As with back jacket credits of UK-based Pure Pleasure’s 180g vinyl release ofMississippi John Hurt Today! (http://www.musicangle.com/album.php?id=461), this Vanguard reissue erroneously claims to have been sourced from a CD. If you’re going to do that, why bother having Kevin Gray cut lacquers at AcousTech when you can have it done much closer to home and probably at lower cost?

Critics are probably not supposed to like the kind of retro-kitsch proffered by The Puppini Sisters, a trio of unrelated gals based in the UK, though one of them, Marcella is a Puppini, or at least goes by the name.

Let’s get one thing straight here first. No reissue label and mean none goes to the trouble Classic does to get the packaging right. Get your hands on this Tommy reissue and compare it to the original UK Track edition and you will see that Classic has gone the extra 3000 miles to give you as close a facsimile of the original British pressing as is humanely possible.

Note: the impeccably packaged double 180g vinyl set just out (late November, '06), while still lacking top end shimmer and air, exudes an overall clarity, transparency and three dimensionality that leaves the CD far behind. And the bottom end rocks. The vinyl gets an "8" for sound


Though it commences with “Saving Grace,” a John Lee Hooker crawlin’ king snake-riffed rocker, there’s less confrontation and more contemplation on Tom Petty’s tune-soaked new solo album. The “I Won’t Back Down” Petty of Full Moon Fever is gone, replaced by a more accepting, older observer of time and terrain passing.

Part 2:
And also, bravo to you for remastering something PRIMARILY FOR ITS MUSICAL VALUES that could by no means be considered an “audiophile favorite,” but is so much more essential as music than any number of cheese “audiophile” reissues.” No doubt you’ll field a few silly complaints from people who don’t understand the limits of these master tapes. (Classic showed the same good attitude when they reissued the Munch “Saint-Saens Organ Symphony” [LSC-2341], which “has distortion on the master tape”… but hey Audio World, it’s the BEST PERFORMANCE of a great work, and sounds thrilling!)

Note: this is part 1 of a two part review. To access part 2, see "Recent Arrivals" on the musicangle.com home page
First, a few words for those who love the early Who but don’t know the complicated backstory. There is not and will probably never be a one-album Perfect Early-Who Best-Of.

Eager anticipation turned into bitter disappointment early as Steely Dan played its final Beacon Theater (NY) concert last night (June 13th 2007). Opening tunes can’t be counted upon for greatness, as the band warms up and the mixer dials in the sound, but unfortunately, last night’s thin, sizzly, musically disjointed opener set the stage for an evening of thudding, overblown drumming, and an excruciatingly thin, sizzly, sibilant vocal mix on Donald Fagen’s clearly fatigued voice.

Obviously, drummer Keith Carlock is a talented and energetic drummer, but his playing last night had very little to do with Steely Dan’s slinky, insinuating sound, and much more to do with a Heavy Metal concert.

The shadow story of the tragic life of the sad-eyed, impossibly pretty Gram Parsons is fairly well known, at least among fans of The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Parsons’ ill-fated solo career.

Parsons (original name: Ingram Cecil Connor III) was an enigma: a Southern born trust fund baby, Harvard drop-out and emotionally troubled musician who, though plagued by alcohol and drug abuse, (or perhaps in part because of it), produced some of the most haunting and enduring music of his era, while forging a new musical paradigm combining folk, country, rock, soul and “glam.” Though he influenced generations of musicians who followed, he never sold that many records.

This charming 1978 Harmonia Mundi release was a big audiophile favorite when vinyl was still king for reasons that will become obvious to you should you choose to pick up this Speakers Corner reissue.

Despite the band’s name, there’s not much of a party going on in the lyrics of this UK quartet’s thoughtful second album. World events and how they affect today’s young people in the UK are at the core of the band’s viewpoint.