Mike Mettler

Looks like another year has gone by with a seemingly endless release-cycle parade consisting of scores of brand-new LPs from both known artists and untested newcomers alike, along with a myriad of archival vinyl reissues and overstuffed box sets galore — a good number of them presented in the much-preferred AAA form to boot. With the calendar set to turn over to 2024 any day now, that means it’s high time to assess the best of what we’ve heard on wax during the past 12 months. Read on to see AP editor Mike Mettler and chief LP reviewer Mark Smotroff’s respective lists of the top archival and new LP releases of 2023. . .

That’s right folks, don’t touch that dial — it’s another tag-team album review, just in time for that last-minute holiday push. This time around, AP editor Mike Mettler, along with ace reviewers Mark Smotroff and Ken Micallef, are combining forces to proffer a three-man review of the new 50th anniversary 180g AAA 2LP 45rpm edition of Frank Zappa’s top-shelf September 1973 release, Over-Nite Sensation, an album all three of us regard with great affinity. We also review the limited-edition 3LP version of ONS too, which contains an extra LP of bonus tracks. Read on to see how this Zappa-loving triumvirate of Mike, Mark, and Ken get reety-awrighty with their analysis of a stone-cold classic LP in its new 45rpm incarnation. . .

Even though they initially took flight in the burgeoning digital age as the calendar turned to the 1990s, The Black Crowes have always had an analog-centric mindset. During a recent Zoom interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Black Crowes lead vocalist Chris Robinson and lead guitarist/vocalist Rich Robinson, alongside producer George Drakoulias, all came together to discuss how finding the original quarter-inch master unlocked the Southern Harmony vinyl collection, which vintage turntables both Brothers Robinson swear by, and why sequencing the album for vinyl playback was always of primary consideration. . .

And The Stones, they just keep on roll-roll-rollin’ along. To that end, ABKCO Records will release The Rolling Stones Singles 1966-1971 on February 2, 2024, as a limited-edition box set that will include reproductions of 18 of the band’s 7in vinyl singles and EPs originally released by Decca, London Records, and ABKCO. Read on to see which singles are included, what all the extras are, and what the box’s SRP will be. . .