Album Reviews

Poll Winners Win Again: Barney Kessel, Shelly Manne, and Ray Brown Score on Craft Recordings' QRP-Pressed, Grundman-Mastered 180g Vinyl Reissue

Mark Smotroff  |  Jun 24, 2022

The Poll Winners
Barney Kessel With Shelly Manne and Ray Brown
 
Craft Recordings
Produced by: Lester Koenig
Engineered by: Roy DuNann
Mixed by: -
Mastered by: (and lacquers) Bernie Grundman
 
MUSIC
SOUND

There’s a striking new reissue from Craft Recordings I’m sure many jazz fans and collectors are as excited about as I am: 1957’s The Poll Winners. This LP features three of the greatest jazz musicians of their time (as well as the immediate future) — Barney Kessel on guitar backed by Shelly Manne on drums and Ray Brown on bass. From the liner notes, we learn all three of these fine musicians won the three major American jazz popularity polls in 1956 in Down Beat, Metronome, and Playboy magazines.

Primary Category: 
Album Reviews
Category: 
Album Reviews
Artist: 
Barney Kessel With Shelly Manne and Ray Brown
Album: 
The Poll Winners
Cred Label: 
Craft Recordings
Cred Prod: 
Lester Koenig
Cred Eng: 
Roy DuNann
Cred Mix: 
-
Cred Mast: 
(and lacquers) Bernie Grundman
Mark Smotroff

There’s a striking new reissue from Craft Recordings I’m sure many jazz fans and collectors are as excited about as I am: 1957’s The Poll Winners. This LP features three of the greatest jazz musicians of their time — Barney Kessel on guitar, backed by Shelly Manne on drums and Ray Brown on bass. How does Craft's QRP-pressed 180g reissue sound and compare to my original LP? In short, it is pretty fantastic. The new edition is much bigger-sounding in many ways, notably on the low end. Read on to find out more. . .

News

Jethro Tull Sets Thick as a Brick 50th Anniversary 1LP Half-Speed Master in Original Newspaper Packaging for July 29

Mike Mettler  |  Jun 23, 2022

Extra, extra, read all about it: Jethro Tull's seminal March 1972 album Thick as a Brick is soon coming our way in a 50th anniversary 1LP half-speed master in its original newspaper packaging on July 29, via Parlophone.

News

DS Audio To Demo ES-001 Eccentricity Detection Stabilizer At Quintessence Audio In Chicago This Saturday

Mike Mettler  |  Jun 22, 2022

It's demo time! Garth Leerer of Musical Surroundings will demonstrate the new DS Audio ES-001 Eccentricity Detection Stabilizer, which was introduced at the Munich High End show, at Quintessence Audio in Chicago this Saturday, June 25, from 1 to 6 pm (Central time).

Album Reviews

Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest Is A Colorful, Cinemascopic Half-Speed Mastered 45rpm Vinyl Me Please Reissue

Mark Smotroff  |  Jun 17, 2022

Veckatimest
Grizzly Bear
 
Vinyl Me Please VMP-E106
Produced by: Chris Taylor
Engineered by: Chris Taylor, Gareth Jones
Mixed by: Gareth Jones
Mastered by: Half Speed Mastering by Barry Grint at Alchemy Mastering At AIR
 
MUSIC
SOUND

I discovered New York’s Grizzly Bear in a most typical way, for me — over the in-store PA system at Amoeba Music here in San Francisco. When their in-store play got to the band’s then-big hit — “Two Weeks,” from their May 2009 album Veckatimest — I realized I had indeed previously heard the song’s distinctive, earworm-inducing, millennial-whoop-flavored signature hook. Soon enough, I started collecting the Grizzly Bear catalog on vinyl.

Primary Category: 
Album Reviews
Category: 
Album Reviews
Artist: 
Grizzly Bear
Album: 
Veckatimest
Cred Label: 
Vinyl Me Please VMP-E106
Cred Prod: 
Chris Taylor
Cred Eng: 
Chris Taylor, Gareth Jones
Cred Mix: 
Gareth Jones
Cred Mast: 
Half Speed Mastering by Barry Grint at Alchemy Mastering At AIR
Mark Smotroff
I discovered New York’s Grizzly Bear in a most typical way, for me — over the in-store PA system at Amoeba Music here in San Francisco. When their in-store play got to the band’s then-big hit — “Two Weeks,” from their May 2009 album Veckatimest — I realized I had indeed previously heard the song’s distinctive, earworm-inducing, millennial-whoop-flavored signature hook. Soon enough, I started collecting the Grizzly Bear catalog on vinyl. While I’ve enjoyed my 180g Veckatimest reissue, I’ve long suspected there might be more depth tucked away in the recording. Thus, I was excited to learn the good folks at Vinyl Me Please were re-releasing Veckatimest in a half-speed mastered, 45rpm colored vinyl edition.

News

Welcome to Analog Planet!

