LATEST ADDITIONS

Dan Schwartz  |  Jan 31, 2006  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  0 comments

Sundazed's recent mono After Bathing at Baxter's reissue, reviewed here (www.musicangle.com/album.php?id=381) prompted bassist Dan Schwartz to send this remembrance —ed.

There has never been a great rock band without a great drummer. Ringo took a drubbing from clever pundits and know-nothings as if he was not in the league of the other Beatles. But Ringo, "the greatest," changed the world in a most crucial moment in modern history with his sheer explosive and contagious joy in playing.

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 14, 2006  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  0 comments
Part New Jersey diner, part Wurlitzer jukebox, with a snakelike tonearm that at certain angles looks vaguely lewd, this boxy, man-sized creation from Australia seems to have been built around its distinctive looks rather than for any functional purpose. Combine that with its sky-high price—itself almost obscene—and the result is apparently the sort of product that envious, cynical, self-loathing audiophiles love to hate, and reviewers love to write about.
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 01, 2006  |  First Published: Dec 31, 1969  |  0 comments

This is part of an interview I conducted with the great recording engineer Bill Porter back in 1987. I met up with Porter at Denver audio dealer Listen Up! We chatted and listened to some of his recordings. The remainder of the interview will be posted at a later date, along with listening session notes.

In part I of my interview with legendary Nashville engineer, Bill Porter, I wrote, “In one month of 1960, Porter-engineered recordings accounted for 15 of Billboard's Top 100 Singles.” That was a mistake. In fact, Porter had 15 charted singles in one week.

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 01, 2006  |  0 comments

Thompson’s first acoustic solo album (with overdubbed guitars and some keyboards added by Debra Dobkin) in many years is as the title and cover art promises, an intimate drawing room recital by a seemingly timeless artist who doesn’t get better with time because he dropped in seemingly fully formed during his Fairport Convention days much as James Taylor did on his first Apple solo album.

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 01, 2006  |  0 comments

It’s hard to believe 22 years have passed since this now classic set was released and almost 16 since Vaughan died in a helicopter crash following a concert in which he appeared with guitar greats Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray and his brother Jimmie.

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 01, 2006  |  0 comments

The sound of this reissue is so spectacular, Classic can be forgiven for using the wrong cover art. They scanned a second pressing. The “SLP 18000 STEREO” is inside a mustard colored banner back and front on the first press, and the banner points to a Monument logo.

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 01, 2006  |  0 comments

Whatever fans might hope for on a McCartney album is here: thoughtful pop tunes, accomplished melodic invention, focused, meticulous production and comforting glints of The Beatles. More importantly, what McCartney detractors (including the Beatles fans among them) might expect is missing: namely sugary confections, shlock-rock, and corny lyrics.

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 01, 2006  |  0 comments

Back in the late 1950’s, veteran alto sax player, bandleader and arranger Benny Carter, who died at 95 back in July of 2003, spent much of his time arranging for television shows, among them Lee Marvin’s Chicago-based cop show “M-Squad”. Why no label has reissued 1959’s The Music From M Squad (RCA Living Stereo LSP-2062) remains a mystery to me. It’s got great big band “crime” music, much of which was arranged by Carter and written by him, session conductor Stanley Wilson, Count Basie and “Johnny Williams” (thatJohn Williams). Recorded by the great Al Schmitt at RCA Victor Music Center of The World, LA, it also sounds pretty damn good!

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 01, 2006  |  0 comments

The release of “The Autobiography of Donovan, The Hurdy Gurdy Man,” last December, unleashed a publicity juggernaut that had the ‘60’s icon returning to the public eye with perhaps greater intensity than he experienced during the height of his original success (though without the #1 hits, of course).

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 01, 2006  |  0 comments

Veteran blues guitarist Walter Trout is obviously well known within blues circles and among blues fans I asked, but the name doesn’t elicit much of a response outside the blues core.

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