Bassist Roger Glover is the secret sauce of Deep Purple. His pub-rock roots fuel the sonic elixir that gives Purple’s musical bouillabaisse blend of rock, classical, and progressive the extra oomph it needs — and it’s something that’s well in evidence on Deep Purple’s latest, and 23rd, studio LP, the 180g 45rpm 2LP set named/numeraled = 1, which was released by earMUSIC/Edel on July 19, 2024. On a recent Zoom call with AP editor Mike Mettler, Glover discussed his instinctual connection with drummer Ian Paice, which version of the band’s classic 1972 LP Machine Head is his favorite, and what vintage Deep Purple albums he’d like to remix himself. . .
If there’s a musician who’s taking better advantage of that figurative Dorian Gray picture on their wall than singer/songwriter/guitarist Dion DiMucci, we haven’t met them. The eternal Bronx-born Wanderer is still going strong at age 84, having issued three all-new 180g 2LP sets in the past four years. The most recent of which is Girl Friends, a four-sided, 12-track affair that celebrates Dion’s collaborative spirit and spark with a plethora of female artists, and it was just released by Keeping The Blues Alive this past Friday, March 8. In a recent Zoom interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Dion discussed why he sequences his LPs like a live show, how “The Wanderer” is one of his definitive “bragging rights” songs, and why he’s considering resurrecting some of his personal favorite songs from years past on vinyl. . .
Discogs founder Kevin Lewandowski at the Discogs headquarters entrance (Photo: Michael Fremer)
AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer first encountered Discogs founder Kevin Lewandowski back in 2013 at the giant Utrecht Record Fair in The Netherlands. Lewandowski was there to promote Discogs and of course to buy records.
(Back in 1984 I was assigned to interview Don Henley, who'd just released Building the Perfect Beast his second solo album.
Henley picked me up in his black Porsche 911 and off we went to the Sunset Grill for lunch. We talked about music and life while downing burgers, fries and Cokes. Despite the classy name and the complex arrangement for the song that immortalized the place, the Sunset Grill was a tiny, hole in wall burger stand on Sunset Boulevard.
Stewart Copeland has always followed the beat of his own drum — or, rather, he’s always been the consummate rhythmatist who’s unwaveringly laid down his own style of drumming perpetually in service of the song at hand. And now, the sonic fruit of his latest twisted muse, if you will, has manifested itself in a solo project somewhat cheekily dubbed Police Deranged for Orchestra, consisting of ten classic and deep-cut Police tracks rearranged — or “deranged,” in Copeland’s titular parlance — as released in its 1LP form by Shelter/BMG this Friday, June 23. During a recent Zoom interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Copeland discusses how he opened up the dynamic range with all the Derangements he came up with for this album, how he shepherded the “perfect” snare, and just how meticulous he got when he wrote out the entire Deranged score for each orchestra member to follow. . .
Swiss-born recording engineer Marc Aubort began his career in the late 1940’s working first with wire recorders and later with tape. Aubort first came to America in 1955 to inspect the American operation of European budget label MMS (Musical Masterpiece Society).
Glyn Johns spoke recently by phone with Analogplanet editor Michael Fremer about recording Eric Clapton's just released album I Still Do, about his recently published book "Sound Man" and about his incredible career as one of the world's most revered and respected recording engineers and producers.
Graham Nash held a "listening party" for his new album "This Path Tonight" at New York's Electric Lady Studios, Wednesday, February 24th. The album ships on April 15th, including on vinyl mastered at Bernie Grundman Mastering. Here's a half hour interview I conducted with Graham in the Electric Lady control room.
AnalogPlanet last spoke with Graham Nash in 2016 upon the release of This Path Tonight, his latest collection of new songs. On June 29th RHINO will issue Over the Years a new 30 track, 15 song CD retrospective also available on vinyl as a 15 song double LP set. Over the Years includes songs originally released on CSN and CSN&Y albums as well as songs from the records he made with David Crosby and of course from his solo albums beginning with 1971's "Songs For Beginners".
In his ninety-nine years on this earth Norman C. Pickering has seen and done more than most of us would manage were we lucky enough to live to be a hundred and ninety-nine.
Jamie West-Oram is a master of texture. Forty-plus years ago, the long-tenured guitarist of The Fixx forged a signature soundscape bed for the band’s chief lyricist and lead vocalist Cy Curnin to weave his timeless tales around, typically buttressed by adventurous keyboard figures from Rupert Greenall and more often than not buoyed by the studio acumen of producer Rupert Hine and engineer Stephen W. Tayler. During a recent Zoom interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, West-Oram discusses the genesis of his new solo album Skeleton Key, why The Fixx couldn’t just leave Side D of their 2022 2LP set Every Five Seconds blank, and how their 1983 breakthrough LP Reach the Beach retains such palpable resonance on vinyl to this very day. . .
Ian Hunter is a survivor. Not only that, but the veteran British vocalist of Mott the Hoople fame and a lengthy and fruitful solo career shows no signs of slowing down at age 83. The keen evidence laid out before us are the ten balls-out rockers populating his latest solo album, Defiance Part 1, released via Blue Cat/Sun Records on April 21 on black vinyl. In a recent Zoom audio interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Hunter discusses what he means by recording his music “back to front,” why Mott the Hoople’s version of “All the Young Dudes” endures to this day, and how Jerry Lee Lewis first got his juices a-goin’ to become a killer performer and recording artist. Don’t be shy — read on to get fully bitten by the Hunter mystique on vinyl. . .
M.F.:Now that whole "Dynagroove" thing. Do you want to....
J.P.:Well, I'll dispose of it quickly. Some of them were great, great recordings too.
M.F.:Recordings yes, but....
J.P.:Yeah.
M.F.:Once they got on to disc though....
J.P.:Well.
M.F.:The difference was in the cutting, correct? It wasn't in anything else.
J.P.:It was in two places, basically. It was in the cutting, but it was also in the mix down, because the head of our engineering department came up with a device to make the translation from a high level of listening to a moderate level of listening that most people listen to. And to make that translation from listening to it at high level to low level or lower level, it changed the whole ear characteristic change.