I wrote this article, originally published in Music Connection magazine, back in 1985 after becoming increasingly disgusted with and alarmed by the deteriorating sonic quality of new releases from familiar artists. Little did I realize then that 1985 was a 'golden age' of good sound compared to what most pop and rock recordings sound like in 2008! I remain grateful to editor Bud Scoppa for giving me the platform to spout a then unpopular view in a magazine read by Los Angeles engineers, artists and music business executives.
When The Absolute Sound's Harry Pearson announced he was looking for a new popular music editor, I applied for the job by sending him this article. He liked it enough to give me the job. That gave me an ideal platform from which to advocate saving the vinyl record and extolling its unique set of virtues, sonic and otherwise.
Watching the LP section at the huge Tower Records on Sunset shrink by the week, never did I imagine that in 2008 the LP would be back and Tower would be gone. Michael Fremer, 1/15/08
As with back jacket credits of UK-based Pure Pleasure’s 180g vinyl release ofMississippi John Hurt Today! (http://www.musicangle.com/album.php?id=461), this Vanguard reissue erroneously claims to have been sourced from a CD. If you’re going to do that, why bother having Kevin Gray cut lacquers at AcousTech when you can have it done much closer to home and probably at lower cost?
Marshall Blonstein's Audio Fidelity Records today inked the deal with The Walt Disney Corporation to release Wendy Carlos's groundbreaking original soundtrack to the 1982 Disney feature "TRON".
I received a spread sheet earlier in the year estimating how many records would be pressed in 2016. The total was well in excess of 80,000,000 (yes, eighty million).
Only side one was actually recorded live at New York's now shuttered Half Note back in June of 1965; the other side was taped during an Autumn studio date at Van Gelder's place in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. The Kelly Trio, which included Jimmy Cobb and Paul Chambers — the rest of Miles Davis' former rhythm section — is joined by one of the world's most original jazz guitarist, the late Wes Montgomery, on a smooth set that goes down easy both because of the straight-ahead swing of the playing and Van Gelder's superb recording. The live side captures Montgomery's rich sound better than any other recording I've ever heard, and the studio side is only down a notch from that.
Don Sebesky’s glib big band charts for “California Dreaming” and for a few other tunes on this 1966 Creed Taylor Production may exude almost comical “action television series” theme music swagger (I’m thinking “Mannix”), yet Wes Montgomery’s physical daring and sense of lyrical beauty quickly overcome any reservations you might have about being seen enjoying a blatantly commercial enterprise like this.
When it seemed as if my Lyra Titan had at least 1000 hours on it I figured it was time for a re-tip. I took a USB digital microscope image and posted it on this site. I thought it showed some wear but before sending it back to Lyra, I sent it to my friend Wally who produced much better and more definitive images using an optical set-up.