Album Reviews

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Album Reviews
The Deep, Connective Tissue of Resonance's "Eric Dolphy Musical Prophet" 3 LP Set
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 29, 2018  |  15 comments
Billed as “The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions”, Resonance Records’ Black Friday offering Eric Dolphy Musical Prophet is anything but one of those RSD repackaged assemblages of cast off secondary material meant for fanatical completists. The phrase “connective tissue” kept running through my head as I listened to the 3 LPs and read “mouth agape” the vital annotation that threaded together the confused recorded history.

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Album Reviews
The Dig’s New Double EP Is Finely Crafted From Start To Finish
Malachi Lui  |  Oct 14, 2018  |  9 comments
“If there’s one thing that ties the two EPs together, it’s that all the songs are about moving,” wrote Brooklyn-based indie rock band The Dig in a recent press statement. Over the course of their move from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, they wrote and recorded the songs that would make up two new EPs, Moonlight Baby and Afternoon With Caroline. After dropping tracks from these releases throughout the year, the latter has finally been released in full and both EPs have been paired for a new vinyl release courtesy of Roll Call Records.

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Album Reviews
The Donovan Revival Rolls On
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 01, 2006  |  0 comments

Donovan may claim to not be a Dylan wannabe, but when you listen to "Catch the Wind," this compilation's opener, his claim rings hollow. It's so Dylan, so "Chimes of Freedom," and so derivative, there's no escaping the Dylan in him.

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Album Reviews
The Doors At 45 On 45!
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 11, 2012  |  23 comments
Do you really need a musical discussion at this point in time? All I can say is that in the "Summer of Love" of 1967, all you could hear coming from car radios, and open windows was the edited version of "Light My Fire." It defined that summer for most of my peers and was the perfect calling card with which to beg for some action from a date. Hard to believe that was 45 years ago.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
The Doors’ L.A. Woman Puts You Right in the Band’s Rehearsal Room on Acoustic Sounds’ Stunning New 200g 1LP UHQR Edition
Mike Mettler  |  Oct 02, 2024  |  15 comments

In honor of Audiophile Day (October 2), I spent the balance of my afternoon and evening hours spinning some of my favorite LPs, both new and old alike. With that in mind, let me tell you a story about The Doors and the big beat of Analogue Productions’ new 200g 1LP UHQR edition of their April 1971 studio swan song with Jim Morrison behind the mike during his lifetime, L.A. Woman. Read on to see why this new Clarity Vinyl edition belongs on your turntable now. . .

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Album Reviews
The Doors’ Live at The Matrix, 1967: The Original Masters Finally Inhabits Comprehensive 5LP+7In Deluxe Edition Box Set Mastered by Bruce Botnick and Bernie Grundman
Mark Smotroff  |  Sep 15, 2023  |  5 comments

The new Live at The Matrix, 1967: The Original Masters super deluxe box set that features early live recordings by The Doors as captured on the cusp of their impending, immense fame is a wonderful historic document on vinyl — and a crucial crossroads moment. Issued for the first time in as complete form as possible — and from better sources than what’s been previously available — these semi-professional recordings give us a glimpse of this legendary L.A. band just before they broke out as international music sensations. Read Mark Smotroff’s in-depth review to see if Live at The Matrix, 1967 deserves a place in your collection. . .

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Album Reviews
The Dresden Doll's Doll Strums and Sings
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 01, 2010  |  0 comments

What possessed Amanda Palmer to cover Radiohead playing her "magic ukelele"? Who knows? Did this inspire Eddie Vedder to issue a ukelele-based record? What would Arthur Godfrey think of all of this (look him up if you're too young to know who he is)?

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Album Reviews
The Duke Past His Prime Still Had Plenty Left to Give
Michael Fremer  |  May 01, 2005  |  0 comments

The big band era was over and Duke Ellington was past his most creative years by the time this set was recorded, but the year was 1960 and no doubt the art of recording was reaching a pinnacle. If you have any doubts, check out this Classic reissue cut from the three track original.

