Duke Ellington & John Coltrane – Duke Ellington & John Coltrane 180g Analogue Productions Vinyl
“Genius + Soul = Jazz is a winner, now sounding better than ever. I like this reissue so much I’ll probably not play my original again since it isn’t in quite as nice condition. In fact, I’m not sure if I really need to even keep my original in the collection at this point given the quality of this reissue. And that is probably the best complement I can offer.” — Mark Smotroff, Audiophile Review, May 17, 2021.
Ella Fitzgerald – Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas – Acoustic Sounds Series 180g Vinyl
"Ella Fitzgerald's Christmas album is a secular holiday delight sure to please every listener, even atheists and agnostics. Originally released in 1960, the sound here is warm and inviting as a Yule log burning in the fireplace ... Perfect QRP pressing too." — Music = 9/11; Sound = 9/11 — Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com.
Jefferson Airplane – Volunteers 180g 45RPM 2 LP MOFI Vinyl
Seminal 1969 Album Steeped in Revolution, Vitality, Protest: The Aural Equivalent of a Demonstration March
Awash in controversy and loaded with revolutionary protest, Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers stands as the last album made by the group’s classic lineup and brings insurgent closure to the peace-and-love era. The potent 1969 record confronts war, politics, greed, and environmental ruin in head-on fashion matched by few peers. Steeped in the belief people and music could transform the world, it steers the band in community-minded and county-rock directions, and features charged playing by guest luminaries such as Jerry Garcia, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, and Nicky Hopkins. Volunteers also benefits from being one of the first 16-track recordings. And now, the historic set can be heard in the fidelity the artists and producers intended.
Ry Cooder & V.M. Bhatt ‘A Meeting By The River’ Analogue Productions 180g, 45RPM 2LP
I was expecting the sound to be exceptional, but I was wrong. It was breathtaking, it was like I was there or they were there in person performing for me.....that is how good it is. And the music, nothing else to say but it is real....... I wanted to get the test pressing after listening to this and may do so in the near future.
45 RPM mastering and 200-gram pressing by Quality Record Pressings!
Must have vinyl. Sound 5.5/5 ; Music 6/5
The Gil Evans Orchestra – Out Of The Cool 180g – Acoustic Sounds Verve Re-Issue
“The album is worth getting for the 15 minutes of ‘La Nevada’ alone but the rest is equally great including the cinematic side closer ‘Where Flamingoes Fly.’ … The sonics here with a cut from the master tape by Ryan K. Smith (yes, the master tape- I have a current photo that for some reason I can’t share with you) are incredibly transparent, spacious and flat-out thrilling … and somewhat brighter and less mid-band rich than the long out of print Alto-Analogue edition Bernie Grundman cut in 1997. Both are worth having for different sonic reasons and if you have a clean original Rudy Van Gelder cut (A-4) you may think you are set, but that cut is less spacious, somewhat dynamically compressed, has the RVG lower bass roll-off and is definitely less transparent — not that it’s bad and some people do like the more ‘in your face’ excitement. This one’s here now though! Do not miss it!” — Music = 10/11; Sound = 10/11 – Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com.
