Articles
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Breaking the wrong record?
|There are some valuable records out there. Earlier this month, Ringo Starr’s ‘No. 0000001’ copy of The Beatles (also known as the White Album) achieved $790,000 at auction, and a copy of The Sex Pistols ...read more -
The Show Must Go On
|If you were there at the time, Queen was a very big thing. From the early 1970s right up to (and beyond) the death of singer Freddie Mercury in 1991, the band had a string ...read more -
Tidal - the future of audiophile streaming?
|In one of the most public displays of the music business setting itself straight, Tidal’s recent announcement was part showbiz glitz, part hard-nosed business. Last month, Aspiro, parent company of high-resolution streaming service Tidal (and ...read more -
Classic Albums – Huhtikuu's Ensimmäinen Päivähuhtikuussa
|Dark Loungecore was not long for this world. A brief moment of irony in the late 1990s and it was gone. It left no lasting legacy, produced no stars, and most of the albums were ...read more -
Classic Album Sundays - Pink Floyd's The Wall
|I must admit I have not listened to Pink Floyd’s The Wall in its entirety for nearly three decades until recently. However, in anticipation of our The Wall 35th anniversary celebrations, I duly dusted off ...read more -
Classic Albums: Hot Rats by Frank Zappa
|Frank Zappa might not be your run-of-the-mill rock star. He was not one for recreational pharmaceuticals. As a teenager, when his contemporaries were listening to Bill Haley & His Comets, Zappa was paying attention to ...read more -
The Beatles Mono Box Set at Abbey Road
|I admit it, some elements of this job are inescapably on the “you lucky, lucky bastard!” side of things. So, when I got the last minute call to be at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios ...read more -
Classic Album Sundays: The Pixies - Doolittle
|The Pixies’ Doolittle stimulated a slew of early nineties indie acts to shape their guitar-led onslaught with more imagination. The Boston quartet culled a sweeping sound, but although they harvested from an expansive musical field, ...read more -
Classic Album Sundays: The Cure - Disintegration
|Although The Cure were lumped in with Goth Rock and had a sea of powdered skin, thick black eyeliner and raven-haired heads undulating at their live shows, they never became a parody of themselves. The ...read more -
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For whom the bell tolls – Mike Oldfield interview
|If you had written Tubular Bells as a teenager and saw it go on to sell in excess of 17 million copies worldwide, in the process setting you up for a critically acclaimed and eclectic ...read more -
Vangelis Interview
|Although most now associate the name with the Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner soundtracks and the score for Carl Sagan’s epic Cosmos TV series, Vangelis’ career as a composer, musician and producer spans more ...read more -
Setting up home with Shelby Lynne
|I recently overstayed my welcome at a dealer event. It was at KJ West One in the heart of London, where Jason the salesperson was busily preparing a Naim Statement versus Constellation Audio Performance demonstration ...read more -
Demystifying Mastering (Part 1)
|We recently scurried down to deepest, darkest Devon to chew the fat with Simon Heyworth at his beautiful state-of-the-art Super Audio Mastering (SAM) facility. Simon kicked off his audio career in the early-‘70s at Virgin’s ...read more -
Interview – Paul Rodgers
|Last year former Free and Bad Company front man Paul Rodgers went to a classic soul studio in Memphis and hooked up with the ‘house band’ to record the songs of his youth. That studio ...read more