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I am frequently overwhelmed, in the most positive way imaginable, by the cornucopia of marvelous releases that appear. Such is the case today as I offer to you my thoughts on eight recent releases available at NativeDSD. They have made my heart sing these past few weeks. Santiago de Masarnau: Piano Works (Vol. 1-3), Claudia... Read More »

No one can deny that Linda Ronstadt has proved to be one of the most talented pop female singers, and has one of the best voices, and offers the most divers of vocal styles in history. She can make you cry and make you rock. Pure and soft, powerful and demanding. Ronstadt's vocal range spans... Read More »

Chrysalis Records continues their superb series of catalog reissues from legendary guitarist Robin Trower, with an expanded edition of his 1976 live album, Robin Trower Live! The new release has arrived as Robin Trower Live! 50th Anniversary Edition, and it documents a spectacular 1975 concert from Stockholm, Sweden, for the first time in its entirety.... Read More »

Today brings reviews of some HDTT releases I've been enjoying: three outstanding RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence albums; one of the great early Decca recordings; and two jazz releases in Pure DSD256 that have been on my Top of the Pile list since last year but just now reviewed.  Richard Strauss, Elektra, Karl... Read More »

Over the past few weeks, my listening has been filled with enjoyable discoveries: four Pure DSD256 releases from Hunnia and Eudora (four!); another excellent LSO Live release with Gianandrea Noseda; a superb performance of Handel's Theodora; a fine new recording from Barry Diament on his Soundkeeper label—who has something to teach popular and folk music... Read More »

Boundless (World Premiere Recording), Julian Kytasty, Min Xiao-Fen. Anderson Audio New York 2026 (DXD 32-bit, Stereo) Edit Master Sourced HERE Some albums just jump out at you on first listen and demand attention. Thus it is with Anderson Audio's new release, Boundless by Min Xiao-Fen and Julian Kytasty. Boundless is a fascinatingly original cross-cultural duo... Read More »

The Doobie Brothers' self‑titled 1971 debut barely made a ripple in the record industry. Internally, the band and producer Ted Templeman knew they needed to level- up the songwriting, arrangements, and production to become big artists. Toulouse Street became their turning point. It's the album that effectively "invented" the Doobie Brothers' signature sound.   1972's... Read More »

Many of us know Robin Trower from his years with Procol Harum, but most became aware of the guitarist after he went solo and helped us fill the Hendrix void with his 1974 album Bridge of Sighs. Trower (born March 9, 1945, Catford, London) is one of the most identifiable British guitar stylists to emerge... Read More »

HDTT recently released three historically significant recordings: Maazel's 1964 recording of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 2 'Little Russian'; the Van Cliburn-Fritz Reiner 1961 Brahms Concerto No. 2; and Harry Belafonte's The Midnight Special. I've also taken this opportunity to finally write up reviews of three Pure DSD256 albums that I included in last year's Pure DSD256... Read More »

A number of the LPs and CDs I own are by singers and instrumentalists whom I would call fifteen-minute artists. As you would expect, a fifteen-minute artist is a musician, a singer, or a band who I enjoy, but not for much longer than fifteen minutes. Some of them used to be thirty-minute artists, but... Read More »

As I described in the introduction to this column in Part 1 (HERE) I started this project of listening to all my records at least one more time and cataloging them, I realized that this was the second time I have actually done this. The first time in the late 1970s, I only had a... Read More »

Yarlung Records continues to celebrate its Twentieth Anniversary with another superb release from its analog master tape archives. In April 2025, we received the marvelous recording by David Fung, Evening Conversations, about which I wrote HERE.  Now we have another release from Yarlung's archives that has only seen light of day as a CD: Ciaramella's... Read More »

A trove of truly wonderful recordings has appeared in the NativeDSD catalog over recent weeks. Here are eight that caught my immediate attention, with multiple turns in my listening queue. Each is a worthy addition to your music library and will reward over multiple listening sessions. Telemann Ino Cantata and Double Concertos, Ashley Solomon, Rachel... Read More »

Historians refer to Jimmy Wakely (1914-1982) as one of the last of the singing cowboys. Although he wasn't the very last, he was the last to sign with a major record label and produce a steady stream of records. He was, along with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, one of Hollywood's greatest singing cowboys. His... Read More »

I've noted before that the offerings available in the HDTT catalog are a treasure house of the great recordings from the golden age of stereo. Yet again, Bob Witrak brings to us six new releases that further expand that marvelous library of great performances in some of the best sound quality in which these recordings... Read More »

We audiophiles are living the good life. Never before have we had so many outstanding reissue opportunities. These reissues continue to amaze as they have consistently provided what most audiophiles clearly yearn for. This includes excellent packaging, pressing, and sound quality along with some very interesting if not wonderful title selections. In the past, we... Read More »

Golden Age, Arias by Bizet, Delibes, Donizetti, Rossini, and Verdi. Erin Morley, soprano; Lawrence Brownlee, tenor; Munich Radio Orchestra/Ivan Repušić. Pentatone Music PTC 5187 400.  TT: 62.53 Donizetti, La fille du r馮iment: Quoi! Vous m'aimez?...De cet aveu si tendre. Rossini: Le comte Ory, Ah, quel respect...Ce t駑駻aire qui croit nous plaire. Bizet Les p鹹heurs de perles: ﾀ cette... Read More »

Ancient history, I know, but I grew up in a small rural town where I was indoctrinated by the music of Johnny Cash daily on AM radio. And even though my ten-year-old self soon had enough cash (pun intended) stuffed in my pocket to procure Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison—which would be my first LP... Read More »

I have been waiting for the chance to hear a recording made in Bert van der Wolf's new High Street Studio in Heerewaarden, Netherlands—a performance hall and recording studio inside a converted church. Bert has described this building as an incredible find with wonderful acoustics. In the conversion process, those inherently excellent acoustics have been... Read More »