Michael Fremer

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Album Reviews
Come Away With Me Has Never Sounded Better
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 17, 2003  |  1 comments

Genre-busting artists often disappoint stylistically because they end up diluting the power of their influences while failing to create a fusion as substantial as any of the components. Even if artistically successful, their debut albums often suffer disappointing sales due to the vagaries of marketing and promotional placement. Tossing music into a prefabricated slot is one thing, creating a new one is another. In the case of stylistically ambiguous Norah Jones, it has all come together brilliantly.

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Album Reviews
Dark Side of the Moon Yet Again? And Again?
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 01, 2011  |  1 comments

Another decade, another reissue of DSOTM, this one using the very fragile original two track master tape, again supervised by James Guthrie. Guthrie had determined that the tape was in fragile shape back in 2003, which is why he opted for a remix in the analog domain. That edition was very good and worth having, especially if you didn't have a very clean early UK pressing, but in retrospect it departs from the original much as the Mo-Fi does: the EQ is a bit much at the frequency extremes, which bleaches out the mids. As for the mix's micro-elements and how close Guthrie came to reproducing the original mix, I have to surrender that to the DTOTM fanatics, of which I'm not one.

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News
dCS Expands "Legends" Award Program to Additional Grammy-Winning Engineers
Michael Fremer  |  May 20, 2020  |  First Published: May 20, 2020  |  0 comments
dCS (Data Conversion Systems, Ltd.) announced earlier this month an expansion of its "Legends" program that acknowledges recording, mixing and mastering greats who have brought all of us so much listening pleasure through great recorded sound. The initial recipient, Bob Ludwig (third from the left after engineering greats Elliot Scheiner and Chuck Ainlay) was the first recipient at an awards ceremony in New York last October.

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News
DÉJÀ VU : 50TH Anniversary Edition Coming May 14th From Rhino
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 19, 2021  |  First Published: Mar 19, 2021  |  25 comments
DÉJÀ VU: 50TH ANNIVERSARY DELUXE EDITION will be available from Rhino on May 14 for $99.98. Presented in a 12 x 12 hardcover book, the collection comes illustrated with rarely seen photos from the era and annotated by writer/filmmaker Cameron Crowe, whose revealing liner notes recount the making of the album through stories told by the people who were there, including David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young.

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Album Reviews
Dialogues on Race Volume One  Is The Emmett Till Story Set to Unforgettable Music
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 29, 2020  |  12 comments
As I reached my home the other day after an early morning run a neighbor pulled over in his car and asked how I was doing. I said, “great, under the Covid-19 circumstances”. Noting my Biden/Harris lawn sign he said “The Democrats have been taken over by the progressives. Doesn’t that bother you?” I said “No, I’m fairly progressive myself. The GOP has been taken over by Trump, who isn’t sure he’ll hand over the reins of power if he loses the election, doesn’t that bother you?”

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Duke Ellington & John Coltrane Together Make Beautiful Music
Michael Fremer  |  May 08, 2022  |  16 comments
What seemed like an unlikely pairing in 1962 of “jazz elder” 63 year old Duke Ellington with John Coltrane, who had just assembled his ”classic quartet” destined to explore uncharted musical (and spiritual) territory, produced a surprisingly cohesive and satisfying album.

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Album Reviews
Ella The Lost Berlin Tapes  An Extraordinary Document!
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 02, 2020  |  13 comments
This March 25, 1962 recording of Ella Fitzgerald performing live at Berlin’s Sportpalast is remarkable for several reasons, starting with the then 44 year old’s exuberant, high energy performance backed by the trio of Paul Smith on piano, Wilfred Middlebrooks on bass and Stan Levey on drums.

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News
Ella The Lost Berlin Tapes Found (In Late Verve Founder Norman Granz's Private Stash)!
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 21, 2020  |  First Published: Aug 21, 2020  |  11 comments
Verve will release on October 2nd, 2020 a never before issued Ella Fitzgerald concert performance recorded in stereo at Berlin's Sportpalast March 25th 1962. Ella recorded in Berlin 1960, one of her best known, most popular, double Grammy Award winning albums Mack The Knife: Ella in Berlin in which she bobbled the words. She remembers them here, but forgets where she is—understandable when you're in the middle of a long European tour. That one was recorded only in monophonic.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas Will Warm An Atheist's Heart
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 03, 2021  |  18 comments
Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas album is a secular holiday delight sure to please every listener, even atheists and agnostics. Originally released in 1960, the sound here is warm and inviting as a Yule log burning in the fireplace—once you get past the opener "Jingle Bells", which is somewhat brighter, brasher and more in your face than the rest, though having Ella in your face is hardly problematic.

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Album Reviews
Ellington Masterpieces  A Record That Belongs In Every Record Collection
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 05, 2014  |  48 comments
The Internet has diminished the number of "record fairs" but there still are some. When I go to "record fairs" l like to "play against type". If I see a vendor who looks like Elvis Presley (and there is/was one), I know his 50s rock records are going to be good but expensive so I'd rather rummage through the boxes of $1 records he's put on the floor under his table. That's where he puts the "junk" about which he knows nothing.

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