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With all of the reissues coming from questionable sources or proudly proclaiming their "digital-ness" ala The Beatles Box, we're fortunate to have labels like Analogue Productions, Mobile Fidelity, ORG, IMPEX, Rhino and the others cutting lacquers from analog tapes.

The lathe in the picture, located at Abbey Road Studios, is the one Miles Showell used to cut at 1/2 speed, the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band remix. It began life as a Neumann VMS82 DMM that according to Showell had been "...routinely stripped for spares".

Amazon recently announced its top-selling home audio product of this past year.

Thorens today announced two new turntables: the TD1500 and the TD403. The 1500 takes its design cues from the iconic TD 150 introduced in 1965 that according to Thorens's press release featured for the first time in a mass produced turntable a spring suspended sub-chassis with a flat belt driven inner platter. However, the AR-XA introduced in 1961 had this design feature and sold 100s of 1000s so must be considered "mass produced". The TD403 is the "big brother" of the recently introduced TD 402.

Craft Records just announced three all-analog reissues cut from original tape by Kevin Gray: (Chet Baker Sings) It Could Happen to You, originally released in 1958 on Riverside, Willie Colon's Asalto Navideño a 1971 Christmas album originally released on Fania, and Buffy Sainte-Marie's Illuminations a Vanguard release from 1969 that's achieved "cult" status due to its early use of synthesizers to produce an eerie backdrop.

The website TMZ reported today that Joni Mitchell is in a coma and unresponsive ("with no immediate prospects for getting better").

Arriving October 16th in multiple formats and configurations, Wildflowers & All the Rest features the original 1994 Wildflowers album, newly re-mastered and cut directly from the original ½” analog master tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and pressed at Record Industry in The Netherlands, plus unreleased tracks, solo demos, live performances, alternate versions and more—many of which were sourced from analog tape but then of necessity digitized..