Album Reviews

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Album Reviews
Dark Side of the Moon Yet Again? And Again?
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 01, 2011

Another decade, another reissue of DSOTM, this one using the very fragile original two track master tape, again supervised by James Guthrie. Guthrie had determined that the tape was in fragile shape back in 2003, which is why he opted for a remix in the analog domain. That edition was very good and worth having, especially if you didn't have a very clean early UK pressing, but in retrospect it departs from the original much as the Mo-Fi does: the EQ is a bit much at the frequency extremes, which bleaches out the mids. As for the mix's micro-elements and how close Guthrie came to reproducing the original mix, I have to surrender that to the DTOTM fanatics, of which I'm not one.

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Album Reviews
Dialogues on Race Volume One  Is The Emmett Till Story Set to Unforgettable Music
Michael Fremer  |  Sep 29, 2020
As I reached my home the other day after an early morning run a neighbor pulled over in his car and asked how I was doing. I said, “great, under the Covid-19 circumstances”. Noting my Biden/Harris lawn sign he said “The Democrats have been taken over by the progressives. Doesn’t that bother you?” I said “No, I’m fairly progressive myself. The GOP has been taken over by Trump, who isn’t sure he’ll hand over the reins of power if he loses the election, doesn’t that bother you?”

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Duke Ellington & John Coltrane Together Make Beautiful Music
Michael Fremer  |  May 08, 2022
What seemed like an unlikely pairing in 1962 of “jazz elder” 63 year old Duke Ellington with John Coltrane, who had just assembled his ”classic quartet” destined to explore uncharted musical (and spiritual) territory, produced a surprisingly cohesive and satisfying album.

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Album Reviews
Ella The Lost Berlin Tapes  An Extraordinary Document!
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 02, 2020
This March 25, 1962 recording of Ella Fitzgerald performing live at Berlin’s Sportpalast is remarkable for several reasons, starting with the then 44 year old’s exuberant, high energy performance backed by the trio of Paul Smith on piano, Wilfred Middlebrooks on bass and Stan Levey on drums.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas Will Warm An Atheist's Heart
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 03, 2021
Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas album is a secular holiday delight sure to please every listener, even atheists and agnostics. Originally released in 1960, the sound here is warm and inviting as a Yule log burning in the fireplace—once you get past the opener "Jingle Bells", which is somewhat brighter, brasher and more in your face than the rest, though having Ella in your face is hardly problematic.

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Album Reviews
Ellington Masterpieces  A Record That Belongs In Every Record Collection
Michael Fremer  |  Dec 05, 2014
The Internet has diminished the number of "record fairs" but there still are some. When I go to "record fairs" l like to "play against type". If I see a vendor who looks like Elvis Presley (and there is/was one), I know his 50s rock records are going to be good but expensive so I'd rather rummage through the boxes of $1 records he's put on the floor under his table. That's where he puts the "junk" about which he knows nothing.

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Album Reviews
Elton John Gets the Bass Back on UMG's SACD Reissue
Michael Fremer  |  Mar 03, 2005

When MCA's UNI division originally issued this album in 1970, it became an immediate hit. Though it was Elton's second album (Empty Skies came first), but was issued later in the United States), it was his first produced by Gus Dudgeon and arranged by the brilliant Paul Buckmaster.

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Album Reviews
Elvis' Golden Records Volume 3  From ORG at 45rpm
Michael Fremer  |  Jun 04, 2014
With most artists, by the time you get to the third greatest hits album you're scraping the bottom of the barrel but not with Elvis Presley. In fact, it could easily be argued that Volume 3 was the "sweet spot" among the original RCA Elvis's greatest hits releases. It's also the first from Elvis's stereo era.

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Album Reviews
Famous Blue Raincoat  Sounding Better Than Ever
Michael Fremer  |  Nov 21, 2015
"Jenny Sings Lenny" as Mr. Cohen playfully referenced this album in a cartoon included in the original release's liner notes but for some reason omitted here, both technically and musically has never sounded better.

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
Ferguslie Park  Reissued by Intervention Records
Michael Fremer  |  Aug 03, 2015
Long time Gerry Rafferty fans were thrilled for the long-suffering artist when he finally had a hit single under his own name with “Baker Street”, taken from his late ‘70s release City to City.

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Album Reviews
Gimme Some Truth  John Lennon The Ultimate Mixes
Michael Fremer  |  Oct 09, 2020
Another murder most foul to revisit. Where were you on December 8th 1980 when the terrible news broke that John Lennon had been assassinated? A girlfriend and I were having dinner with Chuck and Nancy (not Schumer and Pelosi) and with Arnold and Maria (yes, Schwarzenegger and Shriver).

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Album Reviews
Graceland At Twenty Five
Michael Fremer  |  May 10, 2012

Twenty five years later, it’s easy to forget that Graceland, the album many consider to be Paul Simon’s finest musical achievement, was mired in controversy because of the continuing disgraceland that was apartheid South Africa. Nelson Mandela was still jailed and protests erupted on college campuses and in the halls of government around the world.

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Album Reviews
Happier Than Ever Is Billie Eilish’s Brilliantly Dark Fame Diary
Michael Fremer, Malachi Lui  |  Aug 29, 2021
This July, Billie Eilish released her highly anticipated second LP, Happier Than Ever. After some contention as to who would review this release, AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer and contributing editor Malachi Lui agreed to both comment on it. Below is their conversation about the record.

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Album Reviews
Highway 61 Revisited  Revisited By Mobile Fidelity at 45rpm
Michael Fremer  |  Jul 01, 2014
Dylan's previous album Bringing It All Back Home arguably contains the first rap song ("Subterranean Homesick Blues") and is associated with the first rock video—the one where he holds up those cue cards with some of the lyrics—but this album made Dylan a rock star. The cover photo remains iconic and enigmatic: Dylan as The Mona Lisa?

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AAA VinylAlbum Reviews
If You Love For Beauty, Sasha Cooke and The Colburn Orchestra
Ty Webb  |  Sep 22, 2019
Yarlung Records has garnered accolades for its innovative series of 45 rpm records that feature a variety of classical and jazz artists. Expectations are bound to be high for its new LP If You Love For Beauty, featuring the talented mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke together with t
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