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Craft Recordings has just released Nanci Griffith: Working In Corners, a new box set which anthologizes the country-folk icon's first four, long-out-of-print catalog albums. As a companion to the box set, Rounder Records (a Craft imprint) has announced More Than A Whisper: Celebrating The Music Of Nanci Griffith, a tribute album that features performances from... Read More »

Rhino Entertainment has announced an enhanced and expanded edition of alternative darlings The Replacements' fourth studio album and major label debut, 1985's Tim, which was produced by Tommy Erdelyi, aka Tommy Ramone. Which is now being made available as a 4-CD, 1-LP box set, Tim: Let It Bleed Edition. The new box highlights new remixes... Read More »

Thelonious Monk's 1957 classic Brilliant Corners marks the fifth release in Craft Recordings' Small Batch LP series. The Small Batch series utilizes a one-step lacquer process (versus the standard three-step process) that allows for a significantly improved level of musical detail, clarity, and dynamics, while greatly reducing surface and groove noise that might otherwise be... Read More »

September arrived and so has a flood of wonderful new releases from some of my favorite artists and recording labels. Any one of these albums might qualify for "album of the year" recognition in their respective genre, and I've been spending time in seventh heaven listening to them. So, allow me to share. 1823 -... Read More »

When all is said and done, it's all about the source material. The better the source material, the better the system sounds. (It's amazing how a master tape can make bad speakers sound like a million dollars!) The best source here being 15-ips reel-to-reel tape. Now making the best sounding consumer 15-ips, 2-track reel-to-reel tapes... Read More »

July 3, 1973 at the Hammersmith Odeon in London was an important date in David Bowie's musical arc; it was the site of the final show of his Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars world tour. Fans were delighted towards the end of the show, when Bowie announced that Jeff Beck would join the... Read More »

If you've collected fifties and sixties era vinyl then you know the names Arthur Lyman (1932 - 2002) and Martin Denny (1911 - 2005). They were, during the aptly named Golden Age Of Stereophonic Recordings, the kings of what is today called exotica music. The reason I know these two musicians is because my dad... Read More »

Shore Fire Media has announced the next two titles in the Rhino High Fidelity Premium Vinyl Series, and as with the first offering, I'm fairly surprised by the selections. Which are Van Morrison's fourth studio album, His Band and the Street Choir (1970, Warner Brothers), and Jaco Pastorius' sophomore solo effort, Word of Mouth (1981,... Read More »

No, he's not a misprint "PEACE" Alexis Ffrench, piano. Sony Music Masterworks Ffrench: Peace; When the Bells Ring; St. Andrews. J.S. BACH (arr. Ffrench): Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring; Sheep May Safely Graze. Before I address the album contents, I'm going to allow myself a brief rant. Sony's biographical note tells us that "Alexis Ffrench is... Read More »

In this issue of Recent Finds we have some nice releases from Hunnia Records, Lawo Classics, Groove Note, three World Music video EPs from TRPTK, and another large batch of recently released reissues from High Definition Tape Transfers (HDTT). Enjoy! Miles Davis - Bags' Groove, with Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Milt Jackson, Thelonious Monk, Horace... Read More »

I've been pondering over whether I should even write about this album, since conflicts of interest are rarely a good thing. After weeks of beating my head against the proverbial wall, I realized that I didn't create the 60s folk masterpiece known as Southbound (Vanguard VSD 79213). Rather, I only chose it to be part... Read More »

Rhino Entertainment is releasing Black Sabbath Hand of Doom 1970 - 1978, which is an eight LP, picture disc boxed set that includes all eight Black Sabbath studio albums that feature the band's original and classic lineup. Black Sabbath's original incarnation included Ozzy Osbourne on vocals, Tony Iommi on guitars, Geezer Butler on bass, and... Read More »

This edition of Recent Finds will be a bit different because I'm including some 44.1 kHz reviewer sample files from Alpha Classics that I've been enjoying. I've been accused of listening only to DXD and DSD256, but I plead "Not true!" Or, at least not entirely true. Sometimes one just has to go where the... Read More »

Jazz Dispensary is Craft Recordings' specialty label that unearths rarities from the multitude of riches found in Concord Music's jazz, funk, soul, and fusion recordings from the Prestige, Fantasy, Contemporary, and Milestone imprints from their mid-60s through the mid-70s catalogs. While many of those releases arrive in the form of compilations of classic grooves from... Read More »

  Craft Recordings continues their exciting Original Jazz Classics reissue series with the next title in the second batch of releases, pianist Mal Waldron's 1957 sextet date, Mal/2. I have to admit that as jazzed (literally!) as I have been over the announced titles so far in the OJC reboot, I was somewhat surprised by... Read More »

I am grateful for the existence of bluegrass and for The Dillards, because they introduced me to the exciting world of bluegrass music. Let me state this right here: I love bluegrass music!. Some people lump bluegrass under the same umbrella as country music, but it actually belongs under its own umbrella. Bluegrass comes in... Read More »

I came of age in the mid-seventies, when owning a quadraphonic sound system was being marketed as the ne plus ultra of the HiFi audio experience. I'll never forget the first time I walked into a HiFi dealer who happened to have a quad system set up and running that actually worked; hearing the immersive... Read More »

High Definition Tape Transfers (HDTT) continues delivering reissues of iconic vintage albums in high resolution sonics that are simply "to die for"  in their wonderfulness. Each few weeks, I think "It can't get any better than this" and then it does! Bob Witrak continues to work through an incredibly deep resource of tapes and LPs... Read More »

When it comes to supporting their Steinway Artists (by which Steinway & Sons actually means pianists; when Steinway says "artists," they don't mean those guys and girls wearing smocks and berets who wield paint brushes while squeezing oil paint out of tubes), Steinway really puts its money where its Public Relations interests lie. Steinway is... Read More »