Johnny Hallyday (1943-2017) was the stage name of Jean-Philippe Léo Smet. In a career spanning nearly 60 years, Hallyday released 79 albums and sold 110 million records. In the year 2000, he sang in front of the Eiffel Tower to a paying audience of about half a million people. And in 2017, nearly one million people showed up to watch his funeral procession. Hallyday's funeral service at the Church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine was attended by French President... Read More

Alright, Las Vegas, let’s lose our money and lose our minds!On September 20, 2003, The White Stripes took hold of Sin City and rocked it into oblivion. The Detroit garage rock duo blitzed through a setlist of familiar favorites, such as “Hotel Yorba” and “Fell in Love With A Girl.” Their then-new album, Elephant, took precedence with blistering renditions of “The Hardest Button to Button” and “Black Math.” The show caught its breath once drummer Meg White stepped away... Read More

William Steinberg was never one of the "Big Name" conductors, but he had a stellar career, working with every major orchestra in Europe and America. His recorded legacy is held in high esteem amongst collectors, and no more so than the three records he made for Deutsche Grammophon while Music Director of the renowned Boston Symphony Orchestra in the late 1960s, early 70s. So when it was announced that Deutsche Grammophon and Emil Berliner Studios would be issuing a special boxed edition of all three recordings as part of their ground-breaking Original Source Series of vinyl reissues, hopes for something truly special ran high. In the first of three articles we examine what makes each of these legendary records worthy of the deluxe OSS treatment, beginning with the grand-daddy of all orchestral spectaculars, Holst's The Planets. (For a recap of the background and technical processes behind these Original Source Series vinyl reissues, you can read TA's review of the first two records in this fourth batch of OSS releases).

Richard Strauss's epic orchestral tone poem, whose opening "Sunrise" captured the imaginations of millions when it was used in 2001: A Space Odyssey, here receives an outstanding recording. We explore the history of this work, which was written at a time of great change in classical music, and place Steinberg's interpretation within the history of this work on record.

Portland, OR - January 8, 2024 – AV Options recently introduced its new interconnect cable lineup, which benefits from years of experience working with Naim Audio and exhaustive testing using Naim Audio Systems reference kit. AVO claims its interconnect cables offer a significant performance improvement for all eras of Naim gear, as well as being an excellent value/performance option for all other audio brands.The SIGNAL range interconnect cables are designed for use... Read More

Emil Berliner Studios continue to redefine the sonic legacy of Deutsche Grammophon's back catalogue in this latest batch of AAA, deluxe vinyl releases in the Original Source Series. Here we review the two standalone releases from master conductors Herbert von Karajan and Claudio Abbado. (Reviews of the William Steinberg releases to follow, beginning here).

That Swing Thing! by The Terry Gibbs Quartet (Verve V6-8447) released in 1961 was the record that got me on the vibes bandwagon. I bought it that year at E.J. Korvette's in Douglaston, N.Y. of the Long Island Expressway. I was too young to drive of course, so probably was taken there by my mother or sister. It's also where I heard for the first time Bobby Timmons' "Moanin'"— over a pair of Korvettes' XAM "housebrand"... Read More

Los Angeles, CA (January 9, 2024) — Craft Recordings and Acoustic Sounds are thrilled to announce the latest installment in their acclaimed Contemporary Records Acoustic Soundsseries, which heralds a staggering 12 vinyl and hi-res digital releases throughout 2024. These reissues include sought-after albums from Art Pepper, Shelly Manne & His Men, Harold Land, Hampton Hawes, Howard McGhee, Prince Lasha Quintet, Ben Webster, Helen Humes, and Sonny Rollins.... Read More

LOS ANGELES – Rhino High Fidelity (Rhino Hi-Fi) ushers in the new year by introducing the latest additions to the acclaimed series of limited-edition, high-end vinyl reissues. Rhino Hi-Fi will release six albums in the coming months, starting on January 12 with Ornette Coleman’s Change of the Century and Television’s Marquee Moon. They’ll be followed by The Cars’ Candy-O and the Grateful Dead’s American Beauty on March 8, and John Coltrane’s Olé Coltrane and Miles... Read More

[Note: “Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner.” Therefore, to open up this YouTube video in another window, please click HERE.]In 1973, Joni Mitchell wrote the song “A Free Man in Paris,” which, at the time, I found somewhat confusing. The confusion remained until I later learned that Mitchell had written the lyrics from the perspective of her friend David Geffen, the legendary music agent and promoter. So, it was not Joni herself who was... Read More

Every artist announces their end differently. Some make a big deal out of retiring, only to return three to five years later with an album or tour. Others creatively decline until they die, or until no one’s interested anymore. Or, they release their best album, slowly retreat from the spotlight, say that they’re “not currently thinking about a future in the arts,” make sporadic and seemingly random appearances on others’ experimental records, and reissue the entire... Read More

LOS ANGELES - Parlophone Records is proud to announce the release of a very special David Bowie limited vinyl LP, WAITING IN THE SKY (BEFORE THE STARMAN CAME TO EARTH), which will be released on April 20 for Record Store Day. The album is taken from the Trident Studios 1/4” stereo tapes dated December 15, 1971, created for the provisional tracklisting for what would become The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars album.The tracklisting for WAITING... Read More

The holidays are over and a new year has begun. As we kick off another year, music aficionados turn their attention to the first big event of the new year: the Grammy awards which take place on February 4th. Awards are important, it’s an appropriate opportunity to give accolades to all of the nominees, whether they win, or not. It’s also an exciting chance to cheer on those who were associated with your favorite musical projects of the past year. Hey, if you’re not a... Read More

Nat Hentoff's notes get directly to how this musical experiment might have easily gone awry: the unflappable, cerebral MJQ vibraphonist Milt Jackson meets Peterson's "abundant" style. Jackson never broke a sweat on stage, Peterson probably would have had he played the Arctic circle.Yet Jackson and The Oscar Peterson Trio seem made for each other on this musically satisfying, sonically enjoyable set. I've been listening to the original pretty... Read More

Best known for the cover of Chet Powers' (stage name Dino Valenti) anthemic "Get Together" found on the group's eponymous Felix Pappalardi produced 1967 debut album and later as the launch pad for Jesse Colin Young's fizzled solo career, The Youngbloods never got the much deserved recognition for its three smooth, dreamy, well-crafted rock-folk-jazz albums released by RCA between 1967 and 1969, the last and best one being this one, Elephant... Read More

The press release: 85 years ago on January 6, 1939, a German-Jewish immigrant and passionate Jazz fan named Alfred Lionproduced his first recording session in New York City founding what would go on to become the most iconic and longest-running Jazz label in the world. For 85 years Blue Note Records has represented The Finest In Jazz, tracing the entire history of the music from Hot Jazz, Boogie Woogie, and Swing, through Bebop, Hard Bop, Post-Bop, Soul Jazz,... Read More

Artists include: Black Sabbath, The Doors, The English Beat, Grateful Dead, Stevie Nicks, Velvet Underground, Yes and More. These are not part of the Rhino "High Fidelity" series so there's lotsa colors and little information about who mastered from what and where these were pressed.Available January 5:America – Now PlayingLimited Edition 1-LP 140g Coke Bottle Clear vinylThe Doors – Alive, She CriedLimited Edition 1-LP 140g Translucent Emerald... Read More

In part 1 of our Bunny Wailer retrospective we followed his life from a young boy to age 30 and covered his first two solo albums, Blackheart Man and Protest. Now we will delve into his next eight albums somen of which were award winners.As mentioned in part 1, Bunny's debut album, Blackheart Man, is considered by most every music critic to be one of the ten greatest reggae albums of all time. The follow up, Protest, although good, was a bit of a let down. That... Read More

The first Shakti album in 46 years is miraculous for a few reasons, the first being a "mind-body" cure for John McLaughlin's arthritic hand that had forced his 2017 retirement. The second is that though McLaughlin considers Shakti primarily a live band, this release was "phoned in" from various continents where the group members were living at the time. Not a problem for three of them—McLaughlin, percussionist Zakir Hussein and vocalist... Read More