Album Reviews

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Michael Fremer  |  Apr 05, 2014
A thousand United Airlines commercials later and Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" still sounds fresh, lavish and grand. It epitomizes New York City in its golden jazz age and with every listen opens the mind's eye to yellow incandescent lit Art Deco granite skyscrapers and the general urban dazzle of pre-WWII America. I never get tired of listening to it, the later at night the better for some reason. It could only have been written in America by an American.

Mark Smotroff  |  Mar 27, 2025

In September 1997, an album of inspired Cuban music, Buena Vista Social Club, was released to near universal acclaim, inspiring music fans and musicians around the world. Produced by legendary guitarist and world-music champion Ry Cooder, Buena Vista Social Club was a smash hit in the CD era, but Analogue Productions’ new, super-deluxe 180g 45rpm 4LP vinyl reissue of Buena Vista Social Club may very well be the best-sounding version of it to date. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see why he (and we!) feel the new 4LP edition of Buena Vista Social Club is a clear winner. . .

Mark Smotroff, Mike Mettler  |  May 01, 2026

Analogue Productions have recently released a tremendous 200g 2LP 45rpm UHQR version of The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s December 1967 album, Axis: Bold As Love in both stereo and mono. Read Mark Smotroff’s review of the stereo edition (and AP editor Mike Mettler’s extended footnotes) to find out why it’s worth the investment, and then carry on into Mettler’s footnotes to see why the mono edition is also top-shelf. . .. . .

Mark Smotroff  |  Nov 15, 2022

Last week, we sung the praises of the new 180g 1LP Geffen/UMe edition of Steely Dan’s November 1972 debut album, Can’t Buy A Thrill. This week, we cue up Analogue Productions’ 200g 2LP UHQR edition of Thrill, and — spoiler alert! — it’s one of the best listening experiences you’ll have this year (or any other). Read on to find out all the pressing details why this 200g Thrill is one for the ages. . .

Mike Mettler  |  May 15, 2024

Gaucho is the fifth entry in Analogue Productions' comprehensive 200g 45rpm 2LP Steely Dan UHQR reissue series, and this one has been sourced from a 1980 analog tape copy originally EQ'd by Bob Ludwig, who also mastered the original album itself. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s in-depth review to find out if the new Gaucho UHQR improves upon the original release’s Grammy-winning sonics. . .

Michael Fremer  |  Mar 07, 2022
Danish immigrant Jacob Riis’s photojournalism book “How the Other Half Lives” published in 1890 documents the squalid life in New York City’s teeming Lower East Side slums crowded with Irish, Jewish, Italian, Chinese and other newly arrived immigrants. The muckraking book made an immediate impression upon New York’s upper classes and led to many reforms.

Julie Mullins  |  Feb 01, 2023

New LP review alert! This is the first installment in a new series of album reviews we’ll be doing here on AP wherein we catch up on LP releases we weren’t able to cover when they initially came out in the not-so-distant past, but are indeed ones we feel are worthy of note. Read on to get our take on Andrew Bird’s most intriguing 2022 LP, Inside Problems. . .

Michael Fremer  |  May 30, 2021
Some people collect Tone Poet Blue Note reissues the way some people amass baseball cards. I know more than a few Tone Poet enthusiasts who, after buying one, had a Bert Lahr Lay’s potato chip moment and couldn’t stop buying them—at least until they encountered the late pianist/composer/arranger Andrew Hill’s Blue Note debut Black Fire (ST-84151/B0029975-01).

Michael Fremer  |  Dec 10, 2016
Angel Olsen's third album reminds me of Elvis Costello's first even though she's mostly vulnerable whereas Costello was angry and snarly. The similarity is in how both make fresh older rock conventions like power cords and '50s era rhythms.

Michael Fremer  |  Oct 01, 2010

Well this is embarrassing: I've played often and enjoyed this excellent sounding reissue featuring L.A. based anglophile singer/songwriter Emitt Rhodes in preparation for this write-up but the record has gotten lost here somewhere.

Michael Fremer  |  Aug 01, 2008

Reminiscent of what Carl Jefferson was doing at Concord back in the 1970’s, this reissue of a French Black and Blue release recorded March of 1978, keeps alive the straight ahead tradition that seemed to be passing into jazz history back then.

Michael Fremer  |  Aug 01, 2007

The almost apologetic liner notes let you know that the music on this album, and indeed Mr. Hawkins himself, was essentially out of favor, except as an exercise in nostalgia and that Prestige’s “Moodsville” series, if not meant as background “mood music,” could serve that purpose, though it was perfectly suited for actual listening should the buyer so desire. Montovani is even mentioned in the notes!

Michael Fremer  |  Jul 01, 2010

With the rhythm section of McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and Sonny Rollins’ bassist of choice Bob Cranshaw behind him, the long underappreciated Grant Green’s take on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things” superficially sounds like a transcript lifted from Coltrane’s 1961 Atlantic album of the same name from a few years earlier. It’s even taken in the same 6/8 time.

Michael Fremer  |  Aug 01, 2007

A collection of mostly 17th and 18th century music, much of which was written to alleviate a form of madness caused by a Tarantula bite might not sound like an enticing concept, but it is!

Mike McGill  |  May 02, 2006

Well, is the uber-buzz justified? Fastest-selling debut album; Greatest band since the Beatles, number 287 in a series (collect ‘em all)?

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