Michael Fremer

Patrick Higgins’ 2016 album Bachanalia —a sonically adventurous compilation of Bach compositions transcribed for guitar—provided smooth and familiar musical sailing compared to this recently released double LP of challenging, provocative Avant garde chamber music.

As with William Shatner's infamous cover of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” Paul Anka's big band cover of Nirvana's “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was not meant to be a goof. However, unlike Shatner's mangling, Anka pulls it off brilliantly, thanks in part to the suave, sensitive arrangements, but mostly because the Vegas veteran clearly takes the tunes seriously and sees their intrinsic musical and lyrical merit. Whoever did the A&R work made inspired choices as the mix of tunes is eclectic and sometimes daring.

50 years after releasing his first solo album on which he played all of the instruments, wrote all of the songs (including "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Every Night" and "The Lovely Linda") and self-engineered, Sir Paul returns with McCartneyIII. In 1980 he released his second solo album McCartney II.

PBN's Peter Noerbaek has long purchased VPI components, particularly the company's stand-alone dual motor/flywheel pods with which he's built sculpted wood turntables.