<B>NEIL YOUNG: <I>Chrome Dreams II</I></B><BR>
Reprise 311932-2 (CD). 2007. Neil Young, prod.; Niko Bolas, prod., eng.; John Hausmann, Rob Clark, Brent Walton, Tim McColm, Colin Suzuki, asst. engs. AAD? TT: 66:17<BR>
Performance ****<BR>
Sonics ****
In my last blog, I referred to “my friend, the pianist Frank Kimbrough,” so some of you may be leery when I tell you in this entry that Kimbrough’s new CD, and his first solo work, <I>Air</I> (on Palmetto Records), is a terrific piece of work, one of the half-dozen or so great solo piano albums of the past few years. If your suspicions keep you from checking it out, well, your loss.
In yesterday's <A HREF="http://blog.stereophile.com/wesphillips/011307ces/">philippic about CES's petty annoyances</A>, I said that I continue to be a recidivist in spite of them. The reason? Pretty much that the high-end portion of the industry remains a fascinating, personal, and essentially civilized place.
The shoes are now dropping all over the place. We have previously reported that Warner Music Group had dropped DRM on its downloads, <A HREF="http://stereophile.com/news/123107warner/">joining</A> Amazon.com's Download store. Ten days ago, we also reported that Sony BMG had announced <I>it</I> was <A HREF="http://stereophile.com/news/010508sonybmg/">dropping DRM</A>, although it declined to release any distribution details at the time.
It must be the week after the Consumer Electronics Show: I'm all written out on consumer electronics, my feet hurt, and I have a cold. All three happen every year.
I think it's now official: moving the high-performance audio exhibits last year from the Alexis Park to the Venetian has been a complete success. The sound in the tower rooms has been excellent, and exhibitors seem to be finding ways to tame the more problematic acoustics of the large conference rooms on the third floor. And whenever you wanted to take a break, you were only a few steps away from the fake-but-surprisingly-convincing ambience of St. Mark's Square, where it's always early evening, and you don't need an excuse to have some gelato. Ciao!
Another CES under our belts, and there were new audiophile products galore. What new product at CES caught your eye (or ears)?
Immedia's Allen Perkins was running not one, but two Spiral Groove turntables. He was running the original SG1 ($20,000) with Continuum's new Copperhead tonearm ($12,000), but he was also debuting his new SG2 ($15,000) with a Triplanar Ultimate tonearm ($4200).