LATEST ADDITIONS

Michael Fremer  |  Oct 01, 2007

Recorded June and December of 1956 in New York City, this match-up features a superb big band arranged by the then young Quincy Jones and the extraordinarily gifted Dinah Washington who belts them out here with breathtaking conviction.

 |  Sep 03, 2007

Written in 1959 to celebrate his father and mark his passing, Astor Piazzolla’s “Adiós Nonino” is a moving, appropriately sentimental work that occasionally veers into melodrama.

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 01, 2007

(This review, originally written back in 1995, appeared in Volume 1, issue 2 of The Tracking Angle as a review of Sony Legacy Gold CD ZK 66220, produced by Bob Irwin. It was an amazing sounding CD).

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 01, 2007

Dept. of Corrections: Due to a miscommunication between myself and Speakers Corner's Kai Seeman, I was led to believe this lush, yet detailed reissue was the first to be mastered by Maarten DeBoer, after the retirement of Willem Makkee at the newly refurbished Berliner Mastering facility in Hanover, Germany.

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 01, 2007

Wilco’s return to intimately drawn electro-acoustic folk and away from electronic experimentation gives the latest outing a comforting organic coherence and an intensely direct sense of musical purpose. The more tightly constrained concept yields greater discipline and a compelling concentration of useful ideas, tune after tune.

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 01, 2007

The Clientele’s Alasdair Maclean has been seduced by the precious 60’s west coast soft pop of Curt Boettcher, The Association, Brian Wilson, Boyce-Hart, Papa John Philips and even Arthur Lee, though like his fellow seductee Sean O’Hagan of High Llamas, he hails from the UK.

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 01, 2007

A “country” album from The Byrds? Back in 1968 when this album was released, “Country” was the enemy, the home of beer-swilling, drug-warrior, war in Vietnam supporting, long hair-hating rednecks.

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 01, 2007

Todd Garfinkle’s simply miked, spacious-sounding 96K DAT recordings have earned him a following among audiophiles, even though most of the music Garfinkle prefers to record is anything but traditional audiophile fare.

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 01, 2007

This "wind-em-up-and let-'em-play" set from September of 1963 has Jimmy Smith playing thick, juicy Hammond B-3 and Wes Montgomery blocking citrus-y chords and cool runs up and down the fretboard backed by brash, horn-drenched Oliver Nelson arrangements.

Michael Fremer  |  Sep 01, 2007

This is an easy call. Art Pepper at a productive time in his career musically and otherwise, recorded with vivid clarity at Contemporary Studios and delivered to the listener as a double 45rpm LP. You’ll be convinced Pepper’s standing between your speakers playing lithe alto sax lines that exude the delicacy of Paul Desmond and the muscular force of John Coltrane.

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