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Album Reviews
The Enigmatic Foe's   The Original Plan
Evan Toth  |  Sep 14, 2021  |  1 comments
The Enigmatic Foe’s new album The Original Plan (S/R) offers up contemporary rock and roll in the vein of Real Estate with other jangle pop influences, including distant echoes of primordial U2 with some mid-80s leanings via occasional electronic drums and synth-pop production. Tight, yet airy, the band creates a satisfactory wall of sound - mostly via the shimmering guitars of Josh Dooley (Map, Fine China) and Jared Colinger. Colinger - writer, guitarist and vocalist of the group - explains the topical nature of his tunes, “Sometimes we go to great lengths to be miserable and stay miserable. I once heard a story about a musician who purposely created strife with their spouse to have song fodder. I certainly thrive on creating songs out of misery. Anything else outside that topic seems a novelty.” Colinger, however, camouflages these sorrows with chipper, sparkly production and plenty of guitar chime. Frank Lenz’s (Headphones, Richard Swift) drumming provides a tight, propulsive groove to the whole affair.

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Album Reviews
The Final Chapter Of One of America's Greatest Musical Stories
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 01, 2006  |  0 comments

Johnny Cash’s final album is a tender and moving tribute to the resilience of the human spirit. The power and fascination of folk music is that the story is in the telling not in the technique.

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Album Reviews
The Final Chapter's Written To The Arthur Alexander Story
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 01, 2009  |  1 comments

The late Arthur Alexander�s story is reminiscent of Roy Orbison�s. Like Orbison, Alexander passed away on his way to a resurrected career, though Orbison got to see his rebound while Alexander didn�t. He�d quit the music business and was driving a bus whenElektra A&R exec Danny Khan saw Alexander perform in 1991 at New York's Bottom Line in one of the clubs famous "A bunch of song writers sitting around singing" shows and convinced him to go back into the studio.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
The Flying Burrito Bros' "The Gilded Palace of Sin" Finally Reissued Correctly
Michael Fremer  |  May 03, 2017  |  12 comments
Characterizing The Gilded Palace of Sin as a “country-rock” album or “the first country-rock album” or as it’s incorrectly called by some Sweetheart of The Rodeo Part 2 sells short an album that transcends genre or for that matter “dash-genres”.

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Album Reviews
The Gospel According to Bob Dylan Reissued By Light In the Attic Records
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 03, 2014  |  9 comments
Producer Lou Adler, best known by 1969 for co-producing The Monterrey Pop Festival and for producing The Mamas and The Papas on his Dunhill Record label (and that really doesn't begin to cover his comings and goings back then or now) had this idea to re-imagine Bob Dylan's music in a gospel setting.
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Album Reviews
The Grateful Dead’s Plangent Processes-Restored Boston 5.7.77 180g 5LP RSD 2023-Exclusive Box Set Completes One of Their Essential Live Trilogies
Mark Smotroff  |  May 12, 2023  |  10 comments

On Record Store Day 2023, Rhino Records issued another entry in their fine series of super-deluxe multidisc vinyl box sets celebrating the road trips of the Grateful Dead, a 180g 5LP box set titled Boston Garden, Boston, MA 5/7/77 (a.k.a. Boston 5.7.77). This new edition is an important historical puzzle piece in the band’s storied legacy, effectively completing a trilogy of live releases culled from their epic spring 1977 tour peak. AP’s resident Deadhead Mark Smotroff got his hands on one these new limited edition collections, so read on to see his reasoning as to why it’s an instantly essential entry in the Dead’s live legacy on vinyl. . .

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Album Reviews
The Great Sadness Makes a Great Noise
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 02, 2018  |  1 comments
Indie records arrive more often than you might imagine from musicians giving vinyl a shot at reaching a new audience and possibly providing an additional revenue stream (though as most find out, it’s neither cheap nor easy). Unfortunately, vinyl doesn’t transform lackluster into exceptional music.

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