Last week, Capital Audiofest ruled large in the Washington, DC area from November 8-10, 2024 — and, as always, I anointed our main product reviewer Ken Micallef to shoot as much video footage as he could of all the cool turntables and other analog-centric gear and goodies he came across at the show. CAF offers “a world of vinyl, gadgets, turntables, amplifiers, loudspeakers, and the mad audiophiles who love them,” as Ken has noted about the show in recent years, and CAF 2024 once again delivered on that promise in full. You too can see what Ken saw at the show in the 9-minute video we’ve just posted on our YouTube channel that you can also now watch in the story below. . .
As we take a brief pause to honor all who have served here on Veterans Day, I did want to take a moment to note that we will soon enough be posting extensive coverage of this past weekend’s Capital Audiofest, which was held in Rockville, Maryland, this past weekend (November 8-10, 2024).
The phrase “auspicious debut” is often overused when discussing many an upstart band’s first album — but when it comes to Talking Heads, it’s a phrase that certainly fits the bill whenever you’re both discussing and listening to the fledgling punk/new wave NYC quartet’s first LP, September 1977’s Talking Heads: 77. And now, this important debut album gets its full box set due today, November 8, 2024, with Rhino’s 4LP + 4 7-inch singles-comprised Talking Heads: 77 – Super Deluxe Edition box set, with the original album therein remastered AAA all the way. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s review to see why 77 is another vital vinyl box set to add to your collection — plus see his suggestion for the official, more affordable alternate option of half the box’s contents if your bankbook is currently lacking. . .
In our humble opinion here at AP, turntables are forever. VPI Industries clearly agree with that statement, as they’ve just announced the Model One turntable, the first entry in their new Forever series. Read on to see all the features and specs of the Model One, along with its cool new 10in S-shaped tonearm. . .
If it’s Halloween, then it must mean it’s Frank Zappa time. Rather than don our respective Zappaween masks, we are instead here to scare up another tag-team review of an important reissue of one of FZ’s most cherished LPs — namely, the recently released Apostrophe (’) 50th Anniversary Edition 180g 2LP set. Read on to see how AP editor Mike Mettler, Mark Smotroff, and Ken Micallef collectively feel about this new pressing of FZ’s March 1974 solo cosmic classic, plus its included bonus material. . .
The music you make is equal to the console you make it on — or something like that. To that end, mega online gear retailer Reverb has just announced that the EMI TG12345 recording console used by The Beatles to record September 1969’s seminal Abbey Road LP is going up for sale through MJQ Ltd., their official artists partner, starting on October 29, 2024. Read on to see how you might be able to get your hands, and ears, on a true piece of recording history. . .
Good things come in threes — or, in this case, in III. What I mean by that is, Revox have seen fit to announce their new B77 MKIII reel-to-reel stereo tape recorder, and we couldn’t be more pleased to hear all about it. Read on to see all the specs and features of the mighty Revox B77 MK III. . .
File this one under, “Reborn under a good sign.” Craft Recordings recently announced a Deluxe Edition release of In Session, the legendary December 1983 collaboration between the late, decidedly great blues guitar icons Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, as an expanded 180g 3LP set on October 18, 2024 — as in, tomorrow! This historically important live performance — culled from King and SRV’s early-1980s joint TV appearance together in Canada — will be available in its entirety in various formats, but the best way to cue this one up is most definitely on vinyl. Read on to see AP editor Mike Mettler’s listening impressions of this new collection, what its three first-time-on-vinyl tracks are and how they sound, and what the SRP is for this new tri-gatefold set. . .
The O.G. has returned to the fold — or rather, to the spindle. In conjunction with BBC engineers in London in the late 1960s, Keith Monks developed the first commercially produced electric device to clean records in order to meet the “exacting standards” of FM radio broadcasting — and thus, what we now refer to as a record cleaning machine (RCM) was essentially born. Fast-forward to the modern era, where the late company founder’s son Jonathan Monks has just seen fit to introduce the company’s latest RCM model, the ReduxTwo. Read on to see all the features and specs for the ReduxTwo RCM, and when it will hit the marketplace. . .
In our ever-expanding search across this ever-spinning globe of ours for all things of analog-oriented interest, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to drop this one on the AP faithful: Bay Area alt-punk progenitors Green Day have gone all-out punk personified with their Dookie Demastered project, billed as “the way it was never meant to be heard.” Dookie Demastered features 15 truly alternative format options if ever there were, including wax cylinder, X-ray LP, 8-track, music box, piano roll, and more. Read on to see why you should plop down an entry into the Dookie Demastered pool to get one (or more!) of them in hand for your own collection. . .