The hangman isn’t hanging but Steely Dan are stowin’ away the time, and they’re now back on vinyl where they belong. On November 4, Geffen/UMe and Analogue Productions commence an important year-long reissue series with 180g and 200g versions respectively of Steely Dan’s November 1972 debut album Can’t Buy a Thrill. Read on to find out more about what tapes are being used for this series, and what else is on the way on wax from Steely Dan’s 1972-80 heyday. . .
This past Saturday, vinyl mastering gurus Bernie Grundman and Ryan K. Smith, together with Acoustic Sounds founder and CEO Chad Kassem, all partook in a fascinating livestream event during which they discussed the mastering process and its role in creating a “perfect” vinyl LP. Read on to find out more of what they said, and how you can check it out firsthand. . .
Everybody oughtta make a change sometime, as the lyric goes, and Eric Clapton fully embraced that concept when he switched record labels from RSO to Reprise Records in 1983. To properly fete Slowhand’s six studio albums during his initial 1983-98 Reprise era, a 180g 12LP box set dubbed The Complete Reprise Studio Albums – Volume 1 is set for release on September 30. Read on for all the details. . .
Celluloid heroes never really die, and neither do The Kinks. To wit: The Kinks will be releasing Muswell Hillbillies / Everybody’s In Show-Biz - Everybody’s A Star in a deluxe box set configuration that combines deluxe LP reissues of these two classic early-1970s Kinks albums in addition to an all-new Ray Davies remix LP on September 9, 2022, via BMG. Full details, including who cut what and where for the LPs, follow. . .
In this case, going down the road wherever leads directly to your turntable. To wit: Mark Knopfler’s The Studio Albums 2009-2018, a 180g 9LP box set, will be released on October 7, 2022 by UMe/EMI. Read on for more details about who mastered it, who cut it, and what’s on it. . .
Gregg Allman left his mark on the music world at large as a natural-born blues-hewn vocalist, insightful and revelatory songwriter, and a consummately influential keyboardist. To properly fete him in style, a multi-generational all-star lineup of musicians from the worlds of rock, blues, and country joined together at Atlanta’s historic Fox Theatre on January 10, 2014 for All My Friends, a once-in-a-lifetime concert event tribute. Eight years later, All My Friends: Celebrating the Songs & Voice of Gregg Allman will finally be made available on vinyl via a 4LP box set that will be released on September 30, 2022 by Rounder Records. Read on to learn more about this historic release, and all its color-vinyl variants. . .
John Coltrane’s all-time hard-bop classic, January 1958’s Blue Train, is coming back around the vinyl bend. To mark the 65th anniversary of the album’s recording, Blue Train will be released in two special editions on September 16, 2022, as part of Blue Note’s Tone Poet Audiophile Vinyl Reissue Series. Read on for further Trane/Train info and pressing details. . .
Jim Davis, president of Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, posted an official statement yesterday about the company’s mastering process, following a recent spate of customer concerns about the possibility of digital steps in said mastering process. We are including his statement here verbatim, and invite your Comments below.
To slightly modify a line from “Let the Good Times Roll” . . . hey y’all, tell everybody Ray Charles is back on wax — and this time, he's got the Count Basie Orchestra with him. To wit: Tangerine Records will re-release the October 2006 album Ray Sings, Basie Swings on September 23, 2022, in a 140g 2LP collection pressed by IRP.
She’s got time, and so do we. Russian/American singer/songwriter Regina Spektor is set to release a limited-edition 180g 3LP box set that includes her self-released debut album 11:11 in celebration of its 20th anniversary. This 3LP box also includes Papa’s Bootlegs, 2LPs of previously unreleased of-era live material. The entire set is due on August 26 via Sire/Rhino.
Still... they turn us on. Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s first-ever singles box set, a deluxe collection featuring an even-dozen remastered 7-inch 45s culled from UK and international pressings and sporting rare, original picture sleeves and label artwork, is heading our way via BMG on August 26.
If you’ve ever had aspirations to cut your own record, here’s your chance. American Vinyl Co has just launched a new live-to-vinyl recording booth in the company’s Asheville, North Carolina location. More details in the story that follows...
So what’cha, what’cha, what’cha want? If your first instinct upon reading that phraseology is to think “Beastie Boys,” then you’ve come to the right place. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Beasties’ multiplatinum April 1992 album Check Your Head, UMe will release a limited-edition reissue of the rare 4LP deluxe version of it on August 12.
Have you heard the news? Just like the headline says, Pink Floyd's Animals 2018 Remix by James Guthrie is finally arriving on September 16 on 180g black vinyl. A Deluxe Gatefold Multidisc Version containing 1LP/1CD/1DVD/1BD will then follow on October 7.
Roxy Music always did have a hook on me, and they’ve done it again with their upcoming 180g 2LP best-of collection. To wit: The Best Of Roxy Music is scheduled for release on September 2, 2022 via Virgin/UMe. It's the first time this official career-spanning Roxy Music best-of collection is being made available on wax. Even better, Best of has been half-speed mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios.