vinyl. Croz got on the line with AP editor Mike Mettler to discuss the importance of overtones all throughout his recording career, why having Miles Davis cover one of his most heartfelt songs is a career highlight, and why his very first solo album — February 1971’s If I Could Only Remember My Name — remains an audiophile benchmark LP to this very day — and, of course, much, much more. . .

What better way to kick off the first week of 2023 than to think about getting a new turntable? That’s where EAT and C-Dur come into the picture. To wit: The C-Dur turntable by EAT — the acronym for noted Austrian manufacturer European Audio Team — is here, and it’s being distributed in North America by VANA, the distributor that recently brought noted German handmade Rekkord turntables to our shores. Read on to find out more about how you too can EAT well with this finely crafted platter-player, if you so choose. . .

Last week, AP editor Mike Mettler asked ace reviewer Mark Smotroff to come up with a list of his Top 10 vinyl releases of 2022, and it was a much harder task than Mark imagined it would be. “Paring down all the vinyl releases I’ve reviewed in 2022 into a list of just 10 choices?” was Mark’s initial reply. Nonetheless, Mark soldiered on, got his list in fine order, and shared the first 5 of his 10 choices, focusing on archival releases, plus a few bonus selections. This week, Mark shares the other 5 top-shelf choices on his list — all of them new-to-2022 releases — and here they are. . .

The longevity of Blondie is proof of the triumph of substance over image. The new-wave icons made quite a name for themselves when they emerged as the platinum-blonde darlings of the New York scene in the 1970s, unabashedly buttressed by the can’t-look-away visual iconography of lead vocalist/songwriter Debbie Harry — but they also had a special knack for transmogrifying the aesthetics of punk, the tenets of bubblegum pop, and their own deep-seated performance chops into something new. The first phase of Blondie’s career is now properly feted in Against the Odds 1974-1982, a massive 10LP/1EP/1 7-inch 45 Super Deluxe Collector’s Edition box set. Blondie drummer Clem Burke got on the line with AP editor Mike Mettler to discuss how the box set came together and why it acts as a “muse” for the band today, how the 7/4 shift in the back half of “Heart of Glass” gave an extra dimension to such an indelible No. 1 song, and how important producers Richard Gottehrer and Mike Chapman were in capturing the Blondie sound in the studio — and, of course, much, much more. . .

The Gruvy Awards are back! It’s been a minute since we’ve given any out, but we here at AnalogPlanet felt it was time to reinstate them this year and make these awards an annual event moving forward. The Gruvys are given to the best products we reviewed in calendar year 2022, the ones we found to possess a combination of high build quality, exceptional sonics, and in the case of less expensive gear, provide great value for the money. While a Gruvy indicates a product is deemed to be exceptional, products that haven’t been so awarded should not necessarily be considered unworthy. Read on to see what products made the 2022 AP Gruvy Awards cut. . .

AP editor Mike Mettler asked ace reviewer Mark Smotroff to come up with a list of his Top 10 vinyl releases of 2022, and it was a much harder task than Mark imagined it would be. “Paring down all the vinyl releases I’ve reviewed in 2022 into a list of just 10 choices?” was Mark’s initial reply. Nonetheless, Mark soldiered on, and got his list in fine order. Read the first 5 of his 10 choices — archival releases, in this case, plus a few bonus extra selections — here. . .