Mark Smotroff

Album Reviews
Albert King’s All-Time Classic Stax Records Debut LP Born Under A Bad Sign Is as Good as the Blues Can Get on Vinyl, Thanks to a New All-Analog 180g Reissue From Craft Recordings
Mark Smotroff  |  Jun 08, 2023  |  6 comments

How can an album that has been included in numerous greatest albums of all time lists made by an artist inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame remain so elusive that its original pressings are still in high demand? Luckily, Craft Recordings has made that point somewhat moot by releasing an all-analog 180g reissue of Albert King’s seminal August 1967 LP Born Under A Bad Sign. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see why this new Craft edition is an absolutely essential addition to your blues LP listening collection. . .

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Album Reviews
Steely Dan’s Countdown to Ecstasy Almost Achieves Liftoff on New 180g 1LP Reissue From Geffen/UMe
Mark Smotroff  |  Jun 01, 2023  |  9 comments

Geffen/UMe has just released a new 180g 1LP version of Steely Dan’s sophomore album, July 1973’s Countdown to Ecstasy. Read our intrepid reviewer Mark Smotroff’s take on this new-to-2023 version of Ecstasy and how it compares to an original 1973 black-label copy as well as the album’s vintage quad edition. . .

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Album Reviews
All-Analog Remaster of Legendary 1957 Sessions Comprising Craft Recordings’ New 180g 1LP Edition of Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane Ushers in a Much Welcome Return of Original Jazz Classics Imprint
Mark Smotroff  |  May 26, 2023  |  8 comments

Good news! Craft Recordings — the boutique vinyl arm of Concord Music, who control the catalogs of Fantasy, Riverside, Milestone, and many other related labels — has duly revived the Original Jazz Classics series as a brand imprint for the now times. One of the first titles being reissued by Craft under the vaunted OJC umbrella is out today, May 26, in a new, 180g 1LP all-analog remastered edition: Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see why this seminal mid-century collaboration between two jazz giants immediately belongs in your vinyl collection. . .

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Album Reviews
David Byrne’s Complete Score From The Broadway Production Of The Catherine Wheel Is Worth Every Spin of This Expanded 2LP RSD 2023 Edition
Mark Smotroff  |  May 19, 2023  |  2 comments

David Byrne’s The Catherine Wheel has long been a favorite release amongst his fervent fanbase, dating back to the album’s first, albeit abbreviated appearance on vinyl in December 1981. Finally, The Complete Score From the Broadway Production of “The Catherine Wheel” gets its full due on 2LP black vinyl, thanks to its Record Store Day 2023 release in a run of 6,500 copies. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see if this expanded edition should become an essential part of your own Catherine Wheel listening experience. . .

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Album Reviews
The Grateful Dead’s Plangent Processes-Restored Boston 5.7.77 180g 5LP RSD 2023-Exclusive Box Set Completes One of Their Essential Live Trilogies
Mark Smotroff  |  May 12, 2023  |  10 comments

On Record Store Day 2023, Rhino Records issued another entry in their fine series of super-deluxe multidisc vinyl box sets celebrating the road trips of the Grateful Dead, a 180g 5LP box set titled Boston Garden, Boston, MA 5/7/77 (a.k.a. Boston 5.7.77). This new edition is an important historical puzzle piece in the band’s storied legacy, effectively completing a trilogy of live releases culled from their epic spring 1977 tour peak. AP’s resident Deadhead Mark Smotroff got his hands on one these new limited edition collections, so read on to see his reasoning as to why it’s an instantly essential entry in the Dead’s live legacy on vinyl. . .

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Album Reviews
Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis & Shirley Scott Serve Up a Tasty Soul Jazz Recipe For a New Historical All-Analog Grundman-Remastered 180g 4LP Stereo Box Set, Cookin’ With Jaws and the Queen: The Legendary Prestige Cookbook Albums
Mark Smotroff  |  May 10, 2023  |  2 comments

Cookin’ With Jaws and the Queen: The Legendary Prestige Cookbook Albums is a wonderful new 4LP stereo box set collection from Craft Recordings that offers cause for rejoicing among fans of soul jazz, and most specifically fans of saxophonist Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis in particular. Culled from three classic 1958 Cookbook session recordings, the albums in this box are some of the backbone entries of a musical artform that would explode in popularity over the next 20 years, and ultimately onward into the 21st century. Read Mark Smotroff’s ready-to-serve review to see if the Cookin’ With Jaws and the Queen box set is indeed tasty enough to add to your regular LP-listening diet. . .

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Review Explosion
Prominent Ambient Jazz Label ECM Records Returns to Vinyl With a Slew of New LP Releases From John Scofield, Avishai Cohen, Tord Gustavsen, Enrico Rava & Mark Turner
Mark Smotroff  |  May 05, 2023  |  First Published: May 05, 2023  |  13 comments

ECM Records is back! Well, they never really went away in the eyes and ears of many audiophiles, but now the legendary ambient jazz label has decided to rejoin us here in the vinyl pool, and the idea couldn’t have come at a better time. Read on to glean Mark Smotroff’s capsule reviews of five current ECM LP releases from John Scofield, Avishai Cohen, Tord Gustavsen, Enrico Rava & Mark Turner. . .

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Album Reviews
Paul McCartney and Wings’ Red Rose Speedway Finally Gets Its Due on Vinyl, Thanks to a Half-Speed-Mastered 180g 1LP Release on Record Store Day 2023
Mark Smotroff  |  May 03, 2023  |  15 comments

Beatles fans generally fall into two camps when it comes to how they feel about Paul McCartney’s solo and Wings eras — they either love them, or they more or less loathe them. That said, one Wings album we’ve really grown to love over the years is April 1973’s Red Rose Speedway. We’ve explored different pressings of this LP all along the way, and it’s always hinted there might be something sonically stronger hidden within the grooves. And now, with the half-speed mastered Record Store Day 2023 180g 1LP release of Red Rose Speedway, we finally have an answer. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to find out why this new RSD 2023 vinyl edition is worth your spinning time. . .

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Album Reviews
Chet Baker’s New 180g 2LP Record Store Day 2023 Release, Blue Room: The 1979 VARA Studio Sessions in Holland, Shows Just How Good the Jazz Detective Label Is at Tracking Down Top-Shelf Archival Material
Mark Smotroff  |  Apr 21, 2023  |  3 comments

The Jazz Detective label has done truly great work in preparing Chet Baker’s new 180g 2LP set, Blue Room: The 1979 VARA Studio Sessions in Holland, for its Record Store Day 2023 release on April 22. Read on to see why Mark Smotroff feels should be near the top of your own RSD 2023 acquisition wishlist. . .

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Review Explosion
AnalogPlanet’s Record Store Day 2023 Preview
Mark Smotroff,  |  Apr 19, 2023  |  First Published: Apr 18, 2023  |  16 comments

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Record Store Day — and it really should, as the very next RSD is slated for this Saturday, April 22. Since its 2007 debut, RSD has grown into an international pilgrimage event for vinyl-loving music fans around the world — and it shouldn’t surprise you in the least that we collectively love Record Store Day here at AnalogPlanet, seeing how we’ve been proud RSD supporters since Day 1. Read on to see what two of AP’s intrepid album lovers, vinyl evaluators, and inveterate collectors — namely, chief LP reviewer Mark Smotroff and AP editor Mike Mettler — cite as their top-tier RSD 2023 choices. . .

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