Rhino Entertainment has just released Devo: 50 Years of De-Evolution (1973-2023), a box set that celebrates the legacy of the iconic band and their 50th anniversary as performers. Devo's genre-bending style of rock and roll bounded across a half-century of art punk, new wave, post-punk, and synth pop, and their nine studio albums never failed... Read More »
Van Morrison His Band And The Street Choir (Rhino High Fidelity Series) Released in 1970 on the Warner Bros. label, Van Morrison His Band And The Street Choir was recorded at the infamous A&R Studios in New York City earlier that year. As an interesting aside, the original title for this album was Virgo's Fool,... Read More »
Impex Records is celebrating the 30th anniversary of Jennifer Warnes' 1992 album The Hunter with a limited edition, individually numbered LP pressed on crystal clear, HQ-180 green vinyl. With compact discs ruling the marketplace at the time of its release, Warnes' Grammy-nominated follow-up to her classic Famous Blue Raincoat was never made available as a... Read More »
Rhino Entertainment has just released a 50th Anniversary reissue of David Bowie's beloved Pinups, his 1973 album of cover tunes that paid homage to songs from the 1964 - 67 period that greatly influenced the teenaged David Jones and helped him get his bearings musically. Despite debuting to a very mixed reception from the music... Read More »
I've been scattered about in my listening recently, shifting from classical to jazz to pop. But I've found some gems to share with you in this edition of Recent Finds. Leading off are some exceptional classical music albums released in 2023 and applying some of the best high resolution digital recording technology available. Complementing these... Read More »
As I mentioned in my last review of late-period R.E.M. releases from Craft Recordings, drummer Bill Berry's departure from the band changed the overall dynamic of R.E.M.'s music so much that I no longer found the group's new music as absolutely essential as in years past. I therefore had very little experience with post-Bill Berry... Read More »
Warner and Rhino Entertainment have just released The Darkness, Permission To Land…Again, which is a 5 LP, 20th Anniversary Edition that celebrates the 2003 debut album from UK glam-metal band The Darkness. Permission To Land was a huge commercial success and runaway best seller, taking the band to the number one spot on the UK... Read More »
Iconic Artists Group is a relatively new venture spearheaded by music industry heavy-hitter Irving Azoff; in what has become the new normal for many recording artists, Linda Ronstadt sold her music catalog to Iconic in 2021. Irv Azoff early on was instrumental in the career of Ronstadt, and was very close to not only... Read More »
I highly prize the excellence of many of the recordings made in the golden era of stereo, recordings from the late 1950s through 1960s. HDTT's reissue of many of the best of these recordings in high definition digital transfers has been a treasure for me as I've gradually rebuilt my music library with high resolution... Read More »
When I joined Positive Feedback to write about albums from my overflowing collection, I decided that it would be best if I wrote about easily obtainable albums. In a short time I realized that I don't own a click-of-the-mouse record collection. The records that I love to play and write about are very simply rare.... Read More »
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 »