LATEST ADDITIONS

Phil Lesh, co-founding bassist of the Grateful Dead, sadly passed away at age 84 on October 25, 2024, and he will be remembered by millions of fans for the brilliant, inspiring music he made over the course of his incredible career. AP editor Mike Mettler asked our resident Deadhead Mark Smotroff to put together a proper tribute, and he enlisted three other fellow Dead experts to help bid Phil a proper fare thee well. Read on to see what their respective choices are for Lesh’s finest moments on vinyl. . .

In our humble opinion here at AP, turntables are forever. VPI Industries clearly agree with that statement, as they’ve just announced the Model One turntable, the first entry in their new Forever series. Read on to see all the features and specs of the Model One, along with its cool new 10in S-shaped tonearm. . .

If it’s Halloween, then it must mean it’s Frank Zappa time. Rather than don our respective Zappaween masks, we are instead here to scare up another tag-team review of an important reissue of one of FZ’s most cherished LPs — namely, the recently released Apostrophe (’) 50th Anniversary Edition 180g 2LP set. Read on to see how AP editor Mike Mettler, Mark Smotroff, and Ken Micallef collectively feel about this new pressing of FZ’s March 1974 solo cosmic classic, plus its included bonus material. . .

As we await the wide-sharing of VPI’s latest new-product news, we just couldn’t pass up testing out their Scout 21 turntable — the successor to their well-loved Prime Scout model — in the interim. Red Ken Micallef’s review to see if the Scout 21 measures up to VPI’s longstanding top-shelf turntable standards. . .