Michael Fremer

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Beatles
An Interview With Ed Sullivan Show Associate Producer Vince Calandra at The Fest For Beatles Fans, NYC
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 10, 2014  |  6 comments
This year's Fest for Beatles Fans coincided with the 50th anniversary of their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, February 9th, 1964. The "invasion" festivities began earlier of course, including one event held Thursday February 6th at the 92nd St. "Y". That one featured Peter Asher (of Peter and Gordon, who also signed James Taylor to Apple and went on to become a major producer/manager), performer Billy J. Kramer, Beatle secretary Frida Kelly and Vince Calandra. The event was hosted by British actor/comedian and Beatle fan Martin Lewis. Donovan was a no-show due to a friend's death.

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Australia 2014
An Interview With Krix Loudspeakers' Donald MacKenzie
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 26, 2014  |  First Published: Oct 26, 2014  |  3 comments
Krix Loudspeakers set up shop two doors down from my hotel room. The name sounded interesting so I popped in. I met the company's National Consumer Products Manager Donald MacKenzie and decided to share with you the Krix Loudspeaker story.

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Record Cleaning Tips
An Orbitrac™ Replacement?
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 19, 2013  |  3 comments
"Record Cleaning Made Difficult", Michael Wayne's definitive and fanatical record cleaning article originally published in The Tracking Angle back in the mid '90s includes use of Allsop's no long in production Orbitrac™, which was a pad based cleaning system that fit over the turntable spindle, allowing you to easily rotate it around the record.
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Album ReviewsFeaturesNews
An RSD Special: Albert Ayler Revelation  The Complete ORTF 1970 Foundation Maeght Recordings
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 21, 2022  |  First Published: Apr 21, 2022  |  7 comments
Jazz historian, Resonance Records Co-President and tireless searcher for unreleased jazz treasures Zev Feldman in 2015 was searching the French Institut National de la audiovisual (INA) archives when he came upon the complete, never before released in their entirety, Albert Ayler’s 1970 ORTF 1970 Fondation Maeght Recordings, recorded by Radio France, using professional recording equipment—a completely different STEREO source for this material than the radio broadcast, parts of which had previously been issued.

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News
An Unprecedented, Star-Studded Collection from America’s Top Jazz Labels in Support of Musicians Affected by the Pandemic Arrives on November 12
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 07, 2021  |  First Published: Sep 07, 2021  |  3 comments
The 2-LP Set, CD and digital album features Herbie Hancock, Wallace Roney, Buster Williams, Jimmy Heath, Albert “Tootie” Heath,Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, IRMA and LEO (Esperanza Spalding & Leo Genovese), Cécile McLorin Salvant, Charles Lloyd, Hiromi, Kenny Garrett, Jon Batiste, and Other Jazz Greats.

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News
Analog "Guru" Wally Malewicz R.I.P.
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 07, 2018  |  First Published: Jun 07, 2018  |  12 comments
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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #1
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 12, 1995  |  2 comments
It was big. It was ugly. It looked unfinished. It resembled some kind of industrial mistake, which is pretty much what it was: a prototype CD player rolled out by Sony at the 1982 AES Convention in Los Angeles. The inventors didn't care what it looked like, they just wanted you to hear it. Why, I don't know; it sounded awful.

I'd just spent a week's worth of tweak time optimizing my turntable using a Japanese pressing of Roxy Music's Avalon, squeezing every last cymbal rivet of musical detail from my Dynavector Ruby/Lustre GST-1 combo, and they're trying to pass off this flaccid noodle as Avalon? Oh, headless chickens!

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #10
Michael Fremer  |  May 11, 1996  |  0 comments
Can't we all get along?" Long before Rodney King, I was posing that question in Los Angeles—in 1983 to be exact. One big difference: I was the one doing the head-bashing. No, I wasn't in an LAPD uniform at the time, though a hyperventilating, mucous-snorting LA cop once did put a revolver to my head. But that's another story.

This story is about collectivism in the age of rack systems. I relate it to you because even though I failed then, I hope to succeed now. If you keep your Stereophiles—which I hope you do—read Ted Lindblad's letter in the January 1996 issue (p.29). Mr. Lindblad, a Connecticut retailer, calls for a high-end marketing collective in response to my observation that high-end audio is an invisible industry in the country leading the charge—the good old U.S. of A!

It is as if Mr. Lindblad had been reading my mind, or thumbing through my filing cabinet to be exact, for back in 1983 I had tried to set up the very sort of cooperative advertising campaign he called for in his letter. This was before I had any involvement in the industry. I was a full-retail–paying, card-carrying audiophile just like you.

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #100
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 05, 2018  |  First Published: Nov 01, 2003  |  7 comments
The Mørch DP-6 tonearm's pillar

This is the 100th "Analog Corner" I've written for Stereophile. Thanks to all for reading the column, and for taking the time to send me and the magazine so many letters, complimentary and otherwise, over the eight years and four months it's taken to reach 100 installments. In that time we've witnessed one of the greatest resurrections since...well, I don't want to get into John Lennon's trap, so let's just say the unlikely survival and rebirth of analog in the age of digital everything has been one of the most gratifying phenomena I've witnessed in my life as an audiophile. If I've played some small part in that, all of the hard work has been worthwhile...

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Analog Corner
Analog Corner #101
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 12, 2018  |  First Published: Dec 01, 2003  |  10 comments
Like the LP itself, the dream of a turntable that could read grooves with a laser beam would not die. The Finial Technology laser turntable has been resurrected as the ELP Laser Turntable by the ELP Corporation of Japan. ELP is headed by Sanju Chiba, an analog true believer and ELP, which has been building and selling the Laser Turntable since 1997, recently announced three LT models with improved sonic performance and user interfaces, including CD-like programmability and remote control.
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