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Reviews of Attainable Hi-Fi & Home-Theater Equipment

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Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 15 September 2024

Oftentimes, one of the most difficult things about editing a publication focused on high-value audio, with a goal of reaching newer hi-fi enthusiasts, is simply guessing how much historical context said readers have.

Details: Written by: Dennis Burger; Created: 01 February 2023

The Criterion Collection 1166
Format: BD, UHD

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Terry Gilliam’s beloved 1988 film concludes with the most curious of pronouncements: “This is a new motion picture. This motion picture is not to be confused with the UFA/Transit/Murnau 1942/43 motion picture bearing the title ‘The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.’” As if anyone could confuse this with any other film by any other filmmaker. It is a unique statement, a singular effort, and yet . . .

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 December 2022

Parlophone / Apple Records / Universal Music Group PCS 7009, 0602445599691
Format: LP

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The new reissue of The Beatles’ 1966 album Revolver follows the pattern of recent re-releases of the band’s recordings: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (2017); The Beatles, aka The White Album (2018); Abbey Road (2019); and Let It Be (2021). Those reissues came in various download and physical media formats, and in packages that would satisfy everyone from the casual fan to Beatles obsessives.

Read more: The Beatles: "Revolver"

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 November 2022

Modern Recordings
Format: 24-bit/48kHz FLAC download

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Daniel Lanois lets inspiration take him wherever it leads. Last year he released Heavy Sun, an album of soul and gospel music that Lanois presented in his own sonically adventurous production style. In 2018, he collaborated with Aaron Funk (aka Venetian Snares) on Venetian Snares x Daniel Lanois, a provocative and bracing collection of keyboard- and effects-based instrumentals. Goodbye to Language (2016) paired Lanois and Rocco DeLuca on steel guitars for a series of ambient songs that yielded great rewards, with each play revealing tremendous emotional and musical complexity.

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 October 2022

Polydor / Track Record / UMC ARHSLP014
Format: LP

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Released in December 1967, The Who Sell Out fulfilled the promise of the band’s first two albums, moving it into the front ranks of the great British Invasion bands. When MCA reissued the album on CD in 1995, Who biographer Dave Marsh penned the liner notes. “For me,” he wrote, “The Who Sell Out is the greatest rock and roll album of its era and, as the years go by, seems more and more to me The Who’s consummate masterpiece.”

Read more: The Who: "The Who Sell Out"

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 September 2022

Ozella Music OZ100CD
Format: CD

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Ten years ago, I wrote about Ozella Music, a record label in Germany that releases well-recorded jazz albums, instrumental music that often defies category, and a few singer-songwriter titles. Recently, I was listening to some of the recordings I had previously reviewed and realized I hadn’t heard any news from the label for a while. I popped over to Ozella’s website to see what was going on there. A few days later, I opened my mailbox to find some new releases from the label. The three discs in the package were all worthwhile, but Villingsberg, an album of duets by pianist Helge Lien and guitarist Knut Hem, caught my ear immediately.

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 August 2022

Music for Nations / Sony Music 19439956901
Format: LP, 16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC download

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The British band Porcupine Tree took some time off in 2011 so founding member Steven Wilson, its chief songwriter and leader, could work on his second solo album, Grace for Drowning. Four more Wilson solo albums followed, and the band seemed to be on a permanent hiatus. Wilson was busy with his own albums and with remixing and remastering classic albums by King Crimson, Jethro Tull, XTC, and many others. Drummer Gavin Harrison toured with King Crimson and recorded with The Pineapple Thief; keyboard player Richard Barbieri focused on solo projects and other work; and Colin Edwin lent his bass-playing talents to several other bands.

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 July 2022

dBpm Records
Format: 24-bit/96kHz FLAC download

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Wilco’s first album, A.M. (1995), seemed to suggest the band would move in the direction of alt-country, but the follow-up, Being There (1996), was the work of a band that was eager to experiment and to avoid being categorized. With Summerteeth (1999) and, especially, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002), Wilco veered into the avant-garde so markedly its music has often been referred to as “art rock” since.

Read more: Wilco: "Cruel Country"

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 June 2022

Sub Pop Records SP1430
Format: CD

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Singer-songwriter Joshua Tillman recorded a number of albums as J. Tillman before adopting the stage name Father John Misty. He has released five albums credited to that name, the newest being Chloë and the Next 20th Century. Misty albums are often crammed with instrumental details that enliven Tillman’s songs, and his latest is no different in this respect. Chloë and the Next 20th Century is carefully and lushly appointed, but this time, Tillman pulls in ideas from several earlier eras of pop music. The result is an album that is a nod to the past while feeling very modern.

Details: Written by: Joseph Taylor; Created: 01 May 2022

Proper Records PRPCD160
Format: CD

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The Cowboy Junkies have recorded quite a few of their own songs in the 37 years they have been performing together, but the Canadian group has always shown a talent for reinterpreting other artists’ tunes. Their first album, Whites Off Earth Now!! (1986), comprised eight covers and only one original song (“Take Me,” by band members Margo and Michael Timmins). But it was a cover song from their second album, two years later, that brought them international attention: Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Jane,” from The Trinity Session (1988)—the Junkies’ best known and most highly acclaimed recording.