Album Reviews

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Album Reviews
Which "Wish You Were Here" Do You Want?
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 05, 2012  |  11 comments
It's a bit late in the day to write a review of the music on this album, which concerns itself mostly with how the music business chews up musicians with dreams and spits them out—not that Syd Barrett, the subject of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" was done in by the business.

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Album Reviews
Which Beethoven?
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 13, 2019  |  54 comments
AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer is not a classical music authority. If you didn't know that before watching this frantic, somewhat shallow video, you will after!

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Album Reviews
While You're Waiting For Classic's Version, Check Out This One!
Michael Fremer  |  May 01, 2005  |  0 comments

Petra Haden, the very talented daughter of bassist Charlie Haden, and former member of That Dog has released an a cappella version of The Who Sells Out that is charming, entertaining, ingenious and loads of fun.

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Album Reviews
White Stripes Streak Continues
Brent Raynor  |  Sep 01, 2005  |  2 comments

It seems strange that someone who doesn’t even want to be part of this generation has become the voice of it. Jack White could care less about reality TV, George Bush, or the Boston Red Sox. Jack lives in a bygone era where Orson Welles and Rita Heyworth are the new stars, and Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, and Dolly Parton represent the avant-garde.

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Album Reviews
White's Sixth Chosen For AAA Reissue
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 01, 2012  |  1 comments

I’ve heard and read complaints about the unadventurous reissues coming from Analogue Productions, especially now that the parent company Acoustic Sounds owns its own pressing plant, Quality Record Pressing.

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Album Reviews
Why Am I Reviewing a CD??????
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 09, 2013  |  6 comments
Why am I reviewing a CD???? The answer(s) are easy. Firstly, this loving tribute to Les Paul featuring longtime trio cohort Lou Pallo and others with whom Les played at Fat Tuesdays and the Iridium is musically fabulous assuming you like the timeless "old school" style.
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Album Reviews
Why Can't All CDs Sound Like This?
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 01, 2005  |  1 comments

From the second the stylus hits the…er I mean the laser hits the pits, you'll know this is a stunning sounding live recording of a jazz trio. You'll feel as if you're in the Up Over Jazz Café, where this set was brilliantly recorded by Kato Hideki.

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Album Reviews
Wilbury Box Puts It All Together
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 01, 2008  |  0 comments

In retrospect it’s easy to understand why these superstars would want to write and perform this codger-esque novelty stuff under assumed names. They must have figured that while writing and singing this lighthearted fare inspired by the music of their formative years was fun, they were hardly washed up artists and had more greatness within waiting to pour forth.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Willie Nelson's Singing "Chops" All There On 1961 Debut
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 23, 2021  |  9 comments
The term “singer/songwriter” hadn’t yet been coined when the “hotter’n a depot stove” 29 year-old songwriter Willie Nelson stepped into the studio to record his debut album for Liberty Records. Back then, you were either a songwriter or a singer, though of course there were a very few who were both. Here, Nelson proves he was one of them

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Album Reviews
Willie's Latest Covers Familiar Ground
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 19, 2005  |  0 comments

Does anyone alive sell a song as effortlessly and convincingly as Willie Nelson? Maybe Tony Bennett, and I'm sure there are a few others. Johnny Cash did it with Willie's brand of clarity and economy.

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Album Reviews
Willner Produces Faithful Classic
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 01, 2011  |  0 comments

Does an album that didn’t make a Billboard chart blip when first issued in 1987 deserve to be reissued on double 45rpm 180g gram vinyl?

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Album Reviews
Wilson Scores, Strings Attached
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 01, 2006  |  0 comments

Much was made of special guest star Diana Krall’s appearance when this superb album was announced, and while her reading of Cheryl Ernst’s lyrics set to a Jimmy Rowles’s composition is poignant and heartfelt, appropriately, it is Wilson who shines both as an arranger, comfortably in the grip of Gil Evans, and as a precise master of the hollow-bodied electric guitar.

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Album Reviews
Wilson's Smile Delivers Even Better Vibrations on Vinyl!
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 01, 2005  |  0 comments

LP mastering engineer Don Grossinger brought over two LP editions of Smile last week, test pressings from RTI used for the domestic Rhino release and a set from Pallas in Germany for the European market. Grossinger cut identical lacquers for both.

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Album Reviews
With "Brass In Pocket" Chrissie Hynde Delivers a Jazz Album
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 20, 2020  |  22 comments
It takes a rocker with "brass in pocket" to deliver a jazz album. It takes more than that to produce a great one, which is what Hynde does on Valve Bone Woe, the title of which was her trombonist brother's "beatnik haiku" response to hearing about the passing of Bob Brookmeyer. Hynde here is no jazz pretender.

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Album Reviews
With Crash, Charli XCX Shifts Her Sound & Aesthetic
Malachi Lui  |  May 14, 2022  |  9 comments
Last year, British electropop star Charli XCX tweeted, “rip hyperpop.” The tweet shocked many—especially coming from the artist who brought bubblegum bass and hyperpop to broader audiences through projects like 2016’s SOPHIE-produced Vroom Vroom EP or 2020’s quickly recorded quarantine album how i’m feeling now—but Charli has always gone at her own pace, on her own terms. Yet, her new album Crash presents her as merely another generic pop star, supposedly as a performance art piece about selling out that doubles as her last record on Atlantic (and therefore her as-of-now last chance to use those major label resources). Crash is Charli’s Let’s Dance: the album where a pop star fully embraces the mainstream after years of artsier excursions. Unfortunately, the end result lacks personality, trading her strengths for lyrically emptier and sonically blander songs laser-focused on mass appeal.

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