Phil Lesh, co-founding bassist of the Grateful Dead, sadly passed away at age 84 on October 25, 2024, and he will be remembered by millions of fans for the brilliant, inspiring music he made over the course of his incredible career. AP editor Mike Mettler asked our resident Deadhead Mark Smotroff to put together a proper tribute, and he enlisted three other fellow Dead experts to help bid Phil a proper fare thee well. Read on to see what their respective choices are for Lesh’s finest moments on vinyl. . .

We’ve officially entered into the homestretch of our in-depth three-part Toronto Audiofest 2024 show report. Read Shanon McKellar’s final TAF 2024 installment to see what she heard with turntables from the likes of Thorens, TW-Acustic, Pure Fidelity, Well Tempered Lab, and more. . .

In our humble opinion here at AP, turntables are forever. VPI Industries clearly agree with that statement, as they’ve just announced the Model One turntable, the first entry in their new Forever series. Read on to see all the features and specs of the Model One, along with its cool new 10in S-shaped tonearm. . .

We’re back onsite at Toronto Audiofest, which was held during the weekend of October 18-20, 2024. Read Part 2 of Shanon McKellar’s TAF show report to see her firsthand experience with the turntable setups from two stellar companies, Oracle Audio Technologies and Stable 33.33. . .

If it’s Halloween, then it must mean it’s Frank Zappa time. Rather than don our respective Zappaween masks, we are instead here to scare up another tag-team review of an important reissue of one of FZ’s most cherished LPs — namely, the recently released Apostrophe (’) 50th Anniversary Edition 180g 2LP set. Read on to see how AP editor Mike Mettler, Mark Smotroff, and Ken Micallef collectively feel about this new pressing of FZ’s March 1974 solo cosmic classic, plus its included bonus material. . .

This year’s Toronto Audiofest couldn’t have had a better backdrop for the October 18-20, 2024, weekend — and AP was on hand and onsite to take it all in. Read Part 1 of Shanon McKellar’s TAF show report to see which rooms and companies displayed some of the best turntable setups of the entire show. . .

As we await the wide-sharing of VPI’s latest new-product news, we just couldn’t pass up testing out their Scout 21 turntable — the successor to their well-loved Prime Scout model — in the interim. Red Ken Micallef’s review to see if the Scout 21 measures up to VPI’s longstanding top-shelf turntable standards. . .

There are probably many behind-the-scenes reasons why indie-rock/power-pop legends The dB’s just could not get their first two albums released by an American record company back in the early 1980s. Whatever the cause or the case, that outright crime for fans of all things jangly power pop and indie rock has long been overdue for amending. Thankfully, a new reissue series by independent record label Propeller Sound Recordings has gone a long way to make up for that unfortunate ’80s misstep. The second entry in The dB’s vinyl reclamation series is their 1981 sophomore LP, Repercussion. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see why Propeller’s truly wonderful Repercussion LP reissue belongs on your turntable today. . .

The music you make is equal to the console you make it on — or something like that. To that end, mega online gear retailer Reverb has just announced that the EMI TG12345 recording console used by The Beatles to record September 1969’s seminal Abbey Road LP is going up for sale through MJQ Ltd., their official artists partner, starting on October 29, 2024. Read on to see how you might be able to get your hands, and ears, on a true piece of recording history. . .

Good things come in threes — or, in this case, in III. What I mean by that is, Revox have seen fit to announce their new B77 MKIII reel-to-reel stereo tape recorder, and we couldn’t be more pleased to hear all about it. Read on to see all the specs and features of the mighty Revox B77 MK III. . .