LATEST ADDITIONS

Mark Smotroff  |  Jul 18, 2025

David Bowie’s March 1975 LP release on RCA, Young Americans, was an album that in some ways divided fans and his career, having come out in the aftermath of shedding his Ziggy Stardust persona and not long before the full-flowered emergence of his suave and sophisticated Thin White Duke phase. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see if Parlophone’s new half-speed-mastered 180g 1LP reissue of this transitional and transformational Bowie release gives you good reason to reconsider the music and sound of Young Americans, one of the more underappreciated classics in the mid-’70s Bowie catalog. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jul 17, 2025

British manufacturer Music First Audio, long known for their stellar preamps and the transformers that are found within them, have announced their latest phono preamp, the LP 103 LCR. Read on to see all the specs and features of the sleek-looking LP 103 LCR. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jul 16, 2025

Well, he can’t sit still, and you know that he’s moving again. I’m speaking about, of course, the perpetual wanderer known as Robert Plant, who earlier today just announced the release of his latest solo LP, Saving Grace, which will arrive on vinyl via Nonesuch on September 26, 2025. Read on to see who comprises this new Saving Grace collective, and what the vinyl offerings for Plant’s tall cool new LP shall be. . .

Julie Mullins  |  Jul 15, 2025

A new tonearm design might not seem as “sexy” as a new turntable design is, but there’s good reason to give them some love too. Some tonearms warrant more attention than others, and the latest entry from Airon Audio, the TH1, is one that caught Julie Mullins’ eye at the High End Munich show back in late May 2025. Read on to get her firsthand impressions of the way-cool TH1 arm. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jul 13, 2025

To say Live Aid altered the course of many an artist’s career exactly 40 years ago today on July 13, 1985, would be an understatement of epic proportions. One such artist got to do so with one single solitary solo performance — keyboardist/vocalist Howard Jones. Forty years on, Jones continues to create new and vital work, in addition to touring his long-loved hits. To cover all of the then and now bases, Jones and AP editor Mike Mettler got on the horn together across the Pond to discuss his compositional thought processes behind what appears on the vinyl version of his new limited-edition 180g LP Piano Composed Ivory, his most vivid recollections of performing at Live Aid, and which two British uber-superstars got a truly private performance backstage of a song Jones didn’t get to perform for the gathered Live Aid masses. . .

Mark Smotroff  |  Jul 11, 2025

Two iconic pillars of fantastic, fast ’n furious funkified artistry are the focus for today’s deep funk ‘n’ soul edition of our ongoing Short Cuts review series: 1) Fire on the Bayou, the Allan Toussaint-produced, Reprise-released July 1975 sixth LP from New Orleans legends The Meters, and 2) The Baby Huey Story: The Living Legend, the lone LP from James “Baby Huey” Ramey, an album that went on to become an influential, and heavily sampled, release for the hip-hop generation. Read Mark Smotroff’s combo Short Cuts review to see how Rhino Reserve has brought these two classic LPs new life on 180g vinyl. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jul 09, 2025

Let’s face the music and dance, shall we? And what I mean by that is a new, and quite big, David Bowie box set is a-coming. It’s titled (number included!) 6. I Can’t Give Everything Away (2002 – 2016), and it will be released in a massive 180g 18LP collection via Parlophone on September 12, 2025. Read on to see which key twilight-era Bowie albums are on it, in addition to what comprises its formidable amount of previously unreleased-on-vinyl contents. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jul 08, 2025

Cyrus Audio continues to fill out the formidable 40 line with their latest offering, the 40 PPA phono preamp. Read on to see all the specs and features of the venerable British company’s 40 PPA phono pre. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jul 07, 2025

Orange knows amplifiers, and Orange also knows turntables. The venerable British power merchants (if you will) are once again turning their gear-manufacturing prowess toward analog playback with the introduction of their new — and quite appropriately, succinctly named — O turntable. Read on to see all the features and specs of the O, and its inherent availability. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jul 03, 2025

Robin Trower is an unabashed guitar master. After he left British proto-prog rockers Procol Harum in 1971, he quickly established himself as an axeslinger/songwriter to be reckoned with via early albums like March 1973’s template setting Twice Removed From Yesterday, the perennial April 1974 FM favorite Bridge of Sighs, and February 1975’s eternally rifftastical For Earth Below, the latter of which was just released as a 180g 2LP 50th Anniversary Edition on June 27, 2025. In a recent interview, AP editor Mike Mettler and Trower discussed the differences between the 1975 and 2025 Earth mixes, the vibrancy of his new album Come and Find Me, and the key reason why his music simply sounds better on vinyl. . .

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