Mike Mettler  |  Jun 16, 2022

It’s a new era here at Analog Planet, starting today. You’ll get all the in-depth album reviews, detailed equipment reviews, news about upcoming vinyl releases and new gear announcements, as well as deep-dive, vinyl-centric interviews with musicians, producers, engineers, and manufacturers alike, just as you’ve come to know and expect. If you are part of the great vinyl resurgence, then this is your home, and we aim to make you very welcome.

Features

Review Explosion: Post Malone, 070 Shake, Merzbow, & Whitearmor

Malachi Lui  |  Jun 15, 2022

(Review Explosion, curated by contributing editor Malachi Lui, is a guide to notable recent releases and reissues. It focuses on the previous few months' new releases for which we don't have time or energy to cover more extensively.)

Features

More Notes on the Rolling Stones Reissues

Malachi Lui  |  Jun 13, 2022

Whether it's the 60s material controlled by ABKCO or the 1971-onward catalog owned by the band, the Rolling Stones' discography is among the world's most tirelessly and excessively reissued; every few years, there's yet another remastered, repressed, repackaged reissue of the same decades-old classics. After several mediocre reissues of the Rolling Stones Records albums (particularly the first and best two, Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street), AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer found the half-speed mastered 2018 Studio Albums Vinyl Collection 1971–2016 box set (now available as individual albums) to best capture the original LPs' spirit, even if sometimes lacking in transparent analog sparkle. However, I thought another perspective on the Sticky Fingers and Exile reissues, also taking into account the Japanese flat transfer CDs, would be useful.

Munich 2022

High End Munich 2022 Analog Coverage Day 3

Michael Fremer  |  Jun 7, 2022

Yukiseimitsu Audio AP-0 analog record player

One person can't possibly visit every room at a convention center show as large as High End Munich—even if your sole goal is to cover analog products. Maybe that was possible a decade ago but now? No way! You must make editorial decisions and pass by some rooms. For instance, having given Avantgarde Acoustics and its new powered G3 iTRON loudspeaker system full coverage at AXPONA, I decided I could skip their Munich room. Little did I know that SME would be demonstrating its new Model 60 in the Avantgarde Acoustics room, so the Model 60 is not covered here. However, I did visit the factory for a semi-exclusive look so if you've not seen the coverage, click on the hyperlink.

Album Reviews

Combat Rock + The People's Hall: The Clash Cash In

Malachi Lui  |  Jun 4, 2022

Combat Rock + The People's Hall
The Clash
 
Epic/Legacy/Sony UK 19439955131 180gm 3LP (US pressing)/Sony Japan SIJP 1046 clear vinyl LP (Japanese pressing)
Produced by: The Clash and Glyn Johns
Engineered by: Jerry Green and Joe Blaney (main album)
Mixed by: Glyn Johns (main album) and Declan Gaffney
Mastered by: Tim Young and The Clash at Metropolis
 
MUSIC
SOUND
By 1981, The Clash was in shambles. Seeking more direction following their 1980 triple album Sandinista!, co-frontman Joe Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon rehired the band's notoriously difficult original manager, Bernie Rhodes, to the dismay of other co-frontman Mick Jones. Jones sought to continue the band's expansive forays into dub, reggae, and hip-hop, while Strummer wanted something more streamlined.
Primary Category: 
Album Reviews
Category: 
Album Reviews
Artist: 
The Clash
Album: 
<I>Combat Rock + The People's Hall</I>
Cred Label: 
Epic/Legacy/Sony UK 19439955131 180gm 3LP (US pressing)/Sony Japan SIJP 1046 clear vinyl LP (Japanese pressing)
Cred Prod: 
The Clash and Glyn Johns
Cred Eng: 
Jerry Green and Joe Blaney (main album)
Cred Mix: 
Glyn Johns (main album) and Declan Gaffney
Cred Mast: 
Tim Young and The Clash at Metropolis
Malachi Lui
By 1981, The Clash was in shambles. Seeking more direction following their 1980 triple album Sandinista!, co-frontman Joe Strummer and bassist Paul Simonon rehired the band's notoriously difficult original manager, Bernie Rhodes, to the dismay of other co-frontman Mick Jones. Jones sought to continue the band's expansive forays into dub, reggae, and hip-hop, while Strummer wanted something more streamlined. Yet despite all of that, plus drummer Topper Headon's spiraling heroin and cocaine addiction, The Clash toured and managed to record new material at The People's Hall in the Republic of Frestonia (a small area in West London populated by squatters hoping to secede from the UK) as well as Electric Lady Studios in New York City.

Munich 2022

Munich High End 2022 Day Two - Action-Packed Analog

Michael Fremer  |  Jun 3, 2022

Esoteric's $75,000 magnetic drive turntable with Ikeda tonearm

Munich High End 2022 day two was as analog action-packed as was day one. Second day videos tend to get somewhat lower viewer numbers, but you can be sure this video contains product debuts and events you really do not want to miss, including the saxophonist Jerome Sabbagh playing live in the Stenheim/darTzeel room backed by a recording of his bandmates. The illusion of the group playing live worked surprisingly well and even translated well recorded to stereo shotgun microphone. darTzeel introduced a new MC phono cartridge.

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