Interviews

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Interviews
Ian Hunter May No Longer Be a Young Dude, But He Proves How Hard He Can Still Rock on Vinyl With a Little Help From His Friends on a Killer New Solo LP, Defiance Part 1
Mike Mettler  |  May 11, 2023  |  1 comments

Ian Hunter is a survivor. Not only that, but the veteran British vocalist of Mott the Hoople fame and a lengthy and fruitful solo career shows no signs of slowing down at age 83. The keen evidence laid out before us are the ten balls-out rockers populating his latest solo album, Defiance Part 1, released via Blue Cat/Sun Records on April 21 on black vinyl. In a recent Zoom audio interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Hunter discusses what he means by recording his music “back to front,” why Mott the Hoople’s version of “All the Young Dudes” endures to this day, and how Jerry Lee Lewis first got his juices a-goin’ to become a killer performer and recording artist. Don’t be shy — read on to get fully bitten by the Hunter mystique on vinyl. . .

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Interviews
Is HD Vinyl In Your Record Playing Future?
Michael Fremer  |  May 25, 2017  |  23 comments
REBEAT CEO Günter Loibl has a plan to change the way vinyl records are mastered.

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Interviews
Jack Pfeiffer Interview Part 2
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 31, 2003  |  1 comments

M.F.:Now that whole "Dynagroove" thing. Do you want to....

J.P.:Well, I'll dispose of it quickly. Some of them were great, great recordings too.

M.F.:Recordings yes, but....

J.P.:Yeah.

M.F.:Once they got on to disc though....

J.P.:Well.

M.F.:The difference was in the cutting, correct? It wasn't in anything else.

J.P.:It was in two places, basically. It was in the cutting, but it was also in the mix down, because the head of our engineering department came up with a device to make the translation from a high level of listening to a moderate level of listening that most people listen to. And to make that translation from listening to it at high level to low level or lower level, it changed the whole ear characteristic change.

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Interviews
Janis Ian Sheds Some Inner Light on Following Her Analog Roots When Mastering New Music for Vinyl
Mike Mettler  |  Feb 02, 2023  |  2 comments

“It’s nice to talk analog. You’re speaking my language.” That’s Janis Ian, iconoclast singer/songwriter who’s made a lifetime-slash-career out of breaking barriers and forging new paths when it comes to making music that is equal parts folk, country, rock, and all points in between. And she’s very much speaking our language too, of course. Read on to see what Ian and AP editor Mike Mettler discussed when they got on the phone recently to delve into the making of Light, the importance of evaluating test pressings, and how she applies analog-oriented principles to catalog reissues regardless of the format. . .

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Interviews
Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson Tells the Spiritual Tale of The Band’s New Album RökFlöte, and Further Decrees the Importance of Letting Things Breathe on Vinyl
Mike Mettler  |  Apr 26, 2023  |  7 comments

Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson has been on a deeply entrenched spiritual quest of late. On Tull’s latest and 23rd studio album overall, RökFlöte, which was released on vinyl via InsideOut Music on April 21, he addresses the tenets of Norse paganism. In a recent Zoom interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Jethro Tull’s once and future leader discusses the inner workings of RökFlöte, when he finally felt like Jethro Tull had gotten the right mix of their music on vinyl, and how the act of breathing is vitally important when it comes to both his singing and his flute playing. Read on to glean all of Ian Anderson’s earthly vinyl proclivities. . .

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Interviews
Jim Kerr of Simple Minds Gets Directly to the Heart of the Vinyl Matter
Mike Mettler  |  Nov 04, 2022  |  6 comments

Jim Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds, is one of us. As a kid growing up in Glasgow, Scotland in the early 1970s, collecting vinyl was of paramount importance, and he got himself a day job just so he could buy records and go see concerts. (Sound familiar?) Read on to find out all the things he said, he said about how important buying vinyl was (and still is) to both him and his Simple Minds songwriting partner, guitarist Charlie Burchill, why it was crucial to shape their new LP Direction of the Heart specifically as a two-sided record, and how important an influence David Bowie albums remain as part of his creative life to this day, and more. . .

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Interviews
Joan Armatrading--The musicangle interview
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 31, 2003  |  0 comments

In a career spanning almost 30 years and 18 albums, Joan Armatrading has established herself as one of the most durable and respected artists in popular music. Her honesty and integrity as both a musician and world citizen are rare in a field that regularly breeds shooting stars.

Born in the West Indies on the island of St. Kitts in 1950, and moving to England when she was 7, Armatrading absorbed both the lilting, sunny rhythms of the Caribbean and the grittiness of post-industrial Birmingham. Her tough, yet vulnerable musical stance has influenced two generations of performers, attracted to her unique, difficult to categorize brand of music.

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Interviews
Jon Anderson Says Yes to Championing His Epic, Classic Ongoing Role as a True Vinyl Messenger
Mike Mettler  |  Sep 05, 2024  |  3 comments

Some artists give great lip service to being humble, spiritual messengers of their artistic muse — and then there’s Jon Anderson. The eternal voice of vintage Yes just keeps on keeping on, with his instantly recognizable alto tenor at the forefront of True, a vibrant new album credited to Jon Anderson & The Band Geeks that was released in various 2LP forms — including transparent blue, gold, and black vinyl — by Frontiers on August 23, 2024. During a recent Zoom interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Anderson discusses how True came to be, what his favorite Yes tracks on vinyl are and why, and what Yes album Rahsaan Roland Kirk once told Jon he personally admired. . .

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Interviews
Ken Kessler & Michael Fremer Interviewed on The Jay Jay French Connection Podcast
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 01, 2021  |  9 comments
The "Jay Jay French Connection Podcast" just published the Ken Kessler and Michael Fremer "Analog Wars Part 1" Interview." Ken alone is hilarious, and me alone? Pretty funny, but the two of us together can be cataclysmic. No doubt you know who Ken is, but in case you don't know, Jay Jay French is a founding member of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister and a contributor to Stereophile. He also worked at now closed Lyric Hi-Fi in New York City.
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Interviews
Ken Micallef Interviews AnalogPlanet Editor Michael Fremer About Duke, Lloyd and "Getting There"
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 15, 2020  |  4 comments
Here's part 3 of Ken Micallef's interview conducted here a few weeks ago. I was on fire but not on anything....just be clear.

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Interviews
Ken Micallef Interviews AnalogPlanet Editor Michael Fremer About Jazz LPs, RVG and Turntable Set-up
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 19, 2020  |  0 comments
I think this video wraps up Ken Micallef's interview with me. It covers more jazz LP favorites, Rudy Van Gelder's legacy and plugs my turntable set-up DVD. It includes anecdotes, humorous asides, etc.

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Interviews
Ken Micallef Interviews AnalogPlanet Editor Michael Fremer About Lacquer Fire and More
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 13, 2020  |  3 comments
In the second video interview Ken Micallef asked me to talk about the Transco/Apollo lacquer fire and that led to a discussion about Scientology's use of metal parts to store L.Ron Hubbard's speeches. Or at least as much about it as I know.

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InterviewsNews
Ken Micallef Interviews AnalogPlanet Editor Michael Fremer*
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 11, 2020  |  23 comments
Jazz Vinyl Audiophile and Stereophile writer/reviewer Ken Micallef recently visited and interviewed me for his YouTube channel. Thanks to snappy editing and photo insertions, he's produced a fast-paced video you might enjoy watching. This is part 1 of 2 parts.

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Interviews
Ken Micallef's Final Installment of His Interview With Michael Fremer (On Fire Here)
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 20, 2020  |  14 comments
This is the final installment of Ken Micallef's interview with me. He's a really great editor. Impeccable timing. Makes sense. He's a drummer. Plus I was on fire.
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Interviews
Kenny Wayne Shepherd Riffs and Rolls His Way Into Some Good Ol’ Sonic Double Trouble on Vinyl With the Debut 180g 2LP Edition of Trouble Is… 25
Mike Mettler  |  Dec 02, 2022  |  0 comments

Kenny Wayne Shepherd, the pre-eminent teenage guitar phenom of the 1990s, is essentially all grown up now at age 45 — but he’s still a kid at heart, albeit with a lifetime of playing his signature blend of blues, rock, and soul well under his belt. What better way to bridge the gap between the gunslinging days of yore with the wizened experience level of the here and now than with Trouble Is… 25, a complete re-recording of the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band’s platinum-selling sophomore album Trouble Is…, which was originally released in October 1997 on CD and cassette, but never on vinyl. Shepherd got on Zoom with AP editor Mike Mettler to discuss how his dad first introduced him to vinyl, what the re-recording process for Trouble Is… 25 entailed, how sitting on an amplifier at a Stevie Ray Vaughan concert was a “defining moment” in his life, and how mindful he is of sequencing his albums for vinyl playback — and, of course, much, much more. . .

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