Album Reviews

A new super deluxe edition box set celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Rolling Stones’ April 1976 LP Black and Blue offers good reason to reconsider an album that often gets overlooked in this legendary, influential British rock band’s rich catalog. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see why this new 180g 5LP/1BD box set — which includes a new stereo remix of the core album by Steven Wilson, one LP of outtakes and studio jams, and 3LPs live from Earls Court in 1976 — deserves your full attention. . .

Before we all drive and/or fly off to our respective Thanksgiving festivities for the long weekend ahead, we want to share the full aural bounty that comprises today’s New Wax Wednesday column. This one is all about Wings, a self-titled 180g 3LP compilation of 32 tracks culled from the better-than-you-may-think output of Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles 1970s band that was released on November 7, 2025, via MPL/Capitol/UMe. Read AP editor Mike Mettler review to see if the Wings box is indeed fab enough for you to add to your collection (plus, you’ll get his firsthand impressions of seeing Macca’s just-completed Got Back tour). . .

As we noted last week, the month of November traditionally means there will be major Beatles-related releases in the hopper — and this year is no different, as a Holy Grail 180g 12LP Beatles box set is being released by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMG this Friday, November 21, 2025. It is known as Anthology Collection, and it features upgraded versions of the first three Anthology 3LP editions originally released in 1995-96, in addition to an all-new, 3LP fourth volume consisting of additional rarities and 2025 demixes alike. Read AP editor Mike Mettler and chief vinyl reviewer Mark Smotroff’s deep-dive combo review to see if Anthology Collection is worth its aural weight in Beatles gold (and/or platinum) . . .

If it’s November, then it must mean it’s time for another round of Beatles-related vinyl reissues, remasters, and upgrades — and we are all-in to cover everything that’s coming our way. First up, it’s time to give the drummer some — meaning that today’s Fabs-centric focus is on Richard Starkey, a.k.a. Ringo Starr, who saw his first four 1970s solo LPs on Apple reissued by Capitol/UMe on limited-edition color vinyl on October 25, 2025. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s combo review to see if you should order the new vinyl copies of Sentimental Journey, Beaucoups of Blues, Ringo, and Goodnight Vienna as soon as possible. . .

Three years into his by-then-annual, highly anticipated Halloween concert celebrations, guitarist, composer, and all-around music icon Frank Zappa pulled out all the stops as a very big “thank you” to his New York audiences in October 1978, delivering an epic, nearly four-hour performance for the ages. The full show has finally been released by Zappa/UMe as a 5CD uber-deluxe box set for the true Zappaphiles amongst us — but there is also a companion, readily digestible, and equally tasty abbreviated 180g 2LP collection for one and all, Halloween 78 Highlights: Live at the Palladium, New York, which was released on October 24, 2025. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see why Halloween 78 is worth spinning, posted here just in time to help us all finish out our aural enjoyment of this most spooktacular holiday. . .

Steve Stevens isn’t one for sitting still. As you probably know, Stevens is the longtime guitar foil for iconoclast British alt-punk rocker Billy Idol, who released a killer new autobiographical LP earlier this year called Dream Into It. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s interview with Stevens to see why sequencing for vinyl is of utmost importance to both him and Idol, how he got that “bullet blast” for his solo on “Rebel Yell,” and why European progressive rock became one of his key influences. . .

Two albums recently reissued as part of Rhino’s esteemed High Fidelity Series could not be further apart stylistically, sonically, and emotionally — but in some ways, these two releases are inevitably connected in time and space. In this special Short Cuts combo review, Mark Smotroff explores the value of picking up the Hi Fi Series versions of these platinum-selling hits from Fleetwood Mac and Sex Pistols, and draws some interesting parallels in the process. . .