The latest round of DG's "Original Source" vinyl reissues delivers an eclectic range of titles, from benchmark classics like Emil Gilels' Beethoven piano sonatas and Rafael Kubelik's Ma Vlast, to less familiar titles like Friedrich Gulda's Mozart piano concertos with Claudio Abbado, and Seiji Ozawa's take on Berlioz's phantasmagoric orchestral spectacular, the Symphonie Fantastique. Tracking Angle's Michael Johnson and Mark Ward drop the needle on the latest batch of eagerly-awaited OSS releases. PART 1 features Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique and Beethoven Piano Sonatas performed by Emil Gilels. PART 2, featuring Mozart Piano Concertos with Friedrich Gulda, and Smetana's Ma Vlast with Rafael Kubelik - both reviewed by Michael Johnson - will follow shortly.

As The Strokes' frontman Julian Casablancas goes through his mid-life crisis, a new 7” box set of the group’s first 10 singles and a lavish reissue of its 2001 debut LP Is This It hits the market. Legacy acts are the backbone of the music industry: the longer a band (or an artist) maintains its success, the wider the demographic it reaches. When the original fans get older, they’re better able to pay for more expensive concert tickets and a steady stream of... Read More

By the early 1970s, time had passed jazz by. The Beatles had happened, James Brown had happened, and “The Sixties” had happened. Young people, both Black and white, weren’t interested in jazz. It was the music of old people who didn’t buy many records or go out to clubs and concerts. Jazz musicians were scuffling for the few available gigs, driving cabs, and working at the post office. Even icons like Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald were having difficulty selling records, and all released albums of pop/rock tunes. The fusion music of Return to Forever and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the smooth/funky jazz of Donald Byrd and Grover Washington Jr., and Keith Jarrett’s sui generis Koln Concert was the “jazz” that was selling.

When the new batch of Deutsche Grammophon Original Source records arrived from the label for review, fellow Tracking Angle writer Mark Ward alerted me that I was on deck. And while I can’t hope to match his tour deforce review outlining the first four titles in this series, I have been eager to put into words my thoughts on the ongoing results of this monumental undertaking.While I didn’t formally review the first four titles, I did listen to all of them, and they... Read More

In our occasional series of unusual but noteworthy records, this 1975 collection of works specially written for the brilliant vocal sextet of the King's Singers - still going strong after over 50 years - remains one of their most adventurous outings. Captured in vintage EMI analogue sound, the works recorded cover a multitude of both traditional and more experimental vocal techniques by top composers of the era, all performed at the highest level. If you think "a cappella" singing begins with the Barden Bellas, prepare to be surprised by this time capsule of vocal virtuosity.

The oldest and most respected of all classical music record companies, Deutsche Grammophon, has turned to analogue and vinyl technology to remaster gems from its 1970s catalogue. In the process it has redefined its sonic history and legacy, and pointed the way forward for the other classical music majors like Decca, Warner-EMI, and Sony-Columbia to do justice to the incomparable gems in their back catalogues. We examine how Deutsche Grammophon tackled this challenging project, and review the first four records in what will be an ongoing series of releases in the months ahead.

In "Starting a Jamaican Music Collection Part 3a—The Deejays. The Start of Rap?" we covered four deejays—Sir Lord Comic, Count Machuki, King Stitt and U-Roy. We also posed the question "Did the deejays in Jamaica start the musical genre known as rap?" Let's dive right into this question and also highlight five more first wave deejays.It must have been startling in the late 1960's to hear rhyming, fast talking, and jive laced lyrics all... Read More

Frequently cited as "the greatest recording ever made", Decca's first studio recording of Wagner's seminal masterpiece remains a lodestar in the annals of the recording industry, over 60 years since the first sessions took place in Vienna in 1958. Part 3 goes over the different versions that have been issued - on vinyl, CD and SACD - including the brand new 2022 remastering on vinyl and digital. Then I conduct a detailed listening comparison and make some recommendations. Plus a breakdown of some other recordings of the Ring, and a survey of non-vocal, purely orchestral records of music from the Ring on vinyl and CD.

Frequently cited as "the greatest recording ever made", Decca's first studio recording of Wagner's seminal masterpiece remains a lodestar in the annals of the recording industry, over 60 years since the first sessions took place in Vienna in 1958. Part 2 of this in-depth look into the making of this historic set of records begins with Decca's struggles to record a complete cycle "live" at Bayreuth in 1955, an experience that paved the way for the eventual studio recording in Vienna three years later. You'll discover how producer John Culshaw assembled a crack team of Decca's sound engineers to tackle a myriad of practical, technical and aesthetic challenges, while conductor Georg Solti marshaled the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and an unmatched cast of singers into creating a true classic of the gramophone.

Frequently cited as "the greatest recording ever made", Decca's first studio recording of Wagner's seminal masterpiece remains a lodestar in the annals of the recording industry, over 60 years since the first sessions took place in Vienna in 1958. Recently reissued in a brand new remastering on vinyl and CD/SACD, we take a look at the work's pivotal place in not only classical music but also popular culture, discuss the making of this set, and assess the sound quality of its many incarnations. Part 1 covers the history of opera up to the "Ring"; the cycle's creation, and how it radically changed not only opera and classical music, but also theatre and popular culture in the 20th century and beyond.

I've been buying records in antique and second-hand stores, thrift shops, and Goodwills since 1965. In my town, there was a Goodwill store with a large display table, approximately six feet by four feet, piled high with hundreds of unsleeved 45 rpm records priced at two for five cents. I would go through them every few weeks searching for Beatle records, always unsuccessfully, except once when I found a new copy of Swan 4182 "Sie Liebt Dich (She Loves... Read More

Part 2 - Ceremonial and Occasional MusicBeyond the Coronation, I turn now to music written for other Royal ceremonial occasions (like funerals) and special occasions. I begin with more 20th Century music.Britten: Gloriana and Tippett: Suite for the Birthday of Prince CharlesMichael Tippett (l.) and Benjamin BrittenWe turn now to the two most prominent British composers of the generation after Walton, Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976) and Michael Tippett (1905 - 1998),... Read More

Part 1: Coronation MusicWith the Coronation of King Charles III nearly upon us, the British monarchy is preparing to "put on a show” the likes of which only those who were around for Elizabeth II’s Coronation in 1953 will have seen before. Royal weddings are all very well, but the Coronation ceremony is on a whole other level of pomp and circumstance, to borrow the title of Elgar’s five glorious marches celebrating King and Empire. And music will play a major... Read More

Is rock ’n’ roll about the music, or getting thrown off a ferry? Brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher probably never settled that argument (and likely never will), but Oasis’ legacy surrounds the music first and foremost, rock n roll antics and sibling rivalry second. While their rise represented a dated sense of 90s populist optimism, the tunes live on; nothing will desecrate the legacy of Noel's songwriting and Liam's distinctive voice on the first three albums.

So far we've covered ska in Part 1, rock steady the singers in Part 2a and rock steady the groups in Part 2b. We now come to the deejays and how in the early 1970's they became Jamaica's most popular recording artists.Some of the most famous deejays got their start working for sound systems. As recounted in part 1 of our survey, these sound systems often consisted of a truck equipped with a turntable, speaker, cables and amplifiers. The owners,... Read More

On April 5, 1923, one hundred years ago, in Richmond, Indiana, at the studio of Gennett Records, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band made the first recordings by African American musicians that are indisputably jazz. They are also the first recordings of Louis Armstrong, who, during the next eleven years, would revolutionize jazz and popular music in America and the rest of the world. Mixing African vocal techniques and concepts of improvisation and rhythm with... Read More

Classical music-loving audiophiles can sometimes feel like they've been left out in the cold with regard to all-analogue vinyl reissues. Not so rock and jazz lovers who are well catered to with excellent AAA reissues from Analogue Productions, Impex, Craft, Blue Note et al. Speaker’s Corner used to keep the classical reissues coming, but even their releases have dried up in the last few years - a great shame.However, relief is at hand. As reported by MF and... Read More

In the "Starting a Jamaican Music Collection" series, in part 1 we covered ska and in part 2a rock steady, the singer. We now come to rock steady, the groups. To recapitulate, ska lasted roughly from 1960 to the later part of 1966. Rock steady then took over the island. The fast tempi and thundering horns of many ska songs gave way to rock steady's much slower beat. Playing a much more prominent role in the new genre were the bass and drums and along... Read More