Review Explosion

Looks like another year has gone by with a seemingly endless release-cycle parade consisting of scores of brand-new LPs from both known artists and untested newcomers alike, along with a myriad of archival vinyl reissues and overstuffed box sets galore — a good number of them presented in the much-preferred AAA form to boot. With the calendar set to turn over to 2024 any day now, that means it’s high time to assess the best of what we’ve heard on wax during the past 12 months. Read on to see AP editor Mike Mettler and chief LP reviewer Mark Smotroff’s respective lists of the top archival and new LP releases of 2023. . .

In retrospect, Tom Waits’ trajectory from singer/song writer to down-beaten jazz-fueled street person scowling at the piano in the 1970s made perfect sense. But when he came out of the gate in the early 1980s, his transformation was almost as dramatic as David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust reinvention. Five new of-era 180g 1LP reissues from Island/UMe — namely, 1983’s Swordfishtrombones, 1985’s Rain Dogs, 1987’s Franks Wild Years, 1992’s Bone Machine, and 1993’s The Black Rider — all seek to remind us of just how fertile this period was in Waits’ overall canon. Read Mark Smotroff’s Short Cuts combo review to see if any or all of these new wonderful Waits reissues belong in your collection. . .

Created with direct input from label founder Marshall Chess, VMP’s The Story of Cadet Records almost entirely AAA 180g 8LP super deluxe box set is a welcome addition to the analog fold. The eight albums offered herein — including rare titles from the likes of Muddy Waters, Etta James, and Ramsey Lewis — are a healthy cross-section snapshot of the expansive sounds Cadet was pursuing as the mid-1960s exploded both socially and musically. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see why The Story of Cadet Records is worth the investment. . .

With so many pressing plants being fairly maxed out these days in terms of their production capacity, it’s been nice to see how Detroit’s Third Man Pressing has stepped up to the plate to deliver respectable, audiophile-grade vinyl pressings at fairly reasonable SRPs. Read Mark Smotroff’s combo review of three new Verve by Request 180g 1LP reissues from jazz greats Archie Shepp, Yusef Lateef, and The Ahmad Jamal Trio — all of which have been recently pressed at Third Man — to see if they make the grade. . .

Collecting original pressings of rare albums can be exciting, frustrating, and even debilitating at times. The good news is, there are a lot of really excellent reissues coming out these days that seem only to be getting better and better. Read Mark Smotroff’s triple Short Cuts review of new 180g 1LP reissues of classic titles from Alice Coltrane, Dorothy Ashby, and Gabor Szabo to see if any of them just might whet your eclectic jazz-listening whistle. . .

Welcome to our second installment of Review Explosion Short Cuts! Here in Vol. 2, we tackle three more LP releases worthy of your attention: 1) Billy Joel’s Live At The Great American Music Hall, 1975, a 2LP RSD 2023 title that had proven somewhat elusive to obtain until recently; 2) the 20th anniversary 2LP reissue of acclaimed soul giant Solomon Burke’s Grammy-winning 2002 album Don’t Give Up on Me; and 3) Blood Harmony, the latest 1LP release from Larkin Poe, those great blues-rockin’ guitar-slingin’ sisters of Southern origin. Read Mark Smotroff’s triple-play review to get the full scoop on all three of these highly recommended LPs. . .