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Album Reviews
When Jazz Giants Roamed The Earth!
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 20, 2012
Imagine a hard bop jam session featuring three tenor sax greats: Johnny Griffin, Hank Mobley and John Coltrane. Add Lee Morgan on trumpet and propel them with the rhythm section of Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bas and Art Blakey on drums.
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Album Reviews
No, Your Midrange Driver Is Not Blown! That's What's Left of Bob's Voice
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 13, 2012
Does it matter that the rattle and phlegm in Bob Dylan's voice makes it sound as if your midrange driver has blown? No. Hell no. In fact, despite the ragged vocals and 50 years since his debut, this is Dylan's best album in quite some time.
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Phono Preamp Reviews
The Surprising Audreal LP-2 Phono Preamplifier
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 10, 2012  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969
Back in 2005 I reviewed what was then the $1500 Jasmine LP-2 MM/MC phono preamplier. It was a two box unit with an umbilical between the power supply and the signal path circuitry. The 70dB gain MC input was commendably quiet and the unit sounded pretty good but I couldn’t justify the performance for the price.

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Album Reviews
"Another Side of Bob Dylan" Sounding Better Than Ever
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 06, 2012
Bob Dylan cracks himself up performing some of these songs. Producer Tom Wilson must have gotten it, but recording engineers Roy Halee and Fred Catero might have been ready to stop the tape. After all, this was staid, but still pre-corporate Columbia Records. It was “straight” and at that point Halee was more experienced recording Percy Faith than Bob.

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Video Reviews
Unauthorized Eno Documentary Has Many Interesting Moments
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 03, 2012  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969
Unauthorized bio-docs are among the most difficult to pull off. You don't have the cooperation of the subject and that usually keeps those close away as well. Yet, despite some glaring defects, this two and a half hour look at Mr. Eno's incredibly productive period between 1971 and 1977 inexplicably titled "The Man Who Fell To Earth" offers many worthwhile moments.

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Album Reviews
Cluster & Eno: Eno Seeks Country Krautrock Comfort
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 03, 2012
Brian Eno's early influences include John Cage, Steve Reich and other minimalists. He was more art than rocker. In 1971 when he joined forces with Bryan Ferry's Roxy Music he was more a knob twiddler than a musician. He worked saxophonist Andy Mackay's VCS3 synthesizer and along with a pair of Revox A77s provided the electronic sounds and "tape treatments" that on the group's first two albums, helped create Roxy Music's unique sound.

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Album Reviews
Alejandro Escovedo Cranks Out Another Great One!
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 03, 2012
The great Mexican-American roots-rocker Alejandro Escovedo is back with yet another great, hard rocking yet deeply thoughtful album, his second with veteran producer Tony Visconti. Visconti goes all the way back to David Bowie's epic The Man Who Sold the World and if you hear echoes of that album on some tracks here, like the haunting background voices on "Sally Was a Cop", the album's most powerful song, it's not a coincidence.

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Album Reviews
Is "The Soft Parade" Too Soft?
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 30, 2012
The fourth Doors album was not particularly well-received when first issued in 1969. The inclusion of horns and strings was for many a deal breaker, but what really made more pull back was the sense of a less than fully integrated ensemble appearing to come apart at the seams.

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Turntable Reviews
How Low Can You Go? Pro-Ject's $299 Essential Turntable
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 30, 2012  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969
Pro-Ject's $299 Essential costs 25% less than the recently reviewed Carbon. So what don'tyou get for your minus $100?

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Record Buying Tips
Best Mono "Pet Sounds"?
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 28, 2012  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969
The stereo mix of Pet Sounds issued on SACD by Mobile Fidelity and on vinyl by Capitol a few years ago is interesting and was well done, but Brian mixed it and intended it to be listened to in mono, which is how it was originally released back in 1966.

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