A New Zealand-based reader recently emailed asking if Mobile Fidelity's double 45rpm monophonic Bob Dylan reissues were "worth the money". He added that he was a big Bob Dylan fan.
If you do a "Gene Clark" search on this website you'll find plenty to read and to listen to—including an AnalogPlanet Radio show dedicated to the late musician and former member of The Byrds. Please also read here the many record, book and documentary reviews covering Gene Clark's life and recorded output.
It's difficult to believe that British born cellist Jacqueline Du Pré was but 20 years old on August 19th, 1965 when she delivered this recorded performance in famed Kingsway Hall with Sir John Barbirolli conducting the London Symphony Orchestra.
Gillian Welch's fourth album originally released in 2003 on CD-only finally gets an AAA release, cut by Stephen Marcussen on the Ortofon VMS-80 cutting system Welch and partner Dave Rawlings bought and restored. Now that's progress!
The Buffalo Springfield box set reissue fans have long awaited is finally here and it was well worth waiting for. Neil Young points out in the enclosed heavy paper full color "one sheet" that all five records were cut directly from the original master tapes, not tape copies. Each record has a Neil-created "SPARS code"
And this is how you do it correctly!: Supervised by the ZFT, the record was specially mastered for this release by Bernie Grundman with all analog production and cut directly from the 1970 ¼” stereo safety master tape in 2018.
AnalogPlanet last spoke with Graham Nash in 2016 upon the release of This Path Tonight, his latest collection of new songs. On June 29th RHINO will issue Over the Years a new 30 track, 15 song CD retrospective also available on vinyl as a 15 song double LP set. Over the Years includes songs originally released on CSN and CSN&Y albums as well as songs from the records he made with David Crosby and of course from his solo albums beginning with 1971's "Songs For Beginners".
Buddy Holly's last album before "the day the music died" released in 1958 belongs in every rock-based record collection. It's not even a close call. And this reissue sourced from the original analog tapes still in superb condition and cut by Kevin Gray is by far the best sounding edition ever.
It takes nerves of steel and a healthy serving of humility to agree to record direct-to-disc a solo piano recital but that's what Katie Mahan signed on for here. The results are both musically and sonically rewarding.
Mahan gave her first piano recital at age 6, having decided at age 4 that she wanted to be a concert pianist after attending a performance of Gershwin's "American in Paris". From her online bio:
Saxophonist Jerome Sabbagh's 2014 Kickstarter funded release The Turn was a musical and sonic success. It got great reviews here, in the Boston Globe, Stereophile and the L.A. Times. Now Sabbagh is back with another Kickstarter funded project but this time instead of recording analog and cutting from digital because of the extra expenses involved, he's going for an all-analog production.
Simon split from Garfunkel, Buffalo Springfield broke up. So did The Youngbloods, The Lovin' Spoonful and of course The Beatles. Yes, many '60s groups remained together, like The Rolling Stones and The Grateful Dead, but as the tumultuous '60s came to a close, others fragmented with leaders going solo.
What a voice, what a loss. Dolores O'Riordan, lead singer of the Irish group The Cranberries died suddenly in London January 15th, 2018 at age 46. She was in town for a recording session.
O'Riordan wrote lyrics and on some of the group's songs, the music as well, including three on this, the group's 1993 debut album. She also wrote music and lyrics on probably the group's best known song "Zombie"—her reaction to terrorist bombings by the Irish Republican Army—which is not on this album.