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KEN GOLDEN: TOP PICKS FOR 2018- A LIST

February 6, 2019 Leave a Comment

KEN GOLDEN: TOP PICKS FOR 2018- A LIST : Ken Golden, who contributed a piece on “Prog Rock Obscurities” here in 2016, has been a tireless guide to the less well known, the obscure rock, jazz and hard to “genre-fy” music that has become a staple of my musical diet, gives us a holiday present in the form of his most interesting “picks” for 2018:  I’m often asked to compile a year-end top 10 list and I always refrain.  My memory is short and there is so much music pouring through the threshold of my business that it becomes too much work v. fun.  Plus I... Read More

Filed Under: Features, Stickies

Mark Weber on the West Coast Experimental Jazz Scene and the Shape of Things to Come

December 20, 2018 Leave a Comment

Mark Weber on the West Coast Experimental Jazz Scene and the Shape of Things to Come Sun Ra Arkestra – April 2, 1981 Los Angeles – photo by Mark Weber I first got onto Mark Weber when I was researching Horace Tapscott and landed on Mark’s webpage, which included a photo essay of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra.   Mark spent the first 32 years of his life in LA, and was the CODA jazz magazine LA columnist for the better part of a decade, spending a total of 18 years reporting for CODA from Cleveland, New Orleans, San Francisco, New York, Detroit and Salt Lake City. His... Read More

Filed Under: Features, Stickies

The Curious Case Of Record Cleaning In The Quest For Sonic Perfection

September 18, 2018 1 Comment

  The Curious Case Of Record Cleaning In The Quest For Sonic Perfection  Michael Bodell, September 1, 2018   “If there exists a more effective, easy, reliable, and utterly transformative way of cleaning LPs, I have yet to hear it.”  Art Dudley, Stereophile March 2015   In 1952, Bendix Corporation of Davenport, Iowa took ultrasonic cleaning from the laboratory and into production for the first time.  The company experimented with ultrasonic applications through the 1950s to find tank cleaning in a fluid an optimal use, especially in industrial applications. ... Read More

Filed Under: Cleaning - Care, Features, Stickies

Peter Green: A Love That Burns- Definitive Reference Guide by Richard Orlando (3 volumes, Smiling Corgi Press 2017).

December 20, 2018 Leave a Comment

Peter Green: A Love That Burns- Definitive Reference Guide by Richard Orlando (3 volumes, Smiling Corgi Press 2017). To call this exhaustive study of Peter Green’s performances an ambitious undertaking would be damning by faint praise: over 1,900 pages, cataloging and commenting on the history and attributes of 1,000 recorded performances by the legendary guitarist Peter Green spread among three volumes.  These volumes took author Richard Orlando more than 15 years to assemble. Green is a relatively modern artist who composed and performed within our lifetimes—and within a fairly... Read More

Filed Under: Ephemera, Stickies

tima’s DIY RCM – follow-up #2: Compelling Changes – Improved Results

August 9, 2018 Leave a Comment

tima’s DIY RCM – follow-up #2: Compelling Changes – Improved Results.   by Tim Aucremann It’s been about a year since I built tima’s DIY RCM as described in my original article from the fall of 2017, published here on The Vinyl Press along with follow-up #1.  Since that time I’ve cleaned hundreds of records in all conditions: previously cleaned, new, used, and a few abused. My expectations are now very high about what is possible for getting records clean.   Not only do most records clean-up nearly noiseless (assuming they are not damaged), I get the job done in a... Read More

Filed Under: Stickies

Tima’s DIY RCM

November 28, 2018 Leave a Comment

Tima’s DIY RCM As a dedicated vinylista, I’ve been cleaning records for over thirty years. Sound familiar? Cleaning techniques and technologies evolved across that time and my approach changed with the times. I’ve been using a Loricraft RC3 point nozzle machine and more recently an Audio Desk System. After reading multiple threads on various audio forums about home made record cleaning kits built around larger volume ultrasonic cleaners, I decided to give that a try. Thanks to all who have gone before me, and especially to Bill at The Vinyl Press and Rob at Audionirvana.org, for... Read More

Filed Under: Cleaning - Care, Features, Stickies

Spiritual Jazz- Three Picks

August 26, 2017 Leave a Comment

Spiritual Jazz- Three Picks       Exploring “new to me” music often forces me to confront my own biases if not outright ignorance. If you asked me how much jazz I listen to, I’d say very little these days. Sure, I’ve gone through many of the highly regarded “audiophile” favorites and warhorses, usually in the form of reissues from the likes of Analogue Productions (Sonny Rollins “Way Out West” cut at 45rpm is spectacular despite the hard panning characteristic of many early stereo recordings), or other labels, e.g. Music Matters. I have quite a pile of traditional jazz,... Read More

Filed Under: Stickies

Warps, Budget Ultrasonic Cleaning and Surface Dust: An Introduction

November 10, 2016

  Warps, Budget Ultrasonic Cleaning and Surface Dust: An Introduction   I buy a lot of used records and encounter some “challenged” copies in the process. This is hardly deliberate but comes with the territory: sometimes, the records are purchased in “lots” or more often, over the Internet, where physical inspection is impractical if not impossible. Even new, sealed records have problems. (Older “sealed” records can be the riskiest in my estimation- a complete unknown and if too tightly shrink-wrapped, are prone to warps over time). But, through a combination of... Read More

Filed Under: Cleaning - Care, Stickies

Early Tull on Vinyl

November 10, 2016

  In connection with the Ian Anderson interview, I spent a fair amount of time listening to the early Jethro Tull albums. My focus was that transitional period when the band morphed from the blues into something that straddled hard rock, folk and then emerging “progressive” sounds – a path traced from This Was, to Stand Up, Benefit and Aqualung. Since I had already done an extensive vinyl shoot-out of different Aqualung pressings over the summer of 2015, I thought I might add my thoughts on some of the other early Tull pressings to coincide with the Anderson... Read More

Filed Under: Stickies

Hooker ‘n Heat by Rebecca Davis

November 10, 2016

  Hooker ‘n Heat by Rebecca Davis Known for their musical dedication to primal electric blues, 1960s stalwarts Canned Heat are also noteworthy for their support of actual blues men. In various settings, they frequently provided musical backing – and commercial connections – for the elders who had inspired them artistically. Canned Heat founder Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson had started his recording career this way, accompanying Delta legend Son House on his 1965 “comeback” for Columbia. Guitarist Henry Vestine had been involved in the rediscovery of Skip James, and... Read More

Filed Under: Stickies

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In Brief:

Airtight Supreme v Monster Alpha Genesis 1000 (WuT?) Or the Path to Older Phono Cartridges….

Airtight Supreme v Monster Alpha Genesis 1000 (WuT?) Or the Path to Older Phono Cartridges…. I know, this seems like a stupid comparison, but bear with me. My Airtight Supreme phono cartridge is aging and I'm looking to replace it.  The price of the top tier cartridges, like Airgtight’s Opus, their current flagship, is just prohibitive when you consider that it is a consumable. Much as I’ve winced at cartridge pricing in the past, I’ve just bitten the bullet—when I upgraded from my original Airtight PC-1 to the Supreme some years ago, the improvement was considerable. And, like NOS tubes, and early sought- after pressings of some LPs, that’s the market for high end phono cartridges these days. (I’m not going to engage in class warfare here, or suggest that the mark up is hideous, though I know in the case of phono cartridges from Japan, they must pass through a few hands … [Read More...]

The Analog Relax Record Brush

The Analog Relax Record Brush I have had an unhappy relationship with “dry” record brushes over the many years I used them. Such brushes don’t seem to do an effective job of removing surface detritus and despite the “anti-static” moniker applied to some, I have found that dry brushing can generate, rather than mitigate, a static charge. Some also shed fibers. As explained below, I eventually abandoned dry brushing altogether, instead using an “air puffer” to address any surface lint that was introduced after the records had been thoroughly cleaned using a combination of wet cleaning, vacuum and ultrasonic record cleaning.  Background I cannot remember my first brush, but over the years, I’ve used the Decca (which has been copied many times with less success) and its clones, the Hunt (which consists of a plush pad between two brushes) and various other … [Read More...]

Good Things Come in Big Packages- Sammy Miller and the Congregation

Good Things Come in Big Packages- Sammy Miller and the Congregation Big band style jazz probably reached its peak in popularity before WWII.[1]Sammy Miller and the Congregation aim to bring it back, with a few surprises, a laugh and an impressive, tuneful display of musicianship. If Sammy & Company prove anything, it’s that what we think of as “big band” music is an archetype and does not represent the music itself: vibrant, full of soul, life, blues and joy, with lots of space between the different instruments, offering an interplay of sounds that are immensely satisfying. I used to catch myself sitting in Broadway shows in New York back in the day (my wife worked for a number of noted producers on Broadway), hearing all those seasoned players in the pit, just wishing they could let go and rock, rather than stick to the often schmaltzy “show tune” music to which they were … [Read More...]

A History of Ultrasonic Record Cleaning

A History of Ultrasonic Record Cleaning   Despite the attention paid to ultrasonic record cleaning in the last few years, including the various DIY efforts that have broadened its appeal due to lower cost (as well as providing a more flexible feature set than some of the commercial entries), little has been said about the history of ultrasonic cleaning for records. Mike Bodell changes that with a paper entitled  “The Curious Case Of Record Cleaning In The Quest For Sonic Perfection” which is being published here for the first time. Mike, who has both a science and business background, came to the subject with an open mind, a curiosity borne out of strong interest (including self-interest: he wanted clean records) and a technical background that caused him to dig deep. “The Curious Case…” is a fascinating read on several fronts: first, we learn that there were early efforts to … [Read More...]

Comus: First Utterance- Part II: Interview with Members of Comus About the Album

Comus: First Utterance- Part II: Interview with Members of Comus About the Album   Following the publication here last week of Comus- First Utterance (consisting of an overview of the LP, its reissue and legacy), An Interview with Members of Comus has now been published. It is integrated into the first article as Part II and can be accessed directly (if you already read Part I and want to go directly to the interview(s)) by clicking on the hyperlinked text in the preceding sentence.  The interview is really a series of viewpoints from different band members and, like the album itself, offers some starkly different perspectives that ultimately cohere into a larger narrative; about the band, the making of the record and the creators’ individual views of its importance, then and now. This is a fascinating look behind a recording that stands as a milestone in the recorded … [Read More...]

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