Album Reviews

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Michael Fremer  |  Aug 01, 2007

A friend told me that Blonde Redhead purists simply hate this album, or at least they’re disappointed by the New York based group’s 7th. Disappointed by what they claim is overproduction, over-thinking and artifice in place of substance.

Michael Fremer  |  May 01, 2010

I once pissed next to Dave Mason in the Cambridge Boathouse bathroom back in 1970 something. That has nothing to do with this review except that it’s a review of a Traffic album and Dave Mason was in Traffic but you wouldn’t know that from the cover of their first American album.

Mike Mettler, Mark Smotroff, Ken Micallef  |  Feb 20, 2025

Who are these children / Who scheme and run wild. . . No, that’s not a comment on the youth of today, but rather a piercing lyrical couplet of sorts that can only mean one thing — it’s time for us to dive deep into the just-released 200g 45rpm 2LP UHQR edition of Steely Dan’s March 1975 treasure of an LP, Katy Lied. Read Mike Mettler, Mark Smotroff, and Ken Micallef’s combo review to see if the UHQR version of Katy Lied meets and/or exceeds the standards set by its companion SD releases in this all-important reissue series. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Feb 03, 2025

The 67th Grammy Awards — sorry, I meant the all-caps GRAMMY Awards — were handed out in Los Angeles last night, February 2, 2025, and we applaud the wide range of actual, great-sounding winning recordings, as evidenced by what we’ve heard of their vinyl incarnations. Over the past year(ish), we’ve indeed reviewed some of those key, Grammy-winning LPs and songs here on AP, so if you’re keen on finding out if they make the grade on vinyl and are worthy of your hard-earned dollars and/or valuable listening time, then read on. . .

Mark Smotroff  |  Aug 26, 2022
In May 1969, The Who’s Tommy was a near instantly iconic release which — in a make-or-break moment — stabilized the then-precarious career of Britain’s now legendary rockers. As one of the first rock operas — and still one of the best and most successful of them — Tommy caused quite a sea-change in the pop/rock music world by opening new doors and possibilities for composers, producers, and fans alike, and its impact is still felt to this day. The good news is, Tommy has just been reissued by Polydor/UMC in a quite wonderful half-speed-mastered 180g 2LP edition. Read on to find out exactly why this version of Tommy belongs in your collection and on your turntable, post-haste. . .

Michael Fremer  |  Feb 01, 2006

Considered a sprawling, self-indulgent mess when first released in 1967 (RCA LOP-1511 mono/LSO-1511 stereo), and a warning to other bands and to record executives footing the bills for unlimited studio time (even the extra dollar added to the list price couldn't have paid for the studio time), After Bathing At Baxter’s has worn remarkably well, and in retrospect is a powerful, smoldering document reflecting a chaotic, violent and dangerous time in America—the kind of time we’d be having now if people would fucking wake up and smell the fascism.

Michael Fremer  |  Feb 01, 2009

You can bet this blistering, groundbreaking jazz-rock fusion album from 1971 spun Jeff Beck’s head around big time, turning him from heavy metalist-rocker (his version of The Yardbirds’ “Shape of the Things to Come” on the Jeff Beck Group’s album Truth is arguably the first “heavy metal” rock arrangement) to the jazz-fusionist he became on Blow By Blow. Others followed too, of course.

Michael Fremer  |  Jan 25, 2019
Darkness into Light, Evil into Good, Ugliness into Beauty, Ignorance into Knowledge, Confusion into Certainty, deliverance from oppression (and the other way around) and simultaneous alternative realities are familiar transformative comic book and biblical themes (Shorter is a known comic book fan; not sure about his biblical proclivities).

Michael Fremer  |  Dec 01, 2006

Decide for yourself whether The Lovin’ Spoonful took their name from Mississippi John Hurt’s “Coffee Blues” (not to mention the tune for “Darlin’ Companion”) but fans of Taj Mahal will have no doubts about this gentle soul’s influence on Taj when you hear this earlier take on “Corrina, Corrina” and compare it to Taj’s on The Natch’l Blues (CS9698).

Michael Fremer  |  Aug 23, 2012
Watching the aged PBS fund raising audience creep ever closer to my demographic has been a thirty year creepy creep. First it was fund raising aimed at the WWII big band consuming generation.

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 09, 2016
Analogue Productions recently completed one of the major reissue projects in modern vinyl playback history with the release of the final eight Beach Boys albums in both mono and stereo.

Michael Fremer  |  Mar 20, 2015
Only one of them had actually ridden a surfboard. They weren’t hot rodders or drag racers and by the time the group formed in 1961 lead vocalist Mike Love was already 20 years old and arguably more a man than a “boy”. Al Jardine was 19 as was Brian Wilson. Brothers Dennis and Carl were, respectively, 17 and 15, so they qualified as “boys”.

Mark Smotroff  |  Dec 09, 2022

Two often overlooked albums by The Beach Boys are the main focus of a fantastic new 180g 5LP+1EP box set, Sail On Sailor – 1972, which features the band’s landmark 1973 album Holland plus 1972’s under-appreciated and much misunderstood Carl And The Passions – “So Tough” to form the heart of this excellent new collection buttressed by a previously unreleased, complete, of-era 1972 live performance from Carnegie Hall. Read Mark Smotroff’s thorough review of this truly special box set-cum-document of an artistically transformative, often powerful, and at times remarkably hard-rocking period for a quintessential Southern California band looking for — and ultimately reaching the summit of — some creatively fruitful new horizons. . .

Mark Smotroff  |  Jul 01, 2022
Reviewing The Very Best of The Beach Boys: The Sounds of Summer, the massive new 60th Anniversary 180g 6LP Beach Boys box set retrospective from UMe/Capitol/Brother Records, has been a daunting yet fun challenge. That said, having its contents mixed and mastered by the band’s longtime engineer/archivist Mark Linett has enabled a remarkable continuity from track to track — no small task, given the diversity of music and technological differences in recording across a 60-year period.
Michael Fremer  |  Jan 26, 2016
Music re-mixes may not be as complicated or as critical as brain surgery but when it comes to The Beatles, you could make the case.

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