AAA Vinyl

1968 was a period of political and musical unrest. Miles was moved by where rock music and culture were going and clearly, he wanted to be part of it.

One of the great albums of the 1960s—for me an essential album— gets the double 45rpm treatment from Mobile Fidelity. Rhino reissued this a few years ago mastered by Chris Bellman and Bernie Grundman Mastering from the original tape.

The Yardbirds original "Shapes of Things" took the protest song—a surprising departure from the group's blues-based output— as a smartly rendered military march with mild middle eastern undertones. Jeff Beck played on the original but here for his first solo outing he led with a slinky, heavily syncopated version that presaged by a few years Led Zep's heaviest of metal. The song's conclusion, a rhythmic meltdown to a complete stop was something altogether new to rock fans. Needless to say, back in 1968 buyers of this record had minds blown, in part thanks to the great Ken Scott's impeccable engineering skills and of course by much of the world's first exposure to Rod Stewart.

Paul Kantner RIP. When is this parade of dead rock icons going to end? Can we at least have a short break?

The German MPS label has just released five excellent jazz albums originally released in the early 1970s under the supervision of noted German audio journalist and record producer Dirk Sommer. All have been mastered AAA from the original master tapes by mastering engineer Christoph Stickel, who was responsible for the Oscar Peterson box set Exclusively For My Friends.

March 9 – Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings have released Jimi Hendrix’s new album Both Sides of the Sky today on CD, digital, and as a numbered 180-gram audiophile vinyl 2 LP set. NPR Music recently declared, “No rock figure before or since could breathe fire like Hendrix does, on his beloved well-known albums and on the assortment that is Both Sides of the Sky.” For the occasion, director John Vondracek has created a music video for “Lover Man,” a single from the album.