(Review Explosion is a recurring AnalogPlanet feature covering recent releases for which we either don't have sufficient time to fully explore, or that are not worthy of it. Curated by AnalogPlanet contributing editor Malachi Lui, Review Explosion focuses on the previous couple months' new releases and reissues.)
First let's all agree that these short clip tests are useful and fun but must be taken as "for entertainment purposes only."
For those joining late, we twice asked the question "Should You Buy a MM-Only Phono Preamp If You Own a MM Cartridge"?, each time offering "blind listening" and voting. The first time was way back in May of 2017 where you could listen and vote for one of eight phono preamps, some MM-only and some MM/MC running in MM.
Compare an original forty three year old UK "pink rim" Island pressing of "Baby's On Fire" from "Here Come the Warm Jets" (ILPS 9268), Brian Eno's debut solo album, with the 2004 DSD remaster using the original tape played back on an Ampex ATR deck with custom ARIA electronics.
AnalogPlanet recently posted 3 96/24 "John Wesley Harding" files recorded from original, Sony Legacy and Mobile Fidelity mono records and asked readers to weigh in on what they heard and which they preferred (if any).
In a July 2nd story, we announced four new costly arms from SAT(Swedish Analog Technologies): two models each available in 9" and 12" versions. The least expensive of the four, the LM-09 was reviewed in the just shipped October, 2018 Stereophile.
The first bi-annual Blue Note Review may have been a somewhat tentative and ill-focused project as label head Don Was worked to re-establish with a younger generation the Blue Note brand identity and “community”, yet few who purchased were disappointed (the set sold-out) other than in the digitally mastered Blue Mitchell album and its grade B jacket.
Here's 100 recommended all-analog LP reissues worth owning. The video runs two hours so unless you are masochistic, you might want to watch in shorter segments but covering 100 LPs took time! Plus there are the usual fun stories interspersed throughout. Okay, I got wrong the The Who's "Tommy"'s original issue date (I said November '68, was May '69) otherwise all of the information should be correct. Yes, too many superlatives, but that’s video!
By Armegeddon (however the Evangelical wet-dream is spelled) this article will be TOTALLY updated!
157 In-Print LPs You Should Own! Soon to be Updated.....Yea, sure. That's what you've been saying for more than a year....(sorry but soon, really!)
Okay, that's a ridiculous headline. It's the kind of cynical ploy you see on magazine covers to attract attention. These are really 157 LPs I do own, some of which you probably will enjoy and should own, and some of which you will probably hate. No doubt you already own some.
You've seen videos here of the world's largest audio show, "High End" Munich. Back in the 1990s, the show, held in Frankfurt's Kempinski Hotel, more closely resembled a sleepy American affair—as this vintage video demonstrates. It was a very "German" show at the time, musically and otherwise, though even then you'll hear "Take Five" and "Belafonte at Carnegie Hall". Today's High End show is an international affair.
Despite our best efforts, we unfortunately didn’t review in real time every consequential 2021 release; thankfully, there’s still time to catch up on important missed albums, EPs, and singles. Our two 2021 Catch-Up Explosions (of which this is the first) differ somewhat from typical Review Explosions: some of these reviews are shorter than usual, and this time we won’t include sound quality scores (though rest assured, those will remain a site fixture). We won’t be able to cover every worthwhile 2021 release, though it’s possible to provide a reasonably comprehensive roundup of the year in music. The reviews are listed alphabetically, not by merit. Let’s begin!
Unfortunately, we didn’t review in real time every important 2021 release; thankfully, there’s still time to catch up on essential missed albums, EPs, and singles. This is the second of two 2021 Catch-Up Explosions (read the first one here), featuring in alphabetical order 12 more releases.
65 year old former "stoner comic" Tommy Chong was sentenced to 9 months in the Federal slammer and forced to fork over 120,000 dollars by a foolish, mean-spirited Federal judge in Pittsburgh, PA yesterday, convicted of selling so-called "drug paraphernalia" over the Internet.