Michael Fremer

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Features
I Blew My MTV Audition
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 30, 2009  |  0 comments
Back in 1980 or so, in Los Angeles, I had a disastrous try-out to be one of the original MTV VJs. I had no idea what the content was going to be, but having been on the radio and having done stand-up, I figured why not try out? By the time I wrote the article below, which appeared in Los Angeles music magazine "Music Connection" the week of April 12th-25th 1984 (25 years ago!), MTV had gone from pretty bad to much worse. So I wrote this arbor of sour grapes that I thought you might find amusing now that MTV is no longer about music.-Ed.
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Book Reviews
A Zip Code With Its Own Playlist!
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 31, 2010  |  0 comments

Your head will spin dizzily with pleasure before you reach the end of the first chapter of "Canyon of Dreams," Harvey Kubernik’s lovingly told history of the unique Hollywood micro-climate known as Laurel Canyon. The supernovas and the dimly lit alike open up to L.A. native, record biz insider and scene maker Kubernik who transmits their stories with an immediacy that will make you feel more like an eavesdropper than a history buff.

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Features
The Beatles Remasters: A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed For Most
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 31, 2010  |  0 comments

How bad were the original Beatles CDs issued back in 1987? So bad that even the clueless conditioned to believe that CDs represented an automatic sonic step up from vinyl noticed something was terribly wrong.

Amusing to some observers was the nature of the complaints: “they sound tinny,” “they sound flat,” “they sound thin and bright,” “they’re harsh and edgy,” “where’s the warmth?” etc.

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Features
Now! You Can Own Every Record Ever Made!
Michael Fremer  |  Apr 30, 2010  |  0 comments
(Note: over time since this was first posted, we've gotten complaints from some readers about glaring omissions in the Mog "catalog." No Kinks, among others.

We probably should have made clear that we were saying "every record every made" with tongue firmly in cheek. No doubt there are holes, some gaping, in the Mog catalog that hopefully will be filled over time by licensing deals.)—MF

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Book Reviews
"A Perfect Haze" The Illustrated HIstory of the Monterey International Pop Festival
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 07, 2012  |  0 comments

The ‘60s played host to three significant, culture shifting music festivals. The first was the Newport Folk Festival where, in the decade’s early years, folk, blues and country blended to produce a beautiful noise that the boomer generation eventually embraced.

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Book Reviews
What Makes an Indie Record Store Owner Tick?
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 31, 2010  |  1 comments
More of an informal sampler than a comprehensive look, James P. Goss’s “Vinyl Lives” offers a fascinating glimpse into the mindset of folks both sufficiently crazy and persistent to own record stores in the face of the Internet download juggernaut.
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Book Reviews
And You Shall Know Us By the Trail of Our Vinyl
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 31, 2010  |  0 comments
My grandmother used to think everyone was Jewish. Sunday night she watched "The Ed Solomon Show." She told us Tony Curtis was Jewish and Dinah Shore and even Danny Kay and Kirk Douglas. We thought the Holocaust had kind of twisted her thinking but aside from Ed "Solomon" she was right!
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Interviews
Bonnie "Prince" Billy Grants a Rare Interview--Pt. 2
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 31, 2007  |  0 comments
Part Two picks up with a discussion of the disappearance of commercial recording studios, the recording of Sings Greatest Palace Music, and the life and times of an \"indie\" recording artist--MF

WO: Yes. I mean even in Nashville when Mark and I did tours of studios for this new record thinking where we were going to record, the studios were dead because everybody has their home studios now.

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Album Reviews
Front row table at the Village Vanguard
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 19, 2003  |  1 comments
There have probably been more reissues of this 1961 Riverside recording than any other jazz record in history. There's your standard aluminum CD, the Fantasy OJC budget LP, Analogue Productions' 180g LP, the JVC XRCD, and Analogue Productions' hybrid SACD. Who's buying these? The same fans of the record who must have it in every format? A new generation of fans, simply buying on the latest tech format? I haven't an answer, but Acoustic Sounds' Chad Kassem seems to feel that yet another edition -- 2 LPs at 45rpm -- will sell, and I wouldn't bet against him.
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Album Reviews
Mingus! Roach! Dolphy! Eldridge! Jo Jones Fight Waterfront Commercialization
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 01, 2005  |  1 comments

It's almost laughable to think they were complaining about “commercialization” of the Newport Jazz Festival back in 1960 given what's happened to the venerable jazz festival, not to mention Wynton Marsalis doing ads for Movado and corporate sponsorships of bands, and festivals. We've got McCartney hawking some mutual fund or other, the Stones selling their music for commercials (I'm waiting for “Start Me Up” in a laxative ad). It's reached the point where nothing surprises, nothing shocks, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it except shake you head, and even that's really a waste of energy, so as they say, just lie back and enjoy it.

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