It’s a new era here at Analog Planet, starting today. You’ll get all the in-depth album reviews, detailed equipment reviews, news about upcoming vinyl releases and new gear announcements, as well as deep-dive, vinyl-centric interviews with musicians, producers, engineers, and manufacturers alike, just as you’ve come to know and expect. If you are part of the great vinyl resurgence, then this is your home, and we aim to make you very welcome.

Whether it's the 60s material controlled by ABKCO or the 1971-onward catalog owned by the band, the Rolling Stones' discography is among the world's most tirelessly and excessively reissued; every few years, there's yet another remastered, repressed, repackaged reissue of the same decades-old classics. After several mediocre reissues of the Rolling Stones Records albums (particularly the first and best two, Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street), AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer found the half-speed mastered 2018 Studio Albums Vinyl Collection 1971–2016 box set (now available as individual albums) to best capture the original LPs' spirit, even if sometimes lacking in transparent analog sparkle. However, I thought another perspective on the Sticky Fingers and Exile reissues, also taking into account the Japanese flat transfer CDs, would be useful.

One person can't possibly visit every room at a convention center show as large as High End Munich—even if your sole goal is to cover analog products. Maybe that was possible a decade ago but now? No way! You must make editorial decisions and pass by some rooms. For instance, having given Avantgarde Acoustics and its new powered G3 iTRON loudspeaker system full coverage at AXPONA, I decided I could skip their Munich room. Little did I know that SME would be demonstrating its new Model 60 in the Avantgarde Acoustics room, so the Model 60 is not covered here. However, I did visit the factory for a semi-exclusive look so if you've not seen the coverage, click on the hyperlink.

By 1981, The Clash was in shambles. Seeking more direction following their 1980 triple album Sandinista!, co-frontman Joe Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon rehired the band's notoriously difficult original manager, Bernie Rhodes, to the dismay of other co-frontman Mick Jones. Jones sought to continue the band's expansive forays into dub, reggae, and hip-hop, while Strummer wanted something more streamlined. Yet despite all of that, plus drummer Topper Headon's spiraling heroin and cocaine addiction, The Clash toured and managed to record new material at The People's Hall in the Republic of Frestonia (a small area in West London populated by squatters hoping to secede from the UK) as well as Electric Lady Studios in New York City.

Munich High End 2022 day two was as analog action-packed as was day one. Second day videos tend to get somewhat lower viewer numbers, but you can be sure this video contains product debuts and events you really do not want to miss, including the saxophonist Jerome Sabbagh playing live in the Stenheim/darTzeel room backed by a recording of his bandmates. The illusion of the group playing live worked surprisingly well and even translated well recorded to stereo shotgun microphone. darTzeel introduced a new MC phono cartridge.

Between the excessive sprawl of 2013's James Murphy-produced Reflektor and the failed experimentation of 2017's punchable Everything Now, it might seem as if Arcade Fire spent the last decade actively trying to lose people's interest. Now, however, they're back; at least, that's what their Nigel Godrich-produced new LP WE wants you to think. Split into more introspective "I" (A) and outward-facing "WE" (B) sides, WE is a concise 40-minute summation of the band's previous work. Every Arcade Fire record finds them striving for epic heights and always falling short, though you can't say they're not trying really hard.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.