This just in: Pat Metheny’s complete ECM catalog of 11 albums, which includes Bright Size Life, Offramp, and 80/81, will be available for the first time on July 31st as high-resolution masters for download and streaming.
Yes, this is slightly off topic, but at AXPONA 2016 Prudence Farrow Bruns, who inspired John Lennon to write "Dear Prudence" signed copies of her book "Dear Prudence The Story Behind the Song" and I thought you'd enjoy watching our "The Marketplace" encounter.
I found Mr. Daniel Schuch exhibiting his girder-like tone arm on the floor of one of the big main halls. As a group of fascinated Japanese audiophiles looked on, Schuch demonstrated the workings of his pivoted tangential-tracking tonearm, which he modestly characterizes as "The perfect pick-up arm."
The story that has been handed down through the decades goes like this: Simon and Garfunkel’s vinyl LPs were originally produced using master tapes. Because S&G became so popular, over time the tapes would show signs of wear, so Columbia engineers would make a copy, toss the original, and begin cutting lacquers using the copy.
Originally written for Stereophile and handed in September, 1999 I recently found this story in a "dusty file" on my computer and thought it worth sharing.—Ed
What always felt like it would be a nasty bump in the Dylan Bootleg Series road turns out to be a smooth walk on the water thanks to a concept the Dylan boot team perfectly executes by covering the mutable artist's evangelical period with highly charged live performances, outtakes and rehearsals that will turn you into a believer, if not in Christ, then in Dylan's absolute commitment to what he then preached and in the power of the songs and especially the supercharged performances he delivered.
Jack White marked the opening of his new Third Man Pressing plant in a reinvigorated Detroit neighborhood by throwing a grand, festive, sometimes rowdy rock'n'roll (semi-formal attire requested) party. Among the invited "F.O.V.s" (Friends of Vinyl) were most of the owners of America's major and minor pressing plants. The gathering was probably the first time all of these once battered, now thriving survivors of the fading CD era assembled in one place to celebrate the unlikely resurgence of vinyl records.
First let's all agree that these short clip tests are useful and fun but must be taken as "for entertainment purposes only."
For those joining late, we twice asked the question "Should You Buy a MM-Only Phono Preamp If You Own a MM Cartridge"?, each time offering "blind listening" and voting. The first time was way back in May of 2017 where you could listen and vote for one of eight phono preamps, some MM-only and some MM/MC running in MM.