Album Reviews

Rosanne Cash’s moving, sometimes mysterious tribute to her late parents and step-mother June Carter Cash was, for me, last year’s most profound and affecting album. Perhaps that’s why I haven’t sat down to write about it until this year.

“Roots” music specialist Marley’s Ghost gets a turbo boost from producer Van Dyke Parks, who turns what could have been just another musical “Antiques Roadshow” into a truly special recorded event.

I'm not sure how many Roy Orbison completists are out there. I know two: myself and my friend Frank Doris. Classic has issued Orbison's Crying in both mono and stereo and a good case can be made for either edition, once the case has been made for the music, which is a bit of a more difficult proposition.

As the liner notes point out, there’s nothing inauthentic about a Swiss composer conducting a Swiss orchestra performing a ballet written by a Spaniard.

Long considered one of the great recordings of the early stereo era, España was originally issued in the UK on the British Decca label (SXL 2020) and on American subsidiary London (CS6006).

One of the more under-the-radar releases that we didn’t see or hear many people talking about pre-Record Store Day 2025 is the 30th anniversary 180g 2LP vinyl reissue of Passengers’ Original Soundtracks 1, a 1995 collaboration between U2 and their then-producer Brian Eno — but it absolutely should warrant your immediate attention, front and center. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see why you need to track down this RSD gem, pronto. . .