Few popular artists have remained as relevant or inventive as Ian Anderson over the course of nearly fifty years. Best known as the flamboyant front man of Jethro Tull, Anderson is a gifted songwriter, showman and performer. He is also someone who has repeatedly redefined himself throughout his professional career. Transitioning from electric blues to minstrel-tinged rock, Anderson established an identifiable sound that became uniquely associated with Tull: drawing on medieval motifs, hard rock, folk and other elements, Anderson and the band invested the troubadour’s ballad... Read More
One Year of TheVinylPress
One Year of TheVinylPress.com Self-congratulatory pieces are usually distasteful to me. But, I wanted to mark the first anniversary of TheVinylPress.com for several reasons. This all started rather innocuously- and for entirely selfish reasons. I got serious about hunting for the best sounding vinyl LPs- “ordinary” records, not necessarily “audiophile” releases — of hard rock, folk, psychedelia and offbeat stuff that didn’t always make “best of” lists, wasn’t necessarily reissued or remastered and in many cases, might prove... Read More
Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull
The early recorded performances of Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull have not just weathered the passage of time; the songs and the band’s performances are as fresh and captivating today as they were at the time of their release in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. As regular readers know, I’m enthralled by that period in the late ‘60s when popular music was transformed from radio-friendly pop tunes to more challenging compositions that defied conventions and redefined genres. Much of this transformation seemed to occur in England, and led to a number of profound changes in popular... Read More
Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes- Live at the Greek
Led Zeppelin fans have long tolerated less than ideal recordings to enjoy moments from the band during its heyday. I’ve considered doing an extensive shoot-out of some of the original Zep albums in my quest to obtain the best sounding copies, but while I’m still pondering that, here’s one that is worth the coin- cheap, in fact, for what you get: Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes- Live at the Greek. These performances, recorded in the post-Zeppelin era, are well worth owning. Although touted as the first release of these recordings on vinyl (not true, a vinyl set was released in... Read More
bad brains- i against i
I was a young lawyer working in the business when this album was released. An older colleague, more buttoned down than me, was slated to speak on a panel at the then industry-important “New Music Seminar” (a sort of New York City version of SXSW). He asked me for a recommendation because, as a speaker, he got a free pass to hear a show. I urged him to see Bad Brains, who were performing at a club on the Lower East Side with the Circle Jerks and Vernon Reid and Living Colour. The next day, he told me what happened: “I showed up at the club early, wearing my suit and tie,... Read More
Billy Joel- Songs in the Attic
Billy Joel was unavoidable in the ‘70s- Piano Man and The Stranger were hugely popular in the era, and many of the tracks were (and remain) soft radio staples. Although Joels’ first album, Cold Spring Harbor, contained some eventual hits as well (“She’s Got a Way”), that album was sonically compromised and did not enjoy the commercial success of his later work. This album more than makes up for that- a live performance of some songs from “Harbor” album, along with other early, classic Billy Joel tracks performed by Joel’s then-regular touring band and recorded with... Read More
Brian Davison’s every which way
Brian Davison’s every which way is a monster album and, as far as I know, is under most people’s radar (at least it wasn’t on mine). Ken Golden, a consummate authority on progressive music who has reissued and produced an extensive catalog of new progressive albums as well as unearthing some rare and desirable obscurities, tipped me to it. Ken mentioned the album on http://avshowroomsforums.com, a new gear and music forum organized by a couple of long-time audio hands. Knowing Ken’s taste and sensibilities, I bought it based on the strength of his recommendation.... Read More
Yuri Grishin- “The British Recording History”
Yuri Grishin’s name should be familiar to some readers; he is the polymath who assembled the extensive labelographies of Island, Vertigo, Harvest and Charisma in a series entitled “The Famous British Collectable Record Labels. ” Those books–which include images of the releases, catalog numbers, details about cover art, mastering, matrix information and details on sleeves, variations in different countries, along with “inside” interviews—provide an invaluable resource to collectors, are now out of print and are themselves collectible. Grishin... Read More
New Skynyrd Documentary: Gone with the Wind
Not long after writing a retrospective on Lynyrd Skynyrd, I happened on this film documentary– Gone with the Wind– about the band. Without knowing much about the film, I was thoroughly surprised by its depth and the care that went into making it; not just talking heads, or jarring, badly filmed footage of concert excerpts, it tells the story of Lynyrd Skynyrd from the earliest days, and includes interviews with some of the surviving members. Drummer Burns, who is featured in a number of interview clips, died earlier this year. The film benefits from some pretty candid... Read More
Captain Beyond –self-titled
Not exactly under the radar, or forgotten, but Captain Beyond is a record that delivers far more than it promises- by a group of musicians assembled from members of other, more famous bands. This is unapologetically a hard rock album, but one that deftly moves into “progressive” territory by combining jazz and long form compositions that were a signature of label mates, the Allman Brothers. Unlike the Allmans, this album sounds more like a mix of UK and LA, thanks in part to the lead vocals of Rod Evans (who sang on the first three Deep Purple albums) and the guitar work... Read More
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