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If you listen via headphones or earbuds, you need some good binaural recordings in your music library. Binaural listening is the only way we get to hear true imaging and instrument positions via headphones. Stereo recordings, no matter how good, simply don't provide the same realism over headphones that properly made binaural recordings deliver. (In... Read More »

As I get older, as I said a year or so ago when I started getting older, I find myself less inclined to talk, more inclined to drop a few notes and then just point. These are three recent recordings I feel compelled to point at. Jennifer Koh, Bach & Beyond, Part 3. Bach, Harbison,... Read More »

I was a total rock radio hound from the seventies through the eighties; I really stood up and noticed George Thorogood and The Destroyers when "Bad To The Bone" first hit the airwaves—especially his over-the-top guitar playing. The song (and George Thorogood) became a point of frequent discussion between my friends and me, who mostly... Read More »

Sasha Matson, Cooperstown (Jazz Opera in Nine Innings). Albany Records. (2015, 2020 Revised Edition (CD and 24-88 FLAC) (HERE) Baseball and jazz—two great American traditions here combined by composer Sasha Matson for an engaging musical experience. Add opera to the mix and you get some nice theater. Originally released in 2015 as a double CD... Read More »

Je donnerais mes jours. Songs by Gabriel Dupont. Rachel Joselson, soprano; Bo Ties, piano. Centaur CRC 3811.  TT: 76.58. Downloads: amazon.co.uk (mp3); amazon.de (mp3); qobuz.com (16-bit) Poèmes d'automne. Le chanson de Myrrha. Le Foyer. Mandoline. Les Effarés. Deux mélodies. La Pluie. Chanson d'automne. Annie. Journée d'hiver. Le Jardin mouillé. En aimant. Les Caresses sur des poèmes de... Read More »

Frank Sinatra, Sing and Dance with Frank Sinatra. Impex Records (33 RPM LP) You gotta love Frank Sinatra. We have been streaming Mad Men during the lock down. Taken from the late 1950s and into the 1970s, you can't help but envision Frank swaggering about during that timeframe and era in America. Think Manhattan, dirty... Read More »

Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Tea For The Tillerman 2, Island Records (33 RPM LP) At 72 years old, Yusuf Islam continues to entertain and delight his fans. Born Steven Demetra Georgio in 1948 in London, England, he took the stage name of Cat Stevens in 1966 before turning to Islam in 1977 and assuming his current name. He... Read More »

Record Store Day—or RSD as it's commonly known among aficionados—typically takes place twice a year, generally around April and October. RSD piques the interest of every vinyl hound in the US—and worldwide, for that matter—and generally brings a slate of releases that are widely varied in approach from record label to record label. Some labels... Read More »

The first Peanuts comic strips from cartoonist Charles Schulz appeared in newspapers in October, 1950, and Craft Recordings is celebrating 70 years of Peanuts and Charlie Brown this year with a limited edition series of LP releases. Next up: the original soundtrack from 1965's A Charlie Brown Christmas television special; the soundtrack album has sold... Read More »

Do you recall certain artists whose new releases you eagerly awaited? Anna Fedorova is that artist for us these days. We only recently discovered two of her solo albums on Channel Classics, Storyteller and Four Fantasies. I wrote about these thoroughly engaging releases in a recent article. Now we've found her duo album, Silhouettes, with... Read More »

Rachel Podger is a joyful music maker, regardless of her choice of composers. And she is one of the best artists performing today on baroque violin and within the world of period instrument performance generally with her Brecon Baroque ensemble.  I wrote enthusiastically about Podger and Brecon Baroque in my article about Channel Classics and the... Read More »

Circa 1967, that is… Imprints on music are lifelong influences. Among my early imprints that I continue to cherish are the recordings made by André Previn with the London Symphony early in his career. Released by RCA from around 1967 to 1972, these Decca recorded performances are a consistent pleasure. The various Decca recording teams,... Read More »

Nicolas van Poucke: The Schumann Collection, Vol. 1, TRPTK. (2020 (DXD) (HERE) What a pleasure to listen to this quite extraordinary pianist, Nicolas van Poucke, in this new release from TRPTK. His performances of the Schumann works on this album are totally engaging, full of musical intelligence and emotional depth. It is always a treat... Read More »

Nickel Creek formed in 1989, at a point when all three members were under the age of thirteen. They actually went by the moniker "The Nickel Creek Band" for a few years before eventually deciding to drop "The Band" to present themselves with a more modern and concise identity. Consisting of mandolin player and vocalist... Read More »

Lanchbery-Herold, La Fille Mal Gardée, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by John Lanchberry. HDTT 1962 2017 (Pure DSD256) HERE These excerpts from John Lanchbery's 1960 adaptation of Ferdinand Hérold's 1828 score have been a guilty pleasure of mine since I first heard them on the original Decca SXL 2313 LP in... Read More »

Bob Witrak's High Definition Tape Transfers (HDTT) is a treasure house for DXD and DSD256 downloads of some of the best recordings from the golden age of analog stereo recording. Perusing the HDTT catalog is like traveling back in time to my favorite record store to wander through shelves of wonderful recordings from Decca, RCA,... Read More »

Sacred Trance Music from Taos Mountain, Habib Chishti, Michael Rosell, Salman Hanuman Lee, Shawnina Good Road Woman. Yarlung Records 2020 (EP) (Pure DSD256) (HERE) Go to your quiet place, turn out the lights, transport to the original recording session with these musicians. The sound quality is that good—immersive, translucent, and transcending. And the musical performances... Read More »

Craft Recordings continues their 50th anniversary celebration of the founding of Creedence Clearwater Revival with this new LP reissue of their seminal album, Cosmo's Factory. Starting in July 1970, Cosmo's Factory quickly rose to the top of the US Billboard album charts and was propelled to quadruple platinum status in the US alone on the... Read More »

From Heaven on Earth - Lute Music from Kremsmunster Abbey, Hubert Hoffmann. Challenge Classics | Northstar Recording (DXD) (HERE) A beautiful and sensitive recording of some exquisite compositions  recently discovered in the library of the Benedictine Abbey of Kremsmünster in Upper Austria. Hubert Hoffman is clearly a master of the 11-string lute, as heard here... Read More »