Album Reviews

At My Piano Reinforces Brian Wilson’s Compositional Brilliance

Nathan Zeller | Mar 20, 2022 | 1 comments

The ‘60s fostered a music-driven cultural revolution nobody anticipated. From John Coltrane’s Giant Steps to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, history’s most iconic albums saw artists leaving timeless and influential musical blueprints. However, calling the ‘60s “influential” shows only a limited understanding; rivalries were fierce, and competition defined the decade. Neither The Beach Boys nor Brian Wilson could escape the competitive climate.

Lloyd and his group toured, with each stop a The annotation notes that Lloyd has played there

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Album Reviews

Bags & Trane: The Odd Couple That Swings Well Together Michael Fremer | Mar 18, 2014 | 4 comments

True Coltrane wasn't yet producing "sheets of sound"—limiting himself maybe to just "pillowcases of sound", but he was still hot to Milt Jackson's cool so this was an interesting experiment—one that succeeded beautifully.

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Album Reviews

Brothers In Arms at 45rpm From Mobile Fidelity (updated 3/7/15) Michael Fremer | Mar 06, 2015 | 61 comments

Born out of desperation (hence the name), with the release of its eponymous debut album containing "Sultans of Swing", Dire Straits was an instant commercial success. Cynics at the time said the tune made Dylan safe for average folks. The album was eventually certified double platinum.

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Album Reviews

Charles Lloyd 8: Kindred Spirits, Live From the Lobero Box Set Michael Fremer | Mar 14, 2020 | 6 comments

Charles Lloyd turns 82 tomorrow (March 15th). Two years ago, to celebrate his 80th, Dorothy Darr, his wife/manager and herself an artist, threw a year-long party for him and as a present made him work.

celebration. On his birthday the entourage pulled into his hometown of Santa Barbara, California and performed at the 150 year old Lobero Theater.

more often than any other venue and more often than any other performer, so it was a true homecoming celebration with “kindred spirits” on-stage and in the audience.

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Album Reviews

Chasing the Dragon : A Man and His Microphones Michael Fremer | Aug 04, 2014 | 2 comments

Recording engineer Mike Valentine produced and recorded an old-fashioned audiophile demo disc using 50 year old Neumann tube microphones and a high resolution Nagra digital recorder all connected together with ZenSati cables from Denmark. One track was recorded using a 1/2" Studer analog deck running at 30 IPS.

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Album Reviews

Chemtrails Over The Country Club Is Lana Del Rey's Ethereal Masterwork Nathan Zeller | Mar 30, 2021 | 18 comments

Lana Del Rey is living proof that what’s old will come around, and what’s new isn’t always better. AnalogPlanet readers and writers alike are quite familiar with this sentiment. Nothing beats the magic of the vinyl record. As most music consumers jump between formats, I often ask myself, “Why move past something that works so well?” Lana Del Rey, an enthusiast of all things vintage, asks the same question, only with music.

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Album Reviews

Combat Rock + The People's Hall: The Clash Cash In Malachi Lui | Jun 04, 2022 | 22 comments

By 1981, The Clash was in shambles. Seeking more direction following their 1980 triple album Sandinista!, co-frontman Joe Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon rehired the band's notoriously difficult original manager, Bernie Rhodes, to the dismay of other co-frontman Mick Jones. Jones sought to continue the band's expansive forays into dub, reggae, and hip-hop, while Strummer wanted something more streamlined. Yet despite all of that, plus drummer Topper Headon's spiraling heroin and cocaine addiction, The Clash toured and managed to record new material at The People's Hall in the Republic of Frestonia (a small area in West London populated by squatters hoping to secede from the UK) as well as Electric Lady Studios in New York City.

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Album Reviews

Come Away With Me Has Never Sounded Better Michael Fremer | Jan 17, 2003 | 1 comments

Genre-busting artists often disappoint stylistically because they end up diluting the power of their influences while failing to create a fusion as substantial as any of the components. Even if artistically successful, their debut albums often suffer disappointing sales due to the vagaries of marketing and promotional placement. Tossing music into a prefabricated slot is one thing, creating a new one is another. In the case of stylistically ambiguous Norah Jones, it has all come together brilliantly.

Album Reviews

Dark Side of the Moon Yet Again? And Again?

Michael Fremer | Dec 01, 2011 | 1 comments

Another decade, another reissue of DSOTM, this one using the very fragile original two track master tape, again supervised by James Guthrie. Guthrie had determined that the tape was in fragile shape back in 2003, which is why he opted for a remix in the analog domain. That edition was very good and worth having, especially if you didn't have a very clean early UK pressing, but in retrospect it departs from the original much as the Mo-Fi does: the EQ is a bit much at the frequency extremes, which bleaches out the mids. As for the mix's micro-elements and how close Guthrie came to reproducing the original mix, I have to surrender that to the DTOTM fanatics, of which I'm not one.

Album Reviews

Dialogues on Race Volume One Is The Emmett Till Story Set to Unforgettable Music

Michael Fremer | Sep 29, 2020 | 12 comments

As I reached my home the other day after an early morning run a neighbor pulled over in his car and asked how I was doing. I said, “great, under the Covid-19 circumstances”. Noting my Biden/Harris lawn sign he said “The Democrats have been taken over by the progressives. Doesn’t that bother you?” I said “No, I’m fairly progressive myself. The GOP has been taken over by Trump, who isn’t sure he’ll hand over the reins of power if he loses the election, doesn’t that bother you?”

AAA Vinyl Album Reviews

Duke Ellington & John Coltrane Together Make Beautiful Music

Michael Fremer | May 08, 2022 | 16 comments

What seemed like an unlikely pairing in 1962 of “jazz elder” 63 year old Duke Ellington with John Coltrane, who had just assembled his ”classic quartet” destined to explore uncharted musical (and spiritual) territory, produced a surprisingly cohesive and satisfying album.

Album Reviews

Ella The Lost Berlin Tapes An Extraordinary Document!

Michael Fremer | Nov 02, 2020 | 13 comments

This March 25, 1962 recording of Ella Fitzgerald performing live at Berlin’s Sportpalast is remarkable for several reasons, starting with the then 44 year old’s exuberant, high energy performance backed by the trio of Paul Smith on piano, Wilfred Middlebrooks on bass and Stan Levey on drums.

AAA Vinyl Album Reviews

Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas Will Warm An Atheist's Heart

Michael Fremer | Nov 03, 2021 | 18 comments

Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas album is a secular holiday delight sure to please every listener, even atheists and agnostics. Originally released in 1960, the sound here is warm and inviting as a Yule log burning in the fireplace—once you get past the opener "Jingle Bells", which is somewhat brighter, brasher and more in your face than the rest, though having Ella in your face is hardly problematic.

Album Reviews

Ellington Masterpieces A Record That Belongs In Every Record Collection

Michael Fremer | Dec 05, 2014 | 48 comments

The Internet has diminished the number of "record fairs" but there still are some. When I go to "record fairs" l like to "play against type". If I see a vendor who looks like Elvis Presley (and there is/was one), I know his 50s rock records are going to be good but expensive so I'd rather rummage through the boxes of $1 records he's put on the floor under his table. That's where he puts the "junk" about which he knows nothing.

Album Reviews

Elton John Gets the Bass Back on UMG's SACD Reissue

Michael Fremer | Mar 03, 2005 | 0 comments

When MCA's UNI division originally issued this album in 1970, it became an immediate hit. Though it was Elton's second album (Empty Skies came first), but was issued later in the United States), it was his first produced by Gus Dudgeon and arranged by the brilliant Paul Buckmaster.

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