LATEST ADDITIONS

Today I received my first package from <a href="http://www.freewebs.com/scotchtapes/">Scotch Tapes</a>! Inside the cardboard-reinforced padded envelope were five cassettes and three 7-inch EPs:

With the year almost over, perhaps you have an audiophile thought you'd like to get off your chest. Well, here's your chance: Tell us anything you'd like to say to other audiophiles.

Back when there was still something called the "classical music industry," one of Stereophile's favorite small labels was John Marks Records, masterminded by the magazine's "The Fifth Element" columnist, John Marks. In fact, it was his recordings that first brought John to the magazine's attention. JMR had a phenomenal run of releases, among them Arturo Delmoni and Meg Bachman Vas's Songs My Mother Taught Me, Nathaniel Rosen's cycle of J.S. Bach's Suites for Solo Cello, Delmoni and Rosen's Music for a Glass Bead Game, and the three Rejoice recordings of Christmas music for string quartet (also featuring Delmoni and Rosen). That's a pretty solid run for a label that released fewer than 20 recordings.

I’m a little late with this, but if you’re still in holiday spirits, can’t stand to hear Paul McCartney’s ditty or Mel Torme’s jingle one more time, and cringe, thoroughly bummed out, at Bob Dylan’s piss-brew of raspy cheer, take a listen to Charlie Parker’s take of “White Christmas.”

The British speaker manufacturer PMC Ltd. has built a professional client list seemingly as extensive as its almost mind-numbingly broad line of speakers. The <I>i</I> series alone includes 12 models, one of which is the DB1<I>i</I> ($1929/pair).

<I>She responds as expected to the only sound: hysterical voices!&#151;Brian Eno</I>

Ah me, another year gone by. The rest of my holiday-gift suggestions are at the end of this column, but I wanted to kick off with a hearty recommendation of <I>Aja</I>, a book by Don Breithaupt. You may recall Breithaupt as a co-author (with his brother, Jeff) of the survey <I>Precious and Few: Pop Music in the Early '70s</I>, which cracked me up in my <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/thefifthelement/the_fifth_element_56">October column</A>.