LATEST ADDITIONS

In the aftermath of The Mothers’ September 1973 hit LP Over-Nite Sensation, Frank Zappa began a process of trying to capture his amazing band on video for a hopeful television program. It took the better part of a year to eventually accomplish the task, as two trial efforts were deemed unusable at the time. Thankfully, modern restoration techniques have helped salvage such historic works in these 21st century tymes (sic), and that second session — now officially titled Cheaper Than Cheep — is being released by Zappa Records/UMe today, June 27, 2025, as a 180g 3LP set. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see why Cheep is anything but, and is instead another worthwhile addition to the Zappa-on-vinyl canon. . .

What’s in your heh-ed, in your he-ehh-ehh-ed? If that deliberately enunciated lyrical refrain instantly brings to mind a certain chilling but ultimately cathartic song by Irish alt-rockers The Cranberries — “Zombie” — then you’ll be eternally pleased to learn that a trio of 30th anniversary vinyl editions of the album that song is from, October 1994’s No Need to Argue, will be released in spurts on both June 27, 2025, and August 15, 2025. Read on to see which version is coming out on wax when, and what tracks each edition contains. . .

Vienna waits for you — or, in this case, we are the ones who will all just have to wait a little bit longer to attend and cover High End Vienna 2026, as the High End Society had to move the transplanted audio trade show ahead one week for a very important reason. Read on to see the new when, and the actual why. . .

In Part 7 of her continuing High End Munich 2025 show report series, Julie Mullins gets a firsthand look and listen to Ortofon’s new MC X Series cartridge line. . .