Michael Fremer

Ten thousand master tapes and/or master tape copies stored for decades above a new Jersey auto dealership are slated for destruction. Tape collector/archivist Leslie Brooks manages to save but a few hundred. The rest are buried in a N.J. landfill somewhere, perhaps with Jimmy Hoffa?

Subtlety was not in Neil Young’s game plan when he sat down to write the tunes here, probably in a burst of creative energy born of frustration with the war in Iraq and other Bush administration activities over the past few years. Young’s moved quite a ways since his romance with the Reagan administration.

These handmade dry record brushes of natural cashmere goat hair are a cooperative effort between Levin Designs and a traditional brushmaker located in the restored Schloss Burg (palace castle) located in Solingen, Germany.

The all-FET, class-A, B2B-1 phono preamplifier ($1749), made in the US by Liberty Audio, is beautifully built inside and out, and comes in a heavy-duty aluminum chassis with a baked-on crackle finish and a 3/8"-thick, black-anodized faceplate. The overall build quality and physical appearance suggest something that costs more than $3000, which is probably what it would cost were it sold through retailers and not factory direct. It comes with a two-week return policy.