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On March 1st, Craft Recordings is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the eponymous debut record from folk/punk pioneers Violent Femmes with a new box set, Violent Femmes: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition. Craft is offering expanded reissues of the band's groundbreaking first album with multi-disc box sets available in a variety of formats. My supplied review... Read More »

Craft Recordings celebrates the 30th anniversary of southern alternative rockers Collective Soul with their reissue of the band's 7even Year Itch: Greatest Hits 1994-2001, available for the first time in the LP format. The Stockbridge, Georgia band's debut album, 1994's Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, was a surprise hit that took them from absolute... Read More »

Since my move to South Carolina, I've been in the process of slowly refining and (hopefully!) finalizing my seemingly ever-evolving audio systems. With regard to the analog system, the recent addition of the PS Audio Stellar phono preamp has gotten me very close to the end-game for the room. The Stellar has inputs to service... Read More »

Mid last year, I reviewed the Topping E70 Velvet DAC, which is a Delta-Sigma design that in my view offered astounding performance at a surprisingly low price point. Most of my love of the E70 Velvet revolved around its very cool implementation of the recent new production AKM chipsets, and its use of AKM's Velvet... Read More »

There are two recent observations I've made in high-end audio: 1) There are a plethora of relatively inexpensive devices that can add significantly to your enjoyment of music and video playback, even if those devices may appear to be incapable of making a difference. Also, 2) The number of "audio enthusiasts" who dismiss the perceived... Read More »

Impex Records has just released a newly remastered LP reissue of Elephant Mountain, the 1969 RCA label neglected classic from folk-rock group The Youngbloods. Elephant Mountain came on the heels of the band's incredible success with the song that helped shape an entire generation, "Get Together." Apparently, getting this reissue together required the production team... Read More »

Back in 1984, before all the cool old independent hi-fi shops started vanishing into oblivion, there was a nice older dealer in northwest Atlanta called High Fidelity SSS. The shop had McIntosh amps, JBL Hartsfields, and all kinds of vintage gear scattered about, along with one room that was stocked with more modern gear. The... Read More »

Craft Recordings continues their Original Jazz Classics relaunch with three superb new reissues, featuring Tony Bennett and Bill Evans together on The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album (1975, Fantasy); Tommy Flanagan and John Coltrane on The Cats (1957, New Jazz), and Yusef Lateef's Eastern Sounds (1961, Moodsville). The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album was the first of... Read More »

Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank (1926-2009) was an American sax player and flautist regularly mentioned as being one of the preeminent exponents of the subgenre commonly known as West Coast jazz. Call it West Coast jazz, or even Cool jazz, if you will; it's freely associated with the likes of Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Stan Getz,... Read More »

On what would have been his centennial, Craft Recordings has releasing the complete recordings of jazz guitarist extraordinaire Wes Montgomery's seminal 1962 live date, Full House. Which in its new guise, The Complete Full House Recordings, presents everything recorded on June 25, 1962 at the short-lived Berkeley, California coffee house and jazz hotspot, Tsubo. Compiling... Read More »

Craft Recordings has just released Hot House: The Complete Jazz At Massey Hall Recordings, which is an expanded reissue of the original album, The Quintet: Jazz At Massey Hall. The event took place on May 13, 1953, at Toronto, Canada's Massey Hall, and the gathering of jazz giants Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles... Read More »

Rhino Entertainment has released The Yes Album: Super Deluxe Edition (SDE) in a stunning new multi disc package that includes media choices to suit all listeners. The really unique package features an LP-sized gatefold that opens to reveal the same photograph of keyboardist Tony Kaye that's spread across both inner panels of the original album... Read More »

When we left off (HERE), I had just contacted Rob Fritz at Audio Art Cable about possibly getting set up with a loom of cables for both my digital and analog room systems. While I didn't press Rob to go the "full loom" route, he did agree to send me a full suite of interconnect... Read More »

I've always believed in the importance of well-constructed audio cables, and my systems of the last five or so years have been built around expensive (if not completely esoteric) cables from highly regarded manufacturers. I simply believed that logically, having well-made cables of a higher pedigree would give my systems a more legitimate claim to... Read More »

Impex Records is celebrating the 35th anniversary of Jennifer Warnes' groundbreaking Famous Blue Raincoat with a three-LP, 45 rpm, 1STEP reissue of Warnes' classic 1986 album that has gone on to become an enduring audiophile perennial. For what will surely represent the album's penultimate vinyl release, Jennifer Warnes agreed to supply her personal, first-generation analog... Read More »

Welcome to Ho, Ho, Ho, mistletoe, and all that jazz once again! Craft Recordings brings us another selection of Christmas albums this year, and they're certain to brighten any holiday celebration. Included among Craft's offerings is an expanded reissue version of the classic A Charlie Brown Christmas, available as Super Deluxe Edition CD/BluRay sets and... Read More »

A little over four years ago, I reviewed tech guru Bill Stierhout's ADD-Powr Sorcer X2 Harmonic Resonator, which is manufactured in the USA by his company, Coherence Systems. The Sorcer line of harmonic resonators employ a novel approach to improve audiophile AC power conditioning by using an additive process versus the typical subtractive process of... Read More »

Craft Recordings has just released a new 25th Anniversary Edition of R.E.M.'s 1998 album Up, which was the iconic group's first outing as a trio in the aftermath of drummer Bill Berry's retirement from the band. My limited exposure to post-Bill Berry R.E.M. wasn't particularly favorable at the time of that string of albums' original... Read More »

Craft Recordings is offering another exciting line-up of limited-edition LPs for the upcoming November 24th Black Friday celebration of Record Store Day (RSD). Craft's offering of rarities and specialty releases are just a handful among literally hundreds of cool records that will be available online and at your favorite independent record store. For Black Friday,... Read More »