Category: Vinyl / Tunes Blog

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LAYLA AND DUANE ALLMAN

A certifiable all-time classic, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is a blues-rock album by the pseudo-group “Derek and the Dominos”. It is best known for its eponymous title track, “Layla,” inspired by Eric Clapton’s infatuation with Patti Boyd (then George Harrison’s wife). It seems the perfect winter listen for the end of this year. Continue reading “”

REMEMBERING JACK BRUCE AND CREAM

Jack Bruce passed away today at age 71. He was a founding member of the influential British psychedelic power rock trio Cream – along with Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton. In the two short years they played together (1966-1968), Bruce sang and co-wrote most of Cream’s singles, including the hits “Sunshine of Your Love”, “White Room”, and “I Feel Free”. Many consider him one of the greatest bass players of all time. Cream was the world’s first successful supergroup – a group that foreshadowed Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath.

(Photographer: Unknown)

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THE BEATLES IN MONO VINYL BOX DONE RIGHT

Apparently all the complaints from last year about The Beatles stereo LP box pressings got through to EMI. Optimal and analog tapes were enlisted for this new Mono box. Even Michael Fremer (and a respected mastering engineer) are saying good things about it on Analog Planet. I’m buying this John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr set on wax… Yeah, I’m a Beatles completist. Continue reading “”

NEW LED ZEPPELIN VINYL REISSUES

The long awaited Led Zep LPs are on record store shelves sealed in cellophane or spinning on young listeners USB turntables now.

The up side is they’re not scratchy or noisy, the down side is they don’t sound as good as originals or the Classic vinyl reissues from a few years ago. Continue reading “”

NOTHING IS EVERYTHING

Who Came First was a 1972 release created by Pete Townshend, songwriter and guitarist of the rock group The Who. It included demos from the aborted album Lifehouse, some of which appeared on the chart busting Who’s Next. These tracks were recorded at Townshend’s home studio and payed tribute to his avatar, Meher Baba. Continue reading “”

FROM COURT AND SPARK TO NIGHT RIDE HOME

Released 40 years ago this month, Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark was her first album in almost two years.

Mitchell infused her singer-songwriter folk-rock music with jazz inflections played by session musicians. The result was her most successful commercial effort ever. The album reached No. 2 in the United States in 1974 and eventually sold over 2 million copies. The recent WB 180 gram LP is a sublime reissue. Continue reading “”

LED ZEPPELIN II – A MASTERING LESSON

44 years ago today, Led Zeppelin released their second album. Eddie Kramer had engineered it, and Bob Ludwig was called in to give the record a “hotter” sound in the LP mastering phase. The resulting pressings have an “RL” inscribed in the run out area of the vinyl. Unfortunately, the dynamics in the grooves made these records unplayable on the inexpensive turntables of the day. So the lacquers were replaced with tamer sounding ones. Continue reading “”

NEIL YOUNG – ON THE BEACH BY CASSIUS (SH FORUM)

“Was it the Falcon? The Flying V used on the previous year’s tour?”

“It doesn’t really matter what guitar it was, because it’s the tone that cuts through. It’s the ‘real-est’. The most emotive piece of music I’ve ever heard.” Continue reading “”

GOATS HEAD SOUP

What a name for an album title… leave it to The Rolling Stones.

It was forty years ago that the band released this LP recorded at Kingston, Jamaica’s Dynamic Sound Studios. Keith Richards recalls, “Jamaica was one of the few places that would let us all in! By that time about the only country that I was allowed to exist in was Switzerland.” Mick Jagger says, “Songwriting and playing is a mood. Like the last album we did (Exile on Main St.) it was basically recorded in short concentrated periods.” Continue reading “”

EARLY 911S AND VINYL ARE HOT!

How did I happen to pick two passions 20 years ago that would become so popular today? I don’t know, but the modest acquisitions I made a decade or so ago have grown into a good chunk of my financial portfolio.

The important thing to me is that I use each as they were intended. I play my original ’60s first pressing UK vinyl on my turntable and drive my Porsche 1972 911S and 911T/ST enthusiastically on a regular basis. Those hobbies, my work and good health are all I could ask for. Of course, my wife is my greatest blessing – can’t put a number on that! Continue reading “”

JOHN BARLEYCORN MUST DIE

Steve Winwood turned 65 recently. As a singer and musician, he’s received many honors for his solo work. However his greatest accomplishments may be as a leader of two bands influenced by folk, jazz, and blues: Blind Faith and Traffic.

Of all the albums Traffic released, one remains my favorite, 1970’s John Barlycorn Must Die. Steve is the sole survivor of that band whose other members were Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi. In 2011 he remastered a deluxe edition double CD with alternate takes of their great songs: “Glad”, “Empty Pages”, and “Freedom Rider”. If you are an LP lover, a clean UK Pink Island original is to die for. Continue reading “”