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Charles Lloyd Hosts an Online "Listening Party" Tonight With Joe Harley For His New BN album Tone Poem
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 11, 2021  |  2 comments
Tonight, Thursday March 11th 9PM ET/6PM PT Charles Lloyd will host an online listening party for his new Charles Lloyd and the Marvels Blue Note album Tone Poem, with special guest "Tone Poet" Joe Harley.

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John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band The Ultimate Collection  From UMe Drops April 16th
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 04, 2021  |  14 comments
John Lennon's raw, jarring solo debut album first released December 11, 1970 gets the 50th anniversary treatment in a multi-release series coming this April 16th. For those experiencing the album when it was first released 50 years ago, it was at first an ugly shock to hear a former Beatle (the phrase "former Beatle" was to fans shocking enough) bare his soul and express his personal anguish and pain, while simultaneously declaring "the dream" (whatever it was) "over".

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Attention Submarine Watchers! Murray The "K"'s "It's What's Happening Baby" Airs on PBS March 6th!
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 03, 2021  |  8 comments
New York D.J. Murray Kaufman, a/k/a "Murray the K", a/k/a "The Fifth Beatle" in the early 1960s presented raucous all-star rock and soul shows at Brooklyn's fabulous Fox Theater. After a 56 year absence Murray's TV special "It's What's Happening Baby" returns to the airwaves in a newly restored from the original video and audiotape presentation, featuring Ray Charles, Dionne Warwick, The Miracles, Herman's Hermits, The Righteous Brothers, The Ronettes, The Temptations, Johnny Rivers and Marvin Gaye, among others!

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Travis Debut Good Feeling   On Vinyl Again From Craft
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 02, 2021  |  2 comments
Excrutiatingly tuneful (I mean that in a most positive way) Scottish rock band Travis's 1997 debut album Good Feeling returns to vinyl for the first time in decades April 2nd, via Craft Recordings. The packaging duplicated the original independiente release with lacquers cut at Metropolis Studios, London, though at this time the source has not been provided (working on it).

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Catching Up With Neil Young
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 01, 2021  |  9 comments
Those who can’t tour, release. That’s what Neil Young has been up to. The latest in his ongoing 2021 series of archival releases is the just announced Young Shakespeare set for March 26th release. It’s a previously unreleased January 22nd, 1971 solo acoustic show recorded at the Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford, Connecticut, mixed from the original 50 year old master tapes “in the highest possible resolution”.

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Watch the "2020 Making Vinyl Packaging Awards" Ceremony
 |  Feb 24, 2021  |  8 comments
"Making Vinyl" today announced its "2020 Packaging Awards" at a crisply executed "virtual ceremony" that you can (and should) watch. The entrants were dazzling as you will see. The larger "canvas" provided by vinyl records has attracted a crop of extremely creating artists (though there were also awards for CD and cassette packaging).

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"Kirmuss Restoration Process" Easier to See on an Edison Cylinder
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 23, 2021  |  11 comments
Readers skeptical of the Kirmuss Vinyl Restoration process should examine the above photo. Lately Mr. Kirmuss has been using it to restore Edison cylinders. The results are easier to see here than on a vinyl record.

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ECM Reissues Keith Jarrett Sun Bear Concerts  10 LP Box Set
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 23, 2021  |  17 comments
Sun Bear Concerts, documents five complete solo performances by Keith Jarrett in Japan. First released in 1978, it is considered a milestone achievement in the history of jazz recording. "Rich in incident and detail, the music is beautifully produced, illustrated, and presented in this ten-LP set".

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Sumiko and SOTA Founder David Fletcher R.I.P.
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 18, 2021  |  45 comments
SOTA turntable co-founder David Fletcher recently passed away at age 81. The experimental physicist left the U.C. Berkeley Particle Lab to be his own boss. In 1972 he co-founded Sumiko. Both companies remain in business though Fletcher long ago sold his shares.

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Bob Lefsetz Podcast Interview With Steven Wilson
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 18, 2021  |  6 comments
“Steven Wilson has a new solo album, "The Future Bites." We discuss this as well as his work with Porcupine Tree but even if you're not a fan of his music, even if you've never heard of him, you need to listen to hear Wilson's stories of remixing King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Chic….”

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Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra LP Drops March 26th
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 17, 2021  |  8 comments
The press release announcing this record out March 26th on Luaka Bop is more coy and less informative, though that will probably change closer to the release date. However, I have a test pressing sent by a friend. Chris Bellman cut lacquers, RTI pressed, I don't care the source
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Impulse! Records Celebrates 60 Years With Year-Long Campaign
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 16, 2021  |  11 comments
Impulse! Records, founded in 1960 by Creed Taylor and home to some of the greatest jazz artists of all time including John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Archie Shepp, Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Quincy Jones, among many others, this year celebrates its 60th anniversary.

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Recording Engineer, Producer Elliot Mazer, R.I.P.
Harvey Kubernik  |  Feb 11, 2021  |  7 comments
(Copyright 2021, Harvey Kubernik) (Eliot Mazer photo courtesy Burson Audio.)

Elliot Mazer, the recording engineer and record producer who worked with Kenny Burrell, Chubby Checker, Maynard Ferguson, Richie Havens, Janis Joplin, Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Dylan, Jack Nitzsche, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and The Band died this past weekend at his San Francisco home at age 79. Cause of death was a heart attack. Mazer had battled dementia for a number of years.

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Verve/Acoustic Sounds To Release Out of the Cool  (Impulse AS-4) Cut From Original Master Tape
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 10, 2021  |  63 comments
This essential, musically groundbreaking and sonically spectacular Gil Evans album recorded by RVG in 1960 and released February of 1961 will soon be issued as part of the Verve/Acoustic Sounds series, cut AAA using the original master tape.

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Zenith Angle Correction: The Final Set-up Frontier!
Michael Fremer  |  Feb 08, 2021  |  102 comments
Before getting to the image above, let's reiterate some cartridge set-up facts: despite the instructions that accompany most turntables and tone arms, you can't reliably set stylus rake angle to 92 degrees by putting your tone arm parallel to the record surface. Insuring that the cantilever is perpendicular to the record surface does not mean you've correctly set azimuth. Why do the manufacturers tell you to do those things? To make set up simple, instead of telling you what you need to do to accurately set these critical parameters.

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