Short Cuts

It’s Record Store Day, one of our absolute favorite times of the year! In addition to all the choice RSD 2022 selections we’re all hunting for out there today, we decided to put the AP spotlight on a number of new holiday LPs to get you ready for the season ahead. Read Mark Smotroff’s fine selection of five new and upcoming holiday vinyl options for your own turntable and/or anyone on your vinyl gift-giving list. . .

Candid Records was a short-lived (1961-63) but respected label out of New York City owned by producer, arranger, and musician Archie Bleyer, and it was helmed by legendary jazz critic Nat Hentoff. A recent spate of Candid reissue LPs have come to our attention, so check out Mark Smotroff’s combo Short Cuts review of three of them — newly cut LPs of vintage albums from underappreciated jazz vocalist Nancy Harrow, noted jazz pianist Jaki Byard, and legendary bluesman Memphis Slim — to see if you need to add any or all of them to your “must get” list. . .

A new 140g 1LP reissue series from Elemental Music that’s officially been dubbed the Motown Sound Collection has been underway since this past May, so it’s high time we’ve gotten around to covering some of the LPs that have come out under its umbrella in the interim. Read Mark Smotroff’s Short Cuts review to see how five Elemental-reissued vintage Motown titles from The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and The Supremes all fared on his turntable. . .

There is something incredibly compelling about Elemental Music and UMe’s ongoing, affordably priced, and generally well-made reissue series of classic Motown titles. Read Mark Smotroff’s latest Motown Short Cuts combo review to see which of these 140g 1LP editions of classic LPs from The Temptations, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight & The Pips, and Eddie Kendricks belong in your collection. . .

Original blues vinyl pressings are cousins to jazz and soul LPs in terms of scarcity and availability in super-clean condition, just a few of the reasons why they are often super-expensive propositions in the collector’s marketplace. That all makes these four truly outstanding Acoustic Sounds-pedigreed reissues from Verve/UMe and Craft Recordings’ Bluesville series all the more important — in effect, bringing a quartet of classic LP rarities back into more widespread availability in a high-quality manner. Read Mark Smotroff’s Short Cuts combo review to see which of these four 180g 1LP AAA releases from John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mississippi John Hurt, and Lonnie Johnson With Elmer Snowden belong in your collection. . .

Before we turn our posting attention to covering AXPONA the rest of this week, we wanted to do a short preview/review ahead of Record Store Day, which is taking place this Saturday, April 12, 2025. Read Mark Smotroff’s review of three key RSD multi-disc LP sets from Resonance Records featuring legendary jazz musicians Charles Mingus, Kenny Dorham, and Freddie Hubbard. . .