Mark Smotroff

Album Reviews
The Breadth of the Music Heard on Pink Floyd’s New Animals 2018 Remix Shines Through, But Some Copies of the First Pressing of the 180g LP Are Experiencing Playback Issues
Mark Smotroff  |  Sep 30, 2022  |  17 comments

We’ve been talking about Pink Floyd’s Animals 2018 Remix LP for a few months now, and we’ve finally gotten copies in hand to spin on the AnalogPlanet reviewing turntable. How good does this new Animals 180g LP sound, you ask? Read on to find out what Mark Smotroff finds — as in, what’s truly great, and what’s not-so-great — in his in-depth review. . .

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Album Reviews
Chick Corea’s New Montreux Years 2LP Set Shines Via Remarkably Consistent Sounding MQA-Mastered 180g Vinyl
Mark Smotroff  |  Sep 23, 2022  |  7 comments

The latest album in Claude Nobs’ amazing series of official private-collection releases features none other than the late, great keyboard master, Chick Corea. Culled from the archives of The Montreux Jazz Festival, Chick Corea: The Montreux Years 2LP 180g set via BMG sounds remarkably fine and consistent across the years that span the multiple eras of these recordings. Read on to learn more about how the MQA-mastered Montreaux Years makes the grade on wax. . .

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Album Reviews
Acoustic Burnside, Duwayne Burnside’s New Acoustic Field Recordings LP, Pays Tribute to His Late Father and to an Era of Simpler Production Aesthetics
Mark Smotroff  |  Sep 09, 2022  |  9 comments

There’s a fine new acoustic blues album by an artist some of you may not have heard of: Duwayne Burnside. Acoustic Burnside was made in the style of classic field recordings from a half-century or so ago using a vintage microphone and a monaural analog reel-to-reel tape machine. Burnside, who has an established electric blues career, also happens to be the son of the late, great R. L. Burnside. Read on to discover why this sweet field-recording LP bridges the generations. . .

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Album Reviews
Elvis Costello and The Brodsky Quartet Go Against the Grain With a New Limited Edition 180g 1LP Purple LP Edition of The Juliet Letters
Mark Smotroff  |  Sep 02, 2022  |  9 comments

In January 1993, Elvis Costello spearheaded a fascinating album inspired by a newspaper article about a professor from Verona, Italy who had taken it upon himself to write replies to letters that were addressed to Shakespeare’s tragic — and imaginary — character, Juliet Capulet. Called The Juliet Letters, Elvis’ song cycle imagined and brought these letters to life, as backed by a highly talented string quartet known as The Brodsky Quartet. It may be a good time for reconsidering this wondrous recording, now that The Juliet Letters is available on 180g 1LP limited-edition purple vinyl. Read on to discover more about this new vinyl edition of one of Elvis Costello’s most ambitious musical works. . .

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Album Reviews
The Abbey Road Half-Speed Mastered 180g 2LP Reissue of The Who’s Tommy Is an Amazing Vinyl Journey, Delivering A Dramatically Improved, Rounder & More Robust Listening Experience
Mark Smotroff  |  Aug 26, 2022  |  20 comments
In May 1969, The Who’s Tommy was a near instantly iconic release which — in a make-or-break moment — stabilized the then-precarious career of Britain’s now legendary rockers. As one of the first rock operas — and still one of the best and most successful of them — Tommy caused quite a sea-change in the pop/rock music world by opening new doors and possibilities for composers, producers, and fans alike, and its impact is still felt to this day. The good news is, Tommy has just been reissued by Polydor/UMC in a quite wonderful half-speed-mastered 180g 2LP edition. Read on to find out exactly why this version of Tommy belongs in your collection and on your turntable, post-haste. . .

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Album Reviews
Ella And Louis Serve Up Sweet ’N’ Salty Vocals With a Side of Rich Trumpet for This Terrific Verve & Acoustic Sounds Mono 180g LP Reissue
Mark Smotroff  |  Aug 19, 2022  |  16 comments

The ongoing Verve Records and Acoustic Sounds reissue series has once again delivered a new vinyl edition of an iconic album that is arguably better than the original in most every way. This new reissue of the October 1956 mono vocal jazz classic Ella And Louis features singing legend Ella Fitzgerald at a superstar-ascending crossroads, teamed with one of the architects of modern jazz, Louis Armstrong — a.k.a. “Pops,” a.k.a. “Satchmo,” a.k.a. “Satch.” Read onward to find out why this new 180g edition honors the now-rare originals while improving upon them in many ways. . .

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Album Reviews
Exemplary New Abbey Road Studios Half-Speed-Mastered 180g 1LP Of The Who Sell Out Delivers a Rich, Warm & Round Listening Experience
Mark Smotroff  |  Aug 12, 2022  |  10 comments

An excellent new, 180g half-speed-mastered vinyl reissue of The Who’s December 1967 classic third studio album The Who Sell Out has recently been released by Polydor/UMC, and the results are quite impressive. If you are a serious fan of this record, there is enough significant new detail resonating in this new Abbey Road Studios-cut 1LP edition to make it worth your while to pick up. Read on to find out all the details. . .

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Album Reviews
The Oscar Peterson Trio’s 180g 1LP We Get Requests Impresses, Featuring an Unstoppable Three-Piece Band at Its Creative Peak on a Stunning New Edition From Verve & Acoustic Sounds
Mark Smotroff  |  Aug 05, 2022  |  9 comments

The Oscar Peterson Trio’s seminal 1964 release We Get Requests features his classic trio at a creative peak. This fine recording is an especially fantastic listen in a pristine new Verve Records/Acoustic Sounds Series 180g 1LP presentation that’s coming out August 19 via UMe. This reissue delivers on so many levels, and is in every way better than my original 1960s-era vinyl pressing. Read on to learn why this new edition is worth pre-ordering right now. . .

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Album Reviews
Fleet Foxes Serve Up a Harmonious 180g 1LP Live Performance Featuring Bandleader Robin Pecknold Mostly Going at It Alone, and Acoustically
Mark Smotroff  |  Jul 29, 2022  |  4 comments

Fleet Foxes’ new live and mostly acoustic A Very Lonely Solstice LP leans more toward the full-album concert experience I was hoping for on record. There is a nice sense of the church ambiance — this performance was recorded live at St. Ann & The Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn, New York in December 2020 — that wonderfully captures the woody essence of Fleet Foxes bandleader Robin Pecknold’s strummy nylon-string guitar. Read on to learn more. . .

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Album Reviews
Explorin’ the Open Sounds of the Bernie Grundman-Mastered, RTI One-Step-Pressed, Craft Recordings Small Batch Series 180g 1LP Release of Relaxin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet
Mark Smotroff  |  Jul 22, 2022  |  22 comments

The prospect of reviewing a new, ultra-deluxe 180g version of the March 1958 hard-bop classic Relaxin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet has been simultaneously daunting and exciting. It is the first time I’ve gotten my hands on one of these tasty, fancy editions that’s an upstanding member of Craft Recordings’ popular and acclaimed Small Batch series. This series uses RTI’s noted one-step vinyl manufacturing process, which effectively delivers a pressing made off a first-generation metal mother made from the original lacquer. Good news: The Craft Relaxin’ LP is nicely centered, fairly flat, and RTI’s special Neotech’s VR900 vinyl formulation is especially quiet and transparent. Read on to glean more. . .